Connecting on LinkedIn: Skipping The Pitch

The one question that I get asked a lot is, “how do I start connecting on LinkedIn?”

This is what strikes me.

We spend so much time learning how to target, building customer profiles, and populating our lead generation lists when we should be working on our first messages and lead nurturing.

But, what’s the best way to your LinkedIn audience a first message or connect with them?

Let me give you an extensive guide to get you started.

This article is part of a two-part series, the first of which you can find here: Creating an Ideal Customer Profile on LinkedIn.

Why You Should Skip The General Message

More often than not, it’s tempting to send a general message out to save time.

I mean, who wouldn’t think of doing that?

You’ve already spent hours lead prospecting, and all that’s left is to massively connect with people, and send them a message saying, “hi”.

But, here’s what.

Don’t throw all your hard work down the drain.

Sending general messages do not work anymore.

And, here are the reasons why:

• You end up wrecking the value of the platform which just spoils it for everyone.
• Prospects end up being put on the defensive because you are generally not offering anything of value.
• It leads to LinkedIn inbox clogging, which disrupts your outreach campaign.
• And lastly, and probably the most important, it makes you look lazy. Now for a growth hacker, that's inexcusable.

People don’t respond to general messages anymore because it doesn’t address them personally.

Think about it.

When’s the last time you replied positively to a general call to your attention?

Unless the value proposition is absolutely mind-blowing, you tend to ignore these messages.

Don’t get me wrong.

There are a lot of ways to personalize a general message to very, very specific niches, but most of the time they don’t work because people can smell a general message miles away.

If you want proper results, you’ve got to write the messages yourself.

Yes, I know that might sound like a lot work.

But, put yourself in the shoes of your prospects, don’t you want personalized messages, that not only cater to you, but provide value at the same time?

A-B-C

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I want to tell you about something that’s led the way we conduct our operations since Day 1.

It’s called the A-B-C rule.

No, this isn’t the Always Be Closing acronym that some overly hyped sales people will talk to you about.

My A-B-C’s stand for “Always Be Cool.”

It’s a lesson, I learned from my surf instructor Michael Willis, back when I was younger and overly eager to ride the waves.

You can check out his video here.

Long story short, you can’t rush into things. Whether it be surfing or lead generation. You might end up missing the mark or worse, missing out on perfect timing.

According to my mentor, “Always be cool... things get heavy, people get upset, you get pummeled by a wave, no worries, you just stay cool and point your board safe to shore, and you’ve got nothing to fear.”

Don’t be overly eager, and learn your A-B-Cs.

You don’t want to botch things or go into battle unprepared.

Now onto the technical stuff.

YOU-VALUE-VALUE-VALUE-ME

What’s BAMF’s ultimate framework for connecting with our audience?

We use the YOU-VALUE-VALUE-VALUE-ME approach.

YOU

When you first reach to make a connection with your target audience, you have to put them first. This means that you make the message about them.

You can lead with a compliment, if:

• they said something interesting in a post
• have an event that they’re celebrating
• their contributions to the industry are great.

Alternatively, you can ask them a question, like:

• what are their thoughts on a topic?
• what their motivations are?
• where do they see the industry headed?

You can tell them something personal, or even just recognize how bada** they are in their industry.

You see people, like to hear about themselves. They like compliments, and they want to know how they awesome they are perceived by other people.

Once you have your initial message laid out, then we can move on to the next most critical part of the framework.

VALUE-VALUE-VALUE

After your initial connection with them, it’s time to provide them with some value.

This will depend on the posts that you are putting out.

We highly recommend showing them some value at least three times.

This method is also mentioned by Gary Vaynerchuk with his jab, jab, jab right-hook method.

Just as boxers do, you want to set up your prospects with a couple of jabs of value, before you deliver the winning blow.

This allows you to weaken their defenses and make them easier to target and talk to.

If you’re posting content on the platform, make sure you post three times during the week. This gives you three “jabs” of value before we move on to the follow up message.

So, what kind of content should you be posting?

Niche content that caters to the needs of the industry you’re in, lead magnets, research papers, slideshows, and sometimes even just regular posts that will help you resonate with your prospects.

Also, based on our research, 3 times a week seems to work great with the LinkedIn algorithm. So, you get the best out both worlds, you get a nice lead nurturing campaign going while doing good with the algorithm.

ME

If you followed up with value-based content three times after your initial interaction with your prospect, then a week will have passed where you can now follow up with them with something that relates to you.

This will have properly set up the prospect to be more receptive to what you want to offer them.

What’s important is that you are perceived as a person who wants to provide great value in the industry, regardless if you’re selling something or not.

The moment that you sell on your first message, it makes it look like that you’re only after the wallets of your prospects.

Now based on personal experience, I don’t talk to people who are just after my wallet.

Here’s the other thing.

A week also ensures your sales team that the prospects that they want to reach out to have already seen the content. This is regardless if they didn’t log in for a couple of days during the week.

Advanced Technique 1: Triangulating Conversations (The Watercolor Effect)

DMUs - decision-mak...

To read more about our advanced techniques, check out the full article here!