If you’re like most people on LinkedIn, you probably send lots of messages without much in the way of replies. Even the ones who do reply don’t tend to lead to anything meaningful. Yet you’re told that consistency is the key so you carry on despite only getting a 5% response rate if you’re lucky.
You’re not sure what you’re doing wrong…
You’re personalising your messages, your friendly, you’re asking lots of questions. You’ve been trying to offer lots of value in the form of articles, ebooks and videos, even offering to get on the phone with people.
You’re doing everything the so called LinkedIn gurus say you should be doing but for some reason it’s not working. You know you can’t carry on like this. It’s even crossed your mind that perhaps LinkedIn just doesn’t work for your business model.
You may have even thought about giving up completely and getting a real job instead of running the business you had always dreamed of.
Perish the thought!
First things first… I want you to know that this isn’t your fault. You have simply been mis-informed and no doubt you’ve just been doing what the so called experts have been telling you to do.
Let’s look at 4 messaging mistake that are killing your response rates when it come to direct outreach.
The Vile Value Message
“Hey, my name’s Craig, I’m a LinkedIn Expert. I’ve helped hundreds and hundreds to unlock the power on LinkedIn. Check out my free download to the top 10 things you should be doing on LinkedIn to generate a flood of leads to your inbox. If you’ve got 15 minutes, check out this short video too. It show you how I help my clients close more deal and make more money. Click this link to book a call with me if you want to learn more. Would love to speak to you this week or next. When is best for you?”
Sound familiar?
Put yourself in your customers shoes. Would you honestly respond to a message like that?Who in their right mind is going to respond to that car crash of a message?
I totally understand why some people do this. They hear other marketers telling them that they need to offer value but they don’t say offer vile value do they?
The problem with this kind of vile value message is that it’s not orientated to the prospects pain points. You ‘re offering what you think is great value but without finding out what the prospects pain points actually are you’re simply wasting their time with irrelevant trash.
Here you are trying to offer your prospect value but the truth is, you know absolutely nothing about them. So what seems like great value to you is actually vile value to them. You have to first find out where they are in they buying cycle and understand their pain points before you try offering anything.
It’s no wonder your messages aren’t converting.
Forcing reciprocity
Now this is actually related to the vile value message. Reciprocity is a classic marketing concept. The idea is to give someone something to motivate them to give something back to you. You give them “value”, they give you a reply, a phone call, their email or maybe even money.
But when you send vile value messages as in the example above, it comes across as forced reciprocity. You’re trying to force the reciprocity effect onto someone… without truly caring about them, their pain points or whatever the hell it is they’re struggling with.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow when someone realises you’re forcing reciprocity. So much so, they’re actually put off from reading your free guide or watching your video. No one likes feeling obligated to do something for someone they hardly know. Especially when it’s clear they have no interest in them as a person and the problems they have.
Zero call-to-action
I get sent messages all the time and this is something I see frequently. For example:
“Hey there. Saw your profile, liked what I saw. Thanks for connecting.”
So what next?
Unfortunately, as humans we’re lazy if we can get away with it. If we can get away with out thinking about certain things and taking action then we will. If you don’t tell someone exactly what to do next, guess what they’ll do?
A BIG FAT NOTHING!
Complex questions
If your questions are too complex, people aren’t going to reply. It’s too taking and like I said before, people are lazy. For example, if you ask someone for their opinion is on the state of the economy and other complex questions like this, you’re gonna get IGNORED.
Why?
Because replying to a complex question requires 1 of 2 things:
Either the person writes a simple reply and looks stupid.
They write a long reply and it takes them precious time that they could be doing something more important.
As a result, most people choose option 3, which is to ignore your message so they can move onto more important things.
So now you know what 4 things you should NOT be doing with your messages on LinkedIn.