Tres profile picture
Tres profile picture

Tres

Account Executive

Politicker
Valued Contributor
Executive
+8

Cold prospecting: how do you get someone to accept your LinkedIn invite?

If you are reaching out to someone completely cold, no prior connections, how do you typically get them to connect with you on LinkedIn?


What sort of message do you craft (if any) to convince them to accept your invite?

🔎 Prospecting
👨‍💻 LinkedIn
4

22 comments

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Peazius
Opinionated
2
Manager Business Development
LinkedIn is a long game. I never put a message into the connect request, and when I do send a voice message after they connect I'm not selling anything, just saying happy to connect w/ them.
Tres
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Do you typically get a reply back from the voice messages? 
Peazius
Opinionated
1
Manager Business Development
Not always, but really high reply rates in the follow up AFTER the voice message. All it takes is a "did you have any thoughts or feedback on my message?" or something like that.
Tres
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Is there a normal amount of time you wait until the follow up after the voice message? 
Chep
WR Officer
1
Bitcoin Adoption Specialist
If I can find something on their profile I will just send the connect, but if I can find something cool on their profile I'll say Hey you're {project, post, etc} was super interesting and wait for a connect before any pitching
Rallier
Politicker
1
SDR Manager and Consultant
Are planning to send them a pitch after you connect? 


Because if not, I've had success saying "Hey {name}, looking to connect with others in the industry, not here to cold pitch you, I promise! " 

I'm mostly connecting for the long term strategy. People seem to appreciate the transparency when I tell them I won't pitch them
Tres
Politicker
0
Account Executive
No immediate pitch. I'd like to sell to them long-term, but usually nothing immediately. 
Ace
Arsonist
1
CEO
A report from an LI insider has shown that adding a personal message actually hurts the acceptance rate and even I have observed that. I simply send them a request.

Just make sure that your LI profile doesn't seem too salesy and is updated
Tres
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Interesting - that's definitely the opposite of what I expected. 
Ace
Arsonist
0
CEO
Same here, I had to take a step back for it to make sense but it did
braintank
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
What's the end game? They accept your invite... now what? Is there any evidence that connecting with someone in LI increases the likelihood to convert? In my industry (Security) most of my prospects aren't active on LI, and if I try to pitch a CISO via LI they'll shut me down. LI is much better for information gathering and finding your next gig vs. selling
Tres
Politicker
1
Account Executive
The hope is that they'll see future content we promote and then have a better idea of what we do/who we are when we do reach out later to engage. 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
What have you seen so far? Have any connected with you?
Tres
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Responding to comments from May?
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
Sure did. So I take it as a no?
Tres
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Cool cool. To answer your question - yes. However I think it misses the point a little, it's not if anyone has connected with me on LinkedIn, it's more if people have data on sending a request with or without a message to get better acceptance rates. Either way you'll get people to accept, but I'm not sure if one has better data on success rates than the other.
Blackwargreymon
Politicker
1
MDR
If I can find something on their profile I will just send the connect, but if I can find something cool on their profile I'll say Hey you're was super interesting and wait for a connect before any pitching
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Hi Mr/Ms Xyz, It would be great to stay connected, learn and exchange value
Tres
Politicker
0
Account Executive
nice and simple, right to the point. 
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Has helped a lot, indeed :). Thanks!
Clashingsoulsspell
Politicker
0
ISR
Ask which they'd prefer.
MR.StretchISR
Politicker
0
ISR
Ask which they'd prefer.

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