Social Selling Tips n Tricks - Live Greenroom Broadcast 18 August 2021

Hello there, welcome to our Social Selling Tips and Tricks Room. This is episode 6, brought to you by the Social Selling Warrior. Today we will have a conversation around the art of social selling. I hear a lot of conversation and talk about social selling, and a lot of people come to me and ask me what it is and what do I mean by it. We know that LinkedIn has defined social selling under 4 pillars, and those 4 pillars are: 1, about creating a professional profile; 2, connecting with the right people; 3, engaging with insights; and 4, building relationships. What I want to do today is drill that down to 3 simple concepts in order for us to better understand what social selling is. So let's give it a whirl. Let's get going. But before we get going, I think it's important to position social selling in where it rightly belongs. In that— by that I mean, in trying to understand the landscape we're referring to when we're talking about social selling. So we'll look at some stats that have been produced by the digital media organization that does a lot of research into social media. We see that social media for brand research is highest with the 16 to 24-year-olds and also 35 to 44-year-olds. Further research done by the Accent Group identified that The modern buyer is 60% more informed than ever before. They've done their research even before people contact them for sales. The modern buyer knows what they want. Also, the modern buyer values content, and that's why that 3rd pillar of social selling Insane important, which is about engaging with insights. And the modern buyer is willing to pay 30% more for superior buying experience, and 53% of the purchase decisions is centered on the buying experience. So what social selling can do for you is support that selling experience. Chief Marketer did a survey in 2019 and they talked about the most effective social channels for your brand. 74% selected LinkedIn, 51% Facebook, 35% Twitter, 29% Instagram. So as you can see, when people are looking to deploy a particular platform for their brand, LinkedIn is the go-to vehicle for those in the business-to-business marketing space. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about what then, what social selling is. We know that 75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level executives are influenced by social media when making purchasing decisions. Nearly 2/3 of social sales professionals and 90% of the top performers use social networks. We also know that leaders in social sales attract 45% more sales than their peers and 51% more likely to reach their quotas. So in summary, Those professionals that adopt a social selling strategy as part of their branding approach achieve more targets, are much more successful in their sales processes, but also have got a much wider exposure of their brand. Back to some stats. So we looked at LinkedIn and focusing on the country where I reside, in Australia, we see that there's 11 million LinkedIn users in Australia. Out of those, we see that majority of those are male. 54.5% reported as males and 45.5% reported as female. Further to that, the most, most used social media platforms in Australia is led by YouTube and Facebook and then Messenger. LinkedIn comes within the middle tier of those particular platforms. So we've talked about the 4 pillars. Let's just drill that down to what I'll call the 3 E's of social selling. LinkedIn. And I like to talk in 3s because I think 3s allows you to, one, remember things easily, and 2, adopt and apply some of the strategies that are outlined. Research has shown that when conversations occur and those conversations entail not more than 3 aspects, humans are much more able to remember and recall those aspects. So what are the 3 E's of social selling as brought to you by the Social Selling Warrior? They are embrace, engage, and educate. Embrace is all about that first pillar, which is around creating a professional profile. Creating a profile that's going to showcase not only who you are but also who you represent. If you represent your own business, that is your banner. Also, but also, if you're working for someone, you might want to adopt a corporate banner as part of your personal branding. That's up to you. One thing I will emphasize throughout this conversation today is that Your LinkedIn profile is your personal profile, and therefore that will stay with you and should stay with you wherever you go. So what I mean by that is that you are your brand. You may work for someone, but, uh, you will remain with that brand forever. So when developing that particular profile, you need to consider a few aspects, and some of those aspects include the header and the picture that you need to adopt in relation to your profile. So, for example, a clear professional picture of you above the shoulders that people can actually see and understand who they're dealing with. Now, LinkedIn has also allowed for many of us to be able to develop a video story attached to that, a video cover story, so we can create a 30-second video that people can view as part of our profile picture. Your profile should have your name, I'm not a major advocate of people including other aspects in their name, as in your name and maybe a role you perform, or coach or consultant. It should purely be your name, and from what I understand, the LinkedIn terms of service articulate that it should only be your name. The profile should then also move on to talk about How you help people. A lot of profiles that I read talk about, I am the head of this, I'm the head of that, or, or consultant or director or co-founder. The profile should specifically include keywords around what you do, who you help, and how you help. If someone wants to see what your title is, they will scroll down to your experience section and be able to see your title, your position, your role. But the profile heading should articulate clearly what you do and how you help people. It could also include things like a hashtag you might use, or any other platforms you're on, an email address if you'd like, or other things like that. Make it easy for people to contact you. The About section is very important also when you come to embracing because it gives you an opportunity to outline in a bit more detail about what you're all about. One tip here is to write the About section in the I persona. That is, I have done this, I have done that. It allows you to be more personal and allows you to be able to convey in a very more intimate way what you've achieved and what you've been able to help with. Other aspects of your profile include the features section, which is a very, very important section to showcase some awards, some certificates, but also some significant milestones like a keynote presentation or a major white paper you've produced. And the third part about the Embrace section, which is very, very powerful and at times is much overlooked, is the Recommendations section. LinkedIn is predominantly you talking about yourself. There's only one section in the LinkedIn profile that allows someone else to talk about you. The social proof of your profile will be in the recommendations section. Seek and give recommendations as often as possible. Try to have those recommendations refreshed at least every once every 6 months or 8 months. It is important to you, your brand, and your profile that people can read and see How you've helped and what you've done. Oh, so we've got Mac there. Mac's just joined us. Hello, Mac. I'll just I'll bring you up if you want. I'm just doing a bit of a articulation of my three E's of social selling. So you can okay. Yep, there you are, Mac. Welcome, Mac. How are you?

Hey, Con. I'm very good. Thank you. How are you? Good.

I didn't see you. How long have you been there listening to me? You've been there for a while?

Probably about 5, 6 minutes or so.

Okay, okay, great. Well, yeah, I thought since I'm on, I'm going to do a recording of a podcast, so we might as well share some information and give people a bit of a snapshot around some of the training that I deliver.

Excellent.

How you been? How's your week been? Any highlights for you in your social selling endeavors this week?

It's been an interesting week, to be fair. I've been seeing a lot of people talking about the creator mode on LinkedIn and whether that's something they should be keeping on or switching off. And there seems to be a a big change in how the engagement is working on LinkedIn, which is a bit bizarre. But, you know, as you've noticed recently, I posted a personal post for the first time in a while, just showing, you know, some of the local destinations that, you know, and getting some peace of mind and getting out there and having a break from social media as well, which I did yesterday for the first time in a while. time in a while. But yeah, the engagement on that's been phenomenal. Yeah.

But we do find personal posts can get that type of traction, can't we, Matt? We know, you and I know that when you outline something personal, which is a bit of a break from the norm, people do tend to spend a bit more time dwelling on that post and maybe interacting with it because it's just something different.

It is indeed. But I think one of the major things that I found since the beginning of this whole pandemic situation is that social media itself, especially LinkedIn, has changed quite dynamically in the sense that pre-pandemic, you know, LinkedIn was very much prim and proper. You know, people hid behind the photograph and the title.

Yep.

And now people are longing for that connection. And they really, as an example, you and I have now known each other for probably coming up to a year and we've never met, but I feel like I've known you all my life.

Same.

But so many friendships and great connections and business collaborations have come through LinkedIn as a result of people being able to just be a bit more transparent, I guess, is the best way of putting it.

Yeah, and can I add to that, Matt? You're right, you make a very good point. I think also the expectation of having to be polished and packaged is not as much as what it was in the past. So if I was to create a video, I had to make sure that I, you know, had packaged it and polished it. But now I just go on there and just record myself, as you might have seen, while I'm walking and talking, and just put something out there. I think people are more comfortable with seeing that authentic conversation occurring. As opposed, like you said, in the past, LinkedIn was a bit of that prim and proper professional network. And people just feel like they can just engage now in a more comfortable way, which I think is a great thing for the platform. I really do.

I really do as well. Because one of the things that I found, I mean, from a health perspective, as an example, in the beginning, I always felt kind of obligated to make sure that I was at a desk and I was in the right attire and try and put on this facade of this, what business perception has been for so many years. And the beauty of it is that I've started seeing things like, you know, the beauty of these type of audio rooms where people are having more freedom to jump in their car and be on Clubhouse or on the Green Room or on a LinkedIn Live and still be out there communicating with people or walking and talking on a Zoom. So, they're looking after their health and their mental health and well-being. And that's becoming more acceptable, so much so that I even tested a couple of weeks ago when I did my first road trip in well over a year. And I was sitting on the beach while my family were out, you know, in the waves. And I was sitting having a Zoom meeting for half an hour in a beach chair, enjoying the sunshine, but still having a proper business conversation. So, I think perception to how we're doing things is starting to create a new way of communication, a new open way to Actually, you know what, we are living human beings and things are happening. You know, kids will walk into the room while you're on a Zoom meeting, as we've seen on national news, and, you know, things like that. So all of a sudden, there's this great mix.

And tell me, tell me, you did put a virtual background when you were doing that Zoom meeting from the beach or one of an office or something?

Ironically, this time I did to start with, And then I said to the client, I said, like, you know what, I'm actually going to turn this off because I want to give you some inspiration. Because he literally can work from anywhere, but subconsciously he had told himself that he had to be in a physical office somewhere looking after his clients. And at the end of the day, all the client wants to know is that you can serve them and solve their problem regardless of from of where you are. And if you can be sitting, you know, somewhere, especially with this new world where people are working from home, I think there's going to be a massive change over the next, you know, 5, 10 years to seeing people literally remotely just working from anywhere in the world, just traveling and having a whole new lifestyle. So that's one of the major changes.

Yeah, you're right. That's why I think you make a good point, Mac. You know, I think platforms like LinkedIn are really going to go gangbusters, whatever, whatever better word, because, um, people are going to be more comfortable to work in those sort of remote locations. They're going to have a thirst for some connection and for some integration. And now we see also with, uh, I think just, uh, this week, I think we saw LinkedIn launch its, uh, meet, um, live video button or video meeting button, which I used the other day with a, with a client, and it worked magnificently. We just couldn't believe it, the quality of the, the video, and to be able to just to get go into a private message and just click on the link and to either start a meeting straight away or schedule one. I think it's magnificent. I can see that developing further. I can see that being enhanced by being able to share screens and do things like that. Before I start, I think we need to congratulate LinkedIn on what it's done here.

Yeah, I think so too. I think there's been a massive change in how we do things. Um, I have tested the, the video button and unfortunately, uh, got disconnected a few times. So, you know, it's still in its early stages, so still a lot of playing around to do, but, uh, very exciting to see.

Um, yeah, no, I didn't have that experience, so I suppose maybe it was a bit different for me. Now, Mac, you talked earlier on when you came on, you talked about, uh, the conversation that's happening around Creator Mode, and I've been Part of the conversation, and so you. And I saw a post again from our dear friend John Aspirin, and I'm waiting for, and I know we're all waiting for Richard Vanderbloem's algo report. I think he calls it the algorithm report. It's a bit like waiting for the what is it? The frozen oranges report, which you remember from from trading places with Dan Ackroyd. I know why I thought of that. But anyway, it's like the the frozen oranges report. But this is the algo report from Richard Vanderbloem. I think it's going to throw some light on a lot of those things. But give me your perspective on Creator Mode. And I suppose where you stand is important, but more importantly, do you think there's going to be some value in it going forward, if not immediately?

Are you talking about Creator Mode itself or—

Creator Mode itself. We know it's been put up for a reason by LinkedIn and it's supposed to support creators. It's supposed to Expand your reach by the use of the hashtags you articulate and all that. What's your perspective on it? I mean, is your experience similar to others on the platform? Because my experience has been a bit mixed. I've not had that much of an impact, but I've not done much testing. Is your experience similar?

So, I've done quite a bit of testing over the last probably How long has Creator Mode been available here in the UK? Probably about about two and a half, three months. And I've posted what by turning Creator Mode off. I've posted with turning it on. And to be fair, Creator Mode I haven't seen do the boost for creators as the rollout in kind of. Said that it would. So many of the users that we've been working with have seen a downturn in the engagement rates as well as, you know, simple things like views and visibility. So it's been a strange one because we've been playing with multiple array of, you know, content from having a look at polls to images to videos to um, you know, text-based posts and just having a look at how they're doing in comparison with having Creator Mode on and off. Um, and, and I know there's been a massive increase over the last year and a half of, um, the number of people that are posting. I mean, it's, it's, it was around the 1% marks, now closer to the 2% mark, uh, which means it's doubled, which means there's more great content and not so great content on LinkedIn to contend with when you, um, you are in that posting stream. But even, even with that, I've seen a drop with a lot of people of about anywhere between kind of 60 and 70% in comparison to what it was prior to Creator Mode launching. So some of the people I've worked with that were getting 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 views, 50 to 200 comments, seem to be getting a lot less than that, than what they were previously. So that's my experience so far, but the jury's still out. So I also can't wait for Richard's results to come out. And either confirm or, you know, throw that idea out the window.

Yeah, no, you're right. I think we're all waiting for that one. I think John has done some— John Esperian has done some testing. So guys, if you're not following John Esperian or Richard Vanderbloem, if you listen to this podcast on replay, do yourself a favor, like they say, and follow those 2 gentlemen. Really good posts and also provide some great insight, and they do quite a bit of testing. Richard does extensive, and John does quite a bit of, um, A/B testing and always publishes his results. Always have, um, always have great value in reading John's posts, um, and also Richard's. But also, um, there's also a couple others in Europe that I connect with, in Guy and Gregory and Thomas, and they're all really good. LinkedIn and Mick, and Mick Adam, of course. Is there any others you know, uh, um, Mac, in the European stage of LinkedIn that you would recommend to our listeners to follow on LinkedIn for their content and for their insights into the platform?

I think you've covered quite a few there, Con. On the European front, Richard van der Blom is top of the list. John is definitely up there. On the— on the— there are a few others internationally I know that are worth looking at the content, but there's a massive mix on— and I'm terrible with names, so— Yeah, no, there is. I'll revert to you in a couple of minutes as soon as my head goes from blank to going through, because there are quite a few really phenomenal No, you're right, you're right.

There is a few. There's probably some also in the, um, the United States now. I have friends in the USA. I think people like Brenda Malloy, I like her content. Also, um, Michelle Griffin, I like her content. Uh, there's a couple of good ones in probably. I think there's another lady called Del, Della, or Del, one of those. I can't remember the surname, but there's a couple of, uh, good ones.

Del James.

Yeah, yeah, she's UK, isn't she? Del James, I think.

She is indeed. She's very much corporate.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Double drive, GBS. There's another one. So I'm just confusing all of them, but there's quite a few out there. But it's good to—I mean, not about you, Mac—but I look and read a lot of that sort of content, and I then maybe adopt and see how that impacts on what I'm doing. I'm always curious to see what my fellow LinkedIn, you know, trainers, coaches. Gurus, whatever you want to call them these days, are doing. Because I think it's, uh, we can all learn from each other. And the experience of one, uh, whether it be with a particular client or with a particular piece of content, is always great to share with, um, with the rest of us. Because we all learn from each other. Not one of us— and I always say to people, I think LinkedIn is a bit like that KFC where they've got a secret recipe but they never tell us what it is. So it's up to us to sort of try to discover and unpack and try to see what some of these secret recipes are that are built into the algorithm and into the platform for us then to be able to leverage it and use it in the best way we can. I mean, after all, it is free. Uh, we don't— many of us don't have to pay much to get onto it and do something onto it and create a brand and get some leverage off that brand. So, um, therefore I can understand what they're trying to do in trying to create a model that will allow people to move on to the next step, which is buy a premium service of some sort or do something else or create an ad of some sort. But, um, I think as a free platform, I think it does a good job and does it very, very well.

It definitely does indeed. And, um, yeah, I think, uh, it's underestimated as a, as a platform by a lot of business owners and, and executives. And I'm starting to see a lot more senior corporates moving into starting to understand the magic that is available if done properly.

No, you're right. I was on a sales webinar this afternoon. I think I'll put a post up tonight. I think one of the things I did say there today is, and this is where it's all changing, especially those in sales roles, that we are starting to move away from that sort of incentive-based of hitting targets and employers in sales roles and moving also to including other measures. And one of those other measures is about how expansive is your network, how much sort of thought leadership are you sharing, how much brand awareness are you creating for the company you're working for, for your own, or for the brand that you're advocating. So I think those type of things will slowly creep into the KPIs of various salespeople, and we will start adding those as measures of success to those other existing traditional measures of quotas and targets and so forth. I think that's where LinkedIn is really going to start hitting the mark and a lot more sales leaders and managers will start waking up to what LinkedIn can provide to them as a brand and as an avenue to sell more to their customers.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think if you look at You know, a lot of corporates. I was talking to a few sales leaders recently, and you know, we were comparing notes to what you know we were doing you know ten fifteen years ago. And if we knew the power of LinkedIn as we know it today, that you know we'd never be struggling for business as we as we used to do then. And you know, and at those stages, we we would. You know, go out and, and, uh, you know, knock on business doors and go and, uh, you know, profusely network all over the place to try and, uh, you know, get those leads and connections in. And LinkedIn has just made it so easy with products like Sales Navigator to be able to find your target audience, you know, go and engage with them and connect with them and start a conversation, you know, and, and massively cut down all the legwork that we used to have to do. So, you know, very underestimated. Any sales force out there or company who is trying to do business development, you know, if they're not using it, it's a massive part of, you know, tool sets that they're missing.

Yeah, you're right. We have changed a lot in relation to the way we do sales. And again, that's the story. Again, I was talking to— I was talking about it and you make a good point because we have Looking back years ago where we saw the platform where it was, it was traditionally that sort of job seeker platform where if you're looking for a new opportunity, you'd go on LinkedIn and update your profile, and that way, um, hopefully you'd get headhunted or a recruiter would find you. How that has changed in the last 4 or 5 years has just been amazing. And LinkedIn, I think, has woken up to it and has actually morphed the platform into becoming one of those sort of professional networking, business-to-business sort of opportunities. Platform where it still serves the traditional job seeker and the recruiter, and it still does that in its own unique way. But also, it also has that dual ability to be able to serve the sales professional, to be able to prospect and to be able to seek out and identify individuals, nurture those relationships, and to obviously and hopefully move those off to a social selling space of creating a conversation offline. I think credit to LinkedIn in how it's done those 2 things in parallel, but also has moved the needle quite a bit from being a pure job-seeking platform to also now supporting sales professionals. Would you agree, Matt?

100%. You've covered it so well there.

Yep. Good, good. All right, so anything else? Any other highlights? We saw that LinkedIn brought in the video aspects. We've seen conversations on Creator Mode. What we haven't seen a lot of is a conversation on the video cover story. I know it's probably not been rolled out to as many. The ones that you've seen, the video cover stories, that's where people can click on a profile picture of a LinkedIn profile and get a 30-second video. The ones you've seen, Mac, what's your view of them so far? You've been impressed? Can people do a lot more with them? What's your gut feeling?

I still, I still think there are a lot of people who don't even realize they've got it. Um, you know, I speak to people quite often and they go, oh yeah, I've seen these things, like this new little plus thing there. But, uh, and it's amazing that, you know, I'm one of those people who, if there's, if there's something new, um, like John Hesperian as an example, you know, noticing some of the detail that he's noticed recently with Just the icons, if you click on them on the mobile where they change and like the little house has a chimney on as an example, you know, then I go and explore and I want to find out more. And a lot of people are they they're afraid to try and that they're going to break it, if that makes sense. And I speak to a lot of people; they go, it's it's very you know it it it's not as straightforward to use the platform and and therefore a little bit more. I guess reserved with using these things. But that creator— sorry, the COVID story is it's such a powerful, simple tool. Key thing is making sure that your video is 29 seconds, not 30, otherwise it doesn't upload for some reason.

Good point.

So, you know, there may be people that have given up because they've gone, I've recorded 30 seconds and it hasn't worked. It can be as simple as that. But, you know, it's a great opportunity to just do that elevator pitch and just— and you don't, you know, you can change it anytime. So don't think that it's a one done for, you know, done for full-time process. It's something you can update.

That's something I've got to do. I haven't updated it yet. I've really been thinking about making— I've got to find a day that I'm dressed up well, had a shave, and just, you know, and with lockdown now, I haven't been able to have a haircut. So my hair is going to be everywhere. But anyway, I'll do it soon enough because I think the first one I did I did in the second take, and I think, uh, I need to go back and revisit and do a little bit more professional. So when I was asking that question to you, I was hoping you're gonna say, Con, yours is crap, because it is. But, uh, I need to really look at mine and update mine because, um, I think I can do a lot better. But like anything, I'm, I'm like, be like you, I like to go and then have a go and, and sort of do it first up and see what kind of reaction I'm gonna get, and then go back and revisit. Like I revisited my LinkedIn banner. I try to revisit that every 6 to 8 weeks and try to change it around a bit and refresh it because I think it's good for people to sort of see the profile pic but also see a different sort of banner articulating something different or about maybe what I'm presenting, a bit of a webinar that I might be going to or a session that I'm running. Keeping in mind that your branding is very important, so things like your hashtag or your email address, all those things are important to be part of that banner. But refreshing that banner, I think every 6 to 8 weeks is good to sort of change around, so when people come across your profile, they have a second look, and I think that's what video cover story does too. I think the video cover story allows people to have a second look at your profile, and we know nowadays, we know that LinkedIn is rewarding dwell times, whether it be on your profile or on your content, so the more people can dwell on something you've put out there, the better for you and the better for your brand, for your reach. So I will revisit my cover story. I'll give you my undertaking. I'll revisit my cover story and go from there. Okay, well, it's a short one today. Did you have anything else you want to highlight to our listeners, Mac? Anything you've come across? Any thoughts, ideas, any new tips, tricks that you'd like to highlight before we close up?

I think, Con, um, what, you know, just based on what you were saying then, um, my sound might have changed because I'm, uh, multitasking and, uh, heading off to my first face-to-face meeting, so that's going to be a bit strange. But, um, when you mentioned, you know, things like your cover story, your banner, your photo, all those things, uh, one of the things that, you know, it's a point that a lot of people kind of miss out on is the fact that it's not permanent. You know, it doesn't have to be a fix that I've— you know, so many people you go on and their profile pictures, um, and you ask them how long it's, it's been since they've updated, and it's in most cases it's years. Um, and, uh, you know, as you say, every time you've got that opportunity to update either a photograph, a banner, or your cover story, it's, uh, it's a, it's a refresh on your— and a reason for for people to come back to your profile. And I love it when I spot somebody who's just updated their banner or their photograph, because for me it stands out straight away and it's like, ah, okay, what's happening? What's changed? What's new in your world? It just keeps it fresh. So, you know, just that in itself is such a powerful and such a doable, easy change that we can do at any stage. You know, it doesn't say, You know, make your change or photograph, and you only have one opportunity to do that. So, you know, take advantage and go and play is, I think, the biggest tip that I can give people.

Yeah, that's a really good tip, Mac, and congratulations again to your first face-to-face. I must say I am envious, but we'll leave that conversation for another time. But that is awesome. But unlike Facebook where it stops you from updating— I know I tried to update my name in Facebook says you've done it the last 60 days, you've got to wait 60 days. I think LinkedIn allows you to update when and how you feel is required. So that's the beauty of LinkedIn. It's a bit more flexible in that way. And totally agree with what you said there, Mac. I think it's a really good point that our listeners can take away. If you come across something you don't— you know, you did something and you slept on it, and next day you think, you know what, it doesn't look as good as I think, or I've had some feedback, or I've had some, you know, input, or just, you don't feel— just go and change it. I mean, there's nothing— you're not stuck with it. No one is gonna wed you to it. As long as they're gonna say, hey, Con, what did you change your banner again for? It's your profile, it's your banner, it's your brand. You need to nurture that brand and take care of it as much as possible. So if you don't feel comfortable with what you've got on there, go and change it. Yes, it's finding the time and it's finding the opportunity to do it like I am finding with the COVID story, but it's your brand and I try to refresh my brand, like I said, 6 to 8 weeks, even changing the creator mode hashtags, looking at what other options are available to me, what other things LinkedIn's releasing, trying to, you know, write a blog if I can, an article, trying to upload some video content. So it's up to you to add in as much as possible. Now, people always say to me, I'm sure you get a Mac, How much time should I spend? Well, it's really how much you want to make from your brand, as in how much you want to position your brand. It's up to you. Now, you know, you can range from 1 hour a day, you can range from 3 or 4 hours a day, or you can range from 10 hours a week. It's really up to you and how much you want to put into it. But remember this, like Mac and I have demonstrated, the more time you put into it, the more you'll get out of it, whether it be from engagement Profile views, potential business opportunities, conversations, and so forth. So, Mac, would you, would you have anything to add?

Yes, I would, Con. So, so you make a great point, you know, what you put in is what you get out. But what I would suggest is, you know, anybody listening to this is, you know, get hold of Con or a professional that you can work with that can give you some guidance on strategy, because unfortunately I mean, what a lot of people do is they assume they know what they know and they understand the platform and they'll go and spend hours and hours on LinkedIn and get no results. And if you go and work with somebody like yourself, Con, where in the beginning of this podcast, you were going through some of the very important things on your profile. Profile as an example. And a lot of people will spend a ton of time on outreach on LinkedIn, but not realize that every time somebody looks at their profile as a result of them reaching out, they may be letting themselves down in the sense that some, you know, do all this hard work, all these hours on LinkedIn. And then somebody lands on the profile and goes, oh, okay, well, they've got no banner, the photograph, I can't make out the guy's face. Maybe this is not professional. Or they look at the profile and it hasn't been updated and it still has his previous job title and it's talking about something else in the message and it just doesn't— it's not congruent and therefore there's a disconnect. So just thinking about saving yourself time, go and work with a professional that can really cut that down and give you a strategy to work towards so that at least the time you're investing, you get a much higher rate of return off the back of that.

Right. That's some great tips there though. So to our listeners, get someone to help you. Find someone you know, like, and trust. And more importantly, that they also know the platform and have had some experience and some traction, some— I suppose some success, if you want to put it that way, in what they've done with other people. And get some help and assistance, because we know, both Mac and I know, uh, from our experience that a powerful profile will get you, uh, exposure and brand awareness. So when you start engaging and creating content, which is the next step of your process and the next part of your, um, evolving on the platform, which is to create content and continue to engage, interact, when people come back to your profile They'll be saying, that's someone I would like to connect with and talk further with. Mick, I want to say thank you very much. We've come to an end to our podcast and live green room for another week here on Social Selling Tips and Tricks. Our friend Craig is on holidays this week. It must be holiday season over there in the UK, but I see you're working hard.

Yeah, it is. It's a bizarre one because most August is pretty much our peak summer season where everybody goes on holiday. So I'm taking day trips and still working my backside off because of the fact that I'm launching new programs and various bits, trying to add value.

Good.

And ironically, you know, that's a tip in itself. When everybody else is on holiday, that makes, you know, that's a lot less content being put out, which means a lot less competition that you have to have on LinkedIn at the same time. So, you know, if you are able to have the luxury of being able to have your holidays at different times to other people or, you know, spread it across, you know, it's still a great investment of time. But at the end of the day, I still always say family first.

That's a great tip. I know you're exactly what I think too, Mac. That is a great tip, listeners. Um, always being ahead of your competition. And we know it's, uh, holiday time in the, um, in the Northern Hemisphere there to our, you know, Europe and so forth. So if you can get some content out now, there's not going to be as much of those in your time zone, in your hemisphere, producing content, and therefore a great opportunity to get your, your brand out there, some of your thought leadership out there. To start nurturing those relationships and then be ready, uh, when they're back. Because even though people are on holidays, trust me, people are checking their Facebooks, they're checking their Instagrams, and they're checking their LinkedIn. They might not be engaging as much, maybe it's not as often, but they are checking it. And if they see you, they'll save you, and they'll come back to you and say, I heard this, or I saw that. So great point by Mac. So Mac, in closing, Where can people tap into some of these magnificent programs you're setting up and how can they take advantage of them, Max? So let's do a bit of a shameless plug here for you.

Brilliant, Con. For me, it's fairly simple. If they go to thelinktinexpert.com, that'll give you several different options. You can book a free virtual coffee with me, you can book a free session to come and attend one of my my sessions, see what it's like, you know, feel whether it's a thing for you. And you can connect with me on LinkedIn directly from that link as well. So everything's right there. Con, thank you so much for the opportunity to be on here and some great little nuggets out there today. The one thing I just would leave everybody with is please take action, even if it's just one tip. Most people will listen to things, walk away and go, oh no, that was really useful. But they won't go and apply and take action. And the difference between success and non-success is just that one word, action.

That's great. Thanks, Max. So there's our, there's our word for the week. We haven't had one in the past, but we'll have one this week. It's take action. Words of the week, take action and reap the benefits. And I'll add that one on to what Max said. So thank you, everyone. My name is Con Sotidis. I am the Social Selling Warrior. If you hashtag that or you look up the hashtag #SocialSellingWarrior, you should come across me on LinkedIn, and you can be able to find me on LinkedIn under Con Sotidis, LinkedIn Trainer and Social Selling Consultant. I help people leverage their brands in order to create opportunities for lead generation and opportunities to, to go on to have conversations to position themselves and their offerings in a one-on-one conversation To get sales. So thanks again. Uh, this is Social Selling Tips and Tricks Episode 6, uh, signing off. Please, uh, tune in again next Wednesday, 12 PM BST, live on Greenroom. Or if you miss us live on Greenroom, please, uh, go into your favorite podcast platform, search Social Selling Warrior, and you'll be able to find all our previous episodes, including this one. which will hopefully go up within 24 to 48 hours on your favorite podcast platform under Social Selling Warrior. Once again, everyone, we hope you're having a great day wherever you are, wherever you're listening to us. We hope you've enjoyed this particular podcast, and we hope, um, if you have any feedback, you can let us know. If there's any topics you'd like to talk about, just let Mac or I know on LinkedIn, and we'll be happy to take them up and have a conversation. Until next week. This is Conto Turtles, Social Selling Warrior, signing off, and we'll catch you next week.

See you, Mac. Thank you so much, Con. Talk soon. Talk.