Get Recommended by Your Clients
July 15th, 2007 by Biz2Biz
Last week I was asked to provide a letter of recommendation for a service I had received. I immediately responded that I would be happy to write a testimonial because I was very pleased with the service. A week has now passed and I still have not written the testimonial I promised. Why am I procrastinating? …because it takes my valuable time and that is unfair to the this service provider.
Many businesses use testimonials as part of their marketing strategy. But that being said, getting a written testimonial can be a tedious and exhausting task. Is there an easier way to get a recommendation?
LinkedIn is a fast growing social networking platform that provides online networking for business professionals. If you are not already a part of LinkedIn, you have probably been exposed or received invitations to join a colleagues LinkedIn network. Success Magazine says if you're not already linkedin "Chances are your competition is".
LinkedIn members have an opportunity to recommend service providers, colleagues, and business partners. You can make a personal recommendation for a contact that can be viewed in their profile. You can actually request a recommendation from your network of connections. The more recommendations you have the higher placement your profile will have in the search results. In other words, in my earlier post about your online identity, when you are googled you will be a stud not a dud.
Here are some other ways to use LinkedIn.
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Social Media, Young Professionals, Branding, Marketing, Entrepreneur, Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Recommendations and referrals are so important to a business, and I agree with you, they are difficult to receive in writing - on letterhead.
My problem with Linked-In is that people that I do not know want to link in with me. As The Professional Networker and Speaker on the art and skill of Boomerang Networking, I am very cautious about who I connect with on these sites.
If I do not know someone - I do not link. What if someone wants an introduction to someone I have not met? I would have to say, “I do not know this person at all, but they are connected to me, so yes I will make the connection.” I would rather not bother being linked.
Too many people in the cyber community think quantity is best. I would go for quality of links.
Sharan Tash
The Professional Networker
July 20th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I agree. I don’t link with people I do not personally know. I would rather have quality connections with quality recommendations.