Let me ask you a personal question.
You’ve been to networking events, haven’t you? When was the last time you went up to someone at one of these, stretched out your hand and, to introduce yourself, uttered those immortal words “Please add me to your LinkedIn network”.
Or if we put it in a slightly different context, when did you last walk into a sales meeting and say “I’d like to add you to my client list”.
That long, eh?
So, my question to you is, why do people continue to do so on LinkedIn when they send a Connect request? You may recognise the phrase – it’s the default invitation that the system sends out & I still receive loads like that. Perhaps you do too?
Does it make you feel warm & fuzzy or at least help you remember the person who’s hit the “Connect” link? No, not really.
So, please, I’ll make this one short and sweet. If you want to stand out from the crowd and are keen to start off on the right footing, then please personalise the message. Just because you are sitting in front of a computer screen as opposed to looking them in the eye face to face should make no difference.
Break the ice – find a common element you can highlight or tell them why you want to connect. I know you only get 300 characters but use them – it really does make a difference.
Takeaway point: Personalise your invitation to connect. Please! Simple as that.
