Tuesday, January 13, 2009





Can LinkedIn Help Your Company Sell?

Are you diving into the networking craze that so many companies are now doing? Can social media websites such as LinkedIn help you sell your products? I say why not give it a try…LinkedIn is free, easy to use, low maintenance - and if nothing else you’re able to connect with colleagues, partners and friends that maybe you haven’t heard from in awhile. It’s free marketing, and during these tough economic times, surely can’t hurt.

Being in a sales/marketing role here at GLMT, there is no doubt that LinkedIn has been a great resource for current and potential customer contacts. My goal is for people to think of Great Lakes Media Technology and myself when someone needs the products and services we offer - and LinkedIn can only help to increase that brand awareness. Not to mention that observing a contact’s profile helps you learn a little background about the person that you otherwise probably wouldn’t have known. Even tangible networking events usually don’t involve discussions of people who think highly of you (recommendations section of LinkedIn).

As far as me personally generating sales revenue as a result of being in touch through LinkedIn – to be honest I have yet to see any real results. You’re probably laughing by the way I was just talking up how useful the website has been, but believe me I have faith. Even if it does not directly result in a sale, I do believe it has helped me to better connect with existing customers. I’d love to hear your thoughts…

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, I think LinkedIn is no doubt a useful networking tool. Unfortunately I don't think it has a chance for being a true resource for selling. I find it hard to believe that potential customers will want to conduct business via some internet networking medium. But I've been wrong before...

Anonymous said...

Question to the above comment... If something is a "useful networking tool" how can it not be a true resource for selling. Don't the two go hand in hand?Also, most of its feature set is free so what is there to criticize?