I am not sure I want to connect with you on LinkedIn yet, so now what?
Brynne Tillman
Official LinkedIn Sales [In]sider | Guiding Professionals & Sales Teams to Leverage LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, & ChatGPT to Start Trust-Based Conversations without Being Salesy | Ring My 🔔 for #DeepSales Insights
Without a doubt I am asked at least 5 times a week to connect to a stranger with the generic message:
I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Unknown Stranger.
For a long time I ignored the folks who didn't take the time to write a personal note, but then I thought about it. What if someone called me, got my voice mail and only left their name and number but not the reason they called, would I ever return one of those messages? And, my answer was...maybe. So, I had to rethink my strategy. What if I am missing important business or networking opportunities?
What if, before I accepted them into my network I inquired about who they are, how they found me and why they want to connect with me? So, I no longer ignore them, I...
Reply (don't accept yet)
- Click on the inbox on the top right
- Click on Invitations on the left (under messages).
- It looks as though there are only two choices, Accept and Ignore, but there is a third. Click on the arrow next to Accept and click on Reply don't accept yet.
- A message box will open and you can communicate with them before you decide whether or not you would like to add them to your LinkedIn connections.
What is your connection strategy? Share in comments!
P.S. Best practice is to always personalize your invitations, it makes connecting so much more meaningful.
Are you a sales professional who needs to leverage LinkedIn more effectively? Let's set up a time to talk; a makeover and personal plan may be the key to growing your business in 2015! Here is a link to my calendarhttp://ScheduleaCallwithBrynne.com and a link to my partner'shttp://ScheduleaCallwithSallyJo.com pick one and schedule a time that best works for you. We are looking forward to a successful 2015!
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Project engineer with Hydrock on Withybush hospital, Haverfordwest, Wales
7yas requested - delete it
Premier story telling through visual medias for families and high school seniors. Managing business IT needs for a growing non-profit.
9yHi Brynne, I have a question. I have been receiving more connection requests and I want to connect with people that I believe to be positive and a good connection. Thank you for publishing this article becuase now I am able to ask people and get to know them a little better before accepting the request. Most people have bee friendly about it, but today I got a repsonse back giving some detail and had this as an ending "...Clearly you are bothered by this so please delete the request. Sorry for the inconvenience. ..." How would you resond to this? Tonya
Materials Manager at Post Foods Canada Inc.
9yIt seems odd that if you were trying to make an initial contact/connection with someone you wouldn't give relevant information from the start. This is a great response that I didn't even realize existed.
It's interesting that on a networking site like Linkedin, someone would be "anonymous." Are they really on it go network?