Building a Business relationship with Linkedin

Here at Executive Voice we are all for connecting and speaking to develop business relationships. Like many other business people I am on Linkedin, and have found it an invaluable business resource to raise my profile and build business relationships.

However, last week I received two connection requests from ‘second degree’ contacts, only to be bombarded with strong sales pitches immediately after accepting their connection. The first was asking me to buy their Wealth Management Services; the second, to buy her mobile hairdressing services and to follow ‘her’ on various social media platforms. To be honest the hair styles on this wig website were more exciting than her pictures.

In both instances I was staggered that both contacts (who were immediately deleted and blocked) jumped straight in to do a sales pitch and ask you to follow them on SM. I always ask the question: “Would you behave in this way if you had just met someone face to face at a network event?” In other words, would you say “Could I talk to you. This is my business, buy from me and become a fan on my SM platforms.” Umm, No!

I like to hope you would ask what the other person does; possibly ask specific questions, then tell them what you do, and go from there. People rarely buy from others immediately; they pre-qualify. So why do individuals feel it is appropriate to send a serious sales pitch to someone they have JUST met on social media? Other people on Linkedin have also experienced this trend in the last few weeks, and they, like me result in deleting the contact. I also now pre-qualify any connection request to avoid this.

I was therefore delighted to hear from Sherry Bevan that she was holding a Linkedin Challenge to raise your profile and develop business relationships on Linkedin. Listen to a podcast interview with Sherry discussing the challenge here.

I wanted to share this challenge with my readers because it is important to start building business relationships, and Linkedin is a great way to do this, before you pick up the phone or speak to someone. I have absolutely no doubt Sherry WON’T advocate doing an immediate sales pitch when you connect with a new contact but she will have some great tips and advice. Listen to a podcast interview with Sherry discussing the challenge here.

The challenge is free to participate in. Register here.