The original reason behind writing Business Success Stories was to help CICA members better market themselves by providing a succinct document that would serve as a “conversation starter” with prospective clients, existing clients and the media. That meant that the collection of stories needed to succinctly demonstrate how Chartered Accountants play a vital role in addressing business’ most difficult (and recurring) problems.  The 12 problems, which are all told from the perspective of actual business owners/leaders, include the following:

• When the owner/leader couldn’t manage their own business
• When an owner/leader’s managers’ squabbling threatened the business
• When an owner/leader’s information process threatened the business
• When the pressure was so busy that staff felt the only way to address it successfully was to leave
• When an owner/leader was out-of-touch with the day-to-day operations
• When an owner/leader wasn’t sure how to bring a product to market
• When an owner/leader wanted to launch a new business
• When an owner/leader wasn’t sure how to grow the business
• When an owner/leader was preparing to move on to a new business
• When an owner/leader’s business partners couldn’t be trusted
• When a client pulled out of a key transaction thereby leaving the business vulnerable
• When a client couldn’t pay the bills

Business Success Stories, can be downloaded for free. The collection is even more practical with the accompanying User Guide.

In a recent entry of the The LinkedIn Diaries, I identified some practical lessons that you can apply to optimize your  success with LinkedIn by focusing on the profiles and practices of ING DIRECT Canada’s President, Peter Aceto and Claymore Investments’ President, Som Seif.

In this entry of the LinkedIn Diaries, I focus on the secrets of LinkedIn super users. These senior executives use LinkedIn more frequently, more consistently and more fluently than the vast majority of users. These super users, who have unearthed or reinforced, some of the most critical LinkedIn practices include the following:

• Phil Soper – CEO, Brookfield Real Estate Services
• Jacoline Loewen – Partner of Loewen & Partners, one of Canada’s premiere private equity firms
• Ayelet Baron – VP, Strategy and Planning of Cisco Systems Canada

Phil Soper. As the President and Chief Executive of Brookfield Real Estate Services and Royal LePage Real Estate Services, Phil Soper inspires a group of over 16,000 real estate professionals throughout Canada. Because many of these real estate agents have enthusiastically embraced social-media tools, Soper needs to serve as an example of best practices.  As a result, several of his teams (e.g. Human Resources, Marketing) lead the industry in social media planning and execution. For LinkedIn, Soper’s super user secrets include the following:

• Establish measurable goals. Whether you are focused on reducing the time required to find strong job candidates or increasing social mentions, set a goal that can be tracked. And then, track it.

• Always remain authentic. Because LinkedIn connects people so well, it is essential that the image that you present online truly reflects who you are.

• Share good news. Look for opportunities to profile good people, good news, exciting events and corporate success stories. For example, when a recent Royal LePage Shelter Foundation fundraiser exceeded expectations, Soper and his team enthusiastically shared the news via LinkedIn.

Jacoline Loewen. You wouldn’t necessarily expect that an internationally renowned author would be a LinkedIn super user. But, the fact is, Jacoline Loewen, Partner of Loewen & Partners, and writer of three highly-regarded business books, considers LinkedIn to be an essential tool for her short- and long-term success. For LinkedIn, Loewen’s super user secrets include the following:

• Network Up. If you choose to share your updates with your connections, recognize that they see who you connect with. That means that if you want to be seen as being associated with leaders, only connect to those people who make your network look stronger and more compelling.

• Broadcast your physical location. While any application that broadcasts your physical location needs to be used carefully, Loewen finds that by announcing her travel plans via LinkedIn, she  gets invited to local events with business associates, clients and prospects.

• Integrate with your other contact databases. Most busy executives have contacts and related information located in several applications, for example, a CRM application (e.g. Salesforce or ACT!), a database (e.g. Access), a spreadsheet (e.g. Excel) an email program (e.g. Outlook) and other social media tools (e.g. Flickr or Facebook). As a result, keeping tabs on new developments can be cumbersome. Because LinkedIn arguably has the most current updates, use it as your primary source for contact information.

 Ayelet Baron. One of the first people to adopt LinkedIn when the application was developed 10 years ago, Baron,  who is the VP, Strategy and Planning of Cisco Systems Canada refers to LinkedIn several times per day. Her LinkedIn super user lessons include the following:

• Schedule LinkedIn time. Devote time to check in with LinkedIn regularly. One option is to keep a web browser open and logged into LinkedIn so that you can quickly review and asses your connections’ posts and profile updates. Doing so arms you with the ability to re-connect with people, send them useful links and build your own community by making connections within your network. Also, use the News and Signal functions to keep you up-to-date on topics of interest that you and your connections share.

• Monitor competitors. Your competitors are following you, your colleagues and your company. So, use LinkedIn to do the same. Check to see what positions they are hiring for. This could hint at what new products or projects they are planning.

• Leverage networks within your company. Identify a community of social media adopters within in your organization. When you see an article that captures your interest, use LinkedIn to share it with this community — while adding your insights, opinions or questions. Taking this approach typically sparks responses and connections with people in your social community and extends beyond. Also, actively promote and share posts from people within your network.

In the next issue of the LinkedIn Diaries, I will tackle the most common and thorny questions that executives face when optimizing their LinkedIn strategies.

The two most recent entry of The LinkedIn Diaries identified how executives can effectively establish a strong LinkedIn foundation: 1) setting the right goals; and 2) executing critical offline activities.

In this week’s entry of the LinkedIn Diaries, I identify some key lessons by focusing on the LinkedIn profiles and practices of leaders from two of the financial sector’s most well-respected brands.  These leaders are ING DIRECT Canada President and CEO,  Peter Aceto and Som Seif, President of Claymore Investments.

Like most busy senior executives, ING DIRECT Canada’s President and CEO, Peter Aceto and Som Seif, President of Claymore Investments use LinkedIn to achieve very specific  objectives, including : 1) to stay closely connected to members of their existing network; 2) to extend their current networks;  and 3) to promote their brand identity.  What makes their success with LinkedIn particularly exceptional is that they work in a highly-regulated and risk-averse sector — a sector that historically refrains from being on the leading edge of media because of concerns for confidentiality, privacy and security.

The ways that Aceto and Seif achieve their goals, while reinforcing the integrity of the sector, provide some important lessons for all senior executives looking to leverage the power of LinkedIn . Each lesson is built upon their three common LinkedIn goals:

1. Stay connected to members of an existing network. Both Aceto and Seif have scheduled time into their weekly routines to review the current status of their network connections — within their companies and well beyond.  Within a large sector, people often take on different roles and responsibilities, so regularly monitoring your network’s movements increases your success for tapping into it when you need it. If this is your goal, it is also very effective to send congratulatory notes upon reading about a person’s promotion and send personal messages through LinkedIn (as well as reinforce them via email or telephone).

2. Extend current networks. When appropriate, Seif and Aceto use LinkedIn to reach out to targeted members of their networks to establish what they see as a “friendly first step”.  Other ways that they could further this goal is to raise topical questions in LinkedIn’s “Answers” section as well as begin discussions in LinkedIn Groups to which they belong.

3. Promote brand values. One of ING DIRECT’s priorities is to be regarded as a tangibly different financial institution. As a result, they have consistently brought to market innovative consumer-friendly products and pricing. Their commitment to being a desirable alternative extends into their LinkedIn approach which emphasizes openness and transparency. Aceto, as President and CEO, regularly posts relevant and engaging updates on Twitter that get instantly posted to his personal LinkedIn profile as well as on the company’s corporate LinkedIn page. Similarly, Seif reinforces Claymore’s value on participating in the community by including a link to the Art Gallery of Ontario where he has served on volunteer committees.

Two other important LinkedIn lessons from Aceto and Seif are:

Create relevant guidelines.  While executives may be initially reluctant to delve into LinkedIn, Aceto and Seif have truly embraced this social media tool for business. One of the reasons that they have done so with such confidence is that they know that their companies have a well-articulated code of business conduct. Every company that looks to leverage the newest media tools needs to establish practical policies that guide employees’ use of social media in ways that positively present themselves and the company brand.

Be bold, when appropriate. The competition for finding and securing talented people in the financial services sector is fierce. While using LinkedIn to cost-effectively recruit staff is certainly one of ING DIRECT’s objectives for the tool, Aceto’s use of LinkedIn boldly pushes the boundaries of most traditional recruitment practices. In fact, Aceto calls out exceptional work and people at ING DIRECT on his LinkedIn page. By doing so, he sends a very strong message to potential (and existing) employees: when you work at ING DIRECT, your efforts are recognized and appreciated at the highest levels of the company. This is a powerful message that assists in recruiting new staff and reducing employee turnover.

In the next edition of The LinkedIn Diaries, I’ll focus on three LinkedIn “super users” by focusing on the practices of senior executives from Cisco Systems, Brookfield Real Estate Services and Loewen & Partners.

Andrew Brown is president of Write on the Money. He helps senior executives harness the power of digital and traditional business communication tools (such as LinkedIn) and strategies.

Last week, in The LinkedIn Diaries – Day One, I identified three things you need to do to establish a strong LinkedIn foundation. These included defining your goals for LinkedIn as well as reviewing relevant profiles and key settings. But, to truly ensure your success stretches well beyond building your initial LinkedIn profile, there are five key activities that you need to do – and, perhaps surprisingly, all of these activities are conducted offline.

1. Determine, and align with, your company’s social media plans. Regardless of your professional title, your LinkedIn profile and activity reflects on your company. Companies that successfully leverage social media to achieve corporate goals have established practical guidelines and tips that focus the energies, messages and resources devoted to social media. In that way, companies can cost-effectively harness the diverse and unique power of social networking tools (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Ning, Orkut), social communication tools (i.e. blogs and microblogs like Twitter), social bookmarking tools (e.g. Delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg,) social multimedia tools(e.g. Flickr, YouTube) and social collaboration tools (e.g. wikis) while mitigating risk. For example, many companies are re-purposing key content created in one social media tool and then re-distributing it through others. Your social media content can also gain additional power by contributing to, and being supported by, that of your professional colleagues. The most forward-looking companies are charging their corporate communications and marketing teams to develop social media workbooks that help employees become effective social media communicators.

2. Establish a schedule of activity. To achieve your personal and/or professional goals requires you to devote time to using LinkedIn. For many busy executives, that means placing a reminder in their calendar. Alternatively, you can set LinkedIn as one of your home pages. Finally, executives who use LinkedIn for business development often schedule a weekly LinkedIn touch-base meeting to see how newly established connections can help them in researching, qualifying, engaging and closing new business.

 3. Gather updated and accurate assets. Whether you are establishing your initial LinkedIn profile or are a veteran LinkedIn user, make sure that your profile accurately reflects who you are today. Having a current photo and details is a minimal requirement — particularly to members of your extended network who only know you by LinkedIn brand. To ensure that your profile is current, review it at least every three to four months. During that time, most senior executives compile exciting success stories that can be used in their profile. According to David Kaiser, Senior VP and Partner at public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, “Updating your personal information on a regular basis demonstrates that you are an interesting person with valuable new experiences that are worth sharing. Regardless of what business you are in senior executives want to work with people like that.”

4. Identify your return on effort. LinkedIn, like many social media tools, provides you with some immediate gratification to get you excited about using and exploring the tool. However, to achieve the goals that executives most commonly set for LinkedIn requires effort over a period of time. Busy executives who don’t see immediate results can mistakenly neglect their LinkedIn activities, which, in turn, leads to a lower degree of success.

To avoid this trap, identify the minimal and short-term expectations that you have for your LinkedIn efforts. According to Jeff Hendler of Toronto-based group The Product Accelerators, the expectations that executives have for the return on their effort hinge on their individual approach to projects and problem resolution.” It is important for executives to translate their individual approach into a set of well-defined outcomes.” For example, successful executives are often guided by their desire to connect colleagues with one another. LinkedIn easily and automatically facilitates that action online. However, other executives need the personal touch that comes with making social connections. Those socially-motivated people will find their LinkedIn experiences more satisfying when they send a personalized email via LinkedIn and receive a call for their connecting efforts. Hendler continues, “As soon as those specific outcomes are clearly identified and quantified, it makes engaging in LinkedIn far more powerful and more likely to continue.”

5. Ask trusted advisors to ensure authenticity. Drawing from your current network of colleagues, ask people you know and trust to review your profile. Ask them to answer the following three questions about your profile:

• Does the profile accurately and positively reflect who you are?
• Does the profile demonstrate something unique and valuable to the audience you are targeting?
• Based on the profile, would you truly want to meet this person?

Gather their insights and suggestions until they can provide you with an enthusiastic “yes”. Also, consider establishing a LinkedIn “buddy system” where you and a member of your network regularly monitor each other’s profiles, provide honest feedback and share key LinkedIn learnings. Finally, setup accounts with monitoring services (e.g. Social Mention, Klout and Google Alerts). These free tools help you see how you are being talked about online as well as provide you with a sense of your impact across social media.

In the next issue of The LinkedIn Diaries, I will share insights from two high-profile executives who effectively leverage LinkedIn to achieve their company and individual goals.

Andrew Brown is president of Write on the Money. He helps senior executives harness the power of digital and traditional business communication tools and strategies.

While companies have always needed to sustain a strong and positive reputation to succeed, today, every business leader also needs to manage their own personal brand. Given that information is so widely and quickly shared online, it’s easy for even the most brand-savvy executive to find themselves being portrayed in ways that are either inaccurate, or worse, potentially damaging.

The good news is that leaders can adopt a proven strategy that builds a relevant and dynamic reputation that is right for them and their company.

That strategy, which is rooted in product management, begins with the recognition that every person is more than a brand — i.e. the way that you are thought of or spoken about by others — they are, in fact, a product. This alters the way you should market yourself.

For example, if you were simply marketing a brand online, you would focus on shaping key messages (e.g. Steve Jobs is known as an innovator who is obsessed with perfection). You would limit yourself to being concerned with the language used to describe you, where that conversation takes place, and who you are associated with. But, marketing yourself as a product, means you address what it is you actually do — your features and functionality — along with how this brings value to your clients, your colleagues, your profession or your community (e.g. Steve Jobs leads one the world’s most inventive companies which consistently yields better-than-expected dividends).

According to Simon Brightman, a much sought-after product management expert, “Successful senior executives have embraced a product management approach because it is based on results, profitability and the ability to adapt.”

To present yourself successfully as a product means following a proven five phase process:

Phase I: Idea Generation. In this phase conduct some initial research. Also, contact relevant associations and identify those people who are thought of as highly successful. With these findings in hand, identify your own strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats. Finally, develop possible visions of you as a product — i.e. what are some of the things that you will do and how that fills a particular market’s need.

Phase 2: Assessment and Prioritization. Based on the ideas that you develop in the first phase, get some feedback. Also use friends and colleagues to help you determine if what you plan to do is actually in-line with who you are. “This is one of the most critical phases when defining yourself as a product”, according to Jeff Hendler of Toronto-based professionals, The Product Accelerators. He continues, “To effectively transform yourself into a successful product means knowing your true capabilities and how you approach problems.”

Phase 3: Product Development. Once you know what it is you are planning to do, start pulling together the resources required to build you as a marketable product. That means adding new skills, pursuing specialized accreditations and identifying those people or organizations that will play a role in marketing you. For example, reach out to colleagues and have them write strong recommendations for you on your LinkedIn profile. It’s at this stage that you should also be developing and testing the kinds of messages that you want to emphasize when promoting yourself.

Phase 4: Launch. Now that you are a well-defined and tested product, it’s time for you to systematically introduce yourself to the market that will benefit most by what it is that do. Gather initial feedback to see how you are being perceived. Determine if you are being embraced by your target markets.

Phase 5: Refine. Based on the results from the launch phase, look to refine your core offering. “Refinement and adjustment are the keys to the longevity of a product. People forget that today’s iPod has gone through nearly a dozen iterations. The same is true when defining yourself as a product”, says Brightman. “Collecting feedback and a commitment to constantly improve has turned the iPod into a game changing product.”

Going through these steps will help you to present yourself as a product, leading to even more potential to succeed.