Helping Grow Sales & Clients with LinkedIn | Social Media Handbook for Financial Advisors | The LinkedIn Ninja since '10 um Crystal Clear Buzz a.k.a. The LinkedIn Ninja: LinkedIn for Sales Training & Consulting
LinkedIn Profile Tips
1. Always look at your profile through your target market's eyes. If you were them, would
your profile answer their questions about who you are, who you work with, and how you
can help solve their problems?
2. Keep your name simple and minimize alphabet soup as it can affect people finding you
when searching by name.
3. Headline: Should answer 3 questions AND include your search optimization phrase. 1.)
What you do from a functional standpoint; 2.) who you serve (target market); and 3.) what
results/benefits you provide.
4. Picture: A profile picture is a MUST! People do not click through and look at profiles
without pictures. The photo needs to be a tight headshot with a nice smile. A graphic
designer can add branding colored backgrounds and logos for additional emphasis.
5. Location: Select the largest metro area available to you. This will increase your appearance
in search results.
6. Industry: Select the industry that people looking for you would select if they were looking
for you. There may be more than one industry option that could define your work.
7. Contact Information: Add your phone number and mailing address. Only those people
connected to you can see it. Additionally, it syncs into your connections smart phones
when they use the LinkedIn app, so contacting you when they need to will be easy for
them.
8. Website Links: Never use the predefined labels such as My Company. ALWAYS select the
"Other" option at the bottom of the list; this will allow you to label the name of the link
appropriately. You have 3 links to use; think strategically about where you want to send
visitors to your profile.
9. Public Profile Link: Customize your public profile link so that you can use it in email
signatures, business cards, and websites. Also be certain that your compliance approved
profile is visible to everyone. Only content set to visible to everyone will be indexed by
Google, Bing, and Yahoo and increase your chances of being found in more general
search engines.
10. Summary: The profile summary is not a biography; it is an elevator speech. Do not talk
about yourself in the third person and discuss only the things you've done in the past. It
should be first person and present tense. It should tell people what differentiates you as a
financial advisor, who your preferred clientele is and how you help them. It is possible to
Crystal Thies crystal@linkedinninja.com (859) 391-6562 http://linkedinninja.com
http://linkedinfinancialadvisors.com
identify target markets of focus while not being exclusive. Do not use jargon like "pre-
retirees."
11. Experience: The titles in your experience have some of the greatest weighting in terms of
search optimization. If you are optimizing your profile for "financial advisor," you want to
use that term in as many titles as possible (depending on your experience).
12. Volunteer Activity and Community Service: People want to work with those they know,
like, and trust. A common interest or passion with a non-profit cause or interest outside
your activities as a financial advisor can be a determining factor in someone selecting you,
so use those.
13. Media Links and Files: Add compliance approved videos, brochures, articles, and
documents to your profile to demonstrate your expertise and share greater information
about your services.
Too busy to build your LinkedIn profile yourself? LinkedIn Ninja profiles start at $597.
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The Career LinkedIn Profile – $597
• Optimize and add all LinkedIn profile sections directly related to your career: Experience,
Education, Certifications, Publications, Skills & Expertise, Patents, Honors & Awards
• Search Optimize entire LinkedIn profile for 1 primary phrase and 1 secondary phrase
• Provide a search optimized and compelling Headline
• Write a professional, compelling and search optimized Summary
• Attach media files highlighting career accomplishments and expertise
• Personal interview to gather additional details, verify messaging, and develop
appropriate positioning
The Full 360 Profile – $797
Everything in the Career LinkedIn Profile plus content related to your activities outside your
job/business including: Organizations section, Volunteer Experience & Causes section,
Projects section, Honors & Awards outside work activities, and additional
messaging/positioning related to your personal passions that impact your professional life.
Your network wants to get to know you as a person and not just you as a worker. This added
content gives them a more well rounded view of who you are, what you do, and why you do
it.
Crystal Thies crystal@linkedinninja.com (859) 391-6562 http://linkedinninja.com
http://linkedinfinancialadvisors.com
The LinkedIn Ninja Technique to Find 401k Rollover Opportunities
Step 1 – Go to the Advanced Search; the link to which you’ll find at the far right on the menu
bar after the search box.
Step 2 – In the Keywords box, type the line below exactly as I have it.
"in transition" OR "new opportunity" NOT(financial OR finance OR investment)
Step 3 – Enter your office’s zip code in the Postal Code box and set the radius as far as you’re
willing to drive to meet with a new client or you think a new client would be willing to drive
to meet with you.
Step 4 – In the bottom part of the Advanced Search page, you’ll see a filter labeled
“Relationship.” Put a check in the box next to “2nd
connections.”
Step 5 – Click on the Search button.
The size of the list you end up with is mostly determined by the size of your network. My 1st
degree network is a little more than 1500 and I have over 140 prospects within a 50 mile
radius.
Step 6 – The bottom line of each search result will tell you how many connections you have
in common. If you click on it, you will see up to the first three shared connections. If the
summary of the person and the connections in common look promising, click on their profile
to review to see if they appear to meet your preferred client profile.
Step 7 – The next step involves some strategy development. The goal is to find a connection
that you feel comfortable approaching to talk to about this prospect and the connection who
will be most comfortable actually talking to the prospect. If you have more than one
connection in common, prioritize the connections you’re most comfortable approaching.
Step 8 – The Referral Request. The beauty with focusing on the 2nd
degree connections is that
you don’t have to use any of LinkedIn’s communication or introduction tools to make this
strategy work – which is why I said that compliance isn’t an issue. Because you’re connected
with them on LinkedIn, at minimum you have their email address. If it’s someone you know
outside of LinkedIn, then you may also have their phone number. Use your approved email
account or simply pick up the phone to talk to your connection about this prospect.
How you approach your connection about the referral really depends on the strength of your
relationship with them. If it’s someone you know well, it should be relatively easy since they
know who you are, what you do, how well you do it, and they hopefully want to help you. If
Crystal Thies crystal@linkedinninja.com (859) 391-6562 http://linkedinninja.com
http://linkedinfinancialadvisors.com
it’s someone you don’t know well, then you’re going to have to be more subtle – or that could
also be an excuse just to get to know them better before asking about the prospect. I’ve
found that a message similar to that below often works very well.
Dear Connection,
I noticed that you were connected to Jane Smith on LinkedIn and that Jane is
currently in between career opportunities. As you may or may not know, I help
people in transition take control of the few things in their financial lives that
they can control during these often turbulent times. I was wondering if you
would be open to talking to me about your relationship with Jane and if it
would be appropriate for you to introduce the two of us. I would be happy to
meet you for coffee or lunch or schedule a phone call at your convenience. If
your relationship with Jane is not such where you would be comfortable
approaching her about this topic, please feel free to say so and know that there
are no hard feelings. If there is ever anything I can do to help you or your
business, please don’t hesitate to ask. I look forward to hearing from you.
Warmest regards,
Me
Step 9 – Talk to your connection and make a plan to get introduced to the referral and follow
through.
The Success and Ongoing Use of the Technique
The ultimate success of the technique really depends on your relationship building and
communication skills. I can show you all the prospects you need on LinkedIn, but if you can’t
build the relationship in order to effectively gain access to them, then you’ll never succeed. I
also seriously caution against trying to contact the prospects cold and drop the name of the
connection between you. You will likely not get a warm welcome and will quickly burn
bridges with your connections.
The best part is that once you’ve developed this search you can save it and LinkedIn will email
you every week with the latest prospects that meet your criteria. Imagine that…potential
401k rollovers landing in your inbox every single week without you lifting a finger!
No matter how much or how little experience you have, this technique will get you talking to
potential clients with a good probability of investable assets that need to be moved.
Crystal Thies crystal@linkedinninja.com (859) 391-6562 http://linkedinninja.com
http://linkedinfinancialadvisors.com
Other LinkedIn Advanced Searches
Small Business Owner – Free Member
Title: owner OR president OR CEO OR founder
(current only)
Location: 50 miles around your zip code
Relationship: 2nd
, Group
Industry: select any industries you want or
leave blank
Small Business Owner – Premium Member
Location: 50 miles around your zip code
Relationship: 2nd, Group
Seniority: CXO, Owner, Partner
Company Size: 11-50, 51-200
Industry: select any industries you want or
leave blank
(If too many search results, add the keywords
in the title field from the free member search.)
401k Rollover Opportunities
Keyword: “in transition” OR “new opportunity”
- the quotes around the phrases are important
and OR must be capitalized
Location: 50 miles around your zip code
Relationship: 2nd, Group
Company Search
Location: Start typing the name of your metro
area
Industry: select any industries you want or
leave blank
Relationship: 1st (can include 2nd)
Company Size: Select your target size
categories such as: 1-10, 11-50, 51-200
Prospect Rating:
2 Variables: Add values together to get Rating (0 to 6) Take action on 4 or greater
Match to Target Market
3 – Perfect Match
2 – 75% Match
1 – 50% Match
0 – Little-to-No Match
Strength of Connection
3 – 1st
or 2nd
Degree Known to Help
2 – 2nd
Degree You Have Personally Met or a Group Member
1 – 2nd
Degree You Have Only Interacted With Online or 3rd
Degree
Through a Strong Connection
0 – 2nd
Degree You Don’t Know, 3rd
Degree Through a Weak
Connection or No Connection
LinkedIn Ninja for Financial Advisors Training Program– Regularly $197
Comprehensive, Flexible and Effective LinkedIn Training Program for Financial Advisors
This program is developed specifically for financial advisors, financial planners, investment
advisors, wealth advisors, and wealth managers who are regulated by FINRA, the SEC,
or IIROC. It will teach you how to use LinkedIn for business development purposes in an
effective and compliant way.
Crystal Thies crystal@linkedinninja.com (859) 391-6562 http://linkedinninja.com
http://linkedinfinancialadvisors.com
This program is essentially a “Video Workbook.” Each training topic is addressed in its own
mini video lasting 3 to 20 minutes each with approximately 7 hours of training. This allows
the participants to immediately implement the teaching and to build the program around
their schedule.
The videos fall under 5 main topics: (click to see and access list of videos)
Building an Effective and Compliant Profile (2.5 hours)
Growing a Network for Referrals (1 hour)
Finding Perfect Prospects an Introduction Away (1.5 hours)
Communicating With Your Network to Stay Front of Mind (1 hour)
Using LinkedIn Groups to Attract New Clients (1 hour)
• Stop and start when you need to and it fits into your schedule
• Have the LinkedIn Ninja review your profile
Special Ongoing Pricing for Securities America Advisors—$97
Building an Effective and Compliant Profile – Regularly $47
Not ready to commit to the full training program yet? Purchase only the module on building
an effective – yet compliant- LinkedIn profile.
Special Ongoing Pricing—$27
Too busy to build your LinkedIn profile yourself? LinkedIn Ninja profiles start at $597.
Conference attendees receive a 15% discount
Information & Registration at:
http://linkedinninja.com/securitiesamerica
Crystal Thies crystal@linkedinninja.com (859) 391-6562 http://linkedinninja.com
http://linkedinfinancialadvisors.com
CONTENT FAUCET: The LinkedIn Ninja Automated,
Curated Content Service
Are you struggling with consistently finding and sharing great content on social media?
Have you tried other content curation programs and been disappointed in the results?
Have you given up on the idea that it’s possible to find a cost effective way to automate
social media content AND have the articles be highly targeted and valuable to your
audience?
The LinkedIn Ninja can help!
Developed specifically for financial advisors, we can provide a constant stream of highly
targeted articles on your topics of choice from the top financial publishers.
Topic streams focus on:
Retirement Planning
Taxes and Tax Planning
Estate Planning
Investing (market activity, stocks, bonds,
ETFs, mutual funds)
Insurance, Healthcare & Risk Management
Small Business
Family Finance
Education Planning
Charitable Giving
Publications:
Barron’s*
Bloomberg
Business Insider
BusinessWeek
CNBC
CNN Money
Entrepreneur
Forbes
Fortune
Inc.
Kiplinger’s
Market Watch
Wall Street Journal*
* Free articles only! That way your followers won’t be frustrated with subscriber only articles.
How it works:
You pick up to 3 topics listed above
You specify which social media accounts you want to post to (LinkedIn profile, LinkedIn
Company Page, LinkedIn Showcase Page, Facebook personal, Facebook Page, Twitter,
Google+ Page)
You decide how often you want something to post and how many items at a time to post.
Crystal Thies crystal@linkedinninja.com (859) 391-6562 http://linkedinninja.com
http://linkedinfinancialadvisors.com
Our software does the rest! All of the great articles about those key financial topics will
automatically post to your social media accounts as frequently as you’re comfortable with
WITHOUT you having to do anything.
We are in final development of this product. The price will be $47 per month for access to this
automatic social media content service.
The FIRST 50 financial advisors to email The LinkedIn Ninja and commit to
the service will get it for $27 per month. We plan to be live on July 1st.
Email crystal@linkedinninja.com and provide the 3 topics you want to be
sharing on your social media.
Sample Articles:
The Offense and Defense of Retirement Savings – Fox Business: Building a nest egg for retirement requires both
scoring points and defending what's yours.
Outside the Box: Retirement is bad for your health, and your wealth – Market Watch: The old model of retirement
is thankfully on its way to being retired, as people’s goals and values change with the times, writes commentator
An Easy Retirement Planning Checklist – Forbes: Financial advisors often start off their conversations with clients by
taking stock of their current financial situation. Their debts, their spending habits, their budgeting skills and so on.
Senate turns up heat on cuts in Social Security offices, services – Reuters: Until earlier this year, there was a Social
Security field office in Gadsden County, Florida, in the state’s panhandle. It's the kind of place where seniors need to
What's Up With My 401(k) Loan Payments? – Fox Business: It isn't unusual to take a few days for your 401(k) loan
plan payments to get posted.
What's On First- Paying Off Student Loans or Saving for Retirement? – Huffington Post: Dear Carrie, I'm 24 and
came out of school with $80,000 in college loans.
When to take Social Security? Your 401(k) plan may know best – Reuters: Deciding when to file for Social Security is
no simple task, and most Americans don't handle it well. But increasingly, help is available from an unexpected
Can I extend my mortgage term beyond retirement? – The Guardian: I am due to retire in nine years but want to
repay my mortgage over 15 years. Is this possible? Continue reading...
Women must overcome retirement-saving roadblocks – CNBC: Despite being well educated, earning more money
and controlling more wealth, many women fail to adequately save for retirement.
The Social Security cash crunch Congress can't ignore – CNN Money: Entitlement reform may be off the table for
now. But lawmakers will have to deal with at least one Social Security program in the next year or so. If they don't,
disability benefits will be cut by an estimated 20% by or before 2017.
Why millennial women don't save for retirement – CNBC: Millennials are saddled with student loans and a slow job
market, but millennial women have another problem: not saving.
A Reality Check on Health Care Costs for Early Retirees – Kiplinger: The average couple who retires at age 62 will
spend $17,000 out-of-pocket on health care each year until they enroll in Medicare. Can you afford to make the leap?
What women really want...from retirement – Kiplinger: Funny thing about boomer women nearing retirement age:
Many aren't that interested in dialing back. Here's why.
Things to Consider Before Retiring Out of State – Wall Street Journal (free): Taxes are a big factor, but they aren't
the only thing, this adviser says.
Some Question Value of Wealth-Management Credentials – Wall Street Journal (free): More financial planners earn
CFP and CIMA badges, but the usefulness of the credentials is challenged by some.
Clements: How to Calculate Your Net Worth – Wall Street Journal (free): Three important things you shouldn't
overlook.
For the Chronically Ill, a Lump-Sum Option – Wall Street Journal (free): Life insurers expand offerings of 'accelerated
death benefits.'
Social Security as Life Insurance – Wall Street Journal (free): The 'file-and-suspend' strategy can be reversed if your
situation changes.