The ideal response is getting a personal message back, answering the question I asked. I also count "thanks for sharing" and thumbs up, because the person at the other end made an effort to respond. FYI: I respond to those with "(Name), thanks for taking time to reply…"
What Did I Actually Do?
This isn't my first rodeo. After a few years of trial and error, I settled on the following message. It has several variations.
"(name), this is a personal message. We've been connected (X) years. It's time to get to know you better. This is a note to get a conversation started. It's like meeting someone at a party. My wife and I live in New Hope, PA. Population 2,500. We are a tourist town. You are in (town). What's that like? We are big wine fans. How about you?"
Each message is individually composed. I send out 12 a day. I started with the A's and worked through the Z's. Since I have 2,000+ connections, adding new ones all the time, it took about eight months. Lets look at the math: 12 a day, 5 days a week is 60 messages in a week. Contacting 2,000+ connections needs 33 weeks or about eight months.
Why Did That Wording Work?
There's lots of subtlety built into my message.
- First name. It's personalized.
- This is a personal message. It says "I'm not selling anything." Too many people connect and start selling. It's a turnoff.
- We've been connected (X) years. It's time to get to know you better. The mention of years show's it's not an automated message.
- This is a note to get a conversation started. It's like meeting someone at a party. It's a polite request. They can relate to "meeting someone at a party."
- We live in New Hope, PA… Give information to get information. At a party, "Where do you live?" is an icebreaker question.
- You are in (town)… Another indications it's personal, not boilerplate. If we've been there, I'll reference something we admire.
- We are big wine fans. Sharing a personal interest. If they are too, it's an interest in common.
There are variations. The pandemic yielded "Since we are all at home during the lockdown…" If it's a new connection I might say: "Thanks for connecting. I have 2,000+ connections. Some I know better than others…"
Bringing Value to the Relationship
I built a few lists based on profession or type of firm. Once a month, I send an individual message with an article link. I think it stands a better chance of getting read than simply including it in the daily feed. (I post to the daily feed, too.) Hopefully the article has value to them.
I answer messages each morning. My aim is to get a dialog going and transition to talking business once everyone is comfortable.
Conclusion
That's my contact strategy. I have others for building my network, adding connections and adding value within LinkedIn groups. For me, it's an ideal way to use a powerful communication channel that's basically free.
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(Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg) 
