Did you know that most people make the same mistakes when sending invitations on Linkedin? Here we summarize the most common ones so that you can keep them in mind and not repeat them:
1. Saying “Hello, my name is…”: all LinkedIn invitations are identified with your photo, your name and your position, so starting your message by saying “Hello, my name is…” is not only not necessary, but you consume part of the 300 characters that LinkedIn allows as maximum in the invitations. Remember that the 300 characters must also include the person’s name and there are people who have a compound name (e.g.: “María Alejandra”), so it is important that you can exercise your ability to synthesize in a few words to generate empathy, briefly explain the reason why you are looking to connect and ideally request contact information in the form of a question.
2. Do not request contact information: 90% of people who connect with someone on Linkedin do so sooner or later to request an email or phone number to send more information or to approach a business proposal. You will be surprised at the results you can get if you simply ask for contact details in your invitation and in your first follow up in the form of a question. It is not a matter of saying “if you are interested, leave me your contact information”, but by asking a question the other person understands that you have to answer. Something as simple as “How can I contact you by email or phone” works wonders.
3. Messages that are too long before having an email or telephone: remember, the main objective is not to deliver your commercial speech right off the bat, but to establish a relationship. Nobody likes to receive unsolicited information and even less if it is too long to read. Focus on one objective at a time, make sure you have a way to follow up first (like a phone or email) and then try to sell, always emphasizing your competitive advantage and mainly how you have helped other companies to grow. It’s not about you, it’s about how others grow with you. Here you can see more recommendations on what to say in each message, both on Linkedin and by email. You can also use the templates we provide at Five! Media Lab when you upload your messages to LVI.
4. Invite just to “connect”: just think about how many invitations a person receives on Linkedin or how many people you currently have in your network and you have accepted just to connect. Have you really had a relationship after that? Have you started a dialogue? Have any business opportunities arisen? Focusing on simply “having more connections” or sending invitations without a clear purpose is like adding more followers in social networks: it is useless and only serves to make you feel important for “having more contacts on LinkedIn” but of no real use. Try to make your messages have a clear purpose, nobody likes to waste time and you will have much better results if you are direct with your interlocutor.
5. Do not insist, believing that it “annoys”: this is a very common prejudice, which comes from 2 sources: your own insecurity and fear of upsetting someone despite having always been polite and having left enough time between one message and another to get a response, and your own experience believing that the same thing will happen to everyone. The reality is very different and shows that most people respond only between the 3rd and 5th message with intervals of 5 days between one and another and as long as your communication is different at each step. It is not about insisting for the sake of insisting, but to do it in the right way. If you discard opportunities after 2 follow ups, you will not be getting responses just because you think your prospect is there waiting for you to contact him as if he has nothing better to do (do you have an empty agenda?).
For more recommendations and information about LVI you can visit our dedicated LVI section in our Help Center.