An open letter to anyone inviting me to connect on LinkedIn
Dear would-be LinkedIn connection
Thanks for your invitation but it’s a 'no'. To explain why, I’ve replied with a link to this letter.
Mainly it’s a no because of the flimsy reasons you’ve suggested for connecting - like us having 'people in common' or working in the same, vaguely defined industry, like ‘digital’. Or worse still, you’re 'keen to expand your network’.
This kind of lazy, impersonal approach just shrieks ‘automation’ - almost as much as hailing your 'fit' with my profile when you haven’t actually viewed it. That's not just a lie; it's a self-defeating, easily disproved lie.
Frankly, I’d prefer it if you just tried to sell me something. But if your sell is solely based on me being the <job title> at <company name>, then it almost certainly won’t be relevant.
You may think I’m being snarky, but I care about my LinkedIn network. I connect to stay in touch with people I’ve met and to proactively reach people who could have a meaningful reason to talk. I don’t expect them all to accept, but they’re all afforded a bit of research and a personalised note.
For me, LinkedIn is about quality over scale. It isn't a place for a high-volume, ‘numbers game’ mode of selling.
That said, obviously I don’t set the rules, so go nuts. But I don’t think many people warm to these generic, apparently automated invites - especially as we all receive so many - or the string of increasingly pushy sales messages that usually follow.
So if you’re still keen to connect, that’s great - but please consider the criteria above.
I appreciate you’re just trying to make a living and I hope that this letter plays a tiny role in helping you do that.
All the best.
Cheers, Rob
PS if anyone reading this would like to use any/all of the copy for their own response to invitations and/or share this article, then feel free. Who knows - perhaps if enough people do similar, it will raise standards of personalisation and fit.
original source https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/open-letter-anyone-inviting-me-connect-linkedin-robin-bonn/
End the Fear & Confusion of Selling Your Business |Founder of Business Exit Academy | Business Sales Specialist at Transworld | I help you sell your business
1 个月Notice that this platform is becoming less valuable as I spend more time sifting through the content, which offers me services to up my LinkedIn game. As a longtime user, I like it less and less years. I use and build smaller networks that are not Linkedin based more and more.
The mastermind behind "The Experience" An affordable Globally 'Inclusive' Business Networking Club & Co-Founder & COO of Energy Nexus Limited - Where Knowledge and Innovation Intersect.
11 个月Therefore, as we are connected I must have done that ??♂?
Outbound Sales Strategist & Mentor | Developing & implementing sales strategies with owner/managers & commercial leaders of technical businesses to achieve their revenue goals | Executing Sales Campaigns that Get Results
1 年Yeh, this behaviour mostly gets encouraged by unscrupulous business coaches and so-called lead gen experts. I'll confess that I've been guilty in the past but have seen the errors of my ways especially as people are clearly seeing through this ploy. The general lesson is that you must try harder and earn the right to connect.
Future Skills & Learning Senior Advisor - Sales Capability (Global)
4 年You're right it shouldn't be a 'numbers game' .. but it is a networking site and the opportunity to connect with people outside your sphere of operation can be an interesting and enlightening experience...you should be open to requests from anyone and everyone, who knows who you might meet ! If you don't like the connection for whatever reason, gladly Linkedin does give you the facility to remove the connection. It becomes quite insular bordering on the facebook when people just want to stay in their own bubble of people they know already. Linkedin created Sales Navigator to help people find new opportunities ... where better than a social media platform full of professional people and companies.
Climbing mountains, physically and metaphorically, one day at a time.
4 年I hear what you're saying, but if even if someone connects with a personal message they might (and still do) send a sales pitch. ARGH! And how much value is 'Keen to grow my network'? Most connect on that basis anyway. I'm clearly someone that sends requests, and accepts some, without a message. It's horses for courses, but if LinkedIn was my shop front, I wouldn't exclude a potential customer entering my premises because they didn't say 'hi' at the front door. Having made wrong assumptions in the past I prefer to keep my options open. Wanna connect? ??