No matter how you currently get your clients, if LinkedIn isn’t part of your process you’re missing out.

I talk to business coaches every day that have the capacity to work with more clients. Most of them tell me they don’t really have time to prospect, or in some cases they admit that other than referrals they don’t really have a systematic process for bringing in new prospects.

While there are many ways you can market your business coaching practice, one that still gets overlooked is LinkedIn.

With 500 million users of which 106 million are active monthly along with 1.5 million groups, LinkedIn is the go-to social network for professionals. It’s not the site for the latest recipes or what you had for lunch. It’s the place you go to for industry news and advice.

Most people that aren’t familiar with LinkedIn think of it as a job board, and while it’s a great place to network for a job, it’s so much more than that. For a Business Coach LinkedIn is a goldmine of opportunity.

Reason 1

80% of all B2B leads come from LinkedIn. Another way to look at this is if you aren’t getting your share of LinkedIn’s B2B lead opportunities you’re missing out on 80% of the available opportunities. Can you afford to ignore that many leads?

Reason 2

While there are over 133 million LinkedIn users in the United States, 71.5% of LinkedIn’s user base is located outside the U.S. That means regardless of which audience you service LinkedIn will work for you.

Reason 3

50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn when making purchasing decisions, and that number is growing every month. Like I said before, most people who aren’t familiar with LinkedIn think it’s just a job posting site and that your profile is just a place to host your resume.

Yes, there are tons of opportunities on LinkedIn, so how are you supposed to take advantage of all these B2B leads?

For starters, you need to optimize your profile. Stop thinking of is as a place for your resume and start thinking of it as a landing page. If your ideal prospect comes to your profile page, you want to spark their interest and give them a reason to reach out to you to see if you can help.

Start with a great headshot. Profiles with professional head-shots get 14 times the views. Make it stand out. Have it feature you in your environment and smile while looking into the camera.

Next, optimize your title. Don’t just list your position. Use it to tell your ideal prospect what problem you solve for them. Use keywords they will be searching for.

For your summary, quickly tell people who you’re looking for and who you’re not for. Think of this as the first stage of qualifying a prospect.

Be specific.

If it’s appropriate, include a key client. It’s possible that if someone is searching for them they may find you.

Keep in mind it’s all about them, so think in terms of Target, Pain, Solution. (who you do it for, what you do for them and how you do it.)

Another tip for LinkedIn is to keep it personal. It’s not about your company, it’s about you. So use ”I” instead of “we,” “I work with ….”

Add relevant pictures to your profile because profiles with photos get 21 times more profile views and 36 times the messages of profiles that don’t have photos.

List as many skills as appropriate to what you do. Profiles with skills listed get 13 times the profile views.

Think globally, a full 70% of LinkedIn users are outside the United States, and after the U.S., India, Brazil, Great Britain and Canada have the highest number of LinkedIn users.

Get into a routine each week getting and giving recommendations. In my experience, most people will return the favor if you take the time to write a thoughtful review for them.

Make it a point to brag on your best clients. Talk about their achievements, not how you helped them get there. People will get the point without you blowing your own horn.

At least twice a week reach out to make new connections. Don’t just connect with anyone. Take the time to build out an ideal client profile and then build a search for that type of client. When you do connect, be sure to make it personal. Resist the temptation to just push the button and let the generic LinkedIn invitation go out.

At the very least, use the person’s name you’re asking to connect with. Ideally you could mention something you have in common that you noticed from their profile.

Whatever you do, be sure to give value before you ask for anything. No one wants a sales pitch right after they connect with you.

They also aren’t fooled by the “let me tell you about myself” approach that’s nothing more than a thinly veiled pitch.

When someone accepts your connection request, thank them for connecting and ask them to tell you more about themselves. You’ll be surprised at what you can learn about someone if you’re just willing to ask and then listen.

Notice I didn’t say ask them how you can help them. They don’t know you yet and they certainly don’t know enough about you to know what you could offer them in the way of help any way.

Take your time and make real connections.

LinkedIn is an amazing place to build relationships that turn into clients. Don’t underestimate just how powerful it is. As a Business Coach, you could invest 30 minutes a day on prospecting and relationship building on LinkedIn and keep your practice full all year long.