Trying to start a genuine conversation with someone on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is the Networking World – Don’t spam
Here’s some advice based on the mistakes I see people make when reaching out to someone for the first time:
1. Don’t even think about selling – it’s a massive waste of your time and energy to do this before you’ve had a single conversation with the person
2. Explain how you can help the other person – if you can help them (without selling) lead with that
3. Explain how you think they could help you – if your request is genuine, a lot of people are willing to help
4. Keep your message short – people don’t read long emails
5. Be specific – no one has time to answer open ended questions like “how’s it going”
6. Remember people are busy – don’t respond two days later with “did you see my note”
7. Remember LinkedIn messages are hard to keep up with – if a week or two goes by with no response just send a nice follow up
8. Don’t mass message people – it’s lazy, people can tell you’re doing it and it’s a really bad long-term strategy
9. Read up on the person – this should be a no-brainer (when you don’t, your message is just spam)
10. Don’t be salesy – you might not be leading with a hard sell, but people can tell when you’re just waiting to sell them something
Read Also: Patience is new marketing strategy