Most prospects have tens (and even a whole bunch) of pending LinkedIn invitations to reply to — which signifies that after they lastly get to yours, it’s solely getting mere seconds of consideration. And in such a brief span of time, a single dangerous line can condemn your invite to the “ignore” pile.
If you’d like your invitations to make all of it the best way to your prospects’ inboxes, by no means use these eight clunkers once more.
1. “We’re each members of [LinkedIn group].”
You all the time wish to discover frequent floor together with your prospect — so mentioning a LinkedIn group you each belong to looks like a no brainer, proper?
Not essentially.
Being a part of the identical LinkedIn group is not a very particular draw. A person can belong to as much as 100 teams on the platform, and lots of teams of a whole bunch of 1000’s of members — making this line fairly uncompelling and leaving prospects questioning, “So what?”
What to Say As an alternative
You’ll be able to nonetheless allude to LinkedIn teams when making requests on the platform, however be as locked-in as doable — which means becoming a member of smaller, extra targeted, unique teams and connecting with prospects primarily based on their engagement inside them.
As an example, in case your prospect belongs to a gaggle with fewer than 100 individuals, hone in on it. Request to affix, and when you‘ve been accredited, attempt to discover a remark or submit they’ve made. Then, reference that contribution in your opening line.
Going with, “I appreciated your useful [comment, post] on [topic] in [group name],” will yield higher outcomes than the imprecise line on the prime of this part.
2. “Would you be open to a fast cellphone name to debate how [product] can assist you?”
A cellphone name is a reasonably large ask to steer with — it‘s a basic case of “an excessive amount of, too quickly.” You might want to develop some form of rapport together with your prospect earlier than they’re keen to offer you that form of time and a spotlight.
Asking for a cellphone name in your LinkedIn invite is like attempting to greet a primary date with a kiss. In the event you lead with this line, you may wind up being denied and even reported for spam. Strike this phrase out of your LinkedIn vocabulary and have a bit of endurance.
What to Say As an alternative:
At this stage of the sport, you could have one easy purpose: Persuade the prospect you’re price together with of their LinkedIn community. From there, you can begin to develop the form of belief and rapport you could schedule a gathering, down the road.
Give them a motive to simply accept — and that may embrace a little bit of flattery. Ask to maintain up with their profession. For instance, you may write one thing to the impact of:
- “I am hoping to change into part of your community so I can comply with your work in biotech.”
3. “I do know we don’t know one another.”
In the event you‘ve by no means met somebody, odds are they know that too. There’s no level in mentioning the plain — you do not wish to waste valuable LinkedIn request actual property main with a undeniable fact that each of you understand.
You‘re additionally giving them trigger to not settle for your invitation — for those who’re a complete stranger, why ought to they belief you? Equally, you wish to avoid statements like “We’ve by no means met, however … ”or “Though we’ve by no means spoken earlier than … ”
What to Say As an alternative:
Somewhat than acknowledging you’ve by no means crossed paths together with your prospect, clarify the way you discovered their LinkedIn account within the first place. Not solely will this make your request appear much less random, it additionally provides you the chance to go with them. Once more, a bit of flattery normally helps your probabilities.
Right here’s an instance:
- “I got here throughout your profile whereas on the lookout for skilled company communications specialists, and was impressed by how a lot you’ve completed within the final eight years.”
4. “I noticed your profile and needed to attach.”
That is the obvious line you’ll be able to drop on a prospect. You seeing a prospect‘s profile and wanting to attach is actually the sequence that brings everybody to connection requests. In the event you didn’t do each of these issues, you would not be sending a request within the first place.
It is also fully targeted on your actions and needs. Prospects don‘t care about what you need — particularly for those who’ve by no means spoken to you earlier than. You wish to hold issues prospect-centric when attempting to attach by way of LinkedIn, so this line is especially ineffective.
What to Say As an alternative:
Deal with what the prospect desires, and that may not all the time be apparent — it would require some detective work. As an example, you may wish to perform a little digging on their Twitter to see in the event that they‘ve talked about any challenges they’re dealing with at work, or you might evaluation their firm’s profession web page to search out positions you might suggest a few of your connections for.
You possibly can additionally use that perception that will help you discover a related useful resource for them. A type of strains might appear to be this:
- “I seen BiggerPlanet is on the lookout for an information scientist — we simply crammed the same place at my firm, and our crew discovered this hiring information extraordinarily helpful https://weblog.hubspot.com/gross sales/worst-linkedin-invitation-lines.”
5. “I’d like to discover how we are able to present worth to one another.”
Not like the final line, no less than this one focuses on the mutual advantages of connecting. Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless extremely problematic. In the event you’re not already clear on how one can assist the opposite particular person, then why attain out?
Moreover, this remark assumes the prospect has the time, vitality, and curiosity to sit down round determining the way you two can assist one another. If that’s how gross sales labored, you’d already be at quota for all times.
What to Say As an alternative
Don’t wait to “discover” your choices: Present worth to the prospect beginning out of your first interplay and kick off the method your self. In the event you’ve completed your homework and you continue to can’t consider any technique to improve their life, give attention to creating rapport as a substitute.
Listed below are two examples:
- “I additionally hail from the good state of Nebraska — Huskers for the win! It will be nice to attach on right here.”
- “I seen you listed ‘curler derby’ beneath your pursuits — that’s fairly darn cool. How true-to-life was the film ‘Whip It’?”
6. “I’d like to have you ever be a part of my webinar. Register right here: https://weblog.hubspot.com/gross sales/worst-linkedin-invitation-lines.”
Traces like this are far too self-serving — you’re clearly making an attempt to drive webinar visitors and get the prospect into your funnel with out understanding if they may really profit from the dialogue.
Second, it begins with “I’d love … ” Databox CEO and former HubSpot VP of Gross sales Pete Caputa advises reps to chop “I’d love,” “I’d like,” or “I need” from their vocabulary. As he places it, “Who cares what you need? Your prospects do not care about you. They care about themselves, their wants, and their very own agenda.”
Harsh, however true.
What to Say As an alternative
Fixing this invitation killer is straightforward: Spotlight it and press “Delete.” When you’ve related with a prospect and familiarized your self with their distinctive state of affairs, pursuits, and potential ache factors, then — and solely then — it’s best to ship the hyperlink to a webinar you’re positive is related to them.
In the event you’re tempted to make use of “I’d love … ” in a unique part of your message, Caputa recommends swapping this expression out for “Would you be thinking about … ?”
7. “You’ve received an important profile — let’s join!”
Sadly, reps throw this meaningless line into their connection requests on a regular basis. Flattery will be efficient when attempting to attach with prospects — nevertheless it must be extra particular. This line might apply to just about anybody on LinkedIn.
What constitutes a “nice” profile? And why is it a superb motive to attach?
The world won’t ever know — so please, don’t embrace this one in your invite.
What to Say As an alternative:
Once more, reward is persuasive when it’s each particular — and much more when it is real. With that in thoughts, search for one thing you actually admire concerning the prospect’s profession, listing of achievements, and/or firm.
To present you an thought, you may write: “I began utilizing the HubSpot CRM a month in the past, and I’m by no means going again. It’s highly effective however straightforward to make use of — thanks for constructing a improbable product!”
In the event you needed to commend the prospect themselves, strive one thing like, “Three promotions in six years? You’re on fireplace.”
8. “I’d like so as to add you to my skilled community on LinkedIn.”
This phrase is LinkedIn’s advised default message while you request to attach with any individual -— and in case your prospect sees it, they’ll know you made precisely zero effort to customise your outreach.
What to Say As an alternative:
Virtually something is best than this — apart from the seven strains above, in fact. Reference how you understand the prospect, touch upon a chunk of content material they’ve posted, and add a substantive little bit of worth.
As soon as you have changed these cringe-inducing strains out of your requests, prospects will likely be a lot likelier to click on “settle for.” After that, you’ll be able to slide into their InMail like a professional.
