Reminder – LinkedIn is not KickStarter.com, nor is it some PitchFest platform where you go to pitch me your product or service! LinkedIn is a business networking site designed to remove all the annoying fluff and focus on business. Don’t connect with me on LinkedIn if we have never met, never talked, never had so much as an email exchange… It won’t work for you… and then you will be running around and telling everyone that LinkedIn doesn’t work!
LinkedIn works…but for only those who understand its purpose! LinkedIn is best used to connect and engage with experts. With one comment on LinkedIn, we got an $8000 client. However, we built that relationship with others first, and we build our brand and report over time, which resulted in an opportunity to prove ourselves. When the prospect decided to review our credentials and give us an opportunity to quote on their project, converting them to a client was a cinch.
You should continuously tell yourself that LinkedIn is a network of trusted business connections. If I don’t know you, or have never met you, how can I trust you?
What LinkedIn is not:
- It’s not FACEBOOK!
- It’s not TWITTER either!
- It’s not a location where you come to pitch me your service!
You will get removed from my connections if:
- You fail to call a referral I send you; at this point you have lost my trust and I won’t refer you any longer, so why should we remain connected on LinkedIn?
- You don’t pay your bills… yep… trust is gone… so I won’t refer you and therefore I don’t see a reason to be connected.
- If your business practices, attitude, or professionalism don’t warrant being referred, then I will remove you from my contacts in LinkedIn.
Bottom line – I do not want to connect with anybody on LinkedIn if I already know that I will never professionally refer them to anyone!
Be sure to use LinkedIn as a research and educational tool and not a sales tactic. It’s fine from time to time, based on a strong relationship, to ask for an appointment, but without that strong relationship, then your just another sales person asking for my time that I likely don’t have.
Go off and be happy on LinkedIn… and by all means feel free to connect with me there if you know who I am! 🙂