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How to Write the Perfect LinkedIn Connection

Nobody likes a spammy LinkedIn connection message. “I’ve taken a look at your profile” just doesn’t feel believable anymore. And yet LinkedIn is still the best place to reach B2B decision makers, bar none. Take a look at these eye opening stats about LinkedIn’s user base:

There are 660 million LinkedIn users
80% of these users think that professional networking is vital for success
50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn when making purchasing decisions
60% of users have over 1000 connections

It’s time for your business to build a LinkedIn community. The only way to get in on this action is to create your LinkedIn profile and start connecting with colleagues, customers, partners, and thought leaders. To be successful, you’ll have to give people a reason to accept your LinkedIn connection request. Today we’ll cover why connection requests are so valuable, what you should definitely not do while using LinkedIn (no spammy messages!), and how to write the perfect LinkedIn connection request.

Connection requests are valuable

Unlike other social media sites, like Facebook, the goal on LinkedIn isn’t to connect with everyone and anyone that you might know or want to know. LinkedIn is about strategically building relationships with people in your business network. This includes thought leaders who are sharing cutting edge information for your industry, or valuable insight on professional development.

LinkedIn is also the best destination for job hunting. By connecting and engaging with your past and current colleagues, you’ll have one foot in the door when pursuing a new job. Who knows, these people just might end up at your dream company before you—and then, there’s your in to finding out when the next position opens up!

It’s also one of the best places to sell to customers and potential buyers. Sellers who engage in social selling tend to outsell their peers who don’t use social media by 78%. Social selling doesn’t take the traditional approach, which may include cold pitching your products or services in your first message to a new connection. Instead, it’s about delivering value through your posts and messages and starting conversations.

There’s also a ripple effect to LinkedIn; when you connect with one person, you get access to more people. When someone accepts your connection request, and becomes a 1st degree connection, that makes everyone in their network your 2nd degree connection. If someone is completely out of your network, you can’t see them at all. So the more connections you have, the more reach you have to new people.

What not to do when sending a connection request

Just like with in-person networking, there are some faux pas to avoid when writing a connection request on LinkedIn. Common mistakes that that people make when attempting to connect or sell to people on LinkedIn include:

Only talking about yourself or your business.
Starting the conversation with a cold sales pitch.
Neglecting to personalize your message and sending generic text.
Spamming your connection with too many messages too often. (They haven’t even decided to talk to you yet and you’re giving them a reason to say no!)
Using the default message: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”
Telling the person that you read their profile, then proceeding to write a message that shows you CLEARLY did not.

In order to avoid the ire of those you’re trying to connect with, plus LinkedIn’s spam rules, don’t send hundreds of generic requests to random people. They may mark your request as spam and if that happens enough, LinkedIn will suspend your account or even ban you from the platform.

You also don’t want to bombard a new connection with a sales pitch. Just like with cold emails and phone calls, you have to have a strategy for who you reach out to and why. You wouldn’t call a prospective customer and immediately launch into a sales pitch without knowing anything about their business, would you? Usually, that leads to a swift end to the phone call.

Other ways that sales professionals drop the ball when trying to network on LinkedIn include:

Connecting with the wrong people. If you sell marketing services, having hundreds of engineering and developer connections won’t do you any good.
Trying to engage at the wrong level. A marketing specialist doesn’t have buying power, you should be reaching out to VPs of Marketing.
Having no strategy for optimizing your networking efforts. Make sure that you’re delivering something of value to people, not just prodding them to accept the request.

How to write the perfect LinkedIn connection

Now that we’ve covered the “what not to do” basics, let’s dive into some of the best practices that help you connect with more people, expand your network, and get the most out of your social selling. Best practices include:

Use a tone that’s thoughtful and courteous. You’re asking for just a minute of their time so proceed respectfully and politely.
Get to the point. There are limited characters available in a LinkedIn connection request so you’ll need to refine your message to be concise and valuable.
Treat your request as if you approached someone at an in-person event and are asking for a handshake. Approach respectfully and openly.
Offer praise or acknowledge a milestone. There’s a reason you’re contacting them. Let them know that you admire their work, that you’ve learned from their posts, or that you’ve personally benefited from their products or services.

TL;DR: Make it personalized! By taking the extra time to read up on the person you’re connecting with and show you actually care about them, you will already stand out from the influx of spam messages.

5 templates you can use today

Of course, writing a personal note doesn’t mean it has to be completely different each time. There are certain templates for success when crafting the perfect LinkedIn connection. Here, just for you, we’ve put together five example messages for reaching out to a colleague, thought leader, job candidate, someone you met while networking, or a prospective customer.

Colleague

Hi (First name),

It was great meeting you at the company happy hour last week! My teammates say that you’ve been a lifesaver on some of their big projects. I’m looking forward to working with you myself soon. Let’s grab a coffee in the coming weeks.

All the best,

(Your name)

Thought leader

Hi (First name),

I’ve been following your work for a while now and I’ve learned so much from your posts. I especially liked the article you shared on [ex: streamlining lead generation], it made a difference in my sales efforts. I’d love to connect and speak over a call soon.

Thanks,

(Your name)

Job candidate

Hi (first name),

Thank you for spending some time talking with my team today. We found you to be a talented and engaging candidate and look forward to potentially working with you. Please let me know if you have any questions about the job! Happy to hop on a call.

Warm regards,

(Your name)

Networking event

Hi (first name),

I enjoyed our conversation at the Expo last week and I’m especially looking forward to the new product release that’s coming out next month. Let’s stay connected and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

Cheers,

(Your name)

Prospective customer

Hi (first name),

Thank you for taking my call today. I’m really impressed with the product you’ve built up at X company over the last ten years. I’d like to stay in touch on LinkedIn, especially with how helpful your posts are. Looking forward to speaking again next week.

Best regards,

(Your name)

Note: These templates are examples; use them as inspiration to create your own personalized messages!

Conclusion

Say goodbye to dry LinkedIn messages, because you’re now well on your way to writing connection requests that make their recipient smile (and, click “accept”!) With these templates and teaching in your pocket, you’re sure to start growing your network in no time.

P.S. Once you’ve connected with a new prospect or customer on LinkedIn, you can take advantage of InMails, plus supercharge your outreach by exporting your lead lists and adding them into your outbound sales email campaigns. Learn more, here!