Getting Your Clients to "Hire" You

By Dale Denham

Prospecting is hard and when you are fortunate enough to make a connection with a prospect, you need to give them every reason to do business with you. No matter what method you use to connect with your prospect, they are likely to Google you to see if you are any good.

That is why you need to spend time on your LinkedIn profile. Yes, LinkedIn is seen by many as a place to get hired for jobs but I see it more as a place to showcase your work and ensure people who are considering working with you have every reason to work with you.

To prove my point, start by Googling Dale Denham. For most of you, my LinkedIn profile will come up first. Now click my LinkedIn profile. Does it give you a good feeling about working with me and my company? (I hope the answer is yes, I work at it). Now Google yourself. Hopefully your LinkedIn profile comes up near the top, if not, you have work to do. Once you find your LinkedIn profile, ask yourself "Does my LinkedIn profile give people confidence that I can deliver results for them?"

Here are four quick and easy steps for you to take to make your profile most effective in helping you "get hired" by your client.

Ensure your picture is professional, current, and friendly.
1. Your picture should be no more than 2 years old or at least not look more than 2 years old.
2. Save the family pictures for Facebook, this should be a good representation of you and your brand.
3. Logo is a nogo. This is YOU, not your company.
Make your summary your personal "elevator pitch."
1. Keep it short and crafted towards prospects.
2. Ensure you use keywords that people might search on (marketing, promotions).
List all your relevant jobs.
1. Include brief descriptions of what you did.
2. Craft them to show how it supports you being great in your current role.
Add specific relevant skills — this is VERY important.
1. The first five you add are going to be the most important so think before you type (see why later).
2. Begin to ask your preferred clients to endorse your skills. This is VERY easy for them to do and requires a simple click of a button.
3. Begin to ask your best clients to consider writing an endorsement for you. This requires a very strong relationship and should only be asked of a few clients.

The endorsements are the critical part but without the first three steps people won't take the time to read your endorsements. But when they do read your endorsements and see all the people who think you are great at marketing, they will feel excited about what you can do for them.

Also, the reason I instructed you that the first five are so important is that the LinkedIn algorithm displays the first five skills you enter at the top of your profile and there is no way to change it. For example, while I am well-known for my technology skills, it was one of the last skills I entered and so I receive fewer endorsements because it does not display at the top of the screen when viewing my profile.

As a personal favor, for those of you who know me, go back to my LinkedIn profile and take a moment to endorse the specific skills you think I have based on your interactions with me. It will help you understand how your clients interact with endorsements and it will help me represent myself and Geiger well.

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Dale Denham Author's page Dale is a business leader who is best known for providing business-focused I.T. leadership. He believes technology is not limited to increasing efficiency, but is essential to driving revenue. Dale strongly believes having great people is the critical ingredient to success no matter how great your technology might be.Known to many in the promotional products industry as a leading technologist, Dale is using his mix of business and technology to help drive the industry forward. One of the leaders and founders of the PromoStandards effort, Dale and others are working hard to address industry inefficiencies. Dale also is a board member of PPAI through 2018.Follow Dale on Twitter @daledenham or connect with him on LinkedIn via http://www.linkedin.com/in/daledenham.