Connecting on LinkedIn: How to Maximize Your Acceptance Rate

Why Use LinkedIn for Customer Acquisition?

As with any type of sales activity, you need to do prospecting. One of the best ways – especially for B2B companies – is to use LinkedIn. It is by far the number 1 professional database; not to mention that it is maintained by the users themselves, which ensures higher accuracy.

There are many ways to communicate with potential customers, but if you (and your recipients) are tired of emails, you can use LinkedIn. People prefer to connect on a social network rather than feeling “bothered” in their email inbox. 

Connecting on LinkedIn 

The word “connection” itself encompasses many different aspects of our lives today. From connecting to the internet to emotional connection, this term is used frequently. Fortunately, each of us can have our own definition of what it really means, just as we do for authenticity.

However, LinkedIn is designed to be more personal with a profile picture, LinkedIn banner, and other information. While you don’t need to share what your child did that day, you still want to be yourself. You can discuss and post about what truly matters to you.

There are many LinkedIn tools that you can use to build a list and relationships. You don’t need to use all of them, just what works best for you and your target audience. Overwhelm helps no one.

However, building such a connection takes time, so be patient with this medium (more so than with other, direct activities like cold calling).

Tidy Up Your Own Garden 🏡

Before you start messaging, make sure your own profile meets the platform’s expectations. In other words, fill it out! If you try to message people you don’t know (or even those you do), it won’t go well if you have this photo as your profile picture:

The good news is that once you have entered all your information, you can present yourself in the best possible light. Make sure to add everything from your photo, your cover photo, and your professional history to building your network. 

Now you can connect with those already in your contacts, add the link to your email signatures, and start searching. You will now connect in a much more personal way than through your general company email.

Be Active 🏃 on the Platform (If You Aren’t Already)

What’s the catch with connecting with potential clients on LinkedIn? You have to actually use the platform!

As with any other social media or relationship-building technique, you need to stay in touch with people. Fortunately, there are many ways to do just that on LinkedIn, such as:

• Engage: Scroll through your feed. Look for interesting posts and interact with them. Write a comment with your perspective or experience, like the post, read others’ comments, and reply to them if you wish. There are many ways to get involved.
• Share Posts: You can transfer a post directly from your company account to your personal account. You can share someone else’s post that you like to comment on or share with others. Or you can post something interesting that you found yourself.
• Use Polls: Is there something you would like to know the answer to? Is there a topic that many people in your industry have differing opinions on? Post a poll! Find out what people really think and spark conversations with them. Remember, you asked, so don’t get upset if the answers aren’t what you expected.
• Write Articles: If you enjoy writing more than just a few lines of text, you can also write posts on the platform that are more like a blog. Use this medium for professional insights, to explain or share what you’ve discovered, and showcase your expertise.

• Join Groups: There are thousands of groups on LinkedIn – there are guaranteed to be some for your industry, join a few. Consider groups complementary to your own, as well as your own group. You should only join if you intend to be active, but sometimes it’s beneficial to be in a group similar to your peers to get help. However, note that the number of groups you can join is limited to 50. 

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Cliché Alert 🚨: Be Yourself

There is definitely a fine line between the authenticity of “being yourself” and “being yourself online.” You should treat LinkedIn as the social network it is, but you still need to be professional. The balance is that you should be neither too formal (at least in the Western world) nor too informal. People want to connect with people, not robots.

You will likely refine your style as you test your approach, but generally, you should be honest and authentic. People can tell when you are just trying to sell them something – even through a computer. Everyone has their own methods, but as you discover yourself and figure out what works best for you, you will be different from everyone else. Give it a try!

Target Audience 🎯 Relevant Prospects

Now that you have your complete LinkedIn profile set up and have engaged with others on the platform, you can start looking for people you want to reach out to. With LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, you can search for your specific target audience that you want to connect with.

There are various ways you can connect with your target individuals, but the most important thing is that you have a strategy. If you are disorganized, you only hurt your chances with a potential client, as they will immediately have little trust in working with you if you cannot remember their name. 

With that in mind, be cautious when reaching out. Especially in B2B, building relationships (which we will go into more detail about below) is one of the most important aspects of prospecting. For example, start with people around you for a week, and then move on to people in your target industry the following week. It’s like finding your group of trees in the forest – only the right ones are the ones you want.

Another great way to help you find and organize your leads is by using LinkedIn automation tools. There are many (including LaGrowthMachine) that can help you quickly and easily create a system for building your prospect list and reaching out.

Having a plan will also help you keep your sanity in the long run!

LinkedIn Connection Message

When connecting on LinkedIn, you should start with people you know, if you haven’t already. These are the ones you regularly interact with – especially professionally. Perhaps they are even on your email contact list (which you can upload to LinkedIn to add them easily). 

You may have already noticed that when you add someone, you have the option to add a note. There are two ways to do this:

1. You are transparent, and write why you want to make a connection.
2. You don’t add a note at all.

Whether you add a note intentionally or accidentally, you are relying entirely on the person and their mood at that moment. However, this is a risky option as it lowers the acceptance rate. If they are not in the mood to accept requests from strangers, you miss out on many opportunities that come your way.

Therefore, we strongly recommend writing something personal and explaining why you want to add the person to your network. You can say you are interested in their work, that you work in the same or a similar industry, or be very direct. For example, tell them you would like to discuss a potential collaboration with them. 

We have found that when you include a note with a specific reason for reaching out, you get fewer people accepting your request, but more replies. This means you are connecting with people who genuinely want to talk to you, rather than those who don’t fit your goals.

But remember: this is a professional network, so be professional, use some LinkedIn etiquette, and remember that everyone you add, or who adds you, opens up their network to you. Make sure you don’t take that trust lightly.

Connecting on LinkedIn and Other Channels

Now that you’ve set yourself up on LinkedIn, remember that not everyone has done so yet. It is highly recommended to use additional methods of contact, especially if your LinkedIn request is ignored. The good news is that many (and hopefully you too) have additional contact options in their profile. 

LinkedIn offers the ability to share your email address and Twitter handle, and if you use LaGrowthMachine, you can automatically include these in your contact plan. Use the templates to develop your strategy and automation for reaching out.

By connecting and uploading your contact data, you can include Twitter and email to reach out to your target individuals. Not to mention, we’ve found that multi-channel campaigns receive 3.5 times more replies than single-channel campaigns! 

Using LinkedIn to develop your lead generation strategy and cold outreach emails is an excellent option to consider for reaching your target individuals through multiple avenues.

Build Out the Relationships

Remembering names, of course, is not the only thing that is important when building a new (business) relationship. It’s just the beginning of how you can stay relevant in the industry and visible and memorable to your potential clients.

To achieve this, you need to constantly improve your outreach, while keeping the following important things in mind:

• Don’t try to be pushy with sales (remember we just said that doesn’t work anymore?)
• Care about your clients and their problems – especially those you can help with.
• Be likable – share a little about yourself; remind them that you are a human being and not just a screen name
• Warning: This might also mean being vulnerable/personal sometimes.

There are also many different ways you can show yourself. Personalized videos, for example, are one way to stand out from the crowd. There are even tools like VideoAsk that allow them to reply with their own videos easily, and it’s scalable. 

The recent Clubhouse phenomenon has also encouraged people to use voice messages much more. Many apps allow this out of the box, but most smartphones also have a built-in recording app that allows you to record a personalized message and send it to potential clients.

Don’t Overdo It

Last but not least: Stay cool! 😎 

Don’t be desperate, pushy, or send too many messages, or you will immediately scare the prospect away from replying and may even deter them from contacting you. 

What is too much, you might ask? 

This, of course, depends on the relationship, but if you are new to their network, you should limit it to a maximum of two messages before they send you a new message. However, if it’s been a week, feel free to try again.

Not only should you not oversell, but you also shouldn’t just want to sell. If the client feels like they are just a number, they will automatically exclude you from any kind of business relationship. Nobody wants to feel exploited, so “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” as the saying goes, and be a good listener.

Conclusion

Being “authentic” (which starts with a profile picture and a suitable LinkedIn banner!) doesn’t have to be a cliché buzzword – especially when you’re connecting on LinkedIn. It can also be a way for you to stay true to yourself without getting bogged down in sales techniques that don’t work as well today as they did 10 years ago.

There are many ways to be yourself – even in a sales situation. You just need to find the right way for you and your audience. Make sure you use the platforms accordingly, and you will get out what you put in. Just remember to be patient, because relationships take time.