The prospecting times are a changing

• Reprints

When you hear the word prospecting, what image comes to mind? Maybe it’s one of the old miner holding a pick ax on his shoulder followed by a tired donkey walking up and down a well worn mountain path in search of that illusive vein of gold or silver. For those in business, it may mean searching through stacks of collected business cards, pouring over sales leads generated from some outsourcing firm or cold calling one business after another. The goal of prospecting in either scenario is to strike it rich.

Prospecting for new veins of sales leads has dramatically changed in the 21st century global marketplace. This shift has been the direct result of technology advances and social media.

An article in Entrepreneur Magazine along with many other journals, white and research papers continue to suggest how one social media site, LinkedIn, has been a key player in how today’s executives, small business owners and sales people prospect.

According to a survey conducted by ROI Research, LinkedIn is now considered to be site of most importance by 59% of the 2,997 active social network account holders surveyed. The membership of LinkedIn now exceeds more than 100 million members in over 200 countries and 50% are outside of the United States. In May of 2011, the unique visitors to LinkedIn neared 34 million (33.9) which was an increase of over 60% from the previous year.

Research data from another survey (Lab42), there is a difference between roles and ages. Younger entry level workers use LinkedIn for job hunting while top level executives and even middle management use it for promoting their businesses to even striking it rich with new business.

Of course just like any other prospecting tool, sometimes instruction is needed. This past summer I recognized that I did not know enough about LinkedIn even though I had well over 500 contacts. What I did was to invest some of my profits into taking a course delivered over the Internet on Advanced LinkedIn Prospecting offered by Dean DeLisle President of Forward Progress out of Chicago, IL. This course has paid for itself at least 10 times over and has helped me to better use this tool for my own prospecting for new sales leads.

For some who confuse marketing with selling, this is not the place to engage in self promotion. The numerous discussion groups, the 24/7 hour update feed, the ability to connect with other business professionals provide a plethora of opportunities to truly engage with other liked minded individuals.

Since people buy from people they know and trust, LinkedIn allows crazy busy small business owners to sales professionals to prospect from the comfort of their desks. They can connect with people first via discussion groups then email then telephone and finally face to face. The data base within this social media site is filled with incredible research from what individuals within one company are on LinkedIn to trending topics to even who is searching for you.

Today’s business professional has limited resources especially of time and money. LinkedIn works with those limited resources.

Of course just like those old timers of years gone by, unless you have a map (think marketing and sales plans along with ideal customer), then you may just find Fool’s Gold instead of truly striking it rich.

P.S. Shout Out – Keeping your car clean is always a challenge. In Crown Point, Adam’s Car Wash can help you maintain that clean car look. Over in Valparaiso, Uptown Car Wash & Detail Center provides a hand wash for your vehicle.