LinkedIn - You as Your Brand
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Wed, Apr 23, 2008 @ 12:54 PM
Since I started the LinkedIn Inside Sales Experts Group (request to join here) a little over a month ago, the membership approval process has afforded me the opportunity to review more than 240 LinkedIn profiles. Most, I would say 90%, of the members are sales people but I have to tell you that I would never know that from looking at their profiles!
These are the days of social networking providing the public with not only information but a view of YOU. These are the days when peers, potential employers and even prospects will look up a person on LinkedIn before they ever have a conversation with them. And what do most of our profiles say about us? Nothing.
Here sits your online resume for the world to see and most of us have expended zero effort in selling ourselves. It is just a laundry list of places we have worked with dates attached. Shame on us!
Where is the sizzle? Where do we let others know that not only are we are good at the game of sales but that we are passionate about it?
Here is a sample of a GREAT profile. What follows was in the summary section. I have removed the person's name to protect the innocent but it will give you a sense for what I mean...
The Creative Spark
Born in Massachusetts in 19xx, Mr. X is the creative spark that ignites his company's progressive philosophy. His natural fascination with business and advertising has been evident since high school, where he carried a dog-eared notebook, filled to the brim with his edgy business concepts.
Throughout high school, Mr. X continued to be an avid researcher of marketing and business trends. This impelled him to continue his education at a local business college, where he attained his degree in business management. With his keen eye for management and marketing, he proved to be a great asset during his career with many growth-oriented companies. But it was time for Mr. X to make his own mark in what had become his passion: Demand Generation & Search Engine Marketing.
Specialties:
- Strong verbal & electronic communication skills
- Cold Call Management of excess of 100 calls/day
- Meeting deadlines or quotas
- Data Mining - Predicting / Clustering / Profiling / Analysis
- Creating innovative,Strategic & Tactical Marketing Strategies
- Campaign Development & Implementation
- Branding
- Search Engine Optimization Consulting
- Inside/Outside Sales Training & Development
- "Elevator Pitch" Design and development
|
Now, Mr. X is obviously no slouch in the ego department but hey it was interesting right?
If you think your LinkedIn profile is as well done as Mr. X's, please post a link with your comments in this blog. Give yourself a pat on the back for being smart enough to brand YOU!
Now, I have to go, I have to eat my own dog food and rewrite my profile. Happy Selling!
Technorati Profile