As I am always going on about, “it’s not about you, it’s about them” in your interactions with others on LinkedIn – especially in connecting and outreach – it was only a matter of time before I got asked this.
I had someone ask me this the other week. They were sending connection requests to prospective customers and they were having a tough time coming up with a good reason for the person to connect with them.
To their credit, they were honest with me in describing the situation. “I want business from them, so this is kind of a one way street. What can I offer them?”
This is what happens when we have the blinders on. We see something we want – in this case a connection to a hot prospect – and all we can see is what that will do for us. It blinds us to the other person’s perspective and their problems, wants and needs.
There are three things you can offer the person you are connecting with.
1) Your knowledge. Everyone seems to forget this. You spend every hour of every day helping people like your prospect solve the problem they have. This is what you do. While it may be a new and novel situation for them, it’s something you see all the time. They are the person looking online for the recipe for a dinner dish, while you’re a chef who cooks twenty of those every night.
2) Your experience with their industry. This is different from your knowledge in that you are putting the knowledge into practice in different situations. This is important because your past experience solving problems like the ones they have will reassure them that you are someone worthwhile they should know.
3) Lastly, you have something that is uniquely LinkedIn: your network of connections. And this applies to most anyone you meet on LinkedIn. If you have any size network at all you have the ability to introduce or refer this new person to someone they want to know. Need help with CRM? I have connections who work for CRM companies, I have connections who are independent CRM consultants, and ones that are CRM power users. People in similar positions to themselves? No problem. Suppliers? Got you covered.
Access to your network is actually a pretty powerful thing to be able to offer.
Your job in making your request to connect or in sending an outreach message for that matter, is to show the recipient that the potential benefits of responding are compelling.
Obligatory boilerplate: I do not work for or have any association with LinkedIn, other than being a user who pays them for his Sales Navigator subscription every month. But I was an early subscriber to Sales Navigator and have a grandfathered subscription where I pay a lot less than I should. Don’t tell LinkedIn. Thanks.
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