An open letter to those who are missing the mark with their sales outreach efforts (along with a better approach):
You’ve broken my trust with your amateur sales outreach efforts on LinkedIn
- You complimented me to make a connection and then went for the hard close
- You used my alumni or connections to “just connect” only to follow up with a hard close
- You praised my post or article and offered to connect only to follow up with the hard close
You have broken one of sales most precious commodities – trust
Your amateur tactics are giving sales and networking a bad name.
You’ve lost my trust from the start.
Even if I wanted to, I can’t do business with you now.
Does your boss know that you’re actively losing opps for them?
Do you want to know what you should do – READ BELOW
- Rule number one: be honest
- Rule number two: don’t assume
- Rule number three: ask for openness to talk (not time)
- Rule number four (bonus): don’t be a jerk, and LinkedIn should not be your only touchpoint – or even the first one.
Here are three examples of how you could approach someone on LinkedIn:
Hi Ted, I’m not sure if this is on your mind, but I’d like to connect with you to see if we can help with X, Y, and Z. Are you open to a conversation, or not so much? Worst case scenario is we connect our networks and part as friends.
Hi Ted, I’ve been talking with other leaders like yourself regarding X, Y, and Z. I don’t know if this is anything you’re experiencing. Are you open to connecting and perhaps a conversation at some point? No pressure. I’m happy to just connect networks, too.
Hi Ted, I’m sure you’re flooded with connection requests. I wouldn’t reach out if I didn’t think there was potential to help with X, Y, and Z. Is any of this on your mind, or am I off base? I’m happy to connect with you either way. Thanks, Ted.
I hope this helps!