We all know that the strong sales technique is a thing of the past. Making 150 sales calls a day is also a thing of the past. Quality over quantity wins every time. Nowadays, we need to embrace any opportunity to create curiosity about you or your brand, and LinkedIn has the perfect feature to do this if executed in the right manner.
We are all curious as to “who has viewed my profile”, and we naturally have a look to see who has been looking, it is human nature! Can you imagine if Facebook also introduced this feature – scary thought!
Here is a process that my social mediators use to evoke curiosity for our clients' accounts every day. For this example, I will be recruiting for a Sales Manager, located in Bristol, who has automotive experience.
Step 1: Change Your Professional Headline
Before you change your headline. If you have the new profile then edits to your professional network are now not publicised to your connections, but if you still have the old version, then please ensure that you have clicked the button that says “do not notify my network”.
In this scenario, I am going to change my headline to “Do you have automotive experience? Are you a Sales Manager? If you live within 20 Miles of Bristol, then you may be interested in this role.”
Step 2: Post a Visual of Your Job
Using a free tool such as PicMonkey, or perhaps a professional designer, you can create an image of your job. Post this as a status update on your profile with a link to the job on your website. I would also recommend adding your latest job (with an image) to your “summary” on your profile.
Step 3: Conduct a Search
There are two ways in which I would recommend conducting a search.
Option 1 – To tap into the whole LinkedIn database, then I suggest using a free recruitment tool called www.recruitin.net. This tool creates a Boolean string for you that enables you to search LinkedIn’s database. The results are significantly higher than using your own profile on LinkedIn.
Option 2 – Use your own profile. Please bear in mind that if you are searching and you have the new profile, then the advanced search is no longer there. Simply add the job title to the search bar at the top and then use the filters.
Step 4: Visit 5-15 Profiles a Day
Once you have your list, simply visit each profile. You don’t need to do anything else, as this is a warm technique. Your objective is to spark curiosity with your target audience. You will be amazed how many people will then click on your profile to find out a bit more about you. When they visit your profile, they will see your vacancy in the summary area as you have a lovely looking image showcasing your latest role.
Step 5: Check Who Has Viewed Your Profile
Each day, when you log in, check to see who has viewed your profile. If it is someone whose profile that you have visited recently, then you have the perfect excuse to make initial contact.
If all the above is too much like hard work, then I would recommend using some software called DuxSoup. This will visit the profiles for you automatically. It is a set it and forget it. There is a cost to DuxSoup, but I find it invaluable, and I have had numerous sales leads using this tactic over the last three months. Visit http://www.dux-soup.com/
If you are interested in finding out more about how to use social media to source candidates and enhance your brand awareness, then check out our free Social Media for Recruiters eBook.
