Spammy Sales on LinkedIn
YOUR LINKEDIN QUESTIONS ANSWERED!
Do you have questions about your LinkedIn profile or how to use LinkedIn? Send your questions to our LinkedIn Expert Debbie McCormick and she’ll answer them in the magazine! Use info@LinkedInBossLady.com with subject Dear Debbie.
Dear Debbie:
It makes me so mad when I connect with someone I don’t know, but who looks like they’d be good to network with, only to have them send me a sales message right after I connect. Especially when it’s obvious they haven’t even read my profile. Is there anything to do about this or does this happen to everyone?
~ Joyce Y.
Thank you for your question, Joyce.
It’s very frustrating when people jump the gun and immediately start trying to sell you something. They’re just shooting themselves in the foot, in my humble opinion, because this is irritating behavior and who’s going to buy from someone they’re irritated with, right?
There is something you can do about it.
First, I would recommend disconnecting from the person. This prevents any more irritating sales messages, plus why would you want to be connected with someone who does this?
To disconnect, go to their profile from the message they sent to you. Click the More button.
Then just click Remove Connection from the drop-down menu.
The whole idea behind connecting on LinkedIn is what is called Social Selling, which I’ll talk more in depth about in another article.
The gist of it is that you participate on LinkedIn by giving great content and information, earning trust, THEN ask if someone who has shown interest would like to have a Zoom conversation offline.
Gary Vee calls it “Give, give, give, ask,” meaning share what you know, build trust and rapport, then for those who show interest offer a call.
If I may stand on my soapbox for just a moment, this person’s behavior is exactly why sales has a reputation for being pushy and obnoxious.
My goal, well one of them, is to train people to create relationships so ideal clients are so taken with their ethics and trustworthiness that they wouldn’t do business anywhere else.
