How to Make a Compelling Sales LinkedIn Profile: 7 Tips and Tricks

If you're looking for information on how to sell on LinkedIn, you've come to the right place. LinkedIn is the go-to platform for professionals to connect, network, and find job opportunities.

It's also a powerful tool for sales professionals to generate leads and build relationships with potential clients. In fact, did you know that sales professionals who sell on social media close 40-50% more new business than those who don’t?

We don’t take the power of LinkedIn lightly. Speaking from experience, it can be an incredible tool that when executed properly, can open some great doors for yourself or your organization. 

However, to make the most of LinkedIn, you need to have a strong profile that showcases your skills, experience, and everything you and your business is capable of. 

Below, we highlight 7 quick tips you can do today to optimize your LinkedIn profile for social selling.

How to Sell on LinkedIn

1. Optimize Your Headline and Bio

Your headline and bio are the first elements people read when they come across your profile. That’s why you should make sure they’re clear, concise, and attention-grabbing. 

Use industry-specific keywords in your headline that describe your position to make it easy for people to find you. 

For example, instead of just saying "Sales Manager," you could say, "Sales Manager—Driving Revenue Growth for B2B Technology Companies."

Your bio should be crafted carefully as well. You want to make sure that it’s descriptive without sounding too wordy or “fluffy.” Here’s our example from our LinkedIn page:

“We're a small but mighty digital marketing agency clients count on for consistent strategic marketing implementation.”

This headline is straight to the point, without sounding too choppy or redundant.

2. Use a Professional Profile Photo and Header

The photo elements on your profile should be professional and high-quality. If you’re creating a personal account for yourself, use a headshot that shows your face clearly and is appropriate for your industry. 

Avoid using selfies or casual photos—after all, you want to present yourself as a trusted professional!

If you’re running a company page, it’s smart to have your logo as your profile picture for quick brand recognition. We recommend using a uniquely crafted header graphic as well; this shows that you put in effort to give your profile some thought-out detail.

3. Write a Compelling Overview

Your overview is your chance to tell your story and showcase your skills and experience. Keep it concise and focused on your professional accomplishments, while highlighting your confidence in your abilities.

Take a look at ours:

“We're a digital marketing agency focused on using your website as a HUB for all marketing activities. Companies in a variety of industries count on us to provide a strong marketing plan and execute accordingly. We provide consistent marketing in SEO/SEM, email, social media, WordPress website development, and more. All with timely responses and regular reporting. How can we help you grow?”

Pro-tip: Don't forget to add a phone number or website link to encourage people to reach out!

4. Highlight Your Experience

Your experience section should showcase your professional history and highlight your achievements. This is a smart way to “brag” about your professional history and try to impress your connections.

Describe your responsibilities and accomplishments in each role you lay out on your profile. You could even use metrics and data to quantify your impact, such as; "increased sales by 20% in Q3 2022."

5. Showcase Your Skills

Make sure to include a skills section on your profile! This is where you can list the skills that are relevant to your industry and position. 

Use keywords that people might search for when looking for someone with your skills.

Additionally, steer clear of “cliches” that thousands of people use on their resume. We can’t tell you how many times we see the same words and phrases on LinkedIn profiles or resumes.

A few examples of these overused phrases are:

• Great team player
• Hard worker
• Results driven
• Self-motivated
• Great attention to detail

Of course it’s great to possess these traits. However, consider crafting your wording differently to help you stand out more.

6. Get Recommendations

Recommendations are a powerful way to showcase your skills and experience. Reach out to colleagues, clients, and managers and ask them to write a recommendation for you.  

Make sure to personalize your request, and explain why their recommendation would be valuable.

7. Engage with Your Network

Finally, it’s vital to partake in consistent engagement with your network on LinkedIn. 

Do this by sharing relevant content, commenting on other people's posts, and joining industry groups. This will help you build relationships and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

Remember: no one wants to interact with an inactive account. We try to share content 2-3 times per week to show that we care about sharing our happenings with others, while simultaneously interacting with other colleagues', clients', and industry thought leaders' posts. 

Interested in Learning More About How to Sell on LinkedIn?

By following these tips, you can create a strong sales LinkedIn profile that will help you generate leads, build relationships, and advance your career.

If you find yourself struggling to build a compelling LinkedIn account (or any social media account), contact us today. We’ll be your guide to a successful social media strategy that will get you the results you strive for.

For additional information on how to sell on LinkedIn, we encourage you to check out the slides and recording from our most recent webinar, “From Connections to Conversations: How to Use LinkedIn to Close Sales.”