Business Owners and Freelance Consultants now have a valuable resource to connect with clients in need of specialized professional services in a variety of categories such as writing/editing, technology, marketing, finance, business consulting, marketing, legal, and more. I recently received the invitation to join LinkedIn ProFinder while it was in the beta testing phase. Other companies such as Fiverr, Upwork, TaskRabbit, and Elance offer similar service networking benefits. However, LinkedIn’s ProFinder team thoroughly vets service providers to ensure expertise in their respective fields. And an exceptionally high percentage of clients, in my experience, are serious about their inquires. Connecting clients in need of qualified experts is of course an ideal win-win situation.
The LinkedIn ProFinder tool benefits both service providers and customers, and will very likely become the “Project Connector” of choice in the near future. And this strategic tool is simply to use. Customers find it very user friendly and functional − they simply log in to LinkedIn and provide a detailed project description. Experts that are interested in the project then respond. Contractors just fill out a few fields to indicate their areas of expertise, and then sit back and receive viable leads. Whenever a project matches up with the consultants skill set, an e-mail with project details is submitted for review. Then of course bids can be sent. Project requests are open for up to 24 hours, or until 5 professional proposals come in. Having used this tool quite a bit lately, I am more than pleased with the functionally and performance of the platform. LinkedIn ProFinder works!
The majority of my business is referral based, something of which I am very grateful for. I usually receive the initial correspondence via email and then respond back requesting additional information and availability to speak. LinkedIn ProFinder responses are as close to this type of Warm lead referral as I’ve ever experienced. This platform allows both clients and consultants the opportunity to provide very detailed information. Consultants are able to provide fairly lengthy tailored replies/proposals to prospective client requests − valuable time is saved as a result. So far, the 10 or so clients I’ve connected with have been great. And I’ve already received several client referrals. I highly recommend this service to anyone, service provider or customer, looking to benefit from one of the best Service Networking tools available today.
Christopher Zourides, CPRW is an accomplished Executive Resume Writer with extensive experience helping clients throughout all industries. He is the Owner of SkilledResumes.com, a Resume Writing and Career Coaching company founded in 2008.
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