Consultants and LinkedIn™! It is a predestined marriage. LinkedIn™ as the online RESUME, where you can describe successful projects and assignments. Where you can share knowledge and where new clients can find you. Yet more than 85% of all consultants use LinkedIn™ wrong! Or let me put it differently…. They do not exploit the full potential to distinguish themselves towards the client… Before, during and after the assignment.

Prior to intake

Yes, there is a match! Your work experience, knowledge and expertise matches on paper with a new assignment. And you may be on intake. But of course there are hijackers on the coast! You look at the website of the client, let you talk to colleagues and Googled the name of your interlocutor. But how can you now deploy LinkedIn™ before the intake?

Lookup Partner: Find the profile of your interlocutor (and do it in public mode, because “YES” he can see that you are well prepared). Look at connecting points that you can use to realize a click. Do you have joint training, courses, employers or connections?

Interlocutor’s activity on LinkedIn™: Look at the last activity of your interlocutor on LinkedIn™, what has he shared, liked? Often you can find links to hobbies and interests in this dynamic information.

Search Company Profile: Visit the company profile on LinkedIn™, what messages have they shared? How can you use this information in your conversation? Also, do not forget to follow the company profile.

Consult shared connections: Do you want more information about your interlocutor? Check the common connections and see if there are people who have experiences with your interlocutor. Mail and call them and see if they have useful information for you. But beware! Try to take this information as objectively as possible to you, don’t be too prejudiced too quickly.

Invite your interlocutor to link: show that you’re excited and want to start. Invite your interlocutor, for example with the message below.

We will meet in two weeks at your office in…. For my intake as a consultant for project “X”. I look forward to a pleasant introduction, can I already invite you to my business network?

When you are allowed to start

The intake went well, you made a crushing impression and started your new assignment. So we need to get back to work on LinkedIn™

Create new Work Experience: Describe your new assignment as a separate work experience and add a description of the work and result areas. After your job name, choose which organization you are on the assignment, as in the example below where a consultant of the result group is on assignment “bij’s Heeren Loo”.

Who is your actual employer: If you are employed by a consultancy company, drag your formal employer up again. So this name remains in your shortened menu (what people see first when visiting your profile)

Be connected with your new colleagues: try linking to your direct colleagues on the assignment as soon as possible. Consultants who link broadly within an organization, 75% are more likely to “repeat assignments” with the same client, after all, you remain on the retina for several people.

Subscribe to the skills of colleagues: be generous with virtual gifts. Endorse your colleagues ‘ skills on LinkedIn™ (instantly increases your ability to find availability). Confirm their expertise and make them so receptive to endorse your skills.

End of assignment

Your assignment ends at the end, your client is very satisfied, but delivery is not at present. We will open LinkedIn™ again and get started.

Customize Description: Change the content description of the work experience of your assignment. Bundle your work (make them slightly more concise) and finish with concrete results. What you have yielded, what was your added value. This is what new clients are interested in when they visit your profile. Not what you had to do, but how you did it and with what result.

Recommendation questions: The best time to ask for a recommendation from your client is during the offline evaluation. Right then the client is enthusiastic and full of praise. Then dare to ask if he is willing to mention this briefly on LinkedIn™ too. If he says “YES”, send another referral request via LinkedIn™ on the same day and send it by asking targeted questions.

Make a note of your availability in your headline: Customize your headline and indicate the date and the organization you are available for which type of assignments. Do this as soon as you know the assignment is going to expire, so your network can look with you.

Send a status update: Write a message that briefly looks back on your last assignment and the results achieved. Conclude by stating that you are available again for new assignments. Be as concrete as possible in terms of region, number of hours, type of assignment and work.

Conclusion

LinkedIn™ is much more than a static collection of work and project experience. As a consultant, LinkedIn™ can add value to you as a professional and your positioning at every stage of your assignment.

By consistently putting the above steps into action, you keep your network engaged and your profile accurate and up-to-date.