Nobody, we repeat nobody likes a spammer on LinkedIn.
What constitutes a spammer? If you do any of the below:
- Instantly InMail a new connection with a salesy pitch
- Continue to bombard that person with consecutive InMail's about said pitch until they respond with either a stern no or witty response which politely tells you to go Fornicate Under Consent of the King, either yourself or a beloved one, usually a mother or grandmother.
Sound familiar? Then you my friend are a spammer, one of the most hated people on LinkedIn, congratulations you can finally say you are one of the best at something.
Why does this happen though? After all you are just doing your job, and offering a great service to a customer who could benefit, so why do people hate you?
Well, it's because you haven't taken the time to do the following.
- Build rapport: For the majority of LinkedIn InMails we receive, most of them haven't actually requested a connection, asked how we are doing, or even properly introduced themselves. They are straight in with a pitch, a one-line ice breaker is not a valid introduction. This is essentially networking; you need to build rapport before you even have the right to ask me for something.
- Get to know your audience: It's amazing how many times we get InMails asking us if we need help with recruitment. I mean ok we aren't a global brand, but it's pretty obvious what we do, and out of everything in the world we need, help with recruitment isn't on that list. Know your audience before you make yourself look silly saying something stupid.
- Jab More “ This goes back to an earlier blog, and is probably quite similar to rapport building, but essentially, don't go straight in with a pitch. Give me something of value first. If you have got to know me and you understand my industry, values and pains, then send me something over that you think will help me, no strings attached.
- Tailor it: It's a given that to a degree you will probably use a templated introduction InMail, but tailor it as much as you can, we can all spot a blanket InMail.
Next thing you need to do is make sure you don't spam, provide value
Far too often on LinkedIn, people just InMail the hell out of everybody, as if this is going to make us want to buy. The only time we've ever bought anything from a cold InMail was wait¦.. never!
There is a great book by marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. It basically points out to successfully get people to buy from you, you first need to give something for free, before you smack them in the face with an advert.
For recruiters we are basically saying if all you do is spam people with job adverts, you are probably going to struggle, you are definitely not going to stand out, and if you think about it you are just a less evolved version of Total jobs “ at least they post valuable content¦ kind of¦(!)
Here are a few ways you can increase your response rate and decrease your spammer vibes.
Talk To Me
Like a real person. A super quick way to build rapport with someone is to treat them like a human being and not like a potential cash cow.
Before you even start to InMail someone, check out their connections, anyone there a mutual connection? Are there any interests or hobbies you both like? Find a real hook, and start with that “
Example: Hi Joe Bloggs, I see you are a connection of Jamie Goatee a good contact of mine, would love to connect with you and hear more about what it is you do? I see you like surfing, me too, know of any good spots here in the UK?
See how we didn't once try and sell anything, human to human connection that is the core essence of what will make anything you do successful, plus people love talking about themselves, so let them do it.
Offer something for free
Let's clarify, we don't mean a gift or your latest e-book. If you have done your research, you should have a good understanding of what your target audience's main problem is, what's trending in their field, and you should have found something that could offer a bit of help, perhaps an article you found, or a great YouTube video, maybe you've designed a short PDF of top things you've found to help with the problem.
Whatever it is, make sure they do have the problem, and don't ask for anything return¦ Yet.
Example: Hi Joe, been chatting to a few other people in our industry and they all share a common problem “ How to write more captivating adverts “ So I've put together a little PDF of a few resources I found, and a couple YouTube videos etc that I thought might help them and maybe you would want it to, let me know if it helps, always happy to share more stuff as and when I find it.
Boom, I've now sent over a branded document complete with my contact details, that offers value in an area I know they struggle with, and not once did I ask for anything in return.
We all know that people love cookbooks, but they prefer restaurants to do it for them.
Get to the point
Not everyone is going to want to be your friend and make that long lasting connection. In an ever-increasing social world, we are more and more being picky with who we let in, and with the abundance of messages, tweets, InMail's and Emails we receive daily, we don't have time for fluff.
This means you need to get to the point as quickly as possible, and don't bs and bs'er.
Example: Morning Joe, We are aware that a lot companies in the industry are struggling to recruit top quality people, without breaking the bank. So, as a post-covid special we are offering 50% off our fees for the first hire, to help brands get back on track. Please let me know if this is of interest, as you can imagine it's quite popular so we only have a limited number of clients we can offer this too.
Simple, to the point but effective. You've covered off the problem, you made him aware that others have this problem and that they are interested in it (nobody likes to be left behind) and you given it a deadline, but you haven't been over the top salesy, and you haven't added a million emojis and a 24-page story on the humble beginnings of your company and/or solutions.
Lastly, remember there are many ways to skin a cat (wow, that's a nasty phrase), InMail is just one small piece of a massive omni-channel pie, for more ingenious ideas see our blog here on BD For The Modern Recruiter.
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