Being one of the largest networks of professionals, LinkedIn is a great platform to build both business and professional connections. It’s a place to network with other professionals.
However, before networking, communicating, pitching, and making a sale, you must connect with the target prospects, hence drafting a great request connection message.
Personalize your connection request
Marketing personalization is one of the changing trends in marketing, shaping how brands attract, retain and sustain customers. Personalized marketing refers to the practice of using information and data to deliver highly targeted messages to customers.
Instead of drafting one email, and casting a wide net by sending to thousands of prospects, create one tailored message for each prospect, and this concept should be applied when sending your LinkedIn request to connect message.
To personalize your request to connect message, you must know three things about your prospects. See next the steps to Personalize your message
1) Know Their Needs
Present the information that brings your prospect closer to the higher sales funnel at every step of the sales funnel. For instance, think about what a prospect would type on Google when searching for information related to your product and use such terms to write your LinkedIn profile and product description.
2) Use Your CRM
CRM will help you track customers’ activities and coordinate your message based on them.
Siloed communication is a leading cause of customer frustration and bad customer experience, and avoiding communication siloed should be your primary objective in LinkedIn marketing.
Communication siloed occurs when a customer or prospect receives uncoordinated or confusing marketing messages. For instance, if you have scheduled a product demonstration with a prospect via zoom on a specific time and date, and on that date, the prospect receives an email instead, that is communication siloed.
You must remove such confusion from your request to connect message to ensure the prospect has a clear understanding of the next action step.
3) Anticipate Their Future Needs
Anticipating the future needs of a prospect is the best way to enhance customer satisfaction, enhance customer retention and increase the lifetime value of a customer. Using the information you have gathered through their profile and posting history, you can determine their future needs. Think of the last time you bought a flight ticket; the airline did not stop after selling you the air ticket. They probably asked if you require travel insurance, clearing and forwarding services, hotel room booking, rental car, tour guide, or visa application and guidance services. While the airline company or the agent doesn’t offer these services, probably, they have partnered with other providers in the industry offering such services.
Using the prospect’s profile information, you can anticipate their needs and tailor their message to meet such requirements.
For instance, if the prospect was recently appointed as a marketing director, they are probably strategizing on improving the organization’s online profile. If you are a digital marketing expert, you can present some ideas, tools, or strategies to increase your online presence.
Support Ideas To Personalize Your Connection
To personalize your request to connect message on LinkedIn, you can use the following angles:
1) Experience angle
Share with the prospect that you were looking for someone with their level of experience. For instance, if you are looking for intellectual property lawyer, you can use this angle while personalizing their message.
2) Project angle
under this, use a project or an accomplishment that the prospect has listed on their profile, e.g., if you are looking for someone with experience in managing projects using a specific technology.
3) Perspective angle
Here, mention to the prospect that you seek their perspective or opinion on a specific topic. For instance, you can be seeking the opinion of a divorce lawyer to understand the cost, duration, and requirements to divorce in a particular state.
4) Respect angle
if you want to connect with someone several miles ahead in their career. For instance, if you are an assistant accountant and want to connect with a CFO.
5) Mentor Angle
Like the respect angle, the mentor angle uses this when you want to connect with a mentor several miles ahead in their career. For instance, an assistant accountant can be mentored by a finance manager.
6) Interview angle
Use this angle to request a quote from someone you know, trust, and value their opinion. For instance, if you are writing an article on personal finance and know a thought-leader who is an expert in personal finance, you can request a quote from them.
In Conclusion
Personalizing your message is not only the best way to get the prospect’s attention but a great way to give prospects a reason to accept your request to connect.
