Clients and your potential clients are relentlessly judging your consulting firm. Therefore, by extension, they are judging YOU.

When Greg Quaile came to me and said that he wanted to maximise his company valuation by optimising his LinkedIn presence, the first thing we did was position him and his company as a family-owned business.

Why? Because that is what his buyer and customers were looking for!

The people who bought his company believed in strong family values and loved the idea of buying a company that worked with partners and other family-owned businesses.

Because of this, he sold his company for over $11million. The company who purchased it specifically stated the importance of it’s LinkedIn presence in making their decision.

Your company valuation is correlated to your overall company image and positioning.

Your company positioning is grounded by a strong LinkedIn presence.

Neither you personally, nor your company, will be perceived as credible, without that strong LinkedIn presence.

To get this presence, you will need:

1. A bold and confidently positioned company

You need to know who you are and boldly and confidently state this. Connect with other industry professionals, join relevant groups, and participating in conversations. Also, take advantage of the platform’s features, such as endorsements and recommendations, to promote your brand and further establish your reputation.

Your customers and stakeholders are looking at your LinkedIn profile and your company profile, looking to see if you understand their problems and pain points, if you can can solve their problems and make them more money.

As Mark Twain once said, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

For those visiting your LinkedIn profiles, both personal and company, let them feel that they are dealing with great and that you too, will make them feel great!

2. URGENT: Get these three things right

People will decide whether or not to accept your LinkedIn connection request by looking at these three things:

1. Your LinkedIn profile: create an up-to-date, comprehensive profile with a professional headshot, a concise summary of your position in your company
2. Your company page: ensure a concise summary of your company’s mission, and a list of its current services or products. You should also post regularly on this page to keep followers engaged and share relevant industry-specific content.
3. Your website: keep it short, sweet and simple and easily navigable, communicating clearly what you do and offer.

All must have a consistent look and feel.

3. New connections and no engagement = no business

Engagement on LinkedIn is what LinkedIn is all about. It’s the world’s largest networking business platform and it’s happening 24/7.

If you don’t engage with your prospects on LinkedIn, why are you on there? It’s like creating a delicious menu with the most amazing food, but no chef to make the food leaving patrons feeling empty and not even knowing they are hungry.

Unfortunately, spammy outreach messages wont hit the spot either, it needs to be personalised with the correct ingredients to entice the reader to want more.

4. Sorry, you can’t COMPLETELY hand it over to “someone else to do it for you”

I know you want a 100% done-for-you solution. That doesn’t exist. People are buying into you and you need to take it over the finishing line.

Someone can support you with this process, but you need to be on LinkedIn regularly and be ready to respond quickly and professionally to queries and questions.

People on LinkedIn want to be helped, not sold to. You have to be seen as the one who is helping them. They don’t want to see a nameless, faceless corporation.

Your company valuation is correlated to your overall company image and positioning.

Your company positioning is grounded by a strong LinkedIn presence.