Every once in a while I’m met by a skeptic – they don’t see the value in LinkedIn. I have a standard process to convince them that LinkedIn is worth their time.
Let me take you through it…
People looking for jobs generally “get it”
But first – I’d like to acknowledge the group of people that need no help seeing the value of LinkedIn – job seekers. They’re looking for ways to reach out to the people they know to find industry information, company culture, and specific openings. They have the motivation and just need to be shown how things work.
Non technical business owners
This is the group that needs a direct and convincing example… They use technology, but don’t know what the fuss is all about. They don’t care how to use the system until they see why they want to use the system.
Give me your biggest nut to crack
So I’ll ask for the most significant account / sale / prospect that they’re working on – to initiate, grow, or work off of. I tell them I’ll do what I can in 30 minutes, and show them the results.
Most of the time they’re a bit skeptical, but they’ll give me something just to see what I can do…
My neighbor – in advertising
One of my neighbors happens to be in advertising, ran the company, and also happens to have a son in the school system in the same grade as one of my children – so we see each other socially, and have a very good relationship.
When I asked him, he mentioned an upcoming presentation with a large drug store chain. He said that they were pitching to the marketing organization of that chain.
Background material
And so in a half hour I pulled up a dozen quality references to the organization including the director of marketing and several marketing managers.
I showed him the information and asked “would this be any help to you?”
And then I drove the point further – “I don’t have any specific industry contacts; you should get more when you’ve developed your profile and connections…”
Training sales folks
When I’m building a training program for a sales organization, I’ll ask for some specifics – key individuals, accounts, industries, and words to describe their product. During my training, I’ll drop some specific references in and show the sales people what I can find – when I’m not even in their business…
This instantly transforms a training session from an average “how to use this new tool” to “How to become a more effective sales person with LinkedIn”.
I’d love to hear your feedback – Let me know ways you’ve been able to convince others that LinkedIn is worth the time!
To your continued success,
steve
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Steven Tylock
http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetylock