Business after-hours, business before-hours, business lunch-hour, leads groups, Toastmasters, BNI, coffee club, service club, country club, cocktail hour, mens’ group, womens’ group, meet-up group, Chamber events, office parties… My goodness, how do we find the time!
Like many professionals, my time is largely spent networking. Not because I’m required to, but because it’s tremendously successful for my business, which relies almost entirely on word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals. If you’re like me, you understand what I’m talking about. I’ve never wanted to actually track how many hours I spend doing networking activities, but I’d venture I easily run into 15 hours some weeks.
Thankfully, in our digital era we have a tool that’s quickly becoming the best friend of professionals around the world. Enter LinkedIn. (www.LinkedIn.com)
At its most fundamental level, LinkedIn is a free social networking website designed to keep you connected with your network, efficiently and effectively. You’ll be connected to your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, too, which helps you open new doors, find new clients, and be the “go-to guy” for people that may be searching their extended network for the services you provide. I don’t want to get too in-depth now, but the site provides many useful features. Like anything else, (a) it’ll take some getting used to, and (b) the more you put into it the more return you’ll see.
If you’re new to LinkedIn, take it slow. Start by visiting the site and creating an account. Then complete your profile and background information, and when you’re ready, add a photo and customize your profile URL (see mine below). There are good instructions and clear links on the website which will make it relatively easy even for a novice to get started.
Look for future articles on specific features at your disposal with LinkedIn, and please post comments here which I can reply to with questions. If you haven’t yet created a free LinkedIn account, checkout their site (www.LinkedIn.com) and add me as your first contact:
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