Published by Eddie Velez

Is Your Prospect Hunting Full of Wishful Thinking?

Why LinkedIn ProFinder Brings Qualified Leads You Can Bank On

Sales is the name of the game in any business. An empty pipeline is a sign – “Going Out of Business!” But how do you make sure you’re not wasting your time, resources and money on just numbers? With all the click-bait and ads charging based on whose seen or clicked your ad, regardless of whether the person is the right candidate; how do you know an algorithm is working in your favor?

But what if you had a pool of business people who would need your service or product, that you could research to ensure they fit your criteria, and even know when they are requesting your services, so you don’t waste your time with meaningless quotes – would that be something you prefer?

LinkedIn ProFinder: Professionals Serving Professionals

I’ve used LinkedIn’s ProFinder, LinkedIn’s upgrade feature that unlocks many tools not available to the free user, for about four months. At first I was skeptical. After all, how many networks promise qualified leads and results? So after trying a popular one (no names will be divulged, but they are THE biggest… hint, hint) with absolutely no results, needless to say I was very skeptical. But I was soon to learn this was no ordinary premium subscription. Let me count the ways it was a HUGE benefit!

Leads Coming to Me

When I upgraded (I got my first month free), I figured I had nothing to lose. It was free for 30 days and FREE is one of my favorite words, and I toyed with the idea of paying $30 a lead to a service that required having to prepay for a minimum of 50 per month. So, $60 sounded more palatable than $1,500. Plus, the fact I could try it on training wheels, while the others were not so generous, I could not lose.

In my first month, I received five (5) requests for quotes for my services, from prospects in state. I was blown away! It was a straightforward and simple process, and only the first five proposals submitted were reviewed, so I acted quickly (since I missed two good ones for taking my time, or I would’ve had seven requests in my first 30 days).

The result: I landed a deal that earned me over $8,000. If you’re a big believer in the 80/20 rule, it was 20% on the nose. This made the low fee of $60 seem like a no brainer. Over the following two months, I submitted another six proposals and won another.

Each time a quote was requested, I took the time to find the person on LinkedIn, look at his or her profile, reviewed their website and got an idea for who their demographic was. When I submitted my proposal, I was able to hit the hot buttons necessary to make an impact.

Training When I Needed It

In one instance, I had a request for a service that required me having to strengthen my Adobe Illustrator muscles. Before I committed myself to something I could not deliver (bad form) I went over to the LEARNING portion of the service and took a few Illustrator courses that allowed me to close that second deal.

Having never even considered the learning portion of LinkedIn, I was not aware of all the topics covered which many people pay for in online learning portals. That added more value to the $60 monthly fee.

Advice from Professionals and Peers

If learning what you need when you needed it, having qualified professionals requesting a quote for your services and the ability to request your quotes, should you need a professional’s services for YOUR business – there are advice articles from qualified pros to help you make wiser decisions.

When you consider the already great benefits LinkedIn provides:

The ability to build a network of business people.
Creating the most powerful online portfolio and resume to help you build credibility and trust.
Being able to publish on LinkedIn or share blog posts from your company website, driving traffic and shortening the curve to a sale (read, Microsoft’s Acquisition of LinkedIn Makes Your Blog More Crucial).

…the ProFinder service is a no-brainer. If you’ve not tried it, I highly recommend it. After all, if you want to succeed, you need to be where the successful are, and in social media, that’s LinkedIn.

Take a look at LinkedIn’s ProFinder service and see if it’s for you. You can do so at www.linkedin.com/profinder.

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Eddie Velez

CEO and Founder at Success by Design

Eddie Velez is a marketing professional, designer and author. He has contributed to many portals like "Media Connections," "The 5 Minute Business Mind" and others. He has also contributed the chapter on the Internet and Websites for "Secrets of Successful Inventing: Sixteen Experts Spill the Beans." Eddie writes on many topics and has been a ghost writer and editor for authors and consultants. If you want Eddie Velez to contribute to your business content, portal or blog, contact him to discuss your particular needs.

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