10 Things You Should Look For When Hiring a LinkedIn? & Social Selling Expert

I have been speaking and training LinkedIn? and Social Selling for over a decade. When I first started out, you could count on one hand the number of people who were specialised and focused on helping companies to generate more sales from LinkedIn?. Today, the market is saturated with so-called 'experts' who are claiming to be able to solve all of your lead generation issues. Many are people who have sat through a couple of days training with me or other colleagues of mine in the industry who have worked relentlessly to hone their skills and dedicate their career to mastering Social Selling and LinkedIn?.

Recently, I have listened to LinkedIn rooms on Clubhouse with people spouting all sorts of rubbish advice and I wrote this Article out of frustration and anger, because of all the bad advice that people are sharing (such as be in engagement pods, use automation, etc. neither of which I recommend!). It's confusing for buyers in large companies and for business owners, so I wanted to share this list of 10 things to look for when you are thinking about engaging a LinkedIn & Social Selling expert either for your own business or your team.

I know that we at Linked Inbound are not the perfect fit for every business, so when you are making a decision about hiring in expertise to help, use this guide to help you make the right decision for your needs. I have a handful of people I recommend in my industry when we are not a good fit for a client, whether that be based on budget, location, values alignment, or anything else, so please ask me for whom I would recommend if we disqualify you, which happens regulary, or you decide not to hire us.

I have put together these 10 things to look for when hiring expertise in LinkedIn? and Social Selling, I hope you find it useful:

1. Recommendations

A good place to start is their LinkedIn recommendations and case studies, you will find these on the bottom of everyone's profile and on their website. Pay attention to how many LinkedIn? recommendations they have, who they are from and how far back they go. I get booked on the sheer number of recommendations I have, which as I write this is over 265 recommendations. In fact, I am a member of the LinkedIn group 'Top Recommended' as one of the most recommended people on LinkedIn?. My recommendations go back to 2011, and prospects can read about me as a Speaker, Trainer, and Consultant in all things LinkedIn? and Social Selling. Check this out on the profile of someone you are considering hiring.

2. Their Client Base

Look at the Companies they have done business with. Do they work with the same kind of companies that you are, do they have experience in working in your industry or sector? What results have they generated for those clients? What size of a company have they worked with. If you are a large company with a significant sales team, you don't want to hire someone who has only ever worked with solopreneurs and micro-businesses. Many LinkedIn trainers out there are solopreneurs, working alone with no team to support them and many would be overwhelmed working with a large organisation with complex sales cycles. Training salespeople is completely different from training business owners. Ask what experience they have in training sales professionals.

3. Track Record - What Results They Have Delivered for Their Clients?

This is a really good indicator of the level of expert you are dealing with. Most won't be able to tell you and show you the results they have delivered for their clients because they either haven't or don't have the success stories to back up what they are saying. Many don't have the results to back up their credibility. Ask them the show you the emails, letters, messages and thank you cards from all of their happy clients after they helped them land so much business from LinkedIn?. Ask them for video testimonials and evidence that what they deliver actually turns into real tangible results. If they can't then disqualify them from your search for the right person to turn to.

4. Do they walk their talk?

Are they posting content consistently? Are they engaging on the newsfeed daily? Do they and their team have amazing credibility building LinkedIn profiles? Do they have value-packed 'About' sections on their LinkedIn profiles? Are they using all of LinkedIn's new features (Cover Stories, Creator Mode, Newsletters)? Are they even clued up on all of LinkedIn's new features and product rollouts? Do their team post content and use Social Selling to build their own personal brands? Is it easy to get in touch with them? Do you look at their own social selling activity and think, I trust this person or this company based on what I am reading about them. Are they doing what you want your own team to do? Are their daily and weekly habits in line with what you wish your team were doing?

5. Investment To Work With Them

Any Expert, Consultant, Trainer or Speaker who is worth working with is worth paying for. If they are charging a considerable amount to work with them, there is a reason. If they are eye-wateringly expensive then there is a reason. We always tell people in discovery meetings from the outset that we are typically 5-10 times more expensive than other companies that do what we do, and ask if that's going to be a problem? In most cases people continue the conversation and understand that there is value in working with a company who can deliver return on investment and that there is a reason for a significant investment, backed by all of the items on this list. Ultimately, what we do puts money back in your bank account, not immediately but it pays off in the long run. Most people know that 'you get what you pay for'. Are there people out there who will charge minimal amounts? Absolutely, but check all of the other points on this list before hiring them as you will quickly find out why they are so 'cheap'.

6. Company Profile & LinkedIn Paid Solutions

Do they have a LinkedIn? Company Page? Does it have a following? Do they have a business presence on LinkedIn? If they don't and your company is looking for help with both Corporate brand and helping your sales and marketing team, then how can you expect them to be able to help you? Do they have Sales Navigator, are they using all of LinkedIn's paid products. There is no point in hiring a LinkedIn? and Social Selling expert for your business if they aren't active users of the very tools that you want and need your teams to utilise. Are they making use of Smart Links? Do they build and create saved leads and accounts in Sales Navigator for their own prospecting? Are they an advocate of LinkedIn's paid solutions. This will quickly determine if the person you are looking to bring in is the right person to help your business.

7. Posts & Articles They Have Shared

One way to tell if someone really knows their stuff is to look back over the last 5-10 Articles they have written, and look back over the last couple of weeks of their recent posts. Do the same with their team. Are they sharing lots of valuable information that you didn't know about? Are they helping you in some way through their content? Are they demonstrating their expertise through their content? True thought leaders and experts in their field will be creating consistent content that adds massive value to their followers. Look how many followers they have. If less than 10,000 would you really want to hire them as a LinkedIn? expert to help you and your sales team? Look at their hashtags, do they have their own personal hashtag that others follow? Would you consider them to be an expert in what they do, based on the content you have read from them? If yes, it's worth a conversation.

8. Credibility

What books and publications have they written? How many reviews do they have? What events have they spoken at? What other companies have hired them? There are many so-called 'LinkedIn experts' out there, but how many of them have a best-selling book to back up their credibility with more than 150 5* star reviews? A handful, and most of which are people I recommend to my network. Do they have a podcast, do they appear on other people's podcasts as guests? How often are they speaking at other people's events?

Do they have a Speaker Bureau or Agent who represents them? Most high-quality Speakers will be represented by an Agent or Booker or Bureau and only the best get onto the books of the Bureaus. Ask what bureaus represent them and book them for Events and Corporate work. Look for signs of quality.

Are they a member of a professional body such as the Professional Speaking Association, or Speakers Federation? Do they have Fellowship? Are they recommended by peers? Asking these questions and looking for these signs on their profiles will help you make the decision about whether or not to engage their services. I am honoured to be a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association (FPSA).

9. Social Selling Index (SSI) Score

Ask what their LinkedIn Social Selling Index is. Any LinkedIn expert out there who is walking their talk and doing everything that LinkedIn recommends to build a personal brand, prospect effectively, build relationships, and engage with insights will have an SSI score of at least 80+. Ask them to send their current SSI score and more importantly, get them to explain it to you and ask them how they will improve yours and that of your team. You will soon find out if they are worth hiring. Check yours at https://linkedin.com/sales/ssi. Mine is 87, in case you were wondering.

10. Deep Knowledge of Their Subject

I attended an event recently where William Buist delivered a keynote about Mastery. There are people who are Explorers (starting to learn about a topic). Then you have Novices (still learning and asking for help), then we come to the Practitioners (they are implementing and delivering regularly but still at a surface level).

Then come the Experts, they typically have developed their own system or framework for their knowledge and they have modeled it and teach this to others. Finally, you have Mastery. When I asked William a question at the end of his brilliant session, I said "What are the indicators that someone has truly mastered their art?" His response... you can ask them ANY question and they won't be thrown off, they can answer succinctly and with a solid response, because their depth of knowledge is at such an understanding that you just know they are a true master.

He finished with this statement:

"Practitioners take pride in what they do. Experts take pride in how they do it, but Masters take pride in what they have enabled to be done."

When you are booking a Speaker, Trainer, or Consultant in LinkedIn? and Social Selling, only consider the Experts and the Masters. Ask to see their tried and tested model, system or framework. Ask what they have enabled to be done in organisations that they have worked with. Challenge them with difficult questions.

I hope this list of things to look for has helped you in your buying process. If you are thinking about hiring someone (and it's not me) feel free to message me or ask my opinion. I am connected to over 600 people in my industry and I am happy to recommend based on what you need. It's important that values align as well as budgets, it's a big decision because making the right decision can have HUGE impact on your sales pipeline and in many cases put ￡millions on your bottom line.

About the Author

Sam Rathling is a LinkedIn Expert & Social Selling Strategist based out of Derby in the East Midlands. Sam and her team are on a mission to generate over ￡1billion in sales for their clients by 2025. Sam is Best Selling Author of "Linked Inbound'.

An international Speaker, she is considered to be a global authority on building sales pipeline through LinkedIn?. Yahoo! Finance recently named her as a Top 10 Global LinkedIn? Expert to follow. Since Jan 2019, Sam and her team have helped companies to generate in excess of ￡97.5m in new business from this platform. An Award-Winning Entrepreneur, best known for her practical, no-nonsense, easy to implement training that transforms the sales pipeline of her clients.

As the Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) & Founder of Linked Inbound & the Pipeline 44 Group, she leads an amazing team of LinkedIn? ninjas. Sam runs this specialist agency delivering marketing campaigns to strategically building sales pipeline on behalf of her clients. Pipeline Pro is suitable for business owners who don't have the time or resources in-house to prospect consistently to generate a flow of leads from LinkedIn? every month. To learn more about Pipeline Pro, click here.

Sam inspires C-suite leaders, business owners, and sales & marketing professionals to generate massive results through LinkedIn? & social selling. Sam trains her clients through her on-demand, video-based online Pipeline Academy, as well as delivering in-house and virtual programmes with large enterprise clients looking to transform their sales pipeline and embed social selling throughout their entire organisation. Want to train your sales team? Book a call.

To get hold of a copy of Sam's book, which is available on Kindle and in Paperback. Click here.

Sam is working on her next book, "Linked Outbound", if you have a social selling story to share, please send Sam a message and let her know your LinkedIn? success story!

You can reach Sam on [email protected] or by sending her a message on LinkedIn?, although be patient, it's a busy inbox (as you can imagine!).