How to Connect with Me on LinkedIn!

I find a lot of value in the connections that have and build on LinkedIn. However, many of you that reach out -- unbeknownst to you -- are not reaching out in ways that are likely to get me to respond or connect. This applies to whether you're selling, looking for entry into our organization, or just hoping to connect to learn a little bit more about something I may know about.

Regardless of your intention, I thought it prudent to lay out the things I care about when looking to connect on LinkedIn. Below are 5 things that will improve your chances:

Meet me in real life.

The best way for me to accept you as a connection is if we connected in real life. I value being able to meet people as part of how I decide if I can work with them, so this is the best way for you to guarantee we can connect. Obviously, this can't apply to everyone - and I understand that - but also know that, if we haven't met, you're starting at a severe disadvantage compared to the people I have met. NOTE: if we know the same people on LinkedIn, that doesn't count. We're all connected to Kevin Bacon somehow, but that doesn't mean Kevin should be trying to do business with everyone.

Get my colleague to refer you.

If you haven't met me or don't know me in real life, the next best thing is to have someone else that I do know (and ideally have worked with) vouch for you. WOM is an age-old practice in marketing, and it works for me pretty well if you've connected with someone I know. Just be prepared for me to call up that person to get some information about you and how we might collaborate.

Explain how you can help.

Sometimes, you're not inside of my network, and that's ok. It's what makes Linkedin so powerful. But, please do me a favor and don't just send the default message saying you'd "like to connect". Tell me WHY. If you can help me understand what value you're going to bring to me in a connected relationship, you'll put yourself ahead of the rest of the people that appear as though they have nothing to offer. At this point in my life, I am invested in having mutually beneficial relationships -- the days of me pining after people that have nothing to offer have passed.

Show your work.

A great way for me to understand the above is if you can share some work. I'm constantly looking at new product, concepts, strategies, and more that I want to apply to my work. If you have work that specifically speaks to what I'm responsible for or what our company does, that will go further towards helping me understand how we can collaborate.

Get to the request.

Don't beat around the bush. If you want something, say it. It does me no value to just be connected to you on here and never leverage the value that you could add. So tell me what you want up front, so I can assess if there's anything I can try and discern in return from you. Long winded notes don't work for me, and the "connect" is never the request. So get to it!