Sales professionals get a bad reputation for talking too much about themselves. Clients and prospects don’t want to hear about your latest exploits during meetings and presentations. But they do want to know more about you, especially when they can control the information flow. The best way to inform prospects about your skills and expertise is to use one of the best sales tools: the About section on LinkedIn. Because we all know prospects are checking you out, sometimes before you reach out to them. 

Using the About Section as a Best Sales Tool

Manca Korelc reminds LinkedIn users that the About section is designed for “talking about yourself, but with your clients in mind.” She also recommends that you organize your content in a user-​friendly format. Specifically, page visitors are interested in what you’re doing for your current employer, the skills and experience you possess and who you are as a person. As C. Lee Smith, SalesFuel CEO, says, “Too many sales professionals design their LinkedIn content for their next employer, when they should be focusing on their next prospect.”

Your About section should start with a hook or compelling sentence. This content is designed to encourage readers to click through and learn more about you. Explain what you’ve been doing for clients. A good example is, “I helped my last client cut their production time by two weeks.” Another compelling statement is, “I help clients learn to successfully kiteboard after one week of training. Guaranteed.” Then you can move on to the details about your experience and certifications. And you can finish the section by showing who you are as a person.

Think of this content as the About Us section of a company’s website. To get the most value from LinkedIn’s About section, you need to inform and educate readers, whether they are prospects or clients. You should use as much of the 2,000-character word limit as possible to stand out from your competitors. Let’s take a look at three simple tactics.

Voice

Voice and tone can tell readers a lot about you. Keep this advice from Jennifer Lombardo in mind when writing. “The voice of a message is how a writer's personality is reflected through written words. Tone is the author's attitude towards the reader of the message.”

When you’re relaying your story in the About section, use sentences with fewer than 20 words. Avoid passive voice and sprinkle in a few current buzzwords. You also want to avoid terms people are sick of. Some people have heard game-​changer one too many times. And you don’t want to date yourself by writing “the bomb” or “cool beans.”

A friendly and open tone isn’t hard to achieve. It just takes a little work, as Korelc shows with her invitation, or call to action, near the end of her About section. “I am living proof that LinkedIn works. Let me teach you how it can work for you too.”

Search Engine Results

“Most people don't realize that LinkedIn is a search engine like Google, Amazon, or YouTube,” says Austin Belcak. You must think of your About section the same way you think about content you post online to improve SEO results. Your prospects and clients use LinkedIn to find knowledge experts and service providers. You can rise to the top of the list of profiles your target audience sees when you optimize for a better position.

Take the time to study the profiles of your competitors and industry thought leaders in your vertical. Make a list of the keywords they’re using and weave these terms into the content in your About section. If you’re selling yourself as a kiteboarding instructor, you’ll want to use keywords such as kite position, board orientation, boosting, and edging.

If you don't pay attention to this advice, you're missing out on one of the best sales tools available to you.

Format

LinkedIn allows you to improve the visual appearance of your content by using text formatting like numbered lists and bold headings. Readers don’t want to encounter huge blocks of text. They will skim over important details unless you use lists and format headers in all caps to break up the text.

You should also have a little fun with the personal aspect of the About section. Describe how you teach a weeklong summer camp for disadvantaged kids or your support of organizations like Big Brother Big Sister of America. It’s always appropriate to include a link to a video demonstrating your skill.

The best sales tools are costly and don’t always perform the way you want. But when you use the About section on LinkedIn, along with the other key parts of this site, you’re in charge of what prospects learn about you.

Photo by Tracy LeBlanc on Pexels.