Do I know you?

I get dozens of LinkedIn requests from people I don’t know each week and occasionally I want to connect to someone I haven’t met yet. Yet LinkedIn cautions you to only connect to people you know. In my last post I promised to show you the best way to connect with those you don’t know, whether they are asking to connect with you or you would like to connect with them. When you find people you want to be connected to, it is always best if you can leverage a strong relationship to get an introduction.

My Advice

There are a couple of key ideas to keep in mind.

  1. Don’t connect with anyone you are not willing to develop a business relationship with. “Why?” you may ask. It isn’t about how many connections you have; it’s about the quality of your connections and the ability to leverage them.
  2. Don’t connect to people solely to sell to them. It’s just another cold call if you do this. If a sale comes of it, that’s a bonus. Focus on building relationships.
  3. Keep an open mind when connecting. Think, “Is this someone I can collaborate with or develop into a referral source (not just, is this a possible prospect).”
  4. Leverage your relationships to get the introductions you want. If you are connected to someone you don’t know, why would they make an introduction for you? They might, but what is it worth? An introduction from someone who knows likes and trusts you, who will brag about how great you are, is worth a million bucks!
  5. Always send a personalized message when sending a request or after responding to a connection request. Look at their profile to find things you have in common and mention those to build the relationship.

Connection Requests from People You Don’t Know

So what should you do if you get a request from someone you don’t know? It’s up to you, but before you click ignore, consider this. You are at a networking event and someone you don’t know is walking toward you smiling. They put out their hand to shake yours and introduce themselves. Would you turn your back on them?

I consider each request individually. Here’s an example. Vanessa sent me a request. I have no idea who she is. I took a look at her profile to learn about what she does and noticed that she does something similar to me. I then looked to see what contacts we have in common and saw that we share several. It would have been nice if she would have done #5 above and sent me a personalized note telling me why she wanted to connect, but she didn’t, so I had to decide if she was someone I wanted to develop a business relationship with based on what I read. Since we both work with entrepreneurs, I want to determine if there is any chance for collaboration. Perhaps we have information we can share with each other’s audiences that would be beneficial. So I wrote the following note after I accepted her request.

Connect to Me 1

If I look at a profile and can’t figure out any reason to connect or if it looks suspicious, I click ignore and choose, “I don’t know this person.”

Getting an Introduction

Once you have identified someone you don’t know that you would like to be connected to, the best thing to do is find out who you know that knows them. Leveraging a relationship to get an introduction is the best thing to do.

One of the things I love the most about LinkedIn is that I can see who all my friends know. When they know someone I need to know, I can use LinkedIn to get connected. Better yet, I can pick up the phone, yes, I said, “Pick up the phone.” I can call and ask them about the person I want to meet and discuss the best way for them to make the introduction. They can call, email, or schedule coffee or lunch for the three of us. Either way, they are making a personal introduction so the person will be open to meeting me because my connector already transferred some credibility. This is the best possible way for me to start the relationship. If I had to cold call that person or send a blind request on LinkedIn, they might not have responded. This gives me a better chance. I would always rather have an introduction if possible.

I can also choose to use the introduction feature on LinkedIn. Again, as LinkedIn suggests, always write a personal message.

Connect to Me 2

Connecting without an Introduction

What if you find someone you want to know and you don’t have anyone to introduce you? There’s a couple of things you can do. You can use the “ Send InMail” feature and send a personal note about why you want to connect, but you only get a few free and then you have to purchase them which may be worth it.

Connect to Me 3

You can find a group they are a member of, that you are also interested in and join that group and then use that feature to connect. You can send a connection request from their profile. Caution, if you do this frequently and people ignore you or report you, LinkedIn will frown upon that and possibly take action, so be sure you send them a personalized note about why you want to connect to increase the odds that they will accept. To sell them something is not a good reason. Learning more about their business, offering an opportunity to collaborate or asking a question that they may have the expertise to answer, are good reasons. Look at their profile and find something you have in common so you can mention that in your note. Once they accept, get busy building the relationship. Take a look to see what they are posting in their activity feed and click like, comment or repost it. Let them know you are paying attention. Share articles you find that may be of interest to them by sending them a link. 

Networking is Essential to Your Career 

Meeting new people and continuing to build strong relationships is essential to your career. LinkedIn can be used very effectively to connect to people you don’t know if you keep in mind the things I have shared. Randomly connecting to people you don’t know has little purpose.  That list is just another cold list. To utilize LinkedIn and get results you need to connect to the people you know, continue to build those relationships and then appropriately leverage them to get the introductions you need. To learn more about how to do this, take my online training course. For more information go to www.aliceheiman.com/events.

Alice Heiman

Alice is nationally known for her expertise in elevating sales to increase valuation for companies with a B2B complex sale that have exceptional growth potential. She’s originally, from the widely known Miller Heiman Group. Spending her time strategizing with CEOs and their leadership teams to build the strategies that find new business and grow existing accounts is her passion.  Her clients love her spirit and the way she energizes their sales organization.

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