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These days, I am constantly amazed at the number of business people I meet every day who do
not know how to really use LinkedIn effectively. In America, 80% of employers use LinkedIn to find
suitable candidates for senior vacancies before using any other recruiting tool.
What I want to explore in this article is how to really use LinkedIn to grow your business. As a
business owner, networking is the key to grow your business. This should go beyond simply
exchanging business cards but more importantly to develop relationships and understand how you
can help one another. Once you have developed a number of relationships to a mature level, it is
time to start learning how to use LinkedIn.
Simply search for LinkedIn on Google and create a free profile following the on screen
instructions. Once you have completed this, you should now click on the "add contact" section and
start to add your business contacts that you have built a relationship with. If they are already on
LinkedIn, you will find them accepting you pretty quickly and then the real power comes into play.
After you have added all of your contacts, you will then start to discover the power of LinkedIn. If
you think about the real world for a second, when we build relationships with people we are given
access to their network of contacts. The same applies to LinkedIn, when someone connects with
you they grant you access to their network of contacts.
Let's think about how we grow a business in the traditional sense. You research your target
market and identify a number of sectors you want to sell your goods and services into. Taking a
particular sector, you then identify a number of businesses you wish to target. The dilemma you
are faced now is how to speak to the decision maker within your targeted business.
One method is to cold call the company, identify the decision maker and call them to make an
appointment. Although this sounds simple, the very idea of picking up the phone terrifies 90% of
the population, let alone making a cold call. There is another more effective method of making
contact - LinkedIn
So how do we really use LinkedIn to make contact with our decision maker?
Let's go back to our research stage, using Linkedin to search for our chosen business targets.
This search tool will not only identify the people within the business but it will also identify whether
somebody within your LinkedIn network is connected with them. This means indirectly you have
now identified, without calling anyone, someone within your targeted business is connected to
your network of contacts.
Once again picking up the phone but not to your target business, instead, to your contact who is
already connected with them. Your contact already has a relationship with the person and should
know how best to make contact with them. I would suggest you ask your contact what would be
the best method to be introduced to them.
As you build more and more contacts in the real world and add them to LinkedIn, you will discover
that this technique becomes more and more powerful. For me, this is how to really use Linkedin
and is my preferred method of meeting Managing Directors of businesses without the traditional
battle of the gatekeepers!
This article was brought to you by John O'Driscoll, founder of Activ Dudley, your complete online
guide to Dudley and the surrounding area with local businesses, community events, houses for
sale, cars and much more. Visit us now and join in our community http://www.activdudley.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_M_O'Driscoll
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Simplify and Build your Business with this One of a Kind LINKEDIN Software!
http://www.jvzoo.com/c/2240/534/
==== ====