If you are on the land, and your prospect is in the boat…get in the boat. The most common mistake I see on LinkedIn is when sales and business development professionals primarily focus on their years in business, the awards they have won, their promotions and accomplishments.

I know that your LinkedIn profile is supposed to be “about you” so this may sound ridiculous, and you are certainly invited to push back, but creating your entire branding presence, from your profile to your posts and publications, should be from the perspective of the boat. In other words, if you are responsible for growing business, your LinkedIn profile should not be about you, it should be about them.

If you are in B2B sales, the goal of LinkedIn is to get the first call. So, the only job of your profile is to inspire your prospect to have a conversation with you.

I stopped talking about me 2 years ago and I changed my headline from “Results Driven LinkedIn Trainer | LinkedIn Coach | Keynote Speaker | Best Selling Author” to a version of “Transforming the Way Professionals Grow Their Business Through LinkedIn & Social Selling ▶ Learn How in My Summary Below”

Then updated my summary from…”I have 20+ years of sales and sales training experience” to offering insights that brings value and can be implemented by my readers right away.

Let me ask you, If you see I have 2 full decades in business, do you get all excited to have a conversation with me? Think about it, do you really care how long I have been working or do you care about how my work expertise can help you. So my summary became an educational platform with three powerful tips, so that even if I never speak to my reader, they are walking away with value. And by the way, if you don’t provide value from the very first interaction, you begin the relationship in a deficit.

So, whether you are completing your summary or writing a blog post, get in the boat and ask yourself, is this what will get my prospect excited to have a conversation with me?

Begin with your headline – in 120 characters or less, what is the value proposition that will engage your target market and inspire them to want a conversation with you?