Don't send a pitch with your invite message

It's a phenomenon I've only noticed recently - although it may have been going on much longer than that.  People sending long-winded sales pitches IN THEIR INVITE MESSAGE on Linkedin.

I've no idea who's teaching this as good practice but, if you are, let me burst your bubble for a second IT'S NOT GOOD PRACTICE.

Your invite on Linkedin has one real aim - to be ACCEPTED.  Once you've got that person in your network, instantly your relationship is much closer to them than it was prior to that connection.

And then it's up to you what you do with that relationship - nurture their interest through value giving messages, messages that are tailored, genuine, friendly, HUMAN.

Or you could mess things up by sending them an EVEN LONGER sales pitch as your first message - chucking a load of "me, me, me" at them and telling them every last detail about your offering.

(clue, that won't work either)

What does work - or at least what I've found to be more effective recently is to have no tailored message at all on your initial invite.

That's right, just use the standard, default message that Linkedin sends out.

I admit this goes against accepted logic - you have the ability to tailor a message, why not do so?

The way I see it is that, if you get a lot of invites through - or have a bit of a backlog - you're more likely to just go through and click accept on people that DON'T stand out.  Those that do stand out then require a bit of further vetting.

For most people that vetting process is as simple as asking themselves "does this person look like they're just going to sell to me?"

And if the answer to that question is YES then, chances are that connection is not going to be accepted.

Ultimately your profile is THE place to be selling yourself anyway - your headline (which is part of your profile) gives people a quick value proposition alongside your invite that will positively affect their chances of accepting you. So there's no need to be clogging things up with lengthy invite messages.

The headline tells them what you do.

Don't get me wrong - there are situations where a tailored message is good - namely when you've actually met that person or genuinely have a strong reason for connecting.

Otherwise, default works well.

So, I urge you, people out there - wherever you are - putting big pitches in your invite messages - DON'T DO IT!!!!

Need help with using Linkedin more effectively for lead generation?

Get in touch!

Dan Smith

Ingenius