If you are in business development, your LinkedIn network is priceless. It is filled with strategic alliances, networking partners, colleagues, collaborators, vendors, referral sources, clients, future buyers, employees, future employees potential employers, and more. Whether you are tapping in to your network now, or may need to in the future, acknowledging how much they mean to you is vital to building the relationships.
Here are 7 fabulous ways you can not just show appreciation to your network, but add value to them personally and professionally.
1. Endorse your connections on LinkedIn – Be sure to choose skills that you know your connection has and that you have personally experienced. This is so simple for you and really makes your connection feel appreciated.
2. Proactively make warm introductions to your connections that can benefit from knowing each other. It can be in a LinkedIn message or in an email. Just copy them both with a small description of each ( you can pull information right from their LinkedIn summary or experience section) and explain why you think it would be a positive connection for the both of them.
3. Share a resource that will make an impact, whether this is your own blog post or one that have curated, offering a true insight that will get your reader thinking differently about their business, their industry or an issue that impacts them directly, good content is a gift. Be sure you are not pitching, truly offering a great educational piece that is vendor agnostic.
4. Engage in comments on your networks’ posts, like their discussions and publications, tweet and share it on LinkedIn and add your thoughts in comments. Your network has spent a lot of time and energy in putting their content out, the fact that you spent the time to read it and participate is very much appreciated. To find their LinkedIn activity, visit their profile, click on the down arrow next to the “message” button click on “recent activity” and engage!
5. Recommend your connections on LinkedIn – there is not much more that is appreciated then a testimonial on LinkedIn, but again, make sure it sincere. This is a fantastic way to thank your vendors this season! Similar to #4 click on the down arrow and choose “recommend”.
6. Simply give them a shout out in your updates – everyone likes to be mentioned! In you update status on LinkedIn or on twitter, thank your clients and vendors in a message and type @TheirNameorCompany and select it from the drop down. They will receive a notification and appreciate the time you took to recognize them!
7. Ask how you can help. Everyone has some need, and you will never know what you can do to help until you ask. Send a quick note:
XXX, I wanted to reach out and begin with sharing my gratitude to having you in my network. I consider myself a connector of business professionals, so if there is anyone I am connected to that you would like to meet, please let me know, I would love to make some introductions on your be-half. If there is any other way I can provide value to you and your network, let’s set up a brief call to discuss. Here is a link to my calendar ScheduleaCallwithBrynne.com please pick a time that is most convenient for you. I am looking forward to talking with you.
