I paid for somebody to write my Linkedin profile, isn't it awesome? No!, Tim Hughes

The other week I was in a conversation with one of the sales team from one of the many US software companies we are transforming, the conversation went like this

(I use the term AE as in Account Executive)

AE: I paid for somebody to write my LinkedIn profile, isn't it awesome?

Me: No

AE: What do you mean?

Me: Look at your summary title

AE: "Enterprise Account Manager"?

Me: Yes, if I do a search on LinkedIn I can see there are 44,000 "Enterprise Account Managers". In the session we ran we talked about standing out, being different. You are one of 44,000, how will your prospect or customer pick you rather then the other 43,999 "enterprise account managers"?

AE: They won't, but I paid somebody to write my Linkedin profile

Me: Ask for your money back

Me: Let's look at your summary profile, It's says you are "an over achieving, energetic ...."

At this point, the AE interrupted me and said

AE: All LinkedIn profiles say that don't they?

Me: Now we are getting somewhere......

LinkedIn isn't about getting a job

10 years ago, LinkedIn was about getting a job, now you LinkedIn profile is a "tool" that will enable you to over achieve your number.

Your Linkedin profile needs to reflect who you are, not in some business jargon that nobody understands, but written in a human way, using storytelling, so people read it and go "this person sounds cool, I bet they can really help my business".

Stop broadcasting and remember nobody is interested in your company or brochures.

Social is about having conversations, just like a networking event.

Share your expertise.

This will enable you to start building trust, building relationships and having conversations.

Why?

Because conversations create sales.

So who's social selling?

In case you missed it, the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have banned cold calling and have moved all their people to social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.

But surely cold calling has a better ROI than social selling? Not according to Merrill Lynch.

"They will also be encouraged to contact prospects over LinkedIn, which has a higher hit rate than cold calling"

The CRO (chief revenue officer), Richard Eltham of Namos Solutions, of one of clients posted a comment on LinkedIn about social selling. See here.

“Social selling is not an option now it is the way of the world and you either learn and execute it or fear getting left behind”

Kevin Murray who is the Head of Sales at MacArtney Underwater Technology recently posted about his success with social selling here and wrote an article about the transformation that has happened in sales here.

Here at DLA Ignite we don't do "hints and tips sessions" we don't want you to waste your money. Our social selling and influence methodology will provide your sales team with the stable platform for growth. It is also the only social selling program based on 70:20:10 change management principles which gives your business the mindset change and habit change they need in this digital world.

Other articles you might be interested in ....

Would you buy social selling training course from somebody that doesn't use social selling?