If I told you that making a few tweaks to your LinkedIn profile could change your business, you'd probably think I'm crazy.
However, that's what happened to Abe Braha, a Sales Development Consultant. Abe and I met at an in-person networking event in Tel Aviv, Israel, where we both live.
He was frustrated. He was active on LinkedIn. He had a large network (7,000+ followers). He posted several times a week. And, he thought his profile was updated. Nonetheless, he wasn’t generating discovery calls for his business as a sales consultant.
Abe was eager to fix the problem, so approached me for my advice.
Abe had already filled out his profile
Abe's profile checked the typical boxes of what should be included in a profile. From the outside, you'd probably think his profile was already optimized.
However, I took a look at it and quickly noticed that it wasn't properly optimized for his role as a business owner and consultant.
I told Abe we have to start with his LinkedIn profile
As a business owner, your LinkedIn profile is the foundation of your LinkedIn presence. Without an updated profile, you can have the best content out there, but you will still struggle to generate leads. That's because your prospects won't fully understand what you do and what next steps to take.
When I told Abe we need to start with his profile, he was skeptical. So, I told him about the main opportunities I saw:
Headline: despite talking about the results he was achieving for clients, it wasn't clear how he was getting these results, leaving his audience confused about what he actually does.
About section: in his about section, he shared a broad overview of his work and relevant background and experience. However, he wasn't speaking directly to his ideal clients' pain points.
Cover image: his cover image was more clever than clear, and lacked a professional design. As a result, he wasn't able to clearly explain to his audience what he does and how he helped, let alone to build critical credibility to make startup founders trust him.
Once I shared my vision for how we could improve his profile, Abe was sold. So, I prepared recommendations for his profile through my "LinkedIn Profile Optimization" service and he quickly implemented them.
Before he even implemented the changes, he felt more clarity on who his business serves
As the first step of the process to optimize his LinkedIn profile, I asked Abe to fill out a short questionnaire about his business. Through this questionnaire, Abe realized that he needed to hone in on his positioning to focus on startups at a specific stage of growing their sales teams.
Filling out the questionnaire and process of reflection helped him understand his niche. As a result, he understood that the content he was writing wasn't appealing directly to these clients. So, he started writing content more tailored toward his ideal clients.
I've heard this same feedback nearly a dozen other clients. They say that the process of filling out the questionnaire transforms how they think about who they serve and provides clarity that extends far beyond the realms of their LinkedIn profile. It means that they:
Feel more confident introducing themselves at networking events
Pitch themselves more successfully on sales calls
Can more easily generate content ideas
Can fix their haphazard website copy
In addition to updating his profile, Abe drastically reduced his number of connections
During our chat at the networking event, Abe told me that he thought he knew something was wrong with his engagement metrics. Despite high-quality posts, he told me, he wasn't getting nearly the engagement he thought he should be getting.
I noticed that he had 7,000+ connections, and asked him how we had acquired so many connections. He explained that he had added random questions over the year in pursuit of reaching 10,000 connections.
I told Abe that I had a theory of what was happening: because his network was filled with irrelevant people, the LinkedIn algorithm was thinking that his content was unengaging, even though it was, in fact, engaging.
In other words, the algorithm was thinking this because so few people in his network found his content relevant. That's because, quite frankly, it wasn't relevant to them!
I told him I'd consider removing the "bulk" from his network so that his networking would focus specifically on these audiences:
Folks he personally knows (e.g. friends, family, past coworkers)
Potential clients
Those who influence his potential clients (i.e. industry experts, referral partners)
Abe acted on this advice and cut his network in half over the following week!
Abe finally started booking discovery calls
As I've shared, three changes occurred for Abe simultaneously:
He optimized his profile and clarified his positioning
He focused his content strategy to serve his ideal client
He cut his number of connections in half to focus on those most relevant to him
Within a week of making these changes, Abe experienced several meaningful changes. Here's how he described it:
"So first off, all of a sudden, [my content] started to reach the right people. And then I think I booked like maybe three or four calls in like the first week, even like the day after there was like a call that came in and I was like, this is so crazy.
It was obvious that I did something right because things just like flipped.... And then in terms of the actual posts themselves, engagements, impressions, those started going up also pretty much instantly, The algorithm started to actually see that the ratio from the impressions to engagements was healthier."
Updating Abe's LinkedIn profile changed his business
The process of optimizing his LinkedIn profile resulted in Abe clarifying his positioning, improving his content strategy, and booking discovery calls.
His updated positioning allowed him to step into his role as a Sales Development Consultant, refining his offers and more clearly explaining to prospects the value he offers.
Further, his optimized profile meant he could book calls, several of which resulted in signed contracts. And now, he knows that whenever he posts, his content is reaching the right people, enabling him to generate further demand for his services.
How to optimize your LinkedIn profile like Abe did
If you want to find leads on LinkedIn, optimizing your profile is the best first step to take. And like you saw with Abe's story, optimizing your profile can directly improve your lead generation efforts.
Many business owners find optimizing their LinkedIn profile intimidating, overwhelming, and unnecessarily time-consuming. I get it.
That’s why I created a service called a “LinkedIn Profile Optimization” where I optimize your profile for you.
Since opening my business in December 2023, I’ve provided this service to 80 and counting business owners.
Here’s how it works:
You fill out a questionnaire to tell me about your business (typically takes 30-60 minutes).
I ask you questions as needed to make sure everything is clear.
I create a document with all my word-for-word suggestions on your profile. My designer prepares simple designs for your cover image and featured section. Within 10 days, you'll have this document in your hands.
You review my feedback and we have up to 10 days of back and forth and implement the feedback using my step-by-step tutorial videos.
Get started by clicking here.
Kommentare