Friday, December 6, 2019

Amtower LinkedIn/Social Selling Training Programs for Government Contractors


Amtower LinkedIn/Social Selling
Training Programs for Government Contractors


So you’ve been on LinkedIn for several years now and have built a pretty solid network of key players in your niche.  But are you staying on their radar? Do they remember you and what you do when they need the service, expertise or product you offer?

Social networking, or social selling, is the art and science of staying on the radar of people in your network in a way that is pervasive without being intrusive or disruptive.

It involves recurrent soft touches to remind your connections- and their connections – of the value you bring to the table.

In a relationship driven market, how are your growing and managing your network of key movers and shakers, the buyers and purchase influencers? How are you influencing what others know about you, your company and your key personnel?

Only a small percentage of government contractors leverage LinkedIn well and start to win more business. That small percentage

-         position their companies and key personnel as thought leaders and subject matter experts, 
-         expands connections in key accounts,
-         engages with others through the groups,

-         shares pertinent content in key places,
-         and better positions and brands their respective companies 
all by selectively connecting and by becoming more active and more visible.

This activity is key to creating gravitational pull, influencing your buying audience to look more closely at who you are and what you do.

Most companies join social networks because everyone else has, but they sit there and wait for something to happen. They don’t think to coordinate their presence to interact with over 2.3 million Feds.


 Which category does your company fall into?



If your LinkedIn profile is done well, it can work for you 24/7/365 and attract the audience you are looking for. If it is done poorly, it works against you 24/7/365.

The same applies to your LinkedIn activity: done well it will attract more of the people you want to reach. Done poorly, you drive them away.


Amtower & Company offers the best LinkedIn Training for the GovCon community.


"Mark provided LinkedIn training for our firm and I was thrilled with the results. We have some pretty sophisticated LinkedIn users on staff and I thought they would tell me they knew everything there was to know about how to use this tool, but even our expert users learned a lot from Mark. We spent a full day together learning how to fully use the features and capabilities of LinkedIn. Mark provided a comprehensive training program and one on one coaching. He did a great job and I am proud to recommend him as an expert LinkedIn trainer and coach." Robert Lohfeld, CEO, Lohfeld Consulting Group


Over 2.1 million federal employees are now on LinkedIn, and all major contractors are well represented here as well.  Where the feds go, contractors follow. Several recent studies indicate that LinkedIn is one of the top two sources for vetting potential employees, partners, contractors, suppliers and competitors.


Social networking has become not only a “must,” but a “must do very well.” While most companies are on LinkedIn, very few maximize the value of this incredible platform.


The most successful contractors are leveraging LinkedIn to become both more findable and more credible to industry and government influencers, and generating more and better leads as a result. Account or agency based marketing is much easier when you leverage LinkedIn.


If you want to find out how LinkedIn can help your company, let's talk: 


All of this now falls under the heading of “social selling,” which is different than traditional selling while still acting as an adjunct. Social selling is a multi-dimensional, multi-touch method of getting on the radar and staying there in non-intrusive manner, becoming top-of-mind without being annoying. It enhances your ability to reach and influence keys players in your market niche.



We provide training for companies in three ways designed to fit most budgets.


Each of these programs will cover the ten areas listed below. The full day program will go into more depth on each, with more examples, and the Three month program will allow me to monitor your progress and give individual coaching to key team members.

-         Setting your goals & developing your social selling strategy
-         Determining your area of expertise, your “subject matter expert” position
-         Creating your power profile
-         Populating your connections and building your network
-         How to find the Groups germane to your areas of interest
-         Generating recommendations and endorsements
-         Customer, partner and competitor research
-         Publishing on LinkedIn
-         Lead generation/social selling
-         Methods to monitor your progress and measure your success

We encourage our clients to record these sessions for internal use only.

Half-day Customized LinkedIn In-House Workshop is tailored to each client. This is available only in the Washington, D.C. area or as webinars. What you will learn:


-         Why you need a LinkedIn strategy and how to create one

-         How to create a LinkedIn profile that attracts the people you want to meet

-         Making the "right connections" (contractors and government decision makers)

-         Managing and communicating with your connections

-         Key elements to establish you/your company as a subject matter expert or “thought   leader”

-         How to select and leverage the best groups to grow your business

-         Making certain the “Company” profile contains the right information

-         Social selling techniques

-         And much more!


The investment for the In-House Workshop is $4,995; $2,500 deposit, the balance due one week before the workshop. This session is available on-site only in the DC/Baltimore area; otherwise by webinar. It runs approximately 3.5 hours. Three weeks advance notice required. We require a main point of contact.



Full-day Customized LinkedIn In-House Workshop is similar to the Half-Day, but a much deeper dive with a focus on your customers and prospects. This is available only in the Washington, D.C. area or as webinars. What you will learn:


-         Why you need a LinkedIn strategy and how to create one

-         Setting your initial goals/benchmarks

-         How to create a LinkedIn profile that attracts the people you want to meet 

-         Making the "right connections" (contractors and government decision makers)

-         Managing and communicating with your connections

-          Developing deeper relationships with specific accounts (you tell me which accounts you need to reach)

-         Key elements to establish you/your company as a subject matter expert or “thought leader”

-         How to select and leverage the best groups to grow your business

-         Developing a content distribution strategy

-         Making certain the “Company” profile contains the right information

-         Social selling techniques and tactics

-         And much more!


The investment for the In-House Workshop is $7,995 $3,500 deposit, the balance due one week before the workshop. This session is available on-site only in the immediate DC/Baltimore area; otherwise by webinar (multiple webinars over several days). This session runs approximately 7 hours. Three weeks advance notice required. We require a main point of contact.



The three month Total Immersion LinkedIn & Social Selling Company Training program is seven-to nine customized training sessions over a twelve-sixteen week period. Training sessions are 45-60 minutes and are spaced two weeks apart so the client and employees have a chance to implement and use the training as we go along. We also recommend the company record each session on a company webinar platform for future training and reference. This program is designed to help our clients maximize the value of LinkedIn, increase qualified lead generation and raise the overall awareness of the company.


Included in this program are individual profile reviews and coaching for up to 6 staff members and a review of the company profile. Progress on each of the 6 individual profiles is monitored during the 16 week program. 

I believe the length of this program improves the odds of your staff using LinkedIn better and understanding the value LinkedIn brings to them as professionals and as part of the company team. I have seen good-to-great results in several companies.

Each Total Immersion Training program is customized for the company we are coaching to ensure maximum returns from your industry niche. We adapt the sessions to your specific needs and to your target audience.


-         Initial Planning session: Brainstorm, goal setting and mapping the company profile

-         Session one: LinkedIn features and settings; how to use them; overview of LinkedIn features and benefits; individual goal setting

-         Session two: Mapping the individual profiles, emphasizing twelve key profile elements

-         Session three: Connecting – strategies & tactics

-         Session four: Group selection and participation

-         Session five: Content: developing and/or finding content to share with your network

-         Session six: Tactics and tips for social selling

-         Session seven: Wrap-up & reevaluate and validate goals; set new priorities as necessary

-         Session eight: facilitated Q&A (get questions from employees ahead of time and address   all issues)


Sessions are schedules 2 weeks apart to allow people to start using what they are learning and to get a quick refresher at the beginning of the next session. In DC area, there will be three in-person sessions, the rest via webinar.

The investment is $14,995, with a $4,995 deposit. The balance is due in two equal payments of $5,000, the first before the “Week six” session, and the final payment one week before the final session. There is a $1,000 discount for full payment in advance. We require a main point of contact, someone we can train as your in-house LinkedIn expert.


Why Amtower?

Mark Amtower is a true LinkedIn pioneer, having joined on February 11, 2004 as member 222,445. He has been speaking about and advising companies and individuals on using LinkedIn since 2009. 

An internationally recognized authority on leveraging LinkedIn, he has been quoted in numerous business publications on this topic and has presented to over 150 companies and professional groups on using LinkedIn. His keynotes, lunch speeches and breakout sessions on social media have been a popular addition at many GovCon industry events, including AFCEA conferences, GAIN, 930Gov, Government IT Sales Summit, NCMA, APMP and many others.


Since 2009, he has worked with over 100 companies in GovCon on their LinkedIn programs. These include think tanks, resellers, distributors, large and mid-size systems integrators, professional service providers, marketing firms, management consulting firms, a variety of small companies as well as hundreds of individuals. Some of his clients have won task order business predicated on their LinkedIn profiles.


Amtower is known for his candor, dry humor and information packed sessions. He is not your typical consultant or presenter. Every Amtower presentation, public or private, is full of information you can use right away. He was selected by BtoB Magazine as one of the top 100 business marketers in the country, and he was voted to have one of the seven best profiles (out of 45 million) on LinkedIn in 2009.


2008 Who’s Who in BtoB Marketing (BtoB Magazine award) 

2009 Rock the World Best LinkedIn Profile winner (#3 of the top 7 on LinkedIn)



2012 Top 1% of “viewed profiles” in LinkedIn.


2015: independent research by Andy O’Hearn includes Amtower among the top 200 LinkedIn experts world-wide: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gathering-linkedin-polymaths-andy-o-hearn?trk=prof-post 


2018: Awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Government Marketing from Government Marketing University at the annual GAIN conference.




@amtower
Mark@FederalDirect.net 

301 854 9493


If you want to discuss your LinkedIn training needs, reserve time on my calendar.


Look me up on LinkedIn- www.linkedin.com/in/markamtower to see how I practice what I preach.


Pricing quoted is guaranteed through September 30, 2020.



Tuesday, April 9, 2019

2019 LinkedIn Federal Employee Census

These are the results of my April, 2019 Federal Census for federal membership on LinkedIn: 2,191,819 civilian and DOD (including uniformed services) members on LinkedIn. This is an increase of 170,209 over 2018, 8% growth in one year.

I have included direct links to cabinet departments and a few other major activities.

A couple of caveats: 

1) I may have overlooked some sub-agency level activities, often because I could not find them (if you find something i missed, please let me know); 
2) I have included three non-executive branch activities (USPS, LOC and GAO);
3) There is liable to be some contractors in these counts; 
4) I will update this list as I identify omissions;
5) Sorry about the alignment. This is cut and paste from Word;
6) See Total Federal Employment estimates at the bottom of this post.

My unscientific study of job functions indicates 15%+ of the feds & DOD employees on LinkedIn have an IT-related job title.

Send me an email if you'd like to discuss this or my LinkedIn training programs: markamtower@gmail.com  or go to the on demand version of LinkedIn for GovCon

DOD and Military Agency member counts on LinkedIn



DOD & Military
US Army                                                        366,985
          Army Natl Guard                                    43,963
          US Army Reserve                                   18,965
          Network Enterprise Tech Cmmd              6,836
          Corps of Engineers                                 20,370
          CCDC Army Research Lab                        535
          USA CCDC                                                208
          USA CCDC C5ISR                                      41
          C5ISR CENTER - NVESD                                           62
          USA ERDC                                                485
          USA CERDEC                                            33
          Army Rapid Capabilities *RCCTO)           44
          USA Acq Support Ctr                                 70
          USA Contracting Command                  2,458
          USA Cyber Command                              532
        US Army Special Warfare Center (SWC)    78
          Army Special Forces (Airborne)               652
          Army Special Ops Command                    288
          Army Futures Command                           396
Total for US Army:                                     514,234

US Air Force HQ                                        229,853
          Air Natl Guard                                       6,299
          USAF Reserve                                     15,971
          Air National Guard Recruiting`             6,301
          USAF Research Lab                              2,234
          USAF Space Command                        1,684
          USAF Special Ops Cmmd                      572
          AF Ofc of Special Investigations            347
          AF Ofc of Scientific Research                  81
         AF Air Cmmd & Staff College        452
         AF SBIR/STTR                                         48


Total for USAF:                                        263.842

US Navy HQ                                             206,067
          USN Reserve                                     13,139
          NAVSEA                                             4,139
          NAVAIR                                              3,259
          SPAWAR                                             4,652
          Ofc of Naval Research                           421
          Ofc of Naval Intel                                  133
          NAWCAD                                              967
          Naval Surface Warfare Ctr                  1,569
          Naval Surf Wrfr Ctr Dahlgren                531       
          Naval Surf Wrfr Ctr Crane                     291
          Naval Undersea Wardfare Center          438
          Naval Surface Warfare Ctr (MD)           572
          Naval Surface Warfare Ctr (Phil)           344
          Naval Surface Warfare Ctr (Corona)      197
          NAWCAD                                              881
          Military Sealift Command                  4,468
Total for USN:                                         237,600

US Marine Corps                                           39,990

US DoD HQ                                                53,836
          USSOCOM                                          1,770
          JSOC                                                         91
          DTRA                                                   1,286 
          DLA                                                      7,228
          DCMA                                                  5,708
          DIA                                                       2,946
          Def CounterIntel & Sec Agency             281
          Def Security Cooperation Agency          254
          Defense Security Service                        716
          DCAA                                                2,337                   
          DAU                                                        755
          DFAS                                                    7,251         
          Missile Def Agency                              1,453
          National Guard Bureau                         2.067         
          DHA                                                        928
          Tricare                                                     458
          Wash HQ Svcs                                        355
          Natl Geospatial-Intelligence Agcy       2,351
          NSA                                                      1,163
          DARPA                                                   507
          Am Battle Monuments Comm                109
          Ofc of Chairman, JCS                             232
          JCS Staff                                               1,074
          DoDEA                                                 2,595
          Def Innovative Unit                                  94
Total for DOD:                                            97,270

DOD AND UNIFORMED SERVICES TOTAL        1,151,699

USDA HQ                                                  18,682
          NRCS                                                 4,414
          FS                                                     17,888       
          ARS                                                    5,277
          APHIS                                                1,888
          FSIS                                                    2,448         
          FAS                                                     322
          Natl Inst of Food and Ag                    213
          Natl Organic Program                           97
          AMS                                                   148
          NAL                                                     27
          Rural Development                            625
USDA total:                                              52,029

CIA                                                             1,091

Commerce HQ                                           2,682
          NOAA                                               6,082
          Census                                               7,405
          BEA                                                     369
          ITA                                                    1,401
          NTIS                                                      11
          NTIA                                                   203
          EDA                                                     270
          MBDA                                                   85
          NIST                                                 3,634
Total for Commerce:                               22,142

Corp for Natl & Community Svc          721
CPSC                                                             349
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau      1,292

Education                                                  10,910

EEOC                                                         1,505

Energy                                                       5,095
          Bonneville                                        2,214         
          Sandia                                               8,207
          Berkeley                                           3,728
          Oak Ridge                                        3,636
          Argonne                                            3,841
          Los Alamos                                      8,180
          Pacific NW                                       3,653
          Idaho National Lab                          1,623
          National Renewable Energy Lab     2,157         
          Western Area Power Admin            864
          National Nuclear Security Admin   833
          Oak Ridge National Laboratory      3,789
          Lawrence Livermore                       6,122
          FermiLab                                         1,698
          Brookhaven                                     2,445          
Total for Energy:                                     57,923

EPA                                                            11,316
Exec Office of the President                          243
          EOP/White House                               164
          Natl Security Council                           114
          US Digital Service                              153
Ex-Im Bank                                                   552
Farm Credit Admin                                       279
FDIC                                                          5,318
FEC                                                               293
FERC                                                         1,288
FLRA                                                           106
Fed Mine Safety                                            48

Federal Reserve System                             2,812
Federal Reserve Board                               2,176
FRB- NY                                                    3,016
FRB- Chicago                                            1,418  
FRB- SF                                                     1,470
FRB- Dallas                                                914
FRB - Atlanta                                             1,229
FRB - Boston                                              967
FRB -Richmond                                         1,239
FRB- St Louis                                            1,141
FRB - KC                                                   1,447 
FRB - Minneapolis                                     802
FRB TOTAL                                             18,361

GAO*                                                         21,733
GSA                                                           11,740
                                                                                               
HHS HQ                                                   11,027
          NIH                                                  22,474
          NCI                                                   3,998
          CDC                                                 15,292
         FDA                                                  14,466       
          CMS                                                 3,366
          HRSA                                               1,215
          SAMHSA                                         338
          Ag for Healthcare Research             451
          NIMH                                               715
          NIDA                                                255
          Admin for Community Living           80
          IHS                                                   5,103
          PHS                                                  1,180
Total for HHS:                                         79,960

Homeland Security HQ                           32,801
          ICE                                                     1,149
          FEMA                                              13,090
          US Coast Guard                               25,309
          US Coast Guard Auxiliary                   590
          CBP                                                   7,059
          TSA                                                  11,620
          US Secret Service                              1,482
          FLETC                                                  141
          CISA                                                      300
Total for DHS:                                          93,541

HUD                                                          6,380

Interior HQ                                              3,210
          FWS                                                 5,205
          NPS                                                11,122
          BLM                                                5,699
          USGS                                              6,475
          BIA                                                 1,564
          Reclamation                                    3,098
          Ocean Energy Mgmt                          369
          BSEE                                                  308
Total for Interior:                                   37,050

International Trade Commission                 356
         
Justice HQ                                               15,731
          BOP                                                  1,675
          Criminal Div                                    1,078
          US Attorneys Ofc                             5,405
          US Marshall’s Service                         451
          DEA                                                  2,114
          FBI                                                    8,023
          ATF                                                   1,722          
Total for Justice:                                     36,199

Labor HQ                                                 7,007
          BLS                                                  1,845
          OSHA                                                 262  
Total for Labor:                                       9,114

Library of Congress*                                 3,387
NARA                                                        1,536

NASA HQ                                                 31,891
          Ames                                                2,580
          Goddard                                            4,179
          Glenn                                                1,601
          JPL                                                   6,837
          Langley                                            1,662
Total for NASA:                                       48,750

National Gallery of Art                              876
NEA                                                           171
NEH                                                           159
NRC                                                           2,344
NTSB                                                         338
Office of Govt Ethics                                  38
OMB                                                          512
OPIC                                                          587
OPM                                                           3,482
Peace Corps                                               9,597
PBGC                                                         1,013
US Postal Service                                      149,831
USPS OIG                                                  16,442
Railroad Retirement Board                          567
SBA                                                            3,779
SEC                                                            3,559
Smithsonian                                               4,349
SSA                                                            39,380

State Department                                     29,421

TVA                                                           8,993
US Trade Rep                                            242

Transportation HQ                                    4,028
          FAA                                                  28,068       
          FHA                                                   1,925
          FTA                                                      376
          FRA                                                      574
          FHWA National Highway Inst             153
          Volpe                                                     320
Total for Transportation:                        35,444

Treasury HQ                                            9.021
          BEP                                                    750
          IRS                                                26,886
          OCC                                                3,231
          Mint                                                   558
Total for Treasury:                               40,446

USAID                                                       13,110

Veterans Affairs                                       102,246

VOA                                                           1,824

CIVILIAN AGENCY TOTAL                1,001,045

Miscellaneous*                                               40,000

* These are Miscellaneous listed as “US Government," "US Govt" and "US Govt DoD).      

Estimated total             2,192,219

  1. The miscellaneous "US government" listing has been used by government employees for well over 10 years.  It was used prior to 2010 because there was no Federal endorsement or policy for using social media, so employees did not want to name their respective agencies. It is also used by those in the IC to mask their agencies.
Total Federal Employment
Labor Department 2018 Total Federal Jobs Estimate: 2,797,000
OPM Total Civilian Employment (excluding USPS): 2,059,605
Civilian Full Time and Permanent: 1,837,622
Other Civilian Employment: 221,983
Postal Service Employment: 603,911
Active Duty Military: 1,345,550

National Guard / Reserve Forces: 802,842
Copyright 2019, Mark Amtower