Stephanie Sammons - Linked to influence: 7 powerful rules for becoming a top influencer in your market and attracting your ideal clients on LinkedIn

Linked to Influence

7 Powerful Rules for Becoming a Top Influencer in Your Market and Attracting Your Ideal Clients on LinkedIn

By Stephanie Sammons

StephanieSammons.com

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Copyright 2015 Stephanie Sammons

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-Book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is dedicated to Mike Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com and the Social Media Marketing World Conference. Thank you for giving me a multitude of opportunities to grow my influence and for pushing me to be better.

Table of Contents

Introduction

In June 2009, I quit my job. I walked away from a fifteen-year corporate financial services career to pursue my dream of becoming an entrepreneur. I wasnt exactly prepared for this move, nor did I anticipate the major identity crisis that would accompany it. But I knew deep down that I had to do something different with my life. Ultimately, I no longer had any real job security, and I was not in control of my destiny. It was time to go.

Although it was a terrible time for a career change (on the heels of the major financial crisis), it ended up being the best move I have ever made. The timing of my departure coincided with the emergence of social networking platforms like LinkedIn, which were quickly changing the way we connect and do business.

LinkedIn had been around for a few years, but I had never paid much attention. My company restricted the use of online social networking due to regulations. As a new entrepreneur, I was free to explore. I slowly began to dive into LinkedIn to learn more about the business-networking opportunities.

LinkedIn ended up saving my life. I needed an effective way to quickly seek out people, ideas, and resources that could help me launch and grow my marketing consulting business. LinkedIn was the answer for me.

I dont recommend waiting to leverage LinkedIn until you need it, like I did. Instead, start building your presence before you ever need help. You never know what curveballs life is going to throw you, especially in this day and age.

While I was learning how to master LinkedIn, I saw many of my digital marketing peers focusing on other platforms like Facebook and Twitter. They tended to be less excited about the potential of LinkedIn. But I stuck with LinkedIn, because I knew that access to this vast database of businesspeople and content was extremely valuable (if I could figure out how to effectively tap into it).

It certainly wasnt my intention to become a teacher of LinkedIn. However, I am a teacher and a coach at heart. I spent my first couple of years out of college as a high school business teacher and girls basketball coach. Teaching has always been a core part of my business experience working with clients.

The more I understood the value of LinkedIn as a business tool, the more I wanted to share this knowledge with my clients and community. I began writing and speaking about my LinkedIn insights and strategies for entrepreneurs and professionals. When you speak on a topic, you have very little time to go into great detail in your presentation. This book allows me the freedom to share in-depth knowledge with you. Essentially, this book is a comprehensive LinkedIn marketing playbook.

My LinkedIn marketing methodology is different than that of most of the experts out there. I take a more strategic, patient approach. I come from the school of employing trust-based marketing for developing long-term (and loyal) client or customer relationships. This method of marketing is designed to build your personal influence. The more influence you build, the more attractive you become to your ideal clients.

As a financial advisor, I had to earn the trust and respect of my wealthy, retiring clients. I had to guide, influence, and serve these individuals for months, and in some cases years, before they made the decision to work with me.

I learned that landing a new client wasnt so great if that person was someone you didnt enjoy working with. Finding ideal clients became my mission. Who wants to build a business where you work with a bunch of clients you dont really enjoy?

My LinkedIn marketing strategy is designed to help you become more influential and to grow your business with your ideal clients in the process. It is grounded in building trust with anyone and everyone who matters to your business. For me, there is no other way to protect your reputation and attract the best client relationships.

The great advantage of LinkedIn is that you can accelerate the trust-building process like never before. You have access to information about people and avenues to connect with them that were not previously available.

With LinkedIn, you can literally see beyond your 1 st -degree network and gain exposure to your extended network, which has never been possible before. And you can provide value by sharing your ideas and insights. I believe that LinkedIn represents one of the greatest business-building opportunities in history, especially if your business depends on relationships and referrals.

With this book, my goal is to serve as your instructor. I will teach you my proven process for building personal influence on LinkedIn, so that you can start attracting ideal clients and opportunities to your business.

The book consists of seven powerful rules . These rules are meant to serve as strategic guideposts for you to follow. They will give you a framework for understanding and leveraging the most important tools that LinkedIn has to offer you.

I am excited to share my process with you and help you take your LinkedIn presence (and your business) to the next level. I want these words to truly make a difference in your business and in your life. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my ideas and insights with you. I hope you find them to be valuable.

To help you follow along and think more clearly about your LinkedIn strategy, I have created a complementary mini PDF workbook for you. You can download your workbook by visiting this page on my website .

The LinkedIn Opportunity

LinkedIn is the most powerful business-networking resource in history. It is a global, virtual, perpetual networking event! LinkedIn is currently the best professional platform for growing your personal influence, building a loyal referral network, positioning yourself as a thought leader, and attracting your ideal clients.

At the time of this writing, LinkedIn is quickly approaching 400 million members worldwide. One in every three professionals is an official LinkedIn member. LinkedIn members view the platform as a valuable, trusted destination for growing their networks, uncovering job and business opportunities, and gathering professional and industry insights.

LinkedIn members are also active, educated, and affluent. Over 40 percent of members earn $100,000 or more per year and 60 percent earn more than $75,000 per year. LinkedIn members are businesspeople, and a good majority of them are the decision-makers!

Having access to a trusted, professional platform where you can accelerate the growth of your influence and network is a game changer for those who take advantage. If you are an entrepreneur or business professional in the digital age, LinkedIn is a no-brainer opportunity for growing your business.

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