A year ago I was frustrated at the extremely low percentage of replies I received from companies I tried contacting with regards to Hebrew University cutting edge technologies. As a Business Development officer in the field of computer science and engineering and Director of IT at Yissum, Technology Transfer company of the Hebrew university, and the Director of IT at ITTN, Israel’s Technology Transfer Organization, I could not explain those low percentages of less than 1%. I have been using the best databases out there, such as; Capital IQ, SciFinder, Delphion, STN, Dialog, Lead411, LexisNexis, Nerac and many more.
All those databases gave me long lists of companies in the fields I was looking for and later, in specific databases, generated the names of the professionals that would be most suitable to hear about our opportunities. Taking into consideration a proven track record since 1964, over 1B$ in annual sales of products that were licensed from the Hebrew University and over 65 Spin off companies, among them companies such as; MobilEye, HumanEyes, BriefCam, ExLibris, Valensum, ReadEasy, NasVax and many more, it was clear we should be taken seriously.
According the ITTN database, the Hebrew University is responsible for almost 40% of the total technologies that are available for license in Israel, with over 350 technologies currently available for license.
Clearly something was wrong and not with the technologies or with the companies but rather with the approach to those executives.
I think it was Anthony Robbins that once mentioned in a lecture that I heard, if you do not receive the results you would like to get; “change your approach” until you do.
Thinking back a year ago I remember grasping the idea that perhaps the people I was trying to reach regarded my mails as spam, since they did not know who (or what) was Yissum and never took the time to see if there is actually something they might be interested to license in or collaborate with the Hebrew University.
It later dawned on me that I should try out professional networks such as XING, Ecademy and LinkedIN. I was already registered as a user for over 5 years on LinkedIN and as most of you I had several profiles without having a clue what was the password to those redundant accounts. I chose the account with the highest number of contacts, 35 at the time, and started to edit my profile. I could not escape the thought that I was wasting my valuable time but I had to give it a chance. I tried to search for executives in some companies that I found out from the other databases and it was clear that a lot of executives were online but out of my network grasp.
I fixed some of my previous titles and got a phone call from my previous boss 10 minutes after adding the title. I was shocked at the fact that someone was actually looking at my profile and it gave me a boost to try it out more seriously.
After adding a lot of my colleagues and business associates my network began to grow dramatically and after less than 3 months I had over 500 connections. Best of all was the fact that the percentage of replies grew more than 10 fold. Soon after I got replies from heads of companies I never dreamed of receiving replies from LinkedIN gradually became a leading tool for business development. Using LinkedIN allowed me to get fast replies on technologies that I am trying to license and I also received help from professionals that connected me to the correct companies. The rate of Non Disclosure Agreements boosted and best of all other colleagues from my company were beginning to enjoy my connections on their projects as well.
Soon after passing the 1000 connections I began using the “groups” option which allows reaching more people and providing them with marketing materials in fields of their interest. “Groups” allowed me to generate important leads for our technologies at no cost.
I now use LinkedIN on a continuous basis and have a lot of thoughts on better using this incredible tool. Having said all the positive things on LinkedIN it is also fair to say that it is clear there is still a long way to go.
I have tried reaching LinkedIN to give them some idea on how they can improve their database and although there is a place to give such feedback LinkedIN never gets back to you on what they think on your suggestions which greatly reduces the motivation to give feedback in the first place.
I have tried getting in touch with professionals from LinkedIN via LinkedIN itself but it seems that although they are connected it is difficult, if not impossible to receive a reply from them on such issues.
Here are some of the points that LinkedIN should consider modifying:
1. In the “Groups” module it is not clear why there is no option to export those contacts at least as the owner of the group
2. In the “Groups” module there is no way to connect data such as files, movies and other material content other than links. Even a simple embedding is not an option.
3. Not clear why I cannot determine the title of the Link I am supplying in the News and why I cannot add pictures or any other materials to news items.
4. In the invitation option in groups it is once again not clear why I can’t use the saved profiles, tags and other search capabilities for adding exactly those contacts that I want.
5. Did you ever find a way to search contacts according to something written in the notes? What if like me you have tons of connections and all you remember is that you wrote a note that you met someone at an exhibition?
6. What about sending mail to more than 50 contacts? Why not have the options like in any normal mailing tool to add those contacts in BCC?
7. How about the exporting option that will include the notes you have written?
8. The “Groups” module should also definitely have an option to have more graphic capabilities in the body of the overview page. It should also allow connection to other company names the same is on the company module.
I could go on and on and clearly LinkedIN have gone a long way and obviously they are working hard to try and improve but a clearer vision will lead to better outcomes. Clearly LinkedIN is not a place to search for companies in fields that you do not know, for example search a company according to a field. Currently companies are not really classified according to a recognized classification system and hence one cannot search for companies in a meaningful way. To summarize; clearly networking tools such as LinkedIN, XING and others will revolutionize the way we connect and do business. It is also obvious that consolidation of different tools will be the next step in this exciting market.
For additional information contact: Tamir Huberman (LinkedIN)
