2/15/2012
Salespeople?s success is directly linked to their ability to prospect and reach decision makers. LinkedIn is the largest professional social network on the Internet for gaining access to the B2B community. It empowers you to with the tools to circumvent gatekeepers and get your message in front of the decision maker.
Upgrade to a Premium account to become a member of the OpenLink network and use InMail to reach people whom you?re not connected to. LinkedIn permits you to only send messages to people that are first degree connections. OpenLink provides you with the ability to receive and send private messages to other OpenLink members. OpenLink members have an icon identifying themselves on their profile. If you wish to contact someone outside of the OpenLink network, you then need to use InMail.
InMail is a private message that enables you to contact another LinkedIn user directly, that you don?t have a relationship with. It is a paid feature that can also be purchased individually if you don?t have a premium account. LinkedIn says ?professionals are 30 times more likely to open LinkedIn InMail than other email, because they view InMail as originating from a trusted source.? In fact, you get a Feedback Score from LinkedIn InMail about how many positive responses you receive and if you don?t get a response within seven days, LinkedIn will credit your account with a new InMail.
View your prospect?s LinkedIn profile and in the upper right corner you will see an option to Send InMail which is under the Connect option. The limitations of using the Connect option is if you don?t know the person?s email address you are blocked from sending an invitation to connect. If you have done business with them, or share a group, you can get around this, but that is not always an option. And you are limited in your character usage?your message must be brief.
Select InMail and complete the template. Fill in your contact information and phone number. I provide my mobile number not wanting to chance missing a return call from someone difficult to reach.
Then you will see a Category box which has several drop-down options to choose from. There are eight choices running the gamut from ?career opportunity? to ?expertise request? to ?getting back in touch.? The prospect has identified which categories they are interested in being contacted about, to the right of the message box. It?s a no-brainer; be sure to select one of the categories the prospect listed.
Next the Subject line is tantamount to your open rate. What you put here will directly impact whether or not your InMail is opened. Think the three C?s and be: Current, Clever and Compelling. ?Request to meet? is too generic. Always look at it as ?why should I bother to read any further?? Here is where you demonstrate your knowledge of your prospect and their business. Use something personal and relevant. For example, I read an article in an industry publication, where the prospect contradicted a popular view on digital sales experience. I agreed with their position. In the subject line I quoted them, and referenced the source. My InMail was open and responded to.
Substantiate your case in the Message box. Expand upon your Subject line comment and support it. With the example above, I spoke to how the prospect?s comments resonated with me and contributed my own thoughts on the subject. I was bold, and spoke as a colleague would, confident in my point of view. I always start with ?Pardon my interruption...? acknowledging and valuing their time and I close with a call to action, ?When can we discuss this further??
Build your network. Upon receipt of their response don?t forget to then ask them to join your LinkedIn network. I find that even when they do respond to my InMail it doesn?t always follow that they extend an invite to connect, so I immediately follow-up with one.
What you will accomplish by leveraging LinkedIn?s InMail is moving a cold call with a prospect into a warm relationship. It will not replace the need to meet face-to-face, but it will enhance your ability to get there sooner.
Theresa Merrill is the Director of Business Development for Anovick Associates. She has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience in NY, Boston and Atlanta working for Katz Communications, CBS, Tribune and Cablevision and can be reached at 201.444.2991 or by e-mail merrill.theresa@gmail.com
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