There is a specific style and formula you need to follow if you want prospects and potential clients to accept your invitations or read your messages on LinkedIn.
It all needs to start with a conversation.
Ok, you might be wondering, so how do we actually start conversations? How do we actually talk to people?
The key thing on LinkedIn is to treat your prospects like human beings. Do not send them invites or messages or subject lines that sound like boring, work-related topics or offers.
Instead, send them something personal.
I go through this in-depth through my LinkedIn Riches premium trainings, but when you find somebody on LinkedIn, do NOT scan his or her profile for something work-related to ask about.
Forget Work Get Personal.
Instead, get personal. Look at their profile and try to figure out: Where do they live? Where did they go to college? Do they have interests or hobbies listed? Volunteering? Causes they care about?
And what you do is play off that … have fun with it!
So if I see a prospect on LinkedIn who lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, I might write the subject line, “Are you crazy?” and send a LinkedIn message to him or her.
And then the first sentence of my LinkedIn message might be, “I thought I was tough living in Minnesota during the winters, but I can’t imagine surviving in Alaska. LOL. How do you do it? How long have you lived there? How do you deal with the winters?
“By the way, the reason I’m reaching out is that I think I have something going on that I thought you’d be interested in. I see that you’re the vice president of sales at Company A, and I wanted to know if I could help you rewrite your LinkedIn profile.
“I’m willing to do it for free. There’s no strings attached. My only motive here is to introduce myself to you to demonstrate some value and benefit upfront to get on your radar.
“Because I know if I do that, we can start building a relationship and good things will happen for both of us.
“And, last but not least, I need to know … are you really crazy? Or are winters in Alaska not that tough? LOL.”
And that might be my opening pitch to that guy to eventually sell my LinkedIn Riches training program to his sales team of 1,000 people.
Why it Matters
But the key here is he’s going to open that email because it’s going to be arousing some curiosity.
When you write a subject line that is conversational (“Are you crazy?” “Did you see this?” “Is this for real?”) or, even better, when you combine a conversational subject line with your prospect’s hobbies or interests (“You live in Fairbanks? Are you nuts!?”) it works like a charm.
One of my favorite things is to play off listed hobbies or interests. So if they put on their LinkedIn profile that they love golfing, fishing, boating, sailing, reading Stephen King novels, whatever it is … I’ll work that into my message’s subject line or invitation to connect.
So I’ll say, “Favorite Stephen King book?”
That would be the subject line on my LinkedIn message.
And my first sentence would be, “Hi [NAME] – Dying to know what your favorite Stephen King book is. Mine is ‘Under the Dome’ or ‘The Gunslinger’ series … how about you?”
Not only will my prospect open that message; he’ll engage with me right away too. He or she is going to enjoy our interaction as well, because if there is one thing people love, it’s talking about themselves and their own hobbies!
So if you message me on LinkedIn, and your subject line is something like, “Minnesota hockey?” I’m going to immediately open it.
I’m going to be salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs, because there’s nothing I love more than talking hockey.
And if you say, “What do you think of the Minnesota Wild?” or “Do you miss the Minnesota North Stars?” or “What do you think of the high school game in Minnesota these days?” I’m going to have, like, a 5,000 word reply.
And more importantly, you’re going to get my attention and I’m going to go, “Who’s this guy that messaged me about Minnesota hockey?”
I’m going to look you up because you’ve got me talking hockey, but you also got me intrigued because you said you can help me with SEO on my website.
I’m going to look at your profile. And wow! Your profile looks really good. It’s all about your ideal customer (someone like me!) and how you help us, and you’ve got testimonials and social proof too. It makes a lot of sense what you’re saying. I want to have a sales call with you. Plus, I like you. We’re bonding by talking hockey!
The Inescapable Truth
There’s this key element you cannot escape with sales: We want to do business with people we Know, Like and Trust.
And when you take this approach on LinkedIn, you will build that instant likability, credibility and trust that’s critical to making a sale.
When I’m engaging you around the stuff that’s not about work so we can just talk and have fun, that’s a great way to build a relationship and have something low-key and low-pressure to talk about.
Also, once we have a non-work connection, I have an excuse to message you anytime I want to talk about the Minnesota Wild, or the New York Islanders, or sailing, or golfing, or traveling to Europe.
When you can find non-work related excuses to stay in front of people, to send them a note once in a while, it can make all the difference.
Timing is everything.
If I happen to send you a note because I noticed a news story about your favorite sports team winning a big game, you’ll notice it, open it, reply to me and remember me. And, if the timing is right, you might have just gotten a new budget approved, and it just so happens that you remembered from seeing my note about your sports team that I also do marketing services, and hey, you happen to be looking for what I’m offering, and one thing leads to another …
See how it works?
I’ve explained elsewhere how to automate, export and track all the leads you come across on LinkedIn. When you do this, just add a little column or note to each profile to remind you of something not related to work that you can talk about with that person.
Make friends with people. Chat them up about what they love to talk about. Then, when the timing is right, slip in a causal mention or question … “So what are you guys doing about SEO on your website these days? Are you looking for any help there? You know, if you ever have questions, I’m happy to jump on the phone and help you out…”
Utilize this approach, and I promise you’ll see much more engagement and response from the individuals you message and invite on LinkedIn as a result!
Want More Tips Like This?
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