Reporting a Sale on LinkedIn

By Joel Elad from LinkedIn For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Reporting a sale on LinkedIn is a way to demonstrate your growth (and your company’s growth) that resulted from handling X project to encourage future contracts to come your way. Here are some actions for LinkedIn to consider after you complete the sale and deliver the solution:

Invite your customer to your network. You worked hard to earn this customer’s trust and to meet (or exceed) the customer’s expectations by completing the sale. As a result, you should feel comfortable enough to send that person an Invitation to join your network. Doing so could keep you in contact with this customer for future opportunities. Studies have shown that it’s six times cheaper to sell to an existing customer than to acquire a new customer.
Leave your customer a recommendation. After you add a customer to your network, post a recommendation for him on the system if you feel it’s deserved. Doing so gives your customer a sense of “reward” for being a positive contributor, but more important, it informs the community that you did a project for this person, which can help you in the future. Also, the customer may reciprocate by leaving you a recommendation, which strengthens your profile and makes you more appealing to future prospects.
Stay in touch with your customer. You can keep track of your customer’s activities by monitoring your Network Updates (if he or she is a part of your network). Routinely keep in touch about the solution you delivered, perhaps to open the conversation for selling additional products or services or maintenance contract work.
Update your profile with the skills you acquired or demonstrated through this sale. To be ready for future prospects who search the LinkedIn database, it’s important to have the right keywords and skill sets on your profile so that these prospects can identify you as someone who can provide a similar solution. If you’re a consultant or freelance worker, you can add the project you just completed as experience on your profile as well.
Tap the customer’s network by asking him for referrals. After you connect with your customer, keep an eye on his network. If you think you see a future prospect, consider asking your customer for an Introduction or a Recommendation. Usually, if you provided a quality solution, the customer will readily oblige your request.