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You have a role in sales and business development.  You’ve had a LinkedIn Profile for awhile but haven’t done anything with it.  Are you aware to the full extent of how valuable a sales prospecting tool LinkedIn is?

LinkedIn is a huge database of 50+ million professionals which includes an executive from every Fortune 500 company and has a demographic with an average household income of $100,000+.  Are you truly maximizing your presence there?  Here are 7 simple strategies to help you build out your LinkedIn pipeline:

1) Prospecting: How do you prospect in real life?  LinkedIn shouldn’t be any different, but it’s actually easier to do online because 1) LinkedIn provides a robust Advanced People search functionality to allow you to pinpoint your potential customer and 2) it maps out who can help connect you.  In this way, LinkedIn can help you completely map out your prospecting for you.  It’s all up to you from there.

2) Partnering: Do you partner in real life to gain referrals, share leads, and potentially utilize a partner to close deals?  Those same potential partners are more than likely on LinkedIn: all you have to do is search for and contact them!

3) Getting Found (LIPO): LinkedIn is as much about finding others as it is about being found.  Make sure that your professional profile is completely filled out with the keywords in which you want to be found.  Since you never know where your next lead will come from, make sure you allow your former classmates and colleagues as well as new potential clients to find you.  Think of it as LIPO: LinkedIn Profile Optimization.  It’s the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Google.  In social media, I consider an activity like LIPO to be part of one’s Inbound Marketing strategy.

4) Keep an Eye on the Answers Boards: This is where businesspeople with real problems are looking for solutions.  Yes, spam and unrelated questions are on these Answers boards, so follow the categories most applicable to your industry to filter out the noise. Consider subscribing to the RSS Feed as well.  Just spending a minute a day checking the relevant Answers Boards may provide you with a qualified new lead.

5) Join Groups Where Your Customers Are: These are communities where there are Discussions, News and Jobs posting. But it is also a chance for you to start participating in discussions and developing relationships.  Do it.  Gain mindshare in your industry and people will start contacting you when they want an answer.  Put yourself in the driver’s seat.

6) Advertise Your Events for Free: Similar to Facebook Events, LinkedIn also has an Events application.  It is one of the few viral marketing things that are possible on LinkedIn. An “Event” can be anything, so even if you don’t have an event planned, why not be creative, sign up for a free Go2Meeting account, and try hosting a webinar on whatever subject matter your are an expert in?  Sharing your expertise in social media is one of the most important investments you can make.  And once it shows on your profile that you are attending, anyone who views your profile will see the advertisement.  And if they sign up on LinkedIn Events, they are now advertising YOUR event on THEIR profile.

7) Profile Your Company: Does your company have a LinkedIn Company Profile?  The LinkedIn Companies database has unique functionality that the free version of Hoovers doesn’t have, so make sure you register your company and be found. It’s free and even a sole proprietorship can have a profile, so long as you have an email address with a registered domain.  If your company isn’t on it, let your Marketing people know that they need to be on top of this!

There are lots of other ways that sales & business development executives can be maximizing their LinkedIn presence.  Which tips do you recommend?

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