LinkedIn Training Success Stories
LinkedIn...You just never know!
Robert Clay invites me to link in. I don't know RobertI say "Sorry we don't know each other"
Robert responds saying he appreciates my position.
I reply thanking him for his kind words.
Robert invites me to a lunch
I accept and meet Robert.
We're now linked.
I also meet Carl.
Carl thinks we can do business
Carl comes to see one of my LinkedIn training courses.
He likes it and we're on the way to doing business.
Every relationship has to start somewhere, sometimes even with a negative!
A LinkedIn Groups success story...
"A colleague of mine posted an item on the Business Network North members group, asking if anyone would be interested in trialling and submitting feedback on a new data backup solution that we provide.
From this post, Mark Nolan from Mark 1 Business Systems agreed to trial the system and was highly impressed. He is now a paying client and endorsed the system at the last Business Network lunch.
He sent us a copy of his testmonial which is now on our web site and has a link back to his web site too!"
Tracy Barlow, 24/7 Uptime Limited
View Tracy's LinkedIn profile
Nikit Gangwani - MBA Student
"Based on some feedback I had shortlisted a bunch of Business Schools for the MBA programme in the UK. But I was aware that rankings and career agents don't always paint the right picture and wouldn't provide relevant information based on my profile and my requirements.
For this purpose, current students and the alumni were the appropriate set of audience to interact with and gather first-hand information. I joined individual Business School groups on LinkedIn and asked for relevant information from the members of those groups. People shared experiences at their respective schools and helped me with the relevant feedback I was searching for. This exercise spanned over a month and helped me shortlist the final list of b-schools I would apply to. It not only helped me in my school selection process but also grew my network with people whom I have never met."
View Nikit's LinkedIn profile
Nick Hodson of Jane Lewis Health & Social Care
"Through LinkedIn you may remember you very kindly introduced me to David at that large Manchester law firm a couple of months ago, I thought I would drop you an email to let you know how things have progressed.
The meeting with David was very positive, he is a very switched on guy, he gave me the names of two other people within the firm who may be interested in what we do, both meetings have now taken place, as of yesterday we are now their first port of call for Occupational Health from an employment law point of view, and their team who deal with claims resulting from acquired brain injury are very interested in using us for their Care Packages."
View Nick's LinkedIn profile
Can you make money on LinkedIn?
Story 1
"I asked a question on LinkedIn. Someone answered the question with a really good answer. Someone else was interested in my question, saw her answer and hired her. I don’t know if that was a $700 contract or a £2,700 contract, but by taking a few minutes and sharing her knowledge she got new business. Even if it where a £700 contract, she now had a new client (perhaps she could sell more stuff to that new client down the road) and hopefully an evangelist to spread some word-of-mouth goodness."Story 2
"I was doing a presentation at a law firm and an attorney said he belongs to his alumni group on LinkedIn. Someone started a group discussion that had nothing to do with law… if I remember correctly it was a discussion/question that had to do with an upcoming football game, and perhaps asking for hotel recommendations for that away game. This attorney simply responded with helpful information… someone else saw the response and said “oh, I kind of remember now that so-and-so (the person who answered the question) was an attorney, but I didn’t realize they did *that* type of law – I’m looking for that expertise right now!” Contact was made and a contract was signed – just from being helpful on a discussion in a group the attorney got business. I’m guessing the contract was worth more than £700"
LinkedIn is a tool – it’s a communication vehicle… it is not a get-rich-quick thing… the reason these people made money was because they were in the right place, with the right information, and accessible.
LinkedIn saves Microsoft £60k on recruitment costs
LinkedIn, a business oriented networking site, proved its high value when Microsoft asked its IT recruitment department to provide a team of IT specialists which will work to reverse-engineer viruses.Microsoft was not only able to get the best specialist IT skills from across Europe, it also saved £60,000 on recruitment expenses. According to Microsoft IT recruiter Declan Fitzgerald, he was supposed to get nine specialists with expertise in Assembly and X86 software languages.
Fitzgerald said that he would have struggled to search techies with these rare skills had he used the usual methods of advertising or hiring recruitment services. Through LinkedIn searches it was possible for him to fill seven positions out of nine.
According to Fitzgerald, skills in Assembly and X86 languages are quite rare and employed in the protection of hardware. Frequent virus attacks on sites prompted Microsoft to create a team to reverse-engineer viruses.
Fitzgerald added that since people with these skills could be found in Europe, LinkedIn helped in contacting these people in Romania and Finland. Microsoft could save £60,000 in direct recruitment fees. According to LinkedIn’s Director for Corporate Solutions in Europe Simon Kelly, the social media site registers one million members every 17 days. Ten million people in Europe are now members of LinkedIn.
He added that IT supplier HCL could save £300,000 on recruitment in a year using LinkedIn, while brewer SAB Miller which employed 120 people through LinkedIn saved £1.2 million
Find out more at www.microsoft.com
Kathy Steele - Desert Rose Design
Here’s how LinkedIn changed the way we did business
"I have to admit for a number of years I was under-utilizing the resources on LinkedIn. Recently our company has joined the conversation by embracing social media as part of our integrated marketing plan, and now we work with our clients to establish Web 2.0 strategies.
We use LinkedIn to leverage the experience of our group members, vet ideas, create new connections and re-establish relationships to increase sales and publicize the achievements of our clients and ourselves. We have even found that in our sales process, sending an InMail has garnered a much higher response rate than using email or phone contact. We have just found that when we send InMail vs email we have been getting a response in the same day where we may have had no response in the past. In addition, we have also been able to be more prepared for a meeting by viewing a contact’s profile in advance. This has had significant impact on the timetable of our sales cycle, particularly in the cases when we respond to a blanket RFP or quote.
More recently, we’ve also found ourselves on the speaking circuit more often thanks to a LinkedIn Poll. By responding to a LinkedIn Poll we were found by the Chicago Tribune who asked us to weigh in on social media best practices. Recognition in the article has helped secure three new speaking gigs, which wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
We are so impressed with the results we are spreading the word! We have been speaking to groups of CEOs, affiliations and chambers about how to use LinkedIn as well as other social media tools in their marketing mix. Social media messaging takes time and commitment, but the return has given us credible visibility and exciting new opportunities to present our capabilities to interested prospects."
View Kathy's profile here
Stuart Harris - Drive Training and Development
"I attended a Professional Speakers Association chapter meeting in Edinburgh near the end of June where one of the guest speakers was Will Kintish. Will gave a fascinating and stimulating talk about how to make the best use of the networking medium LinkedIn. He advised on a number of ways to improve your profile, how to build the quantity and quality of your connections and how to best avoid using proformatted invites/replies/introductions etc.
Since then, I’ve been updating my own profile and inviting new connections –no doubt, we all keep meaning to get round to it...and have created some LinkedIn Quick Tips, please feel free to share it with your colleagues or indeed your own LinkedIn Contacts."
Check out Stuart's LinkedIn profile here, or check out his website
Tim Kidson of Tim Kidson and Associates
This is one of the benefits of LinkedIn. My friend Tim Kidson posted this to the Kintish Business networking Skills Group. When people are like-minded they share their valuable thoughts with everyone.
"I'm a real online networking novice but thanks to Will and his take on Linked In I'm getting better. Here is my take on face to face stuff
Using great relationships
We need a strategy for developing great relationships where synergy, innovation and creativity between ourselves and others really can lead to business situations where one and one makes three or even four.
The first step has to be to do with getting out more. We need to choose the right ‘events’ both online and offline. It may be better spending two hours on Linked In for instance, than two hours at a breakfast meeting. We need to be relaxed, trying to get to know people gradually rather than ramming ourselves down their throat from the word go.
The second step is that we have to be clear about our own externally validated expertise. The words that we use to describe this expertise are absolutely essential because they convey our confidence, our sense of purpose and the benefits that we are offering to others. The sharper this particular arrow the more penetration we will have in the market place.
The third and final step has to be that we are the person we would like to do business with. I’m not talking about talent or personality or knowledge. I am talking about the things we look for in a business relationship with others. It does not matter what these values are because they are unique to everyone; this is not a judgement call.
But if for example, you value people that are open, honest, straightforward and transparent in the way that they behave, then that is the way you have to behave too!
No one can expect or deserve great relationships if they say they want one thing from others, when they themselves are at variance with this."
You can Link in with Tim here, or visit his website
Ben Taylor of Sector Group
Through LinkedIn, I was approached by a practising psychotherapist who already had established in markets closely linked to my target market. We have successfully worked together to develop business to our mutual benefit.
When I put out a search for recruits on LinkedIn, I received an overwhelming response and narrowed them down to five high quality candidates. One of these was appointed. One other is someone who I would like to offer a job too one day. As a result of the contact we made, he has introduced me to a number of people in his network.
Through setting up my LinkedIn network, I got connected to an old friend (we worked together ten years ago but had lost touch). It turned out he is now running his own research company, and bidding together we have now jointly won work worth over £200k. Another old contact saw through LinkedIn that I had changed jobs. I had done some minor consultancy for her three years ago. I ended up doing £100k of work for her organisation.
I also know for sure that two people have found jobs through referrals I’ve passed on, and a huge number of other people have made contact with useful individuals.
Aird & Berlis LLP - Canadian Law Firm
In an article from Professional Marketing, March 2009, Marketing Director Marla McAlpine reports she follows the partners' projects closely using social media. "The informality of Facebook probably makes it more appropriate for other kinds of law firms, but LinkedIn is a fantastic tool" she states. She is seeing a marked increase in the number of partners using it, and the fact that the eMarketing Association Network has 88,000 members, shows the potential for LinkedIn for professional people.