Daniel Alfon is an expert on using LinkedIn for business. He joined LinkedIn in early 2004 and has since published many articles and exclusive content about advanced LinkedIn strategies. 

Over the years, Daniel has helped countless business owners leverage their LinkedIn presence to get more leads. Last week on Creating Your Encore Career, he shared all about his journey and the exciting work that he is doing. He also shared multiple strategies for how you can use LinkedIn to boost your Encore Career. 

Three Simple Questions 

Daniel recommends you ask yourself three questions when first building your LinkedIn profile. They are as follows:

1. Who is my ideal reader on LinkedIn? 

 

2. What would I like those people to look for if they visit my profile? 

 

3. Am I making it as easy as possible for them to understand immediately that I’m part of the solution to their problem?

 

Use your answers to these questions to curate your profile.

 

Other Profile Features

 

There are other specific features Daniel recommends you include on your LinkedIn profile. The first is a banner.

 

A banner is a very easy way to stand out on LinkedIn. Think about the client you'd like to attract and then create a stunning visual that will make them instantly grasp why they need to read a bit more about you. 

 

The banner won’t make them understand everything but, as soon as you have a banner, most people will stay longer on your profile. This gives you a better chance of actually converting them into connecting with you or reaching out.

 

Additionally, ask what sort of questions all your prospects are struggling with. Create, produce, or curate content that focuses on these real-life needs and questions.

 

Some simple ways to do this include providing your prospects with a vague step that would move them from point A to point B, providing a logical next step for prospects, whether that’s a discovery call or gated content, and having a lot of educational content on your profile which then leads prospects into sales content.

 

Conversations With Leads

 

When a lead reaches out to you, first read their profile and the things they’ve shared. Come to the conversation with three or four questions. 

 

From there, you can tailor the sort of service you'd like to offer based on what they're looking for. This will make them want to work with you because you're designing the solution with them. 

 

This also makes you the only seller in their mind because you've never sold. You’ve only asked questions.