CONVERSATION
STARTERS
Ideas for finding and converting strangers to extraordinary clients and partners
Conversations Starters is written and edited for B2B consultants and coaches who want to build more and better business relationships, achieve visible thought leadership roles and serve more of the clients you deserve.
There are no hacks or gaming of the system here.. If you want sound ideas and advice about how to look good, sound good and fill your sales pipeline, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome!
Costly LinkedIn Mistake #12: Operating Without a Plan
This is #12 in a series of mistakes we address in our report on the “12 Costly Mistakes Tech Marketers Are Making on LinkedIn and What You Can Do About It.”
Why Most B2B LinkedIn Programs Fail to Generate Leads
If I were to visit your website and click on the LinkedIn icon would it take me to your company page where you post summaries and links to your blog articles and press releases?
Forrester’s 10 Attributes of Thought Leadership and Why Most LinkedIn Articles Are Not
Has anyone else noticed a serious degradation in the quality of articles jamming up our LinkedIn news feeds lately? I have, and I’m pretty sure I know why.
Costly LinkedIn Mistake #3: Content Spamming
The vast majority of technology marketers (>80%) recognize LinkedIn as an important place to distribute marketing content. Unfortunately they’re using it as a news feed
Costly LinkedIn Mistake #4 – Treating LinkedIn just like Facebook
“Social Media” gets lumped into one big category by everyone from research firms and industry analysts to authors, teachers and social media experts themselves.
6 Ways We’re Using Content on LinkedIn
Blending high quality marketing content with LinkedIn efforts is the key to how we generate leads, develop prospects and create thought leadership positions for our technology clients.
Costly Linked Mistake #1 – Underestimating the Importance of LinkedIn to the IT Buyer
Despite considerable 3rd party research uncovering the significant role LinkedIn now plays in IT buyers’ decision-making process many technology vendors continue to view LinkedIn as something to dabble in.
Why You Need Sales and Marketing in your LinkedIn Program
There is a costly disconnection between sales and marketing efforts on LinkedIn.
Ten Things Your Social Media Manager Needs to Know about Technology Marketing
Marketing complex B2B technology can be difficult to wrap your head around – even for people with marketing and business training.
10 Things Your Social Media Expert Needs to Know About LinkedIn
Social media generalists, in my experience, tend to approach LinkedIn the same way they approach any other social media. They push information out via status updates and auto-posts.
Is Poor Messaging Sabotaging Your Sales Team’s Efforts? How to Use LinkedIn to Get on the Right Track.
In a new study from OpenView Venture Partners (available here for the price of your contact information), 39% of IT buyers said they rejected outreach from an IT vendor sales person simply because they were not interested in the product or service.
The Right Way to Use Gated Content on LinkedIn
Gated content, if you happen to be unfamiliar with the term, is any kind of marketing content – white papers, e-books, special reports, webinars, newsletters and other stuff I can’t think of right now – that has a form your prospects must fill out before they can access it.
5 Ineffective Actions Most Sales Pros Are Taking On LinkedIn
As LinkedIn gives sales professionals direct access to targeted decision makers and influencers, it can be and should be one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal.
Two Things Technology Sales & Business Development Pros Can Do Right Now to Generate More Leads on LinkedIn
For technology sales and business development people, LinkedIn is quickly replacing conventional tactics – offline networking, email and cold calling – as the most effective prospecting method.
4 Reasons You Should NOT Use Auto-Post
I think we can all agree that technology is a wonderful thing, and part of its wonderfulness is the ability to automate mundane activities and save us lots of time.
LinkedIn in Just 15 to 30 Minutes Per Day?
There are many ebooks, white papers, LinkedIn training programs and consultants that say a complete profile and 15 minutes a day can start getting you the connections you need to build profitable relationships.
Teleseminar Recap: The New IT Buying Committee – How to Engage Them on LinkedIn
If you missed my recent online interview with LinkedIn’s Mike Weir, I just want to tell you two things. First, this was not a sales pitch to get you to spend money advertising on LinkedIn. And second, it was full of you-need-to-know info on changes in how IT buyers use social media to affect their vendor decisions.
How to Instantly Lose Credibility with a Bad Infographic
Recently a discussion posted in a LinkedIn group lead me to a blog article featuring an infographic that floored me in its inaccuracy and misleading conclusion.
5 Ways to Measure Sales-Supporting ROI from LinkedIn
For those of you who’ve been struggling to show executive management – and yourselves – that social media efforts do, in fact, contribute directly to sales results, I’ve got some good new. On LinkedIn at least, it’s pretty easy.
Your CEO wants ROI from LinkedIn. Here’s how to do it.
I’ve been asked a number of times how to make the leap. So I figured it would probably be of interest to you, and as a result, this article was born.