LinkedIn is one of our favorite tools for researching and finding information about prospects and clients. Over the last several months, LinkedIn has made improvements. One area of improvement is the address book, listed under Contacts | My Connections.
The new setup has three columns. The first column allows you to sort your connections easily by tags, companies, locations, industries, and recent activities. The results show up in the middle column. Then, if you select one connection, you get a preview of their contact information. From the preview, you can send an e-mail, edit the contact details you have for them, or—most importantly—tag the connection to put it into one or more groups.
The nice part is that you can add and customize the tags so that you can group your connections in as many ways as you like. This is especially handy if you are using LinkedIn to generate new business. You can create tags for each of the different stages of your sales cycle. Is someone a center of influence? A referral source? A business partner? A prospect? Tags allow you to categorize your network so you can take the actions necessary to grow your business. You no longer have a simple list of connections; you now have a sales funnel!
Some default tags are provided based on what type of relationship was identified on the invitation to connect. Chances are that you'll want to update these defaults. I recommend going through and adjusting the tags. For example, many connections are tagged 'friends,' although that's really not accurate. If used correctly, tags should help make your time spent on LinkedIn more productive.