Does the thought of posting on LinkedIn fill you with a sense of dread? Do you worry about how to avoid the “cringe” or that “icky feeling” of being too salesy?
If you see business development on platforms like LinkedIn as a necessary evil, something that feels unnatural and uncomfortable, you are not alone. Many of the most talented professionals I work with feel exactly the same way.
In this episode of the How to Make Partner podcast, I share the advice I gave to a group of lawyers on how to build your profile and win work online in a way that feels authentic to you.
Listen to this episode to discover:
- The crucial mindset shift from being a passive ‘consumer’ of content to an active ‘giver’ in the conversation.
- Why choosing and committing to a niche is the secret to making your content creation focused and easier.
- How to reframe your activity from ‘selling’ to ‘helping your clients to buy’.
- Practical, non-salesy ideas for posts you can use immediately, from sharing successes to using your hobbies as a hook.
- Why a consistent, long-term approach will always win over a “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” strategy.
Tune in to find out how to stop worrying about the ‘ick’ factor, and start building a powerful and authentic presence on LinkedIn.
You can also listen to this episode on Substack and on Apple Podcasts
Hello and welcome.
Does a thought of posting on LinkedIn fill you with a sense of dread?
Do you worry about how to avoid the cringe or that icky feeling of being too salesy? Maybe you’re a fan of scrolling and reading and consuming social media, but the idea of creating your own content, particularly for business, just isn’t something you want to do.
If you see business development on platforms like LinkedIn as a necessarily evil, something that feels unnatural and uncomfortable, you’re not alone. Many of the most talented professionals I work with feel exactly the same way.
But what if you could build your profile and win work online in a way that feels authentic to you?
This was the topic of a recent group coaching session I had with four lawyers and their global law firms are in the, How to Make Partner Program.
And in this podcast episode, I share some of the advice I gave the lawyers. This is the How to Make Partner podcast with me, Heather Townsend, the author of Poised for Partnership and co-author of the How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life.
In this podcast episode, I’ll be highlighting some of the great stuff in our Progress to Partner Academy.
New episodes are released weekly, so press subscribe so you never miss another episode. Right, let’s tackle that ick factor.
No one initially wants to put themselves out there. We always worry about what’s going to happen. Now, the first thing to understand is that effective networking on LinkedIn, so posting content, commenting is a long term play. It’s not about a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am approach.
The professionals, so lawyers, accountants, consultants get real results who are the ones who are consistent and helpful over a long period. And that’s consistent with posting and commenting and being targeted on who they comment and who they connect with.
However, the lawyers I was coaching confessed to being great at consuming information on their LinkedIn feed, but rarely do more than that with maybe the occasional like or reshare of a firm’s post.
Now, the biggest mindset shift is moving from being a consumer to being a giver. If all you’re doing is sitting there and occasionally sharing something from your firm, it doesn’t really work. You have to contribute to the conversation.
As I always say, small talk earns the right for big talk.
What do you contribute? A major source of the ick factor is the fear of sharing personal details. But here’s my secret. You, that means you, get to decide what you share. In one of my coaching groups, a lawyer was clear he didn’t want to put his family life on LinkedIn. You know what? That’s absolutely fine.
Quite a bit of my family life doesn’t go on LinkedIn. You choose the line between what’s public and what’s private. And a lot of us think, well, we’ve got to turn up as the professional, whether that’s the accountant, the lawyer, the consultant, all the time. No.
First and foremost, you have to turn up as yourself, the human. But it’s the version of yourself you’re comfortable sharing.
To make this easier, you need to focus. You know, trying to be all things to all people is exhausting. Instead, as I outline in Chapter 6 of Poised for Partnership, you need to choose and commit to your niche. Or if you don’t like the word niche or niche, who you want is your ideal client. You know, when you establish a niche for the Americans, a niche, you can easily differentiate yourself and it becomes much clearer what to post about.
For example, what you’re trying to do is post stuff that you want your ideal client to be reading. For example, one of my former clients, a lawyer, decided to specialise in advising snowbirds. So older Americans moving to Florida for the winter. And within 12 months, he’d won over $50,000 of his own work.
He was featured in Forbes, all because he had had a clear focus. And this focus helped him make partner. And he credited that focus with, you know, accelerating his journey to make partner in years. So when you know who you’re focusing on, whether you want to call it niche or niche or specialisation or who you want to attract, you can reframe your activity.
A lot of us think we’re selling. You are not selling. You’re helping your clients to get to know you.
You’re helping your clients to buy. Now, here are a few practical things you can do that don’t feel salesy at all. You know, people love hearing about successes. Just share your successes.
You know, when a big deal completes and you’re allowed to talk about it, post it. If not, you can post it anonymously. You know, for example, really pleased that a big deal came to an end. Great result for our client. Really enjoyed it. And now looking forward to catching my breath. You know, something along those lines.
The next thing is be that helpful commenter. You know, don’t just like a post or go great idea or thank you for sharing. You know, LinkedIn algorithm is not going to help you for that. Leave thoughtful, supportive comments on your network’s updates, particularly those you want to stay visible to.
You could maybe talk about market trends, you know, discuss what’s happening in your market. Maybe is any regulation changing? Is the market up? Is it down? What is hot right now? You know, this positions you as someone with their finger on the pulse without you having to sell a thing.
Now, remember, people buy people and who can resist not liking a cute picture of a lovely pet? So use your pets, use your hobbies. You know, if you follow a sports team mentioning it, it’s a good hook for conversation. And you know what? Putting your pets on social media are brilliant because they’re always cute pictures.
They get eyeballs on your post. People are always going to like them and they can’t complain about their digital privacy being breached. But when it comes to it, the key is to find that blended professional and personal. that feels right for you and to do it consistently.
So build a content plan for the next month.
Work out whether you’re going to post on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Work out the time you’re going to post. Put together that plan. That will help you.
So shifting your perspective from selling to helping others buy and being that consistent, authentic voice in that specific niche or to talk to the clients you want is how you build that powerful presence online. For a start, it puts you in control and makes networking feel less like a chore and more like a valuable conversation.
Now, if you’re listening and thinking, OK, I accept it’s my responsibility, but I still don’t know where or how to find the time. That’s a very common feeling.
And it’s exactly why having a clear plan and structure is so important. The course Getting Confident on LinkedIn in our Progress to Partner Academy is a great place to start. You know, putting together your business development plan. That’s another course in our Progress to Partner Academy is another great place to start.
But let’s look at the LinkedIn course. It’ll take you through the steps of building a great LinkedIn profile that works for you, as well as building the confidence and giving you a plan of how to grow your LinkedIn connections and make LinkedIn a key part of your networking and business development activities.
I’ve popped a link to buy the Getting Confident on LinkedIn course directly in the show notes for this episode. And this course is just one of the 12 courses in our Progress to Partner Academy. Also in the show notes, you’ll find links to my books, Poised for Partnership, How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life, The Go-To Expert, The Financial Times Guide to Business Networking. So you can easily find them on Amazon.
And as a thank you for listening, there’s a link for a 10% discount on annual membership for our Progress to Partner Academy, which is packed with resources to help drive your own development effectively.
That’s all for this episode of the How To Make Partner podcast.
Your action. What is one supportive comment you can leave on someone’s LinkedIn post this week? Just start there.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or give us a comment on Substack.
This helps us get the word out to others who may need this advice too. Remember to hit subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s episode.
Thanks for listening.
Join my Progress To Partner Academy and access all my courses and use the code PODCASTBP10 to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.
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