There is a belief that we all check Linkedin every day and the expectation that our messages will be accepted and responded to immediately. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Linkedin is a network that although it was founded in 2003, only in recent years has begun to have massive adoption, mainly in its largest market, which is the United States:

This means that for the vast majority of Linkedin users it is something new, especially if we are talking about the Spanish-speaking market, where the numbers are much lower than in the English-speaking markets. Most people on Linkedin accept invitations after up to 3 weeks of receiving them and respond to messages after at least 3 (and ideally 5) messages.

What is the reason for this?

1. Only a minority percentage of Linkedin users (generally those looking to attract clients or working in industries such as advertising or recruiting), visit and are attentive to Linkedin every day.

2. Many people still do not even understand how this network works: you may have noticed that courses abound, for example on how to complete a profile or how to perform searches correctly, and this is because most people simply do not know how to use the platform.

3. Those who are on Linkedin do not only receive your invitation, but many and of various types, all the time. It is like trying to be relevant in a sea of possibilities: you should try to optimize your invitation texts to be accepted and not make mistakes like trying to sell in your first message. Here you can see what are the most common mistakes in invitations.

4. If you don’t insist, you disappear: we live in a hypersaturated world of information, where nobody seems to have time for anything, everything is considered urgent or more important than simply taking 5 minutes to read a proposal. Add to this the fact that each person receives hundreds of proposals every week, so the chances of yours being the chosen one diminish significantly. You must understand that this is the universe that awaits you so that your expectations are in line with reality. If your rate of acceptance of invitations or response to messages is more than 20%, you are privileged and that’s fine. Here you can see more information on what is the response rate on Linkedin based on the analysis of hundreds of cases in the span of at least one year of evaluation.

5. Empathy, Relevance and Timely Request: this is the technique you must follow if you want them to respond to your messages:

a) Always try to be interested in the other person first, a simple “how are you? I have seen your profile and I found what you do interesting” is enough. You can also make reference to the fact that you work in the same industry or any other variable that serves to show the other person that you have something in common.

b) Explain why you think your contact or what you offer could be useful for the other person. You can say something like “I have seen that you work in the Sales sector and I think that automating the prospecting work could be interesting for you” or “I think that the tool I am using to avoid wasting time on follow up could be useful for you too”. Always focus on the usefulness for the other, forget for a second about wanting to sell! An anxious salesperson makes too many mistakes. Some of them you can see here.

c) Make a specific request, if possible in the form of a question: it is not the same to say “if you are interested, leave me your email” as “would you have a phone number or email where to contact you? In the first case you leave everything to chance, the desire and good will of the other, in the second case it is clear that you expect something and the other understands that he must give an answer. If he gives it (whether negative or positive), he has returned the interaction. If he does not give it, he will be at fault and you will have the advantage in the next message.

If you are interested in learning more or train your team in efficient Sales Techniques in Linkedin, email and Whatsapp please request a Professional Training. We have been teaching companies how to do Digital Marketing and Generate Sales efficiently for 20 years.