The Positioning Power of Social Media Profiles
High IMPACT Salespeople understand the power of positioning. They value the benefits that flow from being thought of first, last, and always in the minds of their prospects. To be well-positioned in your marketplace really means that your prospective customers think of you when they have a need for whatever you sell.
Those High IMPACT Salespeople also recognize the power of social media as a positioning tool.
It’s now common practice for prospects to “Google” a salesperson before they meet with them. You can easily influence what they find. Here’s why:
- Social media profiles rank highly in search results; AND
- You can control what appears on those pages.
That means you, as a salesperson, have the chance to influence what your prospects think of you before you meet with them.
Why would you NOT take advantage? Why would you not invest some time in positioning yourself as an expert in your field?
Here are a handful of ideas about how to do that.
A well-written LinkedIn profile...
- Does Explain what you do for your customers.
- Does provide specific results you’ve produced.
- Does highlights recommendations from happy customers.
- Does NOT read like a resume. (If you’re looking for another job, why would I buy from you?).
- Does NOT have empty fields, but is 100% complete.
A rich Twitter feed...
- Does show you engaged with your area of expertise.
- Does receive regular updates.
- Does provide information that’s valuable to prospective customers.
- Does include links to useful information.
- Does NOT share what you ate for lunch.
- Does NOT include offensive content.
In short, get started! Without action, you accomplish nothing...
If you'd like to discuss the role of social media for salespeople, let me know (you can comment below, tweet, or connect with me on LinkedIn). I'll be happy to share some more ideas, too!

Sales Evolution is a B2B Sales Blog for curious people. We talk about things like sales training, sales management, sales assessments, sales leadership, prospecting, and sales relationship building. I’m Jeb Brooks and I’ll be your host. So, please sit back, relax, and join us!- Join the Sales Community
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September 1st, 2011 - 11:14
Absolutely spot on
LinkedIn and Twitter are VERY powerful sites so the chances that they will be in the top 10 of Google for your name (as long as it’s not John Smith) are very likely.
The beauty of these sites as that you can control what you show.
Some sales people have a poorly written LinkedIn profile and hardly any info on there at all so when a prospect snoops around on your name and there is nothing on there then its probably worse than if you had nothing there at all!
Excellent stuff
Sean
September 1st, 2011 - 16:59
Thanks, Sean. I think you’re right that there are some that are so bad, they should just be deleted!