Starting off on the right foot can take you a long way in the world of LinkedIn outreach. Think of creative LinkedIn outreach as the key that unlocks the door to your next sales opportunity. If the grooves in the key don’t align with the pins of the door lock, you aren’t going to be able to enter.
Salespeople put in a lot of effort trying to come up with the perfect outreach message and every time I come across a great one, I feel obliged to share it with my team. That’s why I’ve dedicated an entire section of this blog to the best LinkedIn outreach messages from my inbox.
But before you look at those examples, let’s take a look at the best LinkedIn outreach strategies (as well as some killer templates you can use).
LinkedIn Outreach Strategies That Work in 2022
#1 Leverage automated LinkedIn outreach tools
Reaching out to your prospects on LinkedIn can be a long and arduous process, especially if you plan on reaching out to hundreds of prospects at a time.
Going about it manually is impractical and inefficient. What you can do instead is use tools that can automate your LinkedIn outreach workflow and save your time and energy.
These tools can speed up what would otherwise have taken hours upon hours of prospecting and messaging. Moreover, using them enables you to reach out to a much larger prospect group without necessarily having to give up on personalization.
Some great LinkedIn outreach automation tools you can use are:
#2 Find common ground
LinkedIn hosts a vast pool of information about your potential prospects such as their current job title, work history, educational background, volunteer experience, certifications, and more. When reaching out to your prospects, it is important to read through their profiles and find ways to resonate with them in your outreach messaging.
Find something that interests both of you and focus your outreach efforts using that information. If your prospects are active on LinkedIn then make the effort to look through what they are talking about and make notes on the same.
Talk about how one of their posts influenced your thoughts or how you feel the same about the topic. With LinkedIn outreach, it is vital that you make them as personalized as possible for each individual. Refrain from using the same messaging when prospecting in large numbers. This will only lead to you getting more rejections as opposed to acceptances.
You’ll find templates illustrating this under the next heading.
#3 Ask for a warm introduction
One of the best ways to connect with someone is through an introduction from a mutual connection. While it might be easy to talk to strangers, it could be easier if you get someone to vouch for you.
So if you have a few mutual connections with your prospects, it might not be a bad idea to hit them up and ask them for an introduction. This would be a great way to start a conversation with your prospects.
#4 Keep it short and sweet
When crafting your LinkedIn outreach message, you should always remind yourself of the goal. The goal with any outreach is to get your prospect to respond.
Treating your outreach as instant messaging as opposed to cold emailing would be a better way to approach it.
While it is always easy to write paragraphs after paragraphs, LinkedIn outreach is best kept short and sweet. Mind you, this can be challenging because you not only need to be on point but also convey it with warmth.
Make sure to double, triple check to ensure you do not come off as an abrasive person. The tone that you use is key when keeping your outreach short.
#5 Connect First, Sell Second
Another important point to keep in mind is to keep selling for later. It’s a good idea to use LinkedIn outreach to build relationships instead of merely looking at it as a way to push your product or service.
Avoid the focus on selling when designing your LinkedIn outreach. This puts you in a positive light in front of your prospects and eliminates the risk of your outreach being interpreted solely as a sales attempt.
When your prospect finds a genuine attempt to reach out and connect with them, they’re more likely to be open to hearing what you have to say and potentially purchasing from you somewhere down the road, even if not immediately.
#6 Create a conversation to induce a reply
This might not be limited to just LinkedIn outreach, but to any kind of outreach you would do.
The first reaction when you receive a message from someone you don’t know is to ignore it. This does not work in your favor especially since your endgame is to build a relationship with your potential prospect. End your message with a question.
For example: “ Is this something you would be willing to explore?” Or “ We could get coffee sometime this week and chat for a bit. How does Wednesday 5:00 pm sound?” Or “ I wanted to tell you “what” it is about you that made me want to connect with you. Would that be okay before I proceed?”
This could be about their likes or dislikes, their experiences, or a potential problem that you face for which they might know the answer. People on LinkedIn enjoy sharing their experiences and learnings. This would give you the opportunity to induce a reply from them.
#7 Follow up
If you have reached this point in your outreach, then the most difficult part of crafting your messaging is done. Now all you need to do is nudge your potential prospects to respond to you.
Keeping track of all your messages in an excel spreadsheet or a CRM can be useful when you need to do follow-ups because you might not be reaching out to one prospect at a time but rather doing this in bulk.
5 LinkedIn Outreach Templates to Get You Responses in 2022
#1 The Value Proposition Template
Hey {first name},
I noticed that you were responsible for handling {role(s)/responsibilities of prospect} at {company name} as its {job title}.
I work with people in similar positions at {company 1 that’s a customer in the same space} and {company 2 that’s a customer in the same space} to solve for {value that product/service provides}.
Curious to know if this is something that interests you. Let me know if you’d like to connect to discuss this further sometime!
P.S: I was also pleasantly surprised to find that we both went to {school’s name}. {Insert inside joke/common thing they’d recognize like “Go Boilermakers!” here}
#2 The Compliment Template
Hey {first name},
I’m not going to lie—you fit right into our product’s ICP, but I don’t want to be a person that spams you with a sales pitch from the get-go.
The real reason I sent this connection request is that I read your last post around {insert post subject here} and couldn’t agree more about {the specific point they made}.
I’d be really happy if we could keep in touch on LinkedIn. I work for {insert your company name here} ({link out to your company website URL if you need}), and it looks like you might have a use for our product.
If something works out in the future, I’ll embrace it. If not, that’s completely fine, I’m just happy you’re in my network.
Have a great day!
#3 The Common Group Template
Hey {first name},
I’ve been following your thread on {LinkedIn group name} and found your insights on {something they commented on the group} really interesting.
I’m {your name} from {your company name}. I’ve been a part of {LinkedIn group name} and have been wanting to reach out to you for quite a while now.
I have a few insights to share with you regarding {the topic they commented on} and was hoping to get a chance to discuss them with you to hear your opinions on the same.
Are you open to getting on a call with me sometime this week?
#4 The Free Trial Template
Hi {first name},
Hope you’ve been having a fantastic {day of the week}.
Is {their company name} having trouble with {their pain point} at the moment? I’d be glad to offer you a free trial of {your product} to help you out if that’s the case. It’s a {description of your product}.
Here’s the link you can use to sign up for the free trial: {link to your website}
Let me know what you think about our product!
Regards,
{Your name}
#5 The Good-old Simple Outreach
Hey {first name},
Hope this message finds you well.
I {saw that we’re in the same industry / saw that we have a mutual connection / saw your comments on {LinkedIn user name}’s post, and was looking for an opportunity to get to know more about you and your industry. Would love to connect later this week.
Let me know if you’re interested.
The 6 Best LinkedIn Outreach Messages From My Inbox
1. Generate intrigue by making it about them
Putting a person in the spotlight is something that might help you get them to reply fairly quickly. Asking someone to question you about your choice to target them is an extremely clever move. It makes it appear as though the question is begging to be answered and there’s a good chance that the decision-maker will at the least want to hear you out. Cleverly devised questions are a great way of generating intrigue which can result in getting the response you desire.
2. A clever play on current trends
A clever play on current trends, in this instance COVID-19, can make your message more relatable and easier to consume. This should help you get a response from them or at least enable you to create a lasting impression. Follow this up by cutting straight to the chase and letting them know exactly what you’re offering. This will help you set yourself up for a positive response.
3. The nifty use of images/GIFs to drive your point
Adding GIFs, pictures, or memes to your LinkedIn outreach will make your message more relatable and consumable for your recipient. Visual cues are a great way to capture a reader’s attention. Pair it with the right kind of humor (depending on the circumstance) and it’ll do a world of good to their first impression of you.
4. Bringing in the competitor angle
Letting a decision-maker know that you’re already speaking to their competitors adds to the fear of missing out. Doing this can nudge a decision-maker to want to learn more about your offering and why your competitors would be interested in the same.
5. Harnessing the power of video
Share an interesting resource that will be relevant and actionable to your prospect. If you do your homework and find out what interests them, this can be a great opportunity to put yourself in good stead. Videos are a great way to create a lasting impression, especially if you do it right. You can use a software like Movavi to create engaging videos for your prospects.
6. A compliment about something they recently did/achieved
Scour your recipient’s LinkedIn profile for a recent achievement, event, or other value additions that they can relate to and compliment them about the same. You can sneak in something about what you want from the conversation too. This will help you get a response from them, even if it’s as simple as a thank you reply.
FAQs
1. How do I send an outreach message on LinkedIn the right way?
There are a number of ways you can send effective outreach messages on LinkedIn. Some of them include:
- Keeping it relevant to your prospect
- Finding commonalities between you and your prospect
- Keeping it short and easy to read
- Making use of trending content to catch their interest
2. How do I improve my outreach on LinkedIn?
I’d recommend the following tips to improve your outreach on Linkedin:
- Provide social proof with your outreach
- Give your prospect something valuable for free
- Personalize your outreach message
- Use LinkedIn outreach automation tools
- Follow up adequately
3. How do I reach out to leads on LinkedIn? / How do I do cold outreach on LinkedIn?
If you aren’t connected with your leads, you won’t be able to message them on LinkedIn unless you’re using LinkedIn premium. Even as a premium user, you might still not be able to message them if their settings are adjusted to deny messages from non-connections.
However, Slintel’s Chrome extension can help you overcome all these obstacles for free. Download our Chrome extension to gain access to the contact information (email address and phone number) of the LinkedIn profiles of your choice. It’s the easiest, quickest way to reach out to your leads on LinkedIn.
Hyper-personalize your LinkedIn Outreach!
A buying intent-powered sales intelligence tool like Slintel will help you create inch-perfect LinkedIn outreach messages by equipping you with all you ever need to know about your target decision-makers. From the technology stacks they use to psychographic data that will help you address all their pain points and everything in between, you can devise hyper-personalized messaging that turns nos into yeses.
You can also check out this super insightful LinkedIn prospecting guide to help scale your outreach process and boost your win rates.
I hope this article helped give you some idea about how you can create impactful messaging for your LinkedIn outreach. Here’s to starting the new year and new conversations with a bang!
