Does Cold Pitching on LinkedIn really work?

LinkedIn is the leading professional social network globally. Whether you’re active on it or not, you most likely have a profile on it. My wife, who is a Doctor of Physical Therapy has a LinkedIn profile that she probably checks it once every quarter.

And there are people with have the famous “in” logo against their profile, telling the world that they are Premium LinkedIn subscribers.

This article was originally titled “What works on LinkedIn for generating leads and what doesn’t” but as I continued typing, I noticed that this one particular way of how people use LinkedIn for business development for a services company that they own or work for, needed to be its own blog.

PS: We have positioned our business as a digital marketing agency in Philadelphia and using LinkedIn is important for us. I have used it for business development as well, which includes cold pitching.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

If you don’t already know, the most common “cold” business development strategy that people use on LinkedIn is – Sending connection requests to strangers.

If you are a business owner or a decision-maker of any kind, you probably get at least 10 random connection requests a week.

Let’s take a deeper dive into the different kinds of cold “connectors” on LinkedIn

1) The Connect Button Clicker

This person does a search on LinkedIn for their potential leads and clicks the connect button away. No message, no nothing.

Thoughts: The only people that would connect with you are possibly one who want to add a number to their LinkedIn connections and want to reach the 30,000-connection limit as a goal of their new year resolution.

<Ignore>

2)  The “Same Domain / Similar Space” Connector

One step up from the clicker, the connection requests from these professionals include a single line excuse of “being in the same space” to connect. They often “Look Forward” to connecting which is true to an extent as they look forward to sending you their sales pitch as a message once you their connection request

3)  The “Easily Impressed”

These connectors write that they’re impressed by the work that you’re doing. Pleasing someone’s ego gets you brownie points for sure. But seasoned LinkedIn users know this sneaky trick and click the <Ignore> button often.

<Ignore>

4)  The “Common Denominator” Connector

These connectors have something in common with you. Common connections, same school, the same city of birth, yada yada. This is a good excuse to connect for sure and chances of getting a successful “Accept” are better than the rest.

<Ignore> (sometimes) and <Accept> (sometimes)

5)   “Straight to the point” Connector

These connectors introduce their service right away. This, in my opinion, is still better than the above. Make your motive clear and see if your leads “accepts”. An accepted connection here is usually a hot lead.

<Accept> (if the need/time is right)

6 )  The “Detailed” Connector

These connectors have done their research on you are present you with some facts about you that are accurate. The connection request from these often includes the solicitation message as well which makes one pay more attention to the request. The chances of getting a successful connection request is much higher here.

<Accept> (well, mostly)

Being honest, I have been in the shoes of all the six kinds mentioned above – on both the connector side as well as the receiving side.

Like any cold outreach strategy, the most effective way is to reach the right person at the right time of their need.

Number 5 and 6 have the most chance of success, followed by 4. The other 3 are like playing the lottery J