Ten Worst LinkedIn Profile Mistakes #7: No Recommendations

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Ten Worst LinkedIn Profile Mistakes #7: No Recommendations

Use recommendations to underscore your expertise, attitude and flexibility...

The power of recommendations:

How to give recommendations, and how to ask for them:

?What you say on your LinkedIn Profile is biased.

You will always praise yourself. And I can't really believe your claims, because I simply don't know you yet. All the same, I know you are going to be biased. After all, you're talking about your favourite subject — yourself!

However, when I see a photo of your customer telling me how your service or skills specifically benefited them, and I see what they do, where they are, what their name and job title is, and can follow a link to their profile, THEN I can really believe it.

In a word, recommendations give you credibility.

How do you get recommendations?

Well, they don't often come out of the blue in LinkedIn.

Try this — ask for them from your customers or colleagues. Say “I want to add a credible recommendation to my online profile so that people can see the real benefits that I deliver. Would you please add your recommendation?”?

The worse that might happen is someone might say no, or just ignore you. So you can ask someone else.

Of course, another way to get recommendations is to give them first.

1: Here's how to give a recommendation:

Visit the profile of the connection to whom you want to give a recommendation. (You have to be connected to an individual on LinkedIn to give or receive a recommendation.)

Click the More button, and select 'Recommend' - it's self explanatory after that.

2: How to ask for a recommendation:

The step above also leads you to where you can ask for a recommendation.

• Caveat: In certain countries, if you work in a regulated industry such as financial services, you may not be allowed to show recommendations on your profile.

The steps to give, or ask for a recommendation, are very clear and self-explanatory.

You can visit their profile, or click on 'Request a recommendation' when managing your recommendations.

It's also a good idea to keep a record of people you asked for recommendations and send gentle reminders if needed.?

Why are recommendations important?

The power of recommendations is that it's not you talking about yourself - it's what other people are saying. In a word, it's credibility, because it's some else's opinion.

It's worth asking people to be very specific and precise in their recommendation, and to do the same when you give recommendations.

“92% of respondents reported that a positive recommendation from a friend, family member, or someone they trust is the biggest influence on whether they buy a product or service.” — Paul Rand

Remind them of the project you worked on and see if you can get them to focus on the results - the benefits.

"John is a great guy to work with"

That's pretty vague. It's not as impressive as -

“John is super friendly and efficient, and explains the technical stuff effectively. He over-delivers on what he promises. His PPC strategy allowed us to lift our click-through-rate by 129% in a month, reduce spend by 39%, but actually increase conversions by 28.7%.”

So be specific about the impact working with someone has had, and include hard facts and figures in a recommendation if you can.

Ask connections to do the same for you when requesting a recommendation — remind them of the relevant project or outcome.

Get started today...

It's very easy to start - just go and recommend someone who has impressed you today. What goes around, comes around.?

“David has helped me and a number of friends. There's no one better to make you visible, legible and credible on LinkedIn. I've recommended David consistently, and everyone who has used his services as a result has been bloody delighted with the results. Recommended. Highly.” — Pat Phelan

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About David Petherick

David is a?LinkedIn Profile Doctor?who makes you visible, legible and credible on LinkedIn. He works across the world from his base in Edinburgh, Scotland. Learn more about his services at the?doc.scot?website.

For a limited period once a week, David offers free ten-minute microsurgery sessions to help you improve your profile.?Why not?book an appointment to suit your diary?today?