Most prospects have tens (and even lots of) of pending LinkedIn invitations to reply to — which signifies that once 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 need 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 need to discover frequent floor along with your prospect — so mentioning a LinkedIn group you each belong to looks as if a no brainer, proper?
Not essentially.
Being a part of the identical LinkedIn group is not a very particular draw. A consumer can belong to as much as 100 teams on the platform, and plenty of teams of lots of of 1000’s of members — making this line fairly uncompelling and leaving prospects questioning, “So what?”
What to Say As a substitute
You possibly can nonetheless allude to LinkedIn teams when making requests on the platform, however be as locked-in as potential — meaning becoming a member of smaller, extra centered, unique teams and connecting with prospects based mostly on their engagement inside them.
For example, in case your prospect belongs to a gaggle with fewer than 100 folks, hone in on it. Request to affix, and when you‘ve been permitted, 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 high of this part.
2. “Would you be open to a fast telephone name to debate how [product] may also help you?”
A telephone name is a fairly large ask to steer with — it‘s a traditional case of “an excessive amount of, too quickly.” You’ll want to develop some form of rapport along with your prospect earlier than they’re prepared to provide you that form of time and a focus.
Asking for a telephone name in your LinkedIn invite is like making an attempt to greet a primary date with a kiss. In the event you lead with this line, you would possibly wind up being denied and even reported for spam. Strike this phrase out of your LinkedIn vocabulary and have somewhat endurance.
What to Say As a substitute:
At this stage of the sport, you’ve gotten one easy aim: Persuade the prospect you’re value together with of their LinkedIn community. From there, you can begin to develop the form of belief and rapport you should schedule a gathering, down the road.
Give them a cause to simply accept — and which may embrace a little bit of flattery. Ask to maintain up with their profession. For instance, you would possibly write one thing to the impact of:
- “I am hoping to turn out to be part of your community so I can observe 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 declaring the apparent — you do not need to waste treasured LinkedIn request actual property main with a undeniable fact that each of you already know.
You‘re additionally giving them trigger to not settle for your invitation — should you’re a complete stranger, why ought to they belief you? Equally, you need to steer clear of statements like “We’ve by no means met, however … ”or “Though we’ve by no means spoken earlier than … ”
What to Say As a substitute:
Moderately than acknowledging you’ve by no means crossed paths along 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, somewhat 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 achieved within the final eight years.”
4. “I noticed your profile and needed to attach.”
That is the obvious line you may 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 centered on your actions and needs. Prospects don‘t care about what you need — particularly should you’ve by no means spoken to you earlier than. You need to hold issues prospect-centric when making an attempt to attach through LinkedIn, so this line is especially ineffective.
What to Say As a substitute:
Give attention to what the prospect needs, and which may not all the time be apparent — it would require some detective work. For example, you would possibly need to do some digging on their Twitter to see in the event that they‘ve talked about any challenges they’re going through at work, or you could possibly overview their firm’s profession web page to seek out positions you could possibly suggest a few of your connections for.
You might additionally use that perception that can assist you discover a related useful resource for them. A kind of traces might seem like this:
- “I observed BiggerPlanet is on the lookout for an information scientist — we simply stuffed the same place at my firm, and our group 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, at the very least this one focuses on the mutual advantages of connecting. Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless extremely problematic. In the event you’re not already clear on how one can assist the opposite individual, then why attain out?
Moreover, this remark assumes the prospect has the time, power, and curiosity to take a seat round determining the way you two may also help one another. If that’s how gross sales labored, you’d already be at quota for all times.
What to Say As a substitute
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 performed your homework and you continue to can’t consider any method to improve their life, deal with creating rapport as a substitute.
Listed below are two examples:
- “I additionally hail from the nice state of Nebraska — Huskers for the win! It might be nice to attach on right here.”
- “I observed 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 trying to drive webinar visitors and get the prospect into your funnel with out understanding if they might 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 would like” 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 a substitute
Fixing this invitation killer is straightforward: Spotlight it and press “Delete.” When you’ve linked with a prospect and familiarized your self with their distinctive state of affairs, pursuits, and potential ache factors, then — and solely then — you must ship the hyperlink to a webinar you’re certain is related to them.
In the event you’re tempted to make use of “I’d love … ” in a distinct part of your message, Caputa recommends swapping this expression out for “Would you be all for … ?”
7. “You’ve acquired an important profile — let’s join!”
Sadly, reps throw this meaningless line into their connection requests on a regular basis. Flattery might be efficient when making an attempt to attach with prospects — however it must be extra particular. This line might apply to nearly anybody on LinkedIn.
What constitutes a “nice” profile? And why is it an excellent cause to attach?
The world won’t ever know — so please, don’t embrace this one in your invite.
What to Say As a substitute:
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 offer you an concept, you would possibly 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 incredible 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 recommended default message once you request to attach with any person -— and in case your prospect sees it, they’ll know you made precisely zero effort to customise your outreach.
What to Say As a substitute:
Nearly something is best than this — aside from the seven traces above, after all. Reference how you already know 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 traces out of your requests, prospects will likely be a lot likelier to click on “settle for.” After that, you may slide into their InMail like a professional.
