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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.

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