The most important and overlooked part of using LinkedIn is getting recommendations. After getting your profile in order (step 1), inviting your your contacts to connect with you on LinkedIn (step 2), the recommendations represent an important third step that more than 98% of LinkedIn members don't even think about!
They are easy to get and there are many benefits!
- LinkedIn Recommendations are Powerful Testimonials!
- People Look at Your LinkedIn Recommendations before They Do Business with You!
- They Attract Customers!
- They Make It Easier to Build Positive Relationships!
- They Make Leads Feel Good About Doing Business With You!
- They Provide Details About What New Customers Can Expect!
So, I bet your are thinking to yourself, "How Do I Get Them?"
Well, it's really quite easy! Just ASK For Them!
Here's a quick case study and the "how to" details:
The strategy I use is to simply ask a few of customers that I know have recently gotten significant value from my services. I really don't do this enough, but got a tremendous response recently to my last request. One of the things I did back on December 23, 2011 is set up the eWorkshopCourses.com website to allow people to become my customers and have an inside track to my work for less than $5 per month. As expected, it attracted a large number of you adults in their 20's and early 30's - our future leaders. This is an easy $5/month in for everyone, which I use to provide significant value for everyone that signs up for the program, and it only takes me a few hours each week creating how-to videos, which I do anyway for customers that work with me through my higher priced services.
The approach I use is to position a task that I had to do anyway for existing customers and make the results of these tasks available to everyone at a very low price. I created a new revenue source by taking a set of tasks and turning them into a prospect generation program. Do you have something you do that could be used in the same way? When I write business plans for people, this is always my starting point. I determine if there are any missed revenue opportunities within 15 minutes of the first consultation, and then we explore avenues to get them in place quickly, easily and with not much extra work. The short "how to" videos I have been creating for customers for years became this avenue through eWorkshopCourses.com for me. What might yours be?
The sales funnel I have found that using a simple pricing model built out into offers, such as $5, $10, $17, $25, etc. on up to the $10,000 offers, works best. I also use the FREE offer frequently to turn leads into prospects. LEAD, to PROSPECT, to CUSTOMER, then to UP SELLs to existing customers. Simple, right? Can you think of a $5 service or something FREE you could offer? Maybe an eBook? A short informational video? A properly structured sales funnel allows anyone to become your prospect or customer easily. If you need help creating a sales funnel for your business using this type of revenue model, take a look at my article on Business Planning.
There is great information in this article about the basics of a great business plan, which you can use to create your own - simply cut and paste the 12 considerations a business plan covers into a document and fill in the details. You would effectively have a first draft of your business plan with just 2-3 sentences per consideration. An hour maybe? Go for it!
But I digress... maybe TMI on the case study? Hope not!
Regarding LinkedIn Recommendations, at last check, if you had just 3 recommendations, you would have more than 98% of LinkedIn members! Can you think of just 3 customers to ask today for a recommendation? Take a few minutes and just ask! Put yourself in the top 2% with just a few minutes of work on LinkedIn, or if you already have 3 or more recommendations, a few more won't hurt!
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