Why and how to ask a question on LinkedIn.

Posted on | February 22, 2008 |

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RainToday had an interesting article how to get the most out of LinkedIN.

Jason Alba, the CEO of JibberJobber, wrote a book I’m on LinkedIn – Now What?

In his book, Alba shares a whole slew of uses I’d never even thought of before. If you’re just starting out, it’ll help you get going right away. One thing that intrigued me was when he talked about why and how to ask a question on LinkedIn. I decided to give it a try.

LinkedIn can be used to support the entire sales lifecycle: lead generation, sales acceleration and solution delivery. Let’s look at each of these pieces:

Lead Generation

Find and be found. Search by title and industry for the ideal contacts at your ideal companies. Search by title and company name for specific target prospects. Be sure your profile is complete and contains the appropriate keywords for your business so that people looking for your solution will find you.

Endorsements/recommendations count for a lot – get them from people who have actually been your clients if at all possible.

Sales Acceleration

Search for people in your prospect’s company who are not closely involved in your deal – preferably 2nd degree contacts, not 3rd degree. Ask for an informational interview. This is where strong, trusted relationships count for a lot – “light linking” breaks down here.

Ask your interview subject about the priorities that are going on at the company – what are the high-level factors that might be influencing the buying process. Be completely open/transparent. If you have a good solution and a really good referral to a true “friend of a friend”, you will very likely find an internal champion in that person. This is the #1 technique that LinkedIn supports better than any other tool.

Solution Delivery

Quite often, especially for small businesses, you can’t do it all yourself. LinkedIn is invaluable for finding partners with particular skill sets who can help you deliver the total solution. In addition to searching, you can post questions asking about the solution area you need expertise in and use that as a way to attract potential partners.