In today's article, Thomas von Ahn, founder of Viral Solutions, Inc. shares the LinkedIn strategies he and his partner (Christine Kelly) use to generate the majority of their business. They use LinkedIn Groups to consistently generate high quality leads from people who already view them as credible resources.

What makes a good sales pitch? If you're selling to the corporate market, let me be frank with you. Nothing in the whole wide world makes a good sales pitch.

In Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code, which highlights the results of our 2013 Sales & LinkedIn survey, we discovered that top sellers had significantly more LinkedIn connections with their customers than everyone else. 

That's a huge difference. And here’s an even starker contrast. If you look at the 55% of survey respondents who never generated an opportunity via LinkedIn, they’re only connected to 9.8% of their customers. Mmmm. Do you think being connected to customers might matter?

If you haven’t used SlideShare on your LinkedIn profile yet, you’re missing a real opportunity to upgrade your online personal brand. What’s SlideShare? It’s a program that let’s you share PDF files, PowerPoint presentations and even videos with others.  

This turns your flat LinkedIn profile into a multi-media bonanza of great information that can showcase your company or personal expertise and value. Your prospects are checking you out online and you want to have the best possible LinkedIn personal brand.  

Check out these actual stories of how top sellers leverage LinkedIn to get more business. You'll discover how:

• Robbie won a $500,000 contract after being told he had no chance.
• Thomas generates 58% of his revenue via LinkedIn groups.
• Jill R. gets big payoffs from her thought leadership strategies.
• and much more...

Get the eBook now --> www.jillkonrath.com/linkedin-sales-secrets

You’ll also get access to lots of good resources to help you leverage LinkedIn more effectively.

How often do you use LinkedIn updates? Most people I ask say seldom or even never. And the reason they don’t is because they don’t have a clue why it matters.  

Rachael Lyman is a Membership Account Executive with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Rather than pounding the pavement to bring in new members, she's leveraging LinkedIn as her prime prospecting tool. Check out her strategies for building a highly profitable online network. 

Gene McNaughton, President of Business Breakthroughs, International, takes his LinkedIn activity seriously. He has to! When your targeted prospects are senior-level decision makers, you don't get a second chance. They make snap decisions about if you're someone who's worth talking to -- or not. 

To ensure that he can quickly connect to these executives, Gene does his homework. And, that's exactly what top sellers do on LinkedIn. 86.7% of them always research prospects prior to making contact compared to only 26.7% of their colleagues. (Click here to download the 2013 Sales/LinkedIn Survey: Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code.)

Now, check out Gene's story to find out what he's looking for on LinkedIn and how he uses his research.

Today's post from the Chamber of Commerce features business-growth advice for small companies.

Everyone is a salesperson in his or her own way. That’s the belief of Nancy Bleeke, owner of Sales Pro Insider, Inc. and consultant who works with companies to help maintain their most valuable asset: their employees.

For 15 years, Bleeke has worked one-on-one in training and human resources projects from the hiring process to sharpening the internal skills of “non-traditional” sales people like project managers and engineers.

Today's article features Robbie Johnson, Channel Manager for SPS Commerce and a principle in Social Media Performance Group. His creativity and tenacity in using LinkedIn for sales to create this big-time opportunity is something we can all learn from.