Author: tlburriss

Categories
LinkedIn Networking

Business Card Process

TLB Original image

I do not hand out business cards like they’re candy.

I remember way back in my past, my boss nearly peed his pants when he saw within a month I had handed out an entire box of 500 business cards. He immediately bought me another 1000. I’m sure most of those business cards ended up in the trash, a desk drawer or in a pile with 100’s of other business cards.

I’ve seen it many times. This may even be your desk. A bunch of business cards in a rubber band stacked up on the left or right side of your monitor. Maybe piles of cards in your desk drawer. How does this help anyone?

Today, I only give out my business cards when there is an intent or opportunity for a future conversation.

I’ll often say to the person, “Let me tell you my expectations when I give you my card. I expect you to send me an email and follow up to our meeting and if you are using LinkedIn, send me an invite to connect there.” No one has ever given my card back because of these expectations.

When I receive a business card from someone else, this is my process:

Step 1 – I put them into my personal contact database. I use Google Apps, so they go into my Google Contacts. I enter in their Name, Company Name, email address, phone number, maybe address and a note reminding me where/when we met. These contacts are synced to my phone, therefore I have access to them all the time & everywhere.

Step 2 – If they are relevant to my business, I may add them to my business contacts as well. Everyone I meet is not relevant to my business, however, many are.

Step 3 – I look for them on LinkedIn and send them an invite to connect. I always put a relevant and friendly note in the invitation.

Step 4 – I send them an email in context of where and how we met. If there is an intention for the next conversation I remind them of what we decided or I share dates/times so we can schedule.

Step 5 – If relevant I will look for them on Instagram and/or Twitter. Depending on the developing relationship I will follow them there. Sometimes, but not every time, I may look for them on Facebook and invite them to be friends there. I don’t do this for every new connection and we have had to laugh together in order for me to send a Facebook Friend Request.

Step 6 – I then throw away their business card. I now have their contact information in my contacts, possibly in my business contacts, we’re connected on LinkedIn and maybe following on each other on Twitter, Instagram and maybe even Facebook.

I do this every evening because I can’t tolerate a big pile of business cards to process. That would be overwhelming for me. A little at a time is far easier for me to process.

This activity helps me to connect at multiple points so I can stay aware of them and they of me.

It helps me to be able to stay top of mind with them as they see my content on social media.

I can use the social media connections to find even more people I may want to know about and to get introduced as needed.

Do you have a purposeful business card process? Could this process be useful for you?

Categories
LinkedIn

Do the work and LinkedIn will work for you

TLB Original image

Last week I wrote the article It’s a Journey, not a race. I hope you had a chance to read it.

As with any journey, you have to keep moving, otherwise, you’ll get nowhere.

I hear people say; “this LinkedIn thing does not work.” Usually, this is because they have not done any work using LinkedIn. You can’t just have a LinkedIn Profile and a LinkedIn Network. You have to work with them.

Another issue I hear from some people; “I don’t have time to use LinkedIn.” Again, LinkedIn will not work if you treat it as a ’sideline tool’ that you never get around to using.

Put one foot in front of the other, over and over and over again, this is how we successfully move through a journey. 

Consistently using LinkedIn, especially within other relevant business processes, is how you’ll get LinkedIn to work for you.

In order to do this using LinkedIn, you need to know what tasks you should consider doing. 

Look at this partial list of tasks:

  1. Edit your LinkedIn Profile (example my LinkedIn Profile)
  2. Send out new LinkedIn Invites (example from a 2nd/3rd level connection’s LinkedIn Profile)
  3. Accept new LinkedIn Invites
  4. Ask a LinkedIn Connection for an introduction to another (from LinkedIn Search)
  5. Withdraw old invites
  6. Send an initial message to new connections from their LinkedIn Profile (example my LinkedIn Profile)
  7. Search for relevant/interesting content (basic content search)
  8. Like, comment or share relevant content (from newsfeed)
  9. Post an article/video you found that may be relevant to your network (from newsfeed)
  10. Visit LinkedIn Groups or via Group Search (basic Group search)
  11. Research relevant LinkedIn Company Pages
  12. Research LinkedIn Members (search) (basic member search)
  13. Review latest Saved Search results (right side of Search Window)
  14. Respond to comments on your posts (from Notifications)
  15. Send out a few happy birthday/career anniversary/new job messages (from Notifications)
  16. Request a LinkedIn Recommendation (my recommend link)
  17. Write a LinkedIn Recommendation (my recommend link)
  18. Review who viewed your LinkedIn Profile
  19. Review LinkedIn Connection recommendations from LinkedIn
  20. Read followed #Hashtags
  21. Catch up on LinkedIn Messages
  22. Review/update your LinkedIn Company Page (my company page)
  23. Research new people in roles/industries/regions (search) (basic member search)
  24. Write a LinkedIn Article
  25. Check your LinkedIn Contact information (example my link)
  26. Review the LinkedIn Settings and Privacy (at least twice a year)
  27. Peruse the search results you showed up in and why
  28. Call a LinkedIn connection and invite them to a conversation (example my contact information)
  29. Email a LinkedIn connection and share an idea or invite them to a conversation (example my contact information)
  30. Review your list of Influencers, Followed Companies, Groups and Schools (my Interest Section)
  31. Review your LinkedIn Connections for people you should engage with

These tasks are just a few of those you could do to support your Purpose & Goal(s) using LinkedIn as a business tool.

Remember, if what you are about to do does not support building your brand, building your relevant network and/or building your professional reputation, don’t do it. 

There are plenty of actions you could take to achieve these steps. Consider what you should do each day. They don’t all have to happen today. (Journey)

One idea I used to recommend is to schedule these tasks across the week or month. I don’t do this so much anymore because there are so many unique tasks you could consider and we all have different purposes and goals of using LinkedIn. You can find that 2018 article here – Schedule time on LinkedIn

What I recommend is getting familiar with all of the different tasks you could do within LinkedIn. Then ask yourself every day, what needs to be done? Should I work on my Presence, Network or Reputation?

If you don’t commit to doing the work, LinkedIn won’t work for you.

Let me know if you need my help for yourself and/or your business development team.
Teddy

Categories
LinkedIn

It’s a Journey, not a Race

I’m seeing more and more advertisements for ‘instant’, ‘rapid’ and ‘easy’ automation methods or processes around using LinkedIn.

Even though these plugins, applications, extensions, services, etc may automate and speed up the use of some areas of LinkedIn, this is fact; they are all doomed to fail like a house of cards.

And, if you are not capable of running your business without these automation tools, your business could fail as well.

I make this bold statement based on two facts.

#1 – LinkedIn’s Terms of Service very clearly states you are not allowed to use any 3rd party application to automate any of the LinkedIn processes within the application. Read Section 8 of the Terms of Services completely.

#2 – LinkedIn is the 800# Gorilla who owns the application and access to the data. (You may own your LinkedIn data, just not the application that accesses it.)

None of these businesses creating these ‘unauthorized’ crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons, or any other technology, can sustain the application changes they have to keep making as LinkedIn counters their ‘attacks’ on the data and LinkedIn application.

It may cost LinkedIn lots of money to keep fending off the violators to their terms of services, however, LinkedIn’s pockets and determination are greater than the businesses who are violating LinkedIn’s terms of service.

I strongly feel it is not wise to build a business or allow my employees to build business processes using these 3rd party tools and ignoring these two points.

There are many things in my life where I expect instant gratification. Turn on the water, turn on a light, fire up Apple Music, Netflix or the coffee pot.

However, getting instant results from LinkedIn is not something I expect or want. It’s not sustainable.

LinkedIn is a professional networking tool and plays an important role in relationship development when you use LinkedIn appropriately.

Networking and relationship development is a journey, not a race.

Here are 5 reasons I look at using LinkedIn as a journey, not a race.

  1. I’m a relationship sales professional. I have some level of relationship with all of my clients. I like this style of business.
  2. I like to research my Most Important Viewers in my LinkedIn network and discover more about them so I can best engage with them using words and ideas they understand. This produces some of the richest conversations for me and them.
  3. Being organic in my use of LinkedIn allows me to find new processes, tactics, and styles that fit who I am and my business. This allows me to be different than others who have automated the basic steps of LinkedIn with less personality or uniqueness.
  4. For me, it would be devastating to use an automation tool that purports instant gratification and be discovered as less than sincere, honest, or real. See point #1 again.
  5. Getting into open conversations with my LinkedIn Network has created a huge advantage for me. This takes time and has uncovered new ideas that have had a positive impact on my life and/or business.
  6. I truly enjoy fulfilling this edict every day; “Networking is finding, developing and nurturing relationships that mutually move people forward through life.”

Again, networking and relationship development is a journey, not a race. The magic is in the journey. The rewards are in the conversations I get to have along the way. The benefits are mutual when I listen and get permission to share after I discover what is important to the other person.

My last point regarding using ‘unauthorized’ applications with LinkedIn is this; I believe I have built a fantastic LinkedIn Network, one that I am blessed to have. I also have created a strong reputation across LinkedIn in regard to the work I do and it makes my phone ring.

There is no way in the world I would jeopardize this and lose access to my LinkedIn account because I want instant gratification.

Categories
LinkedIn

We are who we hang out with and because of our content.

TLB Original

I recently was asked this question on Quora.com, “has LinkedIn become a toxic place or is it the same as ever?”

Let me first define Toxic: Webster says it’s Poisonous. The dumping of toxic waste. That sounds relevant to me.

I define Toxic in regards to social media, as any content filled with hate and attacking words which is detrimental to a positive society.

I don’t call content I disagree with Toxic. Just because I don’t agree does not make content toxic.

Only when it’s filled with ugliness, hatefulness, and attacking anyone or groups of people for any reason, does it get called Toxic by me.

Ok, this said, yes, LinkedIn is just as toxic as it has always been. Just like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, YouTube, etc, they all contain toxic content in some way or another.

It really has not changed much over time. Maybe more people adding to the toxicity and maybe a little more diversity in the toxicity. However, just as in life, hateful & attacking content has always been out there.

So, if it’s true that all social media, including LinkedIn, contains lots of toxic content, how come I almost never see any? My LinkedIn newsfeed is for the most part very enjoyable and useful.

The answer lies with us.

Our social media news feeds are filled with content from our networks that we engage on and look for. This is accomplished by the mystical news feed algorithms the social media platforms use.

They want us to see what we want to see, so we stay on their sites longer.

Think about this for a minute. Social media platforms make money when their members are viewing the newsfeed and seeing and/or clicking on the social media ads they share with us. If your newsfeed contains content that is toxic in your mind, you’ll minimize the time you spend on that site.

There are three primary reasons you are or are not seeing toxic content in your LinkedIn newsfeed.

#1 – Your LinkedIn Network, hopefully, chosen by you and you alone does not share much if any toxic content at all. Therefore, who you decide to connect with on LinkedIn will have a direct impact on the types of content you see in your newsfeed. Connect with a lot of hate spewing LinkedIn Members (and I don’t doubt they exist), and you’ll see more toxic content.

#2 – Your LinkedIn Newsfeed contains the types of content you like to engage on. I proved this a few months ago when I stopped engaging on content about LinkedIn and started searching for and engaging on content related to sales leadership. The more I shared and engaged on sales leadership content, the more my newsfeed became filled with sales leadership content. Slowly this replaced the content about LinkedIn.

Eventually, I returned my focus to content about LinkedIn and sales leadership content slowly began going away from my LinkedIn newsfeed.
This fact of ‘what you touch is what you see‘ is why I developed the edict, “Never do, say or engage on social media in any way you don’t want to be seen, heard or perceived of in life.” It’s real.

#3 – You can influence your LinkedIn newsfeed based on many different things. Hiding specific content, reporting content, unfollowing or following people or companies, viewing the newsfeed by Top or Most Recent, your LinkedIn Group activity, and following content #Hashtags, are just a few of the ways you can influence your LinkedIn newsfeed content. 

In summary, we can control the visibility of toxic content in LinkedIn by adjusting our network, the content we engage on and the activities we do on LinkedIn.

Now, will this make toxic content go away? Maybe not by the actions of a few, but I’m certain if more people were deliberate about their LinkedIn Networks and what they do on LinkedIn, the toxic content will be kept from growing even more.

We are who we hang out and what we do and say in life, as well as on LinkedIn.  

Categories
LinkedIn Social Networking

Flight or Fight on LinkedIn

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Many of us have had it done to us in one way or another.

We post an article, video, image, our ideas or perspectives into a LinkedIn Post and someone jumps into our conversation with a negative, sometimes hateful comment.

When this happens we generally have one of two reactions.

The first reaction is ‘Flight’.

This reaction is where we publicly ignore the negative/hateful comments on our posts.

Dale Carnegie taught me to ‘Never Criticize, Condemn or Complain’. I believe Dale would have approved of my regular flight reaction to negative and hateful comments on social media.

To me, flight means I will never publicly respond to these comments in any way.

Sometimes I’ll delete the comment if it’s truly a hateful, disrespectful and/or irrelevant response to my post or another comment in the thread, so others in the conversation do not fuel the negative/hateful debate.

Sometimes if the responder is someone I have felt some level of trust/respect for in the past, I’ll send them a LinkedIn message and ask them to ‘please be careful when responding to my posts on LinkedIn.’ I’ll only do this twice before I block/report and un-connect from the repeat offender. I have only had to do this twice in the past 11 years. 

Even though periodically I share a post that another LinkedIn Member may disagree with, the majority of my posts on LinkedIn do not solicit negative/hateful responses. I attribute this to the professionalism of my LinkedIn Network, thank you.

My flight reaction is only in regards to comments that are hateful, disrespectful and/or ugly in nature. I won’t walk away from a comment from a LinkedIn Member that disagrees with me. This is an opportunity for creative collaboration. Sometimes I’ll show creative curiosity and ask an open-ended question in a constructive way.

The second reaction to negative/hateful comments is ‘Fight’.

This occurs when we publicly attack those who comment with negative and/or hateful words. The energy put into a fight reaction on LinkedIn can range from simple yet equally negative words to a long drawn response of negative words in an effort to show those in the conversation how wrong, ridiculous, ignorant and/or uneducated the responder feels the original commenter is.

There are a few problems with responding to negative/hateful comments in this manner.

First of all pay attention to what George Bernard Shaw said; “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”  

I was always taught, “Don’t stoop to their level, you’re better than that.” Additionally, I repeat what Dale Carnegie taught me, “Never Criticize, Condemn or Complain.”

It may ‘feel good’ for a moment as you hit that Post button shouting, “Take that!”, however, this feeling is short lived and offers no value to those in the conversation.

Secondly, when you get into a ‘war of words’ with these negative/hateful commenters, you’ll kill off any worthwhile engagement on that post. Most business professionals will swipe up and away from all posts that have arguments going on in the thread. We don’t want to be found in these conversations, regardless of which side of the argument others would perceive we land on.

Another problem with the tit-for-tat response to negative/hateful comments is our network will begin to perceive that we are not much different than the commenter with the original negative/hateful words. 

I strive to live by this edict; “Never do, say or engage in any way you don’t want to be seen, heard or perceived of in life.” @TLBurriss

Also, I do not believe I am responsible to ‘call someone out publicly’ for their negative/hateful words, especially on social media. I don’t believe we can change how others feel and/or act through the words we use in a social media comment or reply. If I want to influence someone in a meaningful way I know the best way to achieve this is through a face to face or at least ear-ear conversation. Unfortunately, social media arguments are more likely to explode, not resolve because all they see are the words. Positive influence occurs through tone and body language.

The purpose of sharing all content/engagement on LinkedIn should be to encourage meaningful conversation that presents you as an authority relevant to what you shared and/or engaged on.

The ultimate goal of sharing/engaging on LinkedIn is to become trusted, respected and even liked in order for your target audience to want to engage with you in business conversations.

The moment we allow and/or encourage (via response) negative/hateful debate on our posts and comments, we are in fact destroying any business value behind those posts and comments and in many cases, negatively impacting our professional and/or personal reputation.

Choose Flight, not Fight.

What are your thoughts?

Teddy