Subject areaChannels and tools
LinkedIn is the professional social network founded in 2002.
A profile works as a public résumé, and connections reproduce a person's network of working relationships. Alongside personal profiles there are company pages, newsletters and direct messaging.
For business-to-business sales it is the channel closest to daily work, because it shows the role, company and mutual contacts of the person you want to reach. This is the basis of social selling (selling built on relationships in social networks), where relationships count for more than any single message. Contacts sit in people's profiles more than on the company page, so a company directly involves its salespeople and managers.
An example
Before a visit, the sales director of a manufacturing company checks the purchasing manager's LinkedIn profile and finds a mutual contact. The director asks for an introduction, so the first meeting starts from a relationship already under way.
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Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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