Making New Connections: How to Cold Message on LinkedIn

Cold Message on LinkedIn
Cold Message on LinkedIn


LinkedIn has more than 330 million active users every month. Everyone is a professional that uses the social media platform for buying and selling.

It’s great for B2B marketers and people who make buying decisions. Both can research companies, connect with other professionals, and find success on LinkedIn.

You’ll often hear people say that LinkedIn is a waste of time. What they don’t get is that they’re a part of a system that facilitates sales.  

They just haven’t figured out how to network and cold message other professionals. After all, you have to build trust to have a partnership.

Do you want to know more about how to cold message prospects and new connections on LinkedIn? Keep reading to find out how you can make the most of this social media platform.

1. Remember What LinkedIn Is

Have you ever walked into an in-person networking group and have someone try to sell you something on the spot? It comes across as pretty desperate.

It’s also a way to repel prospects.

Most people wouldn’t dare approach sales prospects that way, but they do it when they cold message. It’s the best way to make a bad impression.

Here’s how it works: They reach out to people and say, “Hi, I saw that we have mutual connections, it would be great to connect.”

They accept the connection request and the salesperson immediately responds with a sales pitch about their product. They wonder why they’re not successful.

Approach LinkedIn as one big networking group and social recruiting tool. It’s a place to develop relationships and nurture them. Fall outside of that scope and your cold message will get left out in the cold.

2. Do Your Research

You have to connect with the right people to make an impact on LinkedIn. It’s important to know who the stakeholders are in your industry, the companies they work for, and who makes the purchasing decisions.

Get a clear picture of their job titles and what their days are like. Take the next step and research the prospects on LinkedIn before you send a connection request.

You can usually find an opening to get the conversation started. You might share a mutual connection. In that case, you can send a note with your connection request that mentions the mutual connection.

You can do the same for groups, or send a connection request in response to something they posted recently.

3. Be Helpful

How do you send a cold message on LinkedIn without doing a hard sell? Help a new connection out. There’s usually something that they need help with.

Maybe they’re trying to hire for a key position, or they need an introduction to someone in your network. You can send them an article that’s relevant to them in their work.

When you focus on helping rather than selling, it builds trust much faster. People automatically assume that you’re selling something, so you have to take a different approach.

4. Keep Your Messages Short

LinkedIn’s messaging feature is confined to a small amount of real estate on desktop devices. Long messages don’t get read, and there are statistics to prove that.

LinkedIn messages that have 200-400 characters get a better response than longer messages.

It forces you to get right to the point in your messages. If you can, develop your messages so you introduce yourself, build trust, and get them on a phone call.

5. Optimize Your Profile

Why should people connect with you? That’s something that you want to address in your profile. When you reach out to new connections, they’ll look at your profile.

It’s also the secret to how to grow LinkedIn page. LinkedIn functions like a search engine, so when you use certain key phrases in your profile, your profile will appear.

6. Post Valuable Content

What kind of content is most valuable to your connections? That’s what you want to post on LinkedIn. For example, if your target audience is HR managers, you should post content that they’ll find useful.

They’ll see your name often in their timelines. When you do reach out to message them, they’ll be familiar with your name and company. They’ll be more receptive to your messages and likely to respond.

7. Use Drip Campaigns

A drip campaign is widely used in marketing. When people sign up to your list, you send a series of automated messages to the prospect.

You can take a similar approach to LinkedIn. You have a connection message, which gives people a reason to accept you as a new connection. This shows a mutual connection, such as a person, school, or LinkedIn group.

The second message, thank them for connecting and ask how you can help them. The third message, send them a blog post that they would find helpful or a case study from your company. Ask them if they have any challenges that your product or service can solve.

After a few messages, ask them to a virtual coffee to get to know each other. No selling, just ask them questions and see what they need.

Make Your Cold Message Campaign Work On LinkedIn

LinkedIn outreach is a great way to connect with new prospects and sell. People are buying off of LinkedIn because it’s easier than having a meeting after meeting to make a buying decision.

You can take advantage of this fact to boost your sales. With a clear and concise cold message campaign, you’ll focus on developing a relationship with the prospect before selling.

You’ll have a stronger relationship, establish trust, and keep that customer for years to come.

For more business insights, check out the other articles on the blog today.