Well, I guess you liked my story about starting conversations with my LinkedIn welcome message.
In case you missed the email, here's a link:
https://tedprodromou.com/80-of-you-replied/
So, you say you want to see my welcome message that created an 80% response rate?
Here you go.
Hi FIRSTNAME,
Thanks for connecting with me and I look forward to learning more about you and your business.
Just for fun, tell me something interesting about you or your business I wouldn't know from your LinkedIn profile.
If you want to learn something interesting about me and my business, I created a page just for my LinkedIn connections at https://tedprodromou.com/linkedin-friends
Thanks again for connecting and if there is anything I can help you with, please do not hesitate to ask!
Ted Prodromou
I send this message a day after connecting with people on LinkedIn.
Why does this message work so well?
When I write content, I imagine I'm talking directly to you.
Only you.
I imagine we just met at a networking event or conference and we're having a conversation.
This message is all about me wanting to serve you, not to sell you something.
I have to give full credit to my former assistant, Jeryl.
She added the sentence that lowers the reader's guard and lets them feel so comfortable they tell me some crazy sh!t.
Just for fun, tell me something interesting about you or your business I wouldn't know from your LinkedIn profile.
I've tweaked this line a few times over the years and this version gets a great response.
I also invite them to visit my website to learn something interesting about me.
I could tell them something interesting about me in the message, but I want them to visit my website.
This is how I move my LinkedIn connections from LinkedIn to my email list.
TECHIE TALK WARNING
If you want to hear some techie details, when they visit my website, I have the Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn pixels installed on my website.
This lets me build custom audiences that let me run target ads to people who have visited my website or to lookalike audiences.
The LinkedIn Insight tag matches my website visitors with LinkedIn profile data that tells me facts like job title, job function, company size, location, and more.
If you want to learn more about this, reply to this message and we'll set up a time to talk.
END OF TECHIE TALK
I don't try to sell in my LinkedIn welcome message.
My goal is to start a friendly conversation to get to know you.
People appreciate friendly conversations and banter on LinkedIn.
I know what you're thinking.
"I don't have time to waste chatting with my LinkedIn connections".
I ask a lot of coaches, consultants, entrepreneurs, and small business owners how much money they spend on marketing their businesses.
Most say they don't spend anything on marketing.
This is exactly why these businesses struggle.
They don't spend money on marketing AND they don't have time to spend on LinkedIn.
What are you doing all day?
I know a lot of you invest in outdated courses that you never finish (I used to be guilty as charged).
This is the mindset of transactional LinkedIn users.
You are focused on making your numbers.
You need to close X number of transactions every month to meet your number.
The only thing you care about is closing the deal.
You don't have your customer's best interest in mind.
You end up working with the wrong customers on a one-time deal.
I use LinkedIn to build relationships.
I spend about 30 - 45 minutes a day chatting with LinkedIn connections.
10 minutes here, 5 minutes there, throughout the day.
Most conversations don't turn into business.
But people remember you when have a friendly banter with them.
They may need your services in the future, or they'll refer a colleague to you because you had a friendly, non-business conversation with them.
Here's a huge tip I discovered a while back.
There are times when people are ready to buy when you're chatting on LinkedIn.
What do we do most of the time?
We send them a calendar link so they can schedule a call with us.
The momentum and excitement you created during the chat disappear like the air coming out of a balloon.
By the time you get on a Zoom call a day or a week later, you're starting the sales process over.
Here's how you can strike while the iron's hot.
In LinkedIn Messaging, you can click on the camera/plus sign in the top right corner and start a Zoom or LinkedIn meeting immediately.
When I sense they are ready to buy, I ask "Do you have 5 minutes to chat right now?"
9 times out of 10 they say yes, I have time right now and you close the deal while they're still hot and bothered.
Play the long game on LinkedIn.
Focus on building long-term relationships that lead to better customers and great referrals.
P.S. This month we are reading How to Win Friends & Influence People in the Mastermind Book Club. You'll learn some tried and true techniques for creating friendly LinkedIn conversations.
