LinkedIn Invitations – A couple tips to be more effective

LinkedIn invitations are easy to send, but not as easy to get everyone to accept (outside of a LION – ‘LinkedIn Open Networker”). Here are a few tips to help the person receiving the invitation to feel more comfortable in accepting:

Wait until you have met the person to send the invite:
The likelihood of them accepting goes up tenfold. The likelihood of them acting on your behalf goes up a hundredfold. Accepting the invitation is good, acting after the invite is relevant.

Always use the personalized message for an invite:
Explain who recommended you connect, if you connected previously, why you are connecting with them, who in your network might be of interest to them – be specific and straightforward.

Only use the “Have done business with you at” when it’s true
Making reference to a work relationship that does not exist will risk starting off the relationship on a bad foot – when the person reads it and say “I’ve never done business with that person or that firm”

If you don’t have a referral, use a Group connection
Most people treat their LinkedIn network like their off-line network – so personal referrals still open the most doors. If you do not have a personal referral, then see if you are connected in common groups – often people allow other group members to contact them via the Inmail feature. It’s not an invitation to connect, but could use lead there. In a similar fashion, the direct message feature of Twitter can allow you to start a conversation.

As always, hope this help you along.

Good luck today!

Mark Richards
www.candidateschair.com
Job Search advice and tools from a candidate’s perspective


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