LinkedIn® Summary – Outlines your Personal Brand

Your LinkedIn® Summary can be used to layout your personal brand. This is where you can shine to the marketplace.

Remember that prospects and clients alike will vet you through your LinkedIn® Profile. You want to look as professional as possible on paper. The old saying that people make a judgment about you within the first few minutes of meeting you applies to your professional LI profile as well. This is why your LI Summary is so very important.

To craft an effective Summary here are a few pointers that you can include to help outline your expertise, your company and what/how others can work with you:

You have 2000 characters to write your Summary – use it to maximize your profile.
Written in 1st person present tense.
Be buyer-oriented…not me-me-me. (List your accomplishments in the Work Experience area of your profile).
What you do for the client – Think keywords.
How you work or something about your process.
A brief story about how you have helped solve a problem for a client.
An excerpt from a client testimonial.
What product/service that you offer to the marketplace.
List of your areas of expertise.
Your Promise to the client and/or Your Mission.
How can prospects get in touch with you…list your website, email and phone# at the end of your Summary.

Keep in mind to answer 3 questions: Who? What? Why?

Who are your prospective clients? What levels of management and niche industries or markets are you interested in working?
What product/service do you provide to the marketplace?
Why is your product/service offering the answer to specific problems…detail your value proposition?

If you don’t have enough room within the Summary to talk about all of these pointers, move some of the highlights to the Work Experience area of your profile.

Since you can’t use bolding, underline or italic script to enhance or draw attention to each of these areas, you can CAPITALIZE the heading of each area. Create separate paragraphs for each section.

Before you post your final Summary, copy/paste it into a grammar check program like Scribens. (This program is free: www.scribens.com) or Grammarly (also has a free version: www.grammarly.com).

Finally, preview your entire work experience to make sure that you have your most current work written in 1st person present tense.

Include any accomplishments here. Write a brief 1-2 sentence paragraph overview of your company, including size, number of employees, and/or gross sales. Next, create a 1-2 sentence statement about your official job description.

If you are in management make a statement about your supervisory experience. Your last paragraph should include 1-2 sentences detailing any additional work that you do above and beyond the standard job description.

—-Peggy is a LinkedIn® trainer who provides customized programs for individuals, sales teams, civic/trade associations, and educational institutions. To hire Peggy or Link with her, go to: www.linkedIn.com/in/peggyedge

Negotiation: How to Prepare to Ask for a Raise.

When was the last time that you negotiated a raise or promotion? Do you get a little weak in the knees at the thought of asking your boss for a raise?

Recently a friend of mine was lamenting to me that she needed to get a part-time job to supplement her income because she had not received a raise in over 3 years. She explained that she had been instrumental in getting a raise for 15 of her employees but not one for herself.

I said, “Well, we need to change that.”

As we worked together over several weeks, we came up with a firm plan for her to get in front of her boss and boldly ask for that long overdue raise.

Here are a few negotiating pointers that you can use to ask for your next raise:

Research the salary range of your current position in the area of which you live. Go to: www.salary.com for reliable information.
- Decide exactly what dollar figure raise that you expect to receive.
- If your company traditionally only grants a percentage cost-of-living raise, you must decide if this is reasonable based upon your research.

Update your resume and LinkedIn profile to include:
- Continuing education classes – those for credit or industry/expertise education.
  - Include any certifications that you hold.
- If you are working on a degree or certification, list that with the expected completion date.
- Projects of which you have been involved.
- Committees that you have participated.
- Include all of your external business accomplishments – civic, networking, education, etc.
- Have you been awarded industry honors? Include those.
- What new skills have you learned or attained since your last evaluation?
- Include any publications, including White Papers you have produced, even if you are the co-author.
- Are you a volunteer with any community or civic organizations. Include these under Community Service, especially if you hold or have held a position as the leadership team.

Make a list of all of your accomplishments since the last time you received a raise or had your an annual evaluation.
- Don’t forget to include industry and community accolades of which you have been honored.
- How many people do you supervise?
- Have you been instrumental in creating work improvements objectives for your department and/or for the entire company?
Make a list of proposed updates, changes or work initiatives that you have determined you can generate.
- For every recommendation, write a justification to match.
- If you have a coach or close friend, use them as a sounding board to role-play with them to work through all of your proposals.
- If you have worked for your boss for over a year, you should be accustomed to what his/her response will be.
- Think through the possible responses that you will get based upon his/her reactions and be prepared to defend your points.

List key skill-sets that you have expertise including:
- team leadership.
- upper management skills.
- computer expertise – list programs that you are particularly adept.

Above all, never go into an annual review without being armed with your written list of what you have accomplished and how you plan to be instrumental in growing the organization in the coming year.

After coaching my friend though these tips, she not only received a raise but also was promoted to Vice President of the company!

You too can be successful in negotiating a raise and/or promotion. Just remember, everything is negotiable. Be bold and be prepared to receive a “Yes” answer!

Peggy is a Certified Professional Coach who works with individuals to set career goals and objectives. Her focus is to guide her clients to a win-win.

Business Networking

Business Networking–what is it?

Is Business Networking about attending a meeting, gathering business cards, calling those contacts to sell them? Absolutely not!

Many of us are sitting at our desks today trying to figure out where we are going in 2017 and how we will get there with our business.

Let’s explore a few key points that you can work on to get started for the year.

It is: Being Passionate about Giving First.

Zig Ziglar wrote in Closing the Sale: “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Most people have the idea that networking is all about getting referrals and sales.
However, networking is all about giving first.

It is: Building and Developing Synergy Partners.

A synergy partner is someone who is taught how to promote you and your business to others in the marketplace.
To build and develop an effective synergy partner, get together with your connections for a sit-down 1-1 to explain and teach them who your best prospects are, what product and service your offer and why someone would want or need your expertise.

It is: Sharing your Expertise and Talents.

We all have unique expertise. Don’t be afraid to share that with others. Sharing your expertise and talents goes back to your ability to give first.
Always be willing to give first.

It is: Being a Resource and Connector of people.

Be willing to share your connections with others. When you give of yourself, then there is always the opportunity for someone to give back to you.

It is: Your EDGE over your Competition!

The marketplace is flooded with individuals who have the same products and services to offer. Many times, the only thing that you will have that distinguishes you over your competition is your connections.

Therefore, to be effective in your networking activities if you give first; build and develop your synergy partners; share your expertise and talents; be a resource and connector of people, then, you will have earned THE EDGE over your competition!

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Edge Consultants provide 1-1 personal, group coaching and in-house sales training to corporations. If you or your sales team would be interested in an in-house and hands-on training on how to maximize these 5 key pointers, call me at 214-725-7626 or check out my website at: https://www.peggyedge.com/my-edge/speaking/ for more details.

Get “THE EDGE” over Your Competition--Make Connections! Seize Opportunities!