People seem to follow a completely different etiquette when they talk to people online than the one they use when talking to people in person. In-person, you wouldn’t go up to someone you’ve never met before and start a spiel about what you do for a living and why they should pay you to do it for them. So, why do people do this online?
LinkedIn is a network for professionals looking for business opportunities and potential clients, but it’s still populated by people who appreciate connection and conversation. It’s this connection that makes it much more likely that the conversations you have will convert into clients, but not if you’re sending your prospects these DM red flags.
🚩 Pitching in the first message
You know that you’re on LinkedIn to make sales, your prospects know that you’re on LinkedIn to make sales but you still shouldn’t be throwing around sales pitches and hoping one sticks.
Even before the digital age, sales relationships have always been built on familiarity and trust. It’s very hard for people to buy into something they are not familiar with, even if you give them all the information in one go.
Today, people are much more conscious about how they spend their money and it isn’t just about saving a few pennies. Your prospects don’t just want to buy into your business, they want to buy into you, they want to know that they are contributing to something and pitch messages never offer this.
🚩 Trying to explain everything in one message
Enthusiasm for your business, your offer and your prospects is great but intensity can be off putting. Even if you are saying all the right things, forcing them all into one message comes across as disingenuous and doesn’t give your prospects a chance to respond.
A DM shouldn’t be the first touchpoint you have with your prospect anyway. Connecting with them, liking and commenting on their posts are ways to build relationships before you’ve even sent any direct messages.
This way, familiarity is already established before you begin direct communication, increasing the likelihood that they will respond and be receptive when things do move more into the sales realm.
🚩 Not giving your prospects a chance to respond
Patience can be hard to practise when you’re growing a business but it does pay off. Overwhelming your prospects with messages they’re not responding to decreases the chance that they’ll ever respond with every message you send.
You need to see results but a successful sale isn’t the only result you can count. Connecting with your prospects is a result, sending a DM that didn’t make them disconnect with you is a result. They are all small wins that will eventually lead to the big win of closing a sale.
However, you’ll never reach that big win if you’re spamming your prospects. Be persistent, not annoying. It’s okay to wait a couple of days before checking in again on any unanswered messages. It will give you time to further build other relationships outside of DMs or re-evaluate if this person was the right fit for your service in the first place.
Overcome your DM panic
The main cause of these DM redflags is panic. Business owners worry that if they don’t act fast then their leads will dry up. Social selling is a long game but there’s a reason it has a higher success rate than cold calling or messaging. You might connect with less people but the people you do connect with are much more likely to become future clients.
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