LinkedIn is a rockstar of a prospecting tool, if you know how to use it the right way. It is not a social media platform for sharing personal information. It is not a place to make new friends. It’s a place for BUSINESS.

As a founder who wears the sales and marketing hats for my business, I use LinkedIn for the bulk of my prospecting. In past articles, I’ve even referred to this platform as my social media sweetheart. It really is my main squeeze.

LinkedIn is such an important part of my life as a business owner, in fact, that I’d like to share some of my most cherished prospecting practices with you, my fellow founder who also wears many hats.

First things first: You are human. Act like it!

When reaching out to a prospect via LinkedIn, it is important above all else to be HUMAN. In order to make a quick impression on another human, your prospects have got to get the vibe that you are real, authentic and trustworthy — quickly.

The first way to convey your humanity is to…

STOP. LOOK. PAY ATTENTION: Send a gosh darned message alongside your initial request to connect!

Go back, read that last sentence again.

Do the work, choose the words, put your best foot forward.

To do LinkedIn the right way, you’ve got to do the up front work and create a prospecting plan. This is a set of messages that you will use to connect with new clients.

Your set of messages will become your prospecting template. This includes two things:

Your initial Request to Connect message
Your formal pitch

Here is a sample prospecting template I created to get you started.

LinkedIn outreach is not a one size fits all ordeal.

Once your templates are in place, you’ll need to leave some room for adjustment. Different prospects require different touches. Sometimes a word or two. Sometimes an entirely different pitch.

In your template, you can prepare for those changes by created a few different versions of your messaging. Over time, you’ll begin to see which messages work best on which people and you’ll begin to optimize your efforts.

Identify your prospects using LinkedIn search filters.

Did you know that LinkedIn has a crazy powerful search engine built into it??

Using LinkedIn search, you can reach out to exactly the type of person who is a candidate for your product or service. Dreamy, yes?

For example, when I search for my target customers, I use the filters: Location = United States, Industry = Sports, and Title = Founder OR CEO.

This search leaves me with a much smaller group of people in the LinkedIn universe, and that is a great thing.

Be mindful of the 300 character limit on connection requests.

NEWS ALERT! Sending a note with your requests to connect is 100% optional, but 100% required if you’d like to land that prospect.

I repeat. 100% required.

Also, LinkedIn has a 300 character maximum on request to connect notes. Knowing that you only have 300 characters to deliver your invite, it’s important that you get your messaging tight and clear before you begin your outreach.

The request to connect note is a short and sweet introduction and quite literally, a request to connect. This is a polite thing. It’s delicate even. Don’t mess this up!

Image borrowed from Go, Dog. Go! by Dr. Seuss.

Follow up with a new connection within 24 hours!

Once another human is gracious enough to accept your request to connect, it’s now time to enlighten them with your pitch.

My rule of thumb is that a formal pitch must go out within 24 hours of landing that new connection. People tend to be forgetful after more than a day, and in fact, there is research that shows that the quality and timing of the follow up note has a direct impact on the likelihood of the sale.

No I did not include a link to the source on that, but I swear it’s true. Go on, Google it! I dare you!

Treat your first line like it’s the only line.

It is so important to understand that the first line of your formal pitch is the most important line of all. Most of your prospects who have kindly connected with you will not get past this first line.

The typical process goes something like this: open, read first line, skim, yawn, exit.

In your first line, tell your prospects what you can do FOR THEM. So often, this is flipped. You tell them who you are, and then you tell them even more about you… STOP. Once sentence about what you can do for them. That’s it!

Think small package, big impact.

Whatever it is you are offering to your prospect, get it out there, fast. Your pitch should be a very short read with very concise information that educates them on you and your value to them.

A few things you must include:

Your unique value proposition
What you will actually provide
The answer to your most commonly asked question
Your Call to Action
Your URL

Can you do this in two to three very short paragraphs?

All roads lead to your CTA.

If you’ve peaked their interest with your first line of copy and they’ve continued to read your pitch, you must present them with an opportunity to take the next step… WITHIN THE MESSAGE.

In my outreach, I encourage my new connections to book a call with me using my online scheduling tool. And guess what, many times, they do exactly that!

If you don’t ask, they won’t do.

Your prospects will certainly not seek out a way to connect with you on their own.

By including an opportunity for them to connect with you in person, you’re removing several additional, painful steps from your prospecting process.

So ask yourself? What step do you want your new prospect to take to get to know you better?

Prospecting is a numbers game.

The final piece of the prospecting puzzle is building a repeatable process. You’ve got all of the tools you need now, and so what you’re tasked with is reaching out to as many of your prospects as possible, week over week.

I’ve found that being consistent about this is really powerful… meaning, build time into your weekly schedule to do outreach on LinkedIn.

Set a goal of how many connections you’d like to make each week and watch the numbers begin to roll.

Think about it: if 10% of your requests to connect are successful, and 10% of those new connections book calls, you’ve got to send X number of requests each week to meet your goals… It’s just math!

Now go.

And in case you missed it, I’ve put together a sample prospecting outreach plan that I’d love for you to use as a guide in building out your strategy.

I’m a content strategist remember?

Go ahead, take it!

And if you’d like to connect with me to learn more about how to elevate your profile and grow your business with content, book a call! ;)

Cheers to your renewed adventures in prospecting…