Individual
Checklist
Free
Sales Rep LinkedIn Profile Optimization Checklist
The full profile audit: headline, banner, About section, Experience, and Featured, that turns a static resume page into an asset that gets connection requests accepted and cold outreach actually opened.
How to use it
Run the checklist section by section in one sitting, save your rewritten copy in a doc so it survives future edits, and re-audit quarterly alongside your Featured refresh.
What's inside
- Value-and-audience headline formula
- Profile photo and custom banner specs
- About section hook-proof-CTA structure
- Outcome-not-duties rewrite for Experience entries
- Featured section pinned-item selection and refresh cadence
- Recommendation sourcing (buyers, not just peers)
- Posting cadence baseline
- Public-view final check
Work top to bottom, each section compounds on the one above it.
Headline
- Replace the job-title default ("Account Executive at [Company]") with a value-and-audience headline. Formula:
I help [specific audience] [achieve specific outcome] | [Company]. Example: "I help mid-market RevOps leaders cut new-rep ramp time in half | [Company]" - Front-load audience and outcome in the first 40 characters, that's what shows in search results and connection-request previews before truncation.
Profile Photo & Banner
- Profile photo: simple background, shoulders-up, professional but not stiff, face fills 60%+ of frame. Test: still legible as a 40px thumbnail.
- Custom banner image (1584x396px). Never the default LinkedIn blue. Use it for your value prop in one line, a client logo strip, or a credibility marker. Never a generic stock photo.
About Section
- First 2 lines written as a hook, not a bio: this is the only part visible before "see more," so lead with audience/problem, not "I have 8 years of experience in..."
- Structure: Hook (2 lines) → Who I help and what changes for them (1 short paragraph) → Proof (1-2 concrete results, numbers if you have them) → CTA (message me / book a call / download something).
- Written in first person, plain language, not "Jane is a results-driven sales professional." Third-person reads like a press release and buyers skip it.
- ICP search keywords included naturally (your persona's job titles, industry terms, pain points), About section content is indexed in LinkedIn search.
Experience Section
- Each role rewritten with outcomes, not duties. Replace "Responsible for managing enterprise accounts" with "Grew enterprise book from $2M to $4.5M ARR in 18 months." Numbers beat adjectives.
- Media attached to current role: at least one deck, case study, video, or article that demonstrates expertise, not just a text description.
Featured Section
- 3-5 pinned items a prospect could actually use: a customer case study, a short video of you, an original piece of content, a testimonial screenshot. Never leave Featured empty, it's prime real estate directly under About.
- Refresh Featured quarterly. Stale content (a webinar from 2 years ago) signals an inactive profile.
Activity & Recommendations
- Minimum 2 recent recommendations from buyers or managers, not just peers, a recommendation from someone who looks like your ICP is worth more than five from colleagues.
- Posting cadence of at least 1x/week with genuine commentary, not just re-shares. An empty activity feed is the first thing a prospect checks before accepting a connection request.
Final check
- View your own profile in public/logged-out view to confirm what a cold prospect actually sees before connecting, some sections default to connections-only and won't show at all.