LinkedIn can be a powerful business development tool for all professionals, and accountants are certainly no exception. But just having a profile on LinkedIn doesn’t bring any more benefits than simply having a gym membership; each one is merely a means to an end that must be used properly – and regularly – if someone really wants to see results.
With that idea as his starting point, NCG Strategic Marketing’s Phil Nugent will present “LinkedIn for Accountants: Strategies and Tactics for Business Development Success” on June 10, 2015, at the Association for Accounting Marketing’s 2015 Summit in Orlando, Florida.
In his 75-minute presentation, Phil will first discuss why LinkedIn is an essential tool for every accountant who is interested in business development. He then will describe in detail how to set up a complete and compelling profile, how to best manage one’s account and privacy settings, and how to use LinkedIn in a proactive and consistent manner to connect with potential clients and referral partners.
Phil has discovered that many professionals don’t fully understand LinkedIn’s true value, and instead see it either as simply an online Rolodex or a digital resume bank, instead of as what it is – an unprecedented and quickly growing online database bursting with incredibly detailed information about more than 365 million businesspeople and professionals (at last count). For every CPA who’s interested in business development, LinkedIn has become an essential tool that can help them figure out not only whom they should talk to, but how to connect with them.
And yet, other professionals believe that using LinkedIn will make them appear “salesy,” and still others are concerned that by using it, they will run afoul of ethical rules. However, in this presentation, Phil will demonstrate how to use LinkedIn not only successfully, but professionally and ethically, as well.
The AAM Summit is a four-day conference in partnership with the AICPA (American Institute of CPAs) and the Association for Accounting Administration (AAA). As AAM President Kerry Sullivan-Lechner describes it, “the added value found from bringing together our programs and sharing insights from across the firm will offer attendees a true ‘one-stop-shop’ opportunity for learning and collaboration.”
Additionally, as Sullivan-Lechner points out, the conference is designed so that “smaller firms can learn what larger firms are doing in the administration and marketing space.” This is exactly how Phil sees LinkedIn – as a tool that can help level the playing field between firms of varying sizes by raising the profile of CPAs in small and midsize firms.
LinkedIn rewards the accountant who uses it in a proactive and consistent manner, and Phil is looking forward to helping many accountants and CPAs discover how to use LinkedIn to achieve business development success.
