How to Use Your LinkedIn Profile to Generate Leads
Professional headshot. Branded header. Links to all the things. Book a call here. That LinkedIn profile update checklist is done -- or is it? 🤔
Maybe you're wondering why your profile isn't generating the number of leads you expected when you set out on a mission to finally update your profile.
What many personal branding and social media gurus don't tell you is that it takes more than looking good to generate leads with your profile on LinkedIn.
"Build it, and they will come" does not necessarily apply here.
As an expert, you're either looking for your next dream job, trying to attract new prospects for your business or building thought leadership on LinkedIn. The common denominator is that you're selling (in some way) in every one of these scenarios.
If your profile doesn't communicate whatever it is that you're selling in a way that resonates with your people, you are not going to generate leads. It's that simple.
We're all on LinkedIn to sell something. Whether that's an idea, a process, a system, a product, a program, a service, a book -- you name it -- you must learn how to create a profile that lets them know exactly what you sell and why you sell it.
In this next episode of Mondays with Mindi, we talk about how to weave this component into your profile, so that it feels LESS like a sales pitch and MORE like a mission statement.
How Your LinkedIn Profile Kickstarts the Lead Generation Process
You scheduled a time with a photographer to get a professional headshot.
You hired a designer (or made good use of Canva) to create a branded header.
You completely filled out your contact info section with links to all the things.
You even managed to add a section that says “book a call with me here.”
But, nothing is happening on your calendar. No calls are showing up. Nobody is reaching out to find out more about you or your services.
You may feel like you did everything right, but something is obviously wrong.
What many personal branding and “LinkedIn gurus” don't tell you is that it takes more than having a somewhat complete profile to start generating leads with your LinkedIn profile.
As an expert, you're either looking for your next dream job, trying to attract new prospects for your business or building thought leadership on LinkedIn.
The common denominator is that you're selling (in some way) in every one of these scenarios. We went deep into the topic of selling on last week’s livestream -- so give that one a look if you’ve got some roadblocks around sales.
If your profile doesn't communicate whatever it is that you're selling in a way that resonates with your people, you are not going to generate leads. It's that simple.
We're all on LinkedIn to sell something. Whether that's an idea, a process, a system, a product, a program, a service, a book -- you name it -- you must learn how to create a profile that lets potential buyers or clients know exactly what you sell and why you sell it.
Let’s have a frank discussion about how to weave this component into your profile, so that it feels LESS like a sales pitch and MORE like a mission statement.
Are you ready? Let’s do this!
Your LinkedIn Profile is Not a Website About Page
Too many experts treat their LinkedIn About section as if it’s a bio, or they skip it altogether.
I have worked with a number of people inside my programs and one-on-one where they didn’t have an About section at all.
Or, they simply cut-and-pasted the executive summary from their resume or their professional company bio or even their board bio into this section. Yikes!
If you’re just starting out, you may have just copied over your About page from your website to LinkedIn and thought that was good enough.
But, it’s not.
Your LinkedIn About section is not a bio, not an executive summary, not a website page.
If you’ve followed me for long, you’ve likely heard me say that your LinkedIn headline is your first impression, and your About section is your second impression.
You may have a standout headline, but if your About section does not support that headline or give more information about what you actually do, how you got there, if you can help them and why they should even care…
…you’ve got some work to do!
I challenge you to pull up your About section now as we’re talking through things today.
Take some digital notes, maybe write down two or three things that you can change on your About section as a result of this session.
Ready? Let’s go.
Tell Your Professional Story in Your About Section
So what’s the problem? As you’re scanning through your About section, you’re going to notice a flow of information.
I want you to close your eyes for just a moment and mentally put on the persona of your marketing persona, target audience, tribe member, book reader -- or whomever you want to find and read your profile.
What are they thinking as they land on your profile?
Why did they come to take a peek at your profile?
Did they come across a piece of engaging content?
Did someone shout you out in a post, and they wondered who you were?
Maybe they looked up a keyword in a LinkedIn search and found you?
Or did they do a Google search for your name because they were already interested in your work?
Are they a recruiter or hiring manager trying to determine who makes it to the next round?
When you really get into their heads and try to see things through THEIR eyes, you’ll notice a shift in your perspective as you try to troubleshoot what needs to be fixed in your About section.
No matter what your profession or whether you’re a business owner or a careerist or trying to get on boards or simply looking to build thought leadership… you should have someone in mind.
I’ll do the exercise with you and use my profile as an example.
If we want our profile to resonate with people, we must be able to understand them and their motivations.
When we’re first starting out, we may not have that level of understanding, but it comes with time and practice. If you’re struggling with this exercise, that’s okay. It shows that you’re working hard to learn more about your audience.
Hint: I like to look at some other competitors or peers in the space to see how they effectively (or sometimes not so effectively!) manage to tell a good story in this section.
3 Things to “Tell Us” in Your About Section
If you want to succeed on LinkedIn and actually grow your business, get to that next rung in your career, attract your potential customers, get a book deal or land a spot on that interview show… you must learn to get comfortable with selling yourself, your ideas and your services.
That starts in your LinkedIn headline, but it moves into your LinkedIn About section. Even if you can write a great headline, you must be able to craft a solid About section that speaks to your audience on a deeper level.
#1 - Tell Your Professional Story
You need to be able to tell a good story in this section that helps your audience understand how you got from there to here. It shouldn’t be a biography - you’ve only got 2600 characters for this section - but it needs to make sense.
What you don’t want to do is to put your company’s About page in this section where we just see a TON of stuff about your company, the services you offer, and how to book a call.
This About section is about YOU -- not your company -- so make that distinction very clear.
Even if you’ve had a number of different jobs throughout your career (who hasn’t?), it should make sense how you ended up where you are now.
I like to think through my professional story about once per year because it tends to shift over time and how I want to tell it.
Takeaway: What’s the thread that weaves through your professional story? Be sure to emphasize that thread in this section.
#2 - Tell Us What You Offer
This is where it gets a bit tricky because I just told you NOT to put your company’s About page in this section.
But, you want people to immediately get a sense for the type of work you do, the types of customers/companies you work with, and the projects you’ve worked on.
For example, if you’re a marketing consultant, it’s important to mention your agency work, the types of clients you specialize in working with, the types of results you generate for them, and why this work matters to you.
If you’re a job seeker looking to jump from your manager level to a director level position, you’d want to still treat your profile About section in a similar way. Let us know what types of “director level” work you’ve done in your current roles and highlight all the areas where you’ve succeeded in current or past positions at that higher level.
Don’t worry about being too salesy here! Be honest about what you offer, what you deliver, how you help people, and the work you’ve accomplished.
On LinkedIn, we expect that EVERYONE is putting their best professional foot forward. This is not considered brash or arrogant - it’s simply letting people know about your professional accomplishments.
Takeaway: Look at your profile About section to be sure it’s talking about what type of work you do or how you’ve helped people inside your company. Be specific. Use the right keywords.
#3 - Tell People What to Do Next
This may seem like an obvious (or not so obvious) thing to do, but you want to be very intentional about telling people who come across your profile how to engage with you.
Do you want them to message you on LinkedIn? Or connect with you?
Would you prefer they book a call on your calendar?
Maybe you want them to explore your portfolio of work in your Featured section?
You might want to grow your email list, so you direct them to a good resource that might help them.
Yes, this is “selling” in some capacity because your intention is to get them to take ONE action step towards you if they are a good fit for your services or would benefit from connecting with you.
I always recommend ending your About section with ONE good call to action -- never more than two -- because you want them to know exactly how you prefer to take things forward.
Play to your strengths here, and don’t use someone else’s CTA if that doesn’t feel right.
For example, I have some LinkedIn Accelerators who are not consistent in checking their LinkedIn messages, so they list their direct email address in this section.
Others like to put a link to a Calendly page to book a call with them.
If you’re like me, you’ll ask people to connect with you on LinkedIn.
Takeaway: Figure out which call to action you want to use in this section. If you have more than one there now, streamline this section to strip away all of the other CTAs and drive them to the most important way to connect with you.
Those three tips will get you started on the right path with your LinkedIn About section, but there’s definitely more nuance that goes into creating an effective About section for your LinkedIn profile. Spend some time reading your About section and then marinate on it for a while. What’s missing? What resonates? What needs to be updated?
If you’re ready to dial in that About section once and for all, so you can start getting new leads or land your next opportunity in 2022, join me inside The 90-Minute LinkedIn Profile program where we’ll get your LinkedIn profile up-and-running in just 90 minutes! We’ll discuss exactly how to make LinkedIn the number one source for new business opportunities using your LinkedIn profile.
What additional questions do you have about getting more prospects with your LinkedIn profile? Leave them below in the comments or shoot me a private message👇. I’m happy to answer them!
