Personalization Archives

It’s 2024, and LinkedIn is still the most essential and fastest-growing professional network globally. As such, it is full of potential clients, connections, and different growth opportunities.

It takes only one wrong step to lose the deal of a lifetime or make a wrong impression that could cost you money and your business image. That’s why proper professional etiquette is important for building and maintaining your brand.

To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, we decided to share how to network on LinkedIn and some dos and don’ts from our own experience.

How to network on LinkedIn

Networking on LinkedIn is a powerful tool for building professional relationships, expanding your career opportunities, and staying updated in your industry. And we, as a company, can vouch for that.

We’ve been in the industry for 5 years, and LinkedIn is our second nature. For example, our CEO, Relja Denic, first started networking on LinkedIn in 2019. Since then, he managed to gain about 25K connections and 22K followers. Not to mention our other crew members.

That said, here are the actions that will help you understand how to network on LinkedIn.

#1 Connect with people from your area of expertise

To expand your network on LinkedIn, the first choice would be to find people whose occupation is the same or similar to yours. You can exchange tips, tricks, and valuable resources.

That said, your connection request message can sound something like this:

Hey {{firstName}},

I saw that you are also {{Occupation}} and wanted to connect with you and exchange our experience, tips, and tricks. 😊

#2 Connect with your target audience

One of the best ways to network on LinkedIn and research your market is to ask your target leads yourself. Don’t be afraid of how to network on LinkedIn with them. Simply say you’re exploring their position and current challenges. Like this:

Hey {{firstName}},

I noticed you work as {{Occupation}}. I am currently researching {{Occupation}}’s challenges and pain points, so I was wondering if you’d like to connect and chat about it. 😊

#3 Attend LinkedIn events and mingle

Another way to network on LinkedIn is to attend LinkedIn events and chat with other attendees. To find a list of attendees, apply for the event yourself by clicking the Attend button.

Then, hit Attendees to get a list of all the people who are attending the event.

You can then send them a connection request such as this one:

Hey {{firstName}},

I noticed you’re also attending {{eventName}}. I’d love to connect and chat about our experience and the value we get from there!

Or you can simply send them a message from the Networking tab.

#4 Join LinkedIn groups

LinkedIn groups are considered to have no engagement whatsoever. However, that doesn’t stop you from approaching each member individually and genuinely connecting. That said, join the LinkedIn group that aligns with your and your potential client’s interests and industry.

Being part of a LinkedIn group whose members are from the same industry as you gives you a chance to learn from other people’s experiences, know what your competitors are up to, and connect with your colleagues.

On the other hand, being part of a LinkedIn group whose members are your potential clients helps you understand their needs, concerns, and what they expect from certain products or services (that might be the ones you are offering).

In any case, it’s a win-win situation!

Extra tip: You can also target members of a specific LinkedIn group if you upgrade your LinkedIn plan to Sales Navigator.

That said, to get to the members’ list, hit Show All in the upper right corner.

Then, send them a message explaining why you wish to connect with them. If, for example you joined a group with people from your industry, give this message a go:

Hello {{firstName}},

I noticed you are also a member of {{groupName}}. I would love to connect with you since I can see we're both in the {{industry}}.

#5 Create content and engage with people who comment

If you’re passionate about creating and posting content on LinkedIn, you should know that this can be another form of networking on LinkedIn. For example, a 1st-degree connection can comment on your post. In return, you can like their comment, respond, or message them and continue the conversation.

In addition, if your post reaches your 2nd or 3rd-degree connections and they comment or like a post, send them a connection request. However, be sure that your connection message is not out of context.

6 dos for networking on LinkedIn

Personalize invites to connect

LinkedIn is a place to network, but that doesn’t imply randomly adding anyone you run into.

It is rather a platform for meaningful business connections and as such it is highly recommended to reach out to people you either know or are interrelated with due to the nature of your industry.

Either way, it is always a good practice to send a personalized Invite to Connect.

Firstly, if you are reaching out to someone you don’t know, why risk being banned on LinkedIn in case they click on the I don’t know this person option? A certain number of these will get you restricted, you know?

Secondly, many people on LinkedIn appreciate Invites to Connect with an explanation of why they should connect with you. It doesn’t need to be a full-on sales pitch, but rather an interest or a reference in common. This is why a well-planned LinkedIn prospecting and targeting people attending the same event or those who are members of the same LinkedIn group can work so well to your advantage.

If you follow one simple tip such as this one, you will significantly increase your success on LinkedIn and stand out from numerous people who don’t consider it at all.

Complete your LinkedIn profile

Most people will not reply if your LinkedIn profile is incomplete. Or if they’re nice, they will do it reluctantly. This is because without a profile picture, experience, and LinkedIn summary, nobody can get an entire picture of who you are and what you’re about, and they would think the profile is fake. That said, to keep your integrity, finish up your entire LinkedIn profile.

Respond promptly

Just like with Emails, responding promptly to your Messages, Invites to Connect, and LinkedIn InMails is a sign of professionalism.

Good etiquette implies replying within 24 h.

Of course, the timeframe within which you answer is equally important to the content and tone of your message.

Any of the people you are responding to might be your future client, collaborator, or colleague. Make informed decisions and give confirmed information.

This way you will build the image of a trustworthy, knowledgeable professional with integrity.

And that’s what we all want, don’t we?

Introduce people

Introducing connections to each other creates positive social capital for you.

It shows that you genuinely care about people making meaningful connections that could benefit the industry.

Furthermore, a highly appreciated gesture of this kind will invoke the law of reciprocity.

Namely, your connections will most likely return the favor by introducing you to other professionals that are, in their opinion, good for you.

There is no better way of growing your business network than through positive word of mouth. Remember that the best advertising for business is free. But it takes time to build trusted and loyal connections.

So, stick to our dos over here.

Stay top of mind

Your lone presence on LinkedIn is not enough for staying top of mind of your connections.

Post quality content.
Respond promptly to Messages, Invites to Connect, and InMails.
Congratulate people on promotions and new jobs in a professional manner, while still showing that you genuinely care.
Respond to comments and reactions to your posts and tag people you are replying to.
Post authentic responses to the most interesting discussions.
Join LinkedIn groups.

Check your SSI

If you run out of networking ideas, check your LinkedIn Social Selling Index Score. It will show you your overall networking status and what networking area you can improve.

5 don’ts for networking on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is NOT Tinder

Avoid adding people just because you like their looks.

Avoid adding people just because.

Don’t start messages with “Hello Dear”, give compliments that are not business-related or argued, or send any type of messages with a strong personal note.

Not only will you be ignored, but you will be marked as a spammer, and most likely earn a reputation as a weirdo.

News travels fast.

People will not be eager to connect with you, let alone do any business with you.

Don’t spam people

Sending irrelevant, long, impersonal messages that don’t bring anything to any of the sides involved cannot earn you a good reputation.

It’s like a story of a girl who cried wolf.

If you keep sending messages that are only spamming other users, once you send something meaningful, nobody will be interested in reading it or answering back.

Save your Messages and InMails for significant business outreach and communication.

Your contacts will appreciate hearing from you less but leading insightful conversations regarding your industries or any other business-related topic.

Don’t post self-serving content

Whether sharing content or replying to messages or a discussion, make sure to provide value first and foremost.

The biggest mistake on LinkedIn is the misconception that people care about what you have to say. They only care about finding solutions to their problems or gaining valuable insights into the industry trends and demands. That’s all.

There is always a way of giving something to your readers while managing to promote your product or services.

Don’t ignore job proposal & invitations

Even if you are satisfied with your current job, you never know what the future holds.

Don’t burn bridges.

Answer to any job or business proposal you might receive. Be polite and professional.

Firstly, you don’t know if life will take you in that direction. The offered position might not even be in line with your future aspirations. However, have in mind that that company has other departments as well.

Secondly, the world is small. The Human Resources Manager that contacted you for that particular job might be the Human Resources Manager for another company in no time. And they will remember if you ignored or were impolite when they reached out.

The same applies to LinkedIn users who write to you regarding business opportunities and collaboration. Maybe you are not interested at the moment, but that’s for sure not the reason not to keep the door open for future contact.

Don’t talk negative about competitors

Social media can be such a negative space.

People have had it enough already.

Not only does everyone want to belong to a positive, proactive, and like-minded community, but posting negatively about your competition is a sign of bad sportsmanship.

Did you know that when you are talking badly about someone, people who are listening are subconsciously attributing all the negative features to you?

Treat others with respect just as you would like to be treated.

Also, have in mind that even when you are commenting on behalf of yourself, people might ascribe your opinion to the general attitude of the company you are currently working for. Be careful about it, especially on LinkedIn which is, as we said before, a professional network.

You are representing your brand, your company, and the industry at the same time.

Now you know how to network on LinkedIn. Are you ready for it?

Networking, brand engagement, and generating leads on LinkedIn are the activities that are strongest than they have ever been.

Therefore, LinkedIn is not just your online resume.

It reflects your entire way of doing business and communicating with your leads and customers.

Everything that happens on LinkedIn has consequences, positive or negative, that you have to be ready to take responsibility for.

Since it’s better to be safe than sorry, stick to our tips and you will be just fine.

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If you've ever wondered if there is a way to speed up lead-generation activities, we have a proposition - try automated lead generation.

Yes, that's right. Automation has been around for a while, especially for lead generation and management. And no wonder it's so effective since this way, you can find the most qualified leads and scale up your business. But, more importantly, you can generate your leads daily.

That said if you wish to use lead generation automation properly but need to figure out how - fear not. We will guide you on how to automate every sales and marketing lead generation task.

What is automated lead generation?

Automated lead generation is a process of using technology to perform time-consuming sales and marketing lead generation tasks on your behalf. To do this, you have different kinds of automation tools at your disposal. For example, you can use software to automate sending emails or LinkedIn connection requests.

Automated lead generation offers benefits such as:

Reducing human error and thus improving your workflow;
Saving time by performing manual tasks and decreasing workload;
Providing insights into the performance of lead generation activities so you can use optimization and improve;
Consistency in the workflow so you can generate leads daily;
Leaving room so you can focus on building relationships and lead nurturing.

That said, there are plenty of automation tools on the market to choose from. However, let’s first distinguish the types of sales and marketing lead generation activities to discover what tool you should use accordingly.

Types of automatic lead generation

There are 2 types of automatic lead generation, but they best work when used in synergy.

Inbound lead generation automation

Inbound lead generation is a marketing strategy for attracting leads to your company. For example, a marketing team can create content valuable to the best leads for your business. The purpose of the content is to compel a lead to first take specific actions that will eventually lead to sales.

In addition, since leads nowadays focus on researching independently, inbound lead gen focuses on helping rather than selling. In other words, it shows the way toward your brand content pieces such as blogs, ebooks, and guides.

That said, inbound lead gen automation means streamlining the said tasks using automation tools. For example, you can use the following types of tools to automate your inbound tasks:

Chatbot - to provide answers to questions;

Pop-ups & forms - to offer personalized content, lead magnet or surveys on the website.

Outbound lead generation automation

Outbound lead generation is about finding and reaching out to your ideal leads directly without waiting for them to reach out to you. To clarify, rather than waiting for leads to find your website and reach out like inbound lead gen, you are the one who makes the first move.

That said, to automate your outbound lead generation tasks, you can use the following types of tools:

Email marketing and outreach tools - for outbound marketing and sales to automate sending emails, newsletters, or themed email sequences;
Prospecting tools - for marketing and sales to find outbound leads and contact information;
Social media automation tools - for sales to automate outreach on social media;
Advertising tools - for marketers to automate buying digital advertising space.

B2B lead generation automation VS B2C lead generation automation

Business-to-Business (B2B) lead generation automation is a process of using software to generate potential leads who work in a company to offer them your services.

On the other hand, Business-to-Consumer (B2C) lead generation automation uses software to streamline and generate leads who are individual customers.

Even though they have different potential customers, both B2B and B2C companies use the same lead generation automation for a similar purpose. Here is how different companies use types of automation tools for their purpose.

How to automate lead generation [Step-by-step guides]

Automated outbound lead generation guide

1. Define your ICP and buyer persona

Your outbound lead generation needs a good basis to get quality leads that convert. That’s why sales teams start off their lead generation process by creating Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona. This way, you can generate the best leads and guide them through the sales funnel. Not to mention, these documents will help you with the lead scoring.

The best practice for the creation of both of these documents is to analyze your current customer data and gather users who:

Have the shortest buying cycle;
Have a high retention rate;
And who would advocate for your product or service.

2. Find contact data

Once you establish your ICP and Buyer Persona, it’s time for prospecting.

Almost all sales teams use LinkedIn prospecting to find the best leads for their sales funnel. Moreover, there are a lot of proven LinkedIn lead generation strategies out there to find quality leads. However, when it comes to gathering the leads’ contact information, it’s best to automate the process and find tools that will help you do just that.

3. Craft a compelling message

Whether you wish to use LinkedIn outreach or any other medium, consider your messaging carefully. Cold outreach is hard when you know nothing about the person. That said, it’s important to include research into the lead generation process and figure out what your leads are all about.

In other words, comb through their LinkedIn profile, and find the About section, posts they published, or what they shared. This way, you can personalize your communication and be more genuine in showing an interest in solving their problems.

Another tip for successful messaging is to mention your unique selling point tailored to their exact pain point.

That said, if you need help crafting such a message, you can always use Chat GPT for sales messages.

4. Send cold emails

It’s easy to let the cold email mistakes slither into your outreach. However, you reduce the chances of some of these mistakes by using automated lead generation tools to send cold emails.

Only keep in mind that 70% of salespeople stop at one cold email. However, incorporating follow-up messages into your sequence increases your chances of hearing back by 25%. So be sure to send follow up emails as well.

5. Automated LinkedIn lead generation

LinkedIn and email outreach have been part of the sales funnels for years. And with hundreds of leads we reach every week via LinkedIn, it’s time-consuming and nearly impossible to get desired results - unless you use different automated lead generation tools.

That’s why various LinkedIn automation tools are there to help you streamline different outreach actions on LinkedIn. For example, our very own Skylead can automate sending connection requests, messages, and free & paid InMails. In addition, you can combine these actions and create scenarios based on your leads’ behavior; but we’ll talk more about that later on.

6. Lead automation: Nurture the leads

Once you start conversing with your leads, you need to keep track of them. This is where CRM, like Hubspot or Pipedrive, comes into play. To clarify, Customer Relationship Management is a software that helps you automate gathering all the information about your sales leads in one place, such as:

Notes about the sales leads,
Lead scoring,
Information about the company,
Deal value,
Position in the sales funnel,
Next task to perform,
Conversation link, and so on.

This way, you can check where your leads are in the funnel and what level of nurturing they need.

Automated inbound lead generation guide

1. Set up your lead generation website

The first step towards automated lead generation is creating a website to connect all your automated lead generation tools. We can write an entire blog on creating a website, but we’ll mention 3 most important things.

Firstly, good practice here is to create a website that will provide the best user experience with UX/UI design that converts.

Secondly, your content marketing team must prepare visuals and texts for the website. The text needs to provide information about your product or service but in a way that describes how it solves the problem and removes pain points your high-quality leads have.

Lastly, it would be best to create an SEO plan to rank your website better.

2. Create a lead magnet

The second step is for your content marketing team to create a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a guide, eBook, or mini-course you publish on your website for leads to download. In exchange, you ask your leads to leave their information, such as name, surname, and email address.

This is one of the lead generation strategies, so you can gather the emails and send your leads newsletters. Or you can let your sales team reach them out.

However, keep in mind that you cannot ask for leads' emails just for anything. The lead magnet you create needs to offer valuable information and practical knowledge tailored to your leads' needs.

Once you create a lead magnet, you can automate the process by connecting your forms to Hubspot or Monday CRM. This way, you can automatically create a deal. Moreover, if your CRM and outreach tool are connected, you can push the leads to your campaign.

3. Set up your landing page

To generate high-quality leads organically or via ads, you need a landing page that provides the best user experience. In other words, it needs to contain concise information tailored to your high-quality leads. So the best practice here is to have dedicated feature pages and what problems they solve.

The information you provide needs to have a converting design and info so your visitors wish to take action. In addition, your landing pages need to be as SEO prepared as possible.

Lastly, speaking of action, your landing page should contain a contact form or any lead magnet you wish to promote to gather quality leads.

4. Capture leads with a chatbot

Another way to generate leads via your website is to use a chatbot. It allows you to turn your website visitors into leads and qualify them for future sales or marketing activities.

For example, you can set your chatbot to pose a list of questions before leads can contact the support team. This is a perfect automation system for lead scoring and qualifying.

For example, with some chatbots, you can set up to automatically gather information, such as email addresses, company sizes, or other information relevant to collecting qualified leads. Once it does, like with lead magnets, you can automate creating a deal in your CRM and pushing the leads to your outreach campaign.

5. Get traffic to your page

Once you’ve done everything we’ve mentioned above, you need to get leads to your website to generate them. There are two ways you can get traffic:

Paid - you can launch paid campaigns via Google ads, Bing ads, or social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn. You can target new leads or retarget your previous visitors.
Organic - Creating blogs or videos that follow SEO standards so they can rank better organically and get you as many visitors as possible.

6. Lead management automation: Nurture the leads

When you start getting leads to your website, you need to nurture them to some sort of conversion. Therefore, look no further than using pop-up forms or chatbot conversations personalized to their web behavior.

You can personalize your automated messages and offer relevant content by, for example:

Pages they are visiting,
If they are returning customers, or
Exit intent.

7. Use marketing automation for lead generation

Once you gather your leads’ emails, it’s time to use marketing automation and outreach them. You can create email campaigns to offer personalized content on a mass scale based on your leads’ behavior.

For example, you can send certain messages depending on whether they opened an email. In other words, you can create an entire sequence with different scenarios to offer tailored content that will lead to conversion.

The good practice here is to start with valuable educational content, then offer a solution to the particular problem, and then present your product or service. In other words, never start the first message with your pitch.

Best lead generation automation tools

We will name a few best lead generation automation software and their Capterra scores. However, feel free to research other tools and check review websites should you feel the need to do so.

1. Skylead

Yup. As we previously mentioned, that's us. 🙂

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and cold email software that streamlines the most time-consuming marketing, recruiting and sales outreach tasks. In other words, these tasks include sending:

LinkedIn connection requests
Messages,
InMails,
And emails

to all your leads you imported into Skylead via LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Recruiter, your CRM (using API) or CSV file.

Moreover, this software as a service allows you to also:

Find and verify your leads’ email addresses,
And use text, Image and GIF personalization in your communication.

What makes Skylead special are Smart Sequences and their if/else conditions. To clarify, Smart Sequences are action paths you create using the activities mentioned above and combining them with if/else conditions. This way, you can create countless scenarios that Skylead uses to outreach your leads according to their situational behavior.

That said, here is an example of one Smart Sequence.

Moreover, you can connect Skylead with any tool, such as CRM using webhooks or API and push or send data.

Use cases

You can use Skylead for various reasons. However, we will mention a few depending on the team you might belong to.

Pricing

Skylead has an all-in-one pricing plan of $100 per user/month.

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,8 / 5

2. OptinMonster

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This is another lead generation tool considered one of the best marketing strategies you can use on your website. Marketing teams use it for ecommerce lead capture. However, B2B marketers frequently use it for their lead generation efforts as well.

OptinMonster is a software that offers automated lead generation forms presented as pop-ups, slide-in windows, and gamified spin-to-win wheels. Moreover, you can place these pop-ups or forms on any landing page.

That said, these automated forms help you gather contact information to build an email list for your email campaigns, display personalized content, and nurture your visitors through their customer journey.

Features

OptinMonster’s main advantage is that it turns your website visitors into paying customers, webinar attendees, or newsletter subscribers. That said, many B2B marketing teams use these forms to increase any conversion rate, thanks to:

Page-level targeting

You can display pop-ups, forms, and notifications based on the user’s interaction with different landing pages.

Exit-intent technology

OptinMonster monitors visitors’ movements and detects when they plan to exit from the page without leaving their contact information or purchase. This way, you can increase conversion rates. Or, as a part of your content marketing strategy, gain additional newsletter subscribers, webinar attendees for future email campaigns.

Lightbox pop-up

This pop-up or notification appears thanks to triggers, and once it does, your visitors need to make a decision. What’s best is that there are no distractions, as your other website content can be faded in the background.

Onsite retargeting

You can show returning visitors something new every time they return to your website. Simply create pop-ups to show new promotions or offers based on their previous interactions on your website.

List segmentation

You can reduce website abandonment and churn by providing personalized content for your leads from the email list and website. What’s more, you can integrate OptinMonster with any CRM app, such as Hubspot or email automation software, to further adjust your messaging.

Pro tip: Create a synergy between your marketing and sales teams. Once you generate leads through OptinMonster, you can push them automatically to your Skylead sales or marketing campaign through API.

Pricing

OptinMonster has 4 pricing plans:

Basic - $16 per month
Plus - $32 per month
Pro - $49 per month
Growth - $82 per month

In addition, they offer around 40% off per month if you opt-in for an annual subscription.

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,3 / 5

3. Moosend.com

In general, Moosend is an email automation tool that helps you create and send personalized newsletters to your leads. It’s most suitable for small businesses specializing in e-commerce. However, this automation tool can be used for B2B email campaigns as well.

Features

One of the best things about Moosend is that you can create newsletters or pop-up banners with a simple drag-and-drop.

In addition, they leverage AI to analyze the data from your website, such as your subscriber behavior. This way, you can send more personalized messages or email notifications and maximize customer experience and retention.

That said, similar to Skylead, you can use this marketing automation tool to create a sequence with if/else conditions such as “if the purchase was made” and so on. This way, you can check for your subscriber’s actions and send suitable follow-up messages.

Moosend offers a vast library of templates to create newsletters or landing pages for email marketing campaigns. Whichever you choose, you’d be glad to hear that every template comes with device optimization functionalities.

Next, you can group leads from your email list and send separate messages. You can divide the leads based on keywords, if they clicked on the link in the previous email, etc.

Like OptinMonster, Moosend can help you gather new leads and increase your lead generation efforts. In other words, it offers customizable forms like pop-ups to promote your lead magnets, like webinars, and create email lists.

Lastly, you can integrate Moosend with your CRM, such as Hubspot, or other apps to streamline your related tasks.

Pricing

Moosend has 2 pricing systems:

Pro - This plan is suitable for small businesses because it goes from as low as $9 per month for up to 500 subscribers. On the other hand, this plan goes as high as $5840 a month for up to 1M subscribers.

Enterprise - The second plan is for agencies, and you need to contact Moosend directly to get a custom quote.

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,6 / 5

4. Mailchimp

Another email automation software on our list is Mailchimp. This marketing automation tool started off as software for marketers to help them create newsletters in the e-commerce environment. However, it developed to be much more - a well-rounded automated lead generation tool.

Features

Email marketing

Firstly, Mailchimp offers an email automation tool for sending newsletters or other messaging material to your subscribers. You can create your own message design or use the template.

Regarding targeting, you can segment your leads based on their behavior, such as:

Campaign activity,
Location,
If the last email opened,
App activity, etc.

Lead gen

Mailchimp offers a couple of features that are perfect for B2B lead generation.

Firstly, they have their own website builder to create beautifully-designed landing pages for your new leads. In addition, you can make it from scratch or from the numerous templates they offer.

Secondly, they offer sign-up and pop-up forms for your website to generate potential customers. Moreover, you can also integrate their free appointment scheduling tool so potential leads can book calls with your sales team.

Lastly, Mailchimp offers a campaign manager that combines social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, into one dashboard. This way, you can target potential leads with similar interests as your current contacts. Or you can retarget visitors while they are browsing through the web or their social media.

Automated customer journeys

Last but not least, Mailchimp has a function to enhance user experience with Customer Journey Builder. In other words, you can automate activities, such as emails and follow-ups, according to your leads’ behavior and nurture them to conversion.

Moreover, you can integrate Mailchimp with any app, including your CRM of choice or LinkedIn outreach solution for omnichannel presence.

Pricing

Mailchimp offers 4 plans with the following highlighted features:

A free plan is for up to 1K emails sent. It includes forms, landing pages, and pre-built email templates.
The Essentials plan starts at $13 a month. This plan includes up to 5K emails sent, 3 audiences, and simple automated customer journeys.
The Standard plan starts at $20 a month. It includes up to 6K emails sent, 5 audiences, enhanced customer journeys, newsletter templates, predictive analytics tool, and campaign manager.
The Premium plan costs $350 per month. It includes everything from other plans plus 150K emails sent, and advanced segmentation and targeting.

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,5 / 5

5. Tidio

As mentioned before, one of the best lead capturing ways is using a live chat or chatbot. And Tidio is one of many on the market.

In other words, it can automatically collect and qualify leads based on their website behavior. For example, they can visit a pricing page, and if you offer a custom quote, a chatbot can ask if a person is interested in it, and they can leave the information.

Moreover, you can set Tidio to answer FaQs, offer news, or upsell your users. This way, you’re leaving time for your support team to focus on burning problems while improving your customer experience.

Pricing

Tidio offers a couple of pricing plans, respectively:

Free
Communicator: $19 per user/month (Includes live chat with an unlimited number of conversations and up to 5 operators);
Chatbots: $19 per user/month (Includes from 1K to 40K triggers);
Tidio+: $329 a month (Including both live chat and chatbot).

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,8 / 5

Automated lead generation examples

Here are examples of lead generation automation you can apply in your business right away.

1. Lead capture framework

a. Create a lead magnet

Craft valuable content like ebooks, masterclasses, templates, and webinars. In addition, remember that the content you create needs to resonate with your leads so they are willing to leave you their contact information. For example, you can offer a sales book with templates and cold outreach strategies.

Once you create your work, you can gather the info with automated lead generation forms. Moreover, you can link the forms to CRM for the sales to take over, or an email outreach tool so your leads can go straight to your email outreach list.

Lastly, to promote your lead magnet, you can publish ads to generate a large pool of leads. Or use pop-ups to promote the content throughout the website depending on users’ behavior.

b. Set up chatbots

Use chatbots to automate qualifying leads and gather their contact information.

You can set chatbot scenarios to offer the lead magnets or some free service depending on users’ website behavior. Or, if a person wants to contact your customer support, develop a list of qualifying questions. This way, the chatbot can send them to a database such as your email list or CRM. Moreover, your support team will get context about the leads.

2. Framework for finding leads

You can automate finding outbound leads by using prospecting tools such as:

LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator to scrape publicly available info and profile URLs;
Tools to identify your website visitors, such as Lead Forensics;
Scraping tools for Facebook group members;

This way, you can build your lead list, send them to your CRM and prepare for email or LinkedIn outreach.

3. Outreach framework

a. Inbound outreach

Once you’ve got your inbound leads’ info, reach out. You can prepare a special cold outreach campaign using Skylead. In other words, create your sequence and craft your messages so they slowly turn the leads into paying customers.

For example, you can use Skylead to reach out to your leads via email. In other words, import your leads via CSV file or using LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter. Moreover, once you start your campaign, you can push leads from your email list or CRM using API.

If you found your leads using LinkedIn but wish to send them emails, you can use Email Discovery & Verification feature as a step. This way, Skylead finds and verifies leads’ email addresses. So, you don’t have to use a separate tool to scrape email addresses. Instead, you have it all here in Skylead.

Then, create your Smart Sequence depending on their behavior (e.g., whether they opened an email or clicked the link). For example, your Smart Sequence can look something like this:

Lastly, write your sequence messages, and personalize them. Moreover, you can write up to 5 subject lines and the body variants to test and see what messaging drives the most results.

b. Outbound outreach

You can use Skylead to reach your outbound leads as well. To do this, repeat the steps above:

Import leads;
Create a Smart sequence;
Personalize your Emails, LinkedIn connection requests, messages, and InMails.

However, remember that you will get the best results if you opt-in for multichannel outreach. That said, feel free to use LinkedIn steps such as Invite to connect, Follow, View, Message and InMail.

4. Customer and lead nurturing framework

You can automate lead nurturing by integrating your CRM with the outreach tool and exchanging the data between the two. This way, you can label leads, or send them to outreach campaigns.

In addition, you can use Skylead for your customer-nurturing program. That said, you can send automated outreach campaigns for:

Churn customers if you have any special upgrade or to offer a discount;
Current customers to send them personalize content, upsell, or offer help as their dedicated account manager;

Skyrocket your leads and conversions with automation

80% of marketing automation users experience an increase in the number of leads, and even 77% an increase in conversion. That is no small number to ignore.

That said, we hope this article helped you understand how you can automate your lead generation activities.

However, before you do, create a good-quality basis for the automation, such as your website, content strategy, and LinkedIn profile. Only then will you be able to pave your way for successful lead generation automation.

After all, once you go automation, you will start looking at your other tasks and ask yourself:

Automate your outreach! Sign up for Skylead’s 7-day free trial.

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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Chat GPT infiltrated many aspects of our lives, whether we like it or not.

While some are panicking about Chat GPT taking over their jobs, others found ways to use it to be more effective in their everyday tasks.

You’ve probably already heard that Chat GPT, among other fields, proved itself to be very useful for lead generation, sales, and cold outreach overall.

Basically, as a language model based on artificial intelligence, Chat GPT can be a powerful tool for writing highly personalized sales templates that get replies and help you book meetings.

But, pretty much like with people, it only works if you know how to “converse” with it, that is, to give precise and correct prompts.

In this blog, we will show you how to use Chat GPT for sales, or, more precisely:

Converse with Chat GPT to get the most effective cold templates for sales;
Give feedback to Chat GPT for sales to adjust the answers to be more effective;
Create hyper-personalized sales messages by uploading your leads’ LinkedIn profiles;
Put together messages to use in sales automation tools;
And will give you ideas on when (and how) to use Chat GPT for sales to save time and create messages that get replies.

Basics of using Chat GPT for sales

Not everyone knows how to communicate with Chat GPT, which is the key factor in successfully using this very advanced chatbot.

Basically, the better prompts you give, the more satisfying results Chat GPT will bring back.

However, bear in mind that the prompt you give doesn’t need to be final.

Once you give the initial prompt to Chat GPT, you can always adjust its answers in 3 ways:

by giving another prompt(s) a try;
by feedbacking the answer and giving additional prompts to make Chat GPT adjust the answer;
by editing the answer manually to fit your need, especially if it needs a small tweak.

Additionally, you can use Chat GPT for sales in combination with a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, such as Skylead, to create sales messages for emails, InMails, regular LinkedIn messages, any follow-ups, or even create entire outreach branches in Smart sequences in case your lead doesn’t answer [see the image below].

Furthermore, Skylead allows you to A/B test LinkedIn connection requests, subject lines for emails and InMails, and any message body copy, so you can consider more than one input when using Chat GPT for sales.

Skylead’s advanced reporting system allows you, aside from other analytics, to review A/B testing step by step and make data-driven decisions on what sales message worked best for your target leads.

Now, let’s go ahead and show you a practical example of how to use Chat GPT for sales.

How to give prompts to Chat GPT for sales messages

In this chapter, we will show you how to use Chat GPT to write a cold email.

For the best results, we always advise our users to give precise instructions on the types of sales messages they want Chat GPT to write.

Also, sometimes you need to emphasize that you need Chat GPT to generate both a cold email and a corresponding subject line, and sometimes by simply asking it to write an email, it will suggest the subject line as well.

Chat GPT is not perfect, and it cannot read your thoughts (thank God!), so always strive to be as precise as possible when giving prompts.

The more detail you provide, the more satisfying the result will be.

So, let’s go ahead and see different ways to converse with Chat GPT for sales.

Way #1 Copy & paste information and give a prompt.

So, to start, assemble the following on a sheet of paper:

The characteristics of your ICP and Buyer Persona(s) within;
Pain points of your Buyer Persona and how your problem solves those pain points;
Unique selling proposition of your product or service.

Then, you can copy and paste the relevant information, such as the desired length of your email, your Buyer's Personas goals and pain points, how your product solves them, and/or your product's USP.

So, this was my initial prompt.

This is what I got.

I personally found this email to be a bit too salesy and kind of “dry”. And this is exactly what I mentioned as a feedback.

So, there’s no need to write an entirely new prompt. You can give honest feedback to Chat GPT.

Here’s what I’ve got.

As you may see, you can go on and on like this.

You can give feedback to Chat GPT on any part of the sales message you get or even edit the initial prompt until you find the most satisfying results.

Here’s where you can edit your prompt.

I will again remind you that, sometimes, it’s easier and better to edit the email manually or even mix and match different parts of different sales messages generated by Chat GPT.

Way #2 Copy & paste information and give a prompt to use messages in a sales automation tool.

You can apply the same principle (or any other below) to prepare sales messages to use in sales automation software.

Just make sure you tell chat GPT which variables (placeholders) you would like it to use so that the sales automation tool you’re using can personalize your outreach at scale.

I used the same prompt as above, just changed the instructions part.

Here’s the prompt.

This is what I got.

I liked the answer, but I noticed it was above 80 words. (again, always check cause Chat GPT is not perfect!)

So, I gave feedback and got another result.

(Also, by clicking the “Regenerate response” button, you can probably go on and get new solutions for on and on.)

Way #3 Upload your lead's LinkedIn profile and give a prompt.

You can upload your lead’s LinkedIn profile and give the same instructions as above to write a more personalized message.

#1 Go to your lead’s LinkedIn profile and download it in PDF format.

Upload it to your drive, then open the document, and click Share > Anyone with the link.

You cannot just copy & paste someone's LinkedIn URL because Chat GPT is not "on LinkedIn", and what's on social media is not considered publicly available information for Chat GPT.

Copy and paste the link into Chat GPT, and give instructions.

This is what I’ve got.

I wasn’t very happy with the result, so I asked Chat GPT to give me a few other solutions.

And another one.

And another solution.

Remember that you can also combine the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ways to give prompts for more precise instructions.

That is, upload your lead’s CV and then write their pain points, goals, and your product's unique selling points in the prompt.

Way #4 Use LinkedIn posts to personalize icebreakers in your cold emails.

A great way to instantly connect with your leads and increase your response rates is to make a reference to their LinkedIn post that resonated with you and that (ideally) you can tie to your product or service.

Just copy and paste the post to Chat GPT and give a prompt to use it in the introduction of your cold email.

The reason why you cannot just copy and paste the link to the blog to Chat GPT is that the Chat GPT can only use publicly available information, and therefore it cannot access LinkedIn and other people’s profiles.

Here’s what my prompt looked like.

This is what I’ve got.

I have to be honest; I was pretty happy with it right away.

Way #5 Use Chat GPT to fight the most common objections.

The simplest way to use Chat GPT to fight the most common objections to cold emails is to upload the email you’ve sent, your lead’s objection, and give instructions to Chat GPT to answer it.

You can copy/paste the majority of the information.

Here’s what my prompt looked like.

This is what I got from Chat GPT.

I felt as if it was selling right off the bat a bit, so I gave another prompt.

Way #6 Use Chat GPT to write follow-ups after no response.

Following the previous example, you can also ask Chat GPT to write a follow-up email after no response.

The easiest way to give a prompt to Chat GPT is to copy/paste the email and give instructions.

Of course, if you need something more specific, make sure you include details too.

My prompt was very simple this time.

This is what I got.

I didn’t like the answer because I wanted my lead to answer or start a conversation with me instead of pushing for a sales pitch.

How to give prompts to Chat GPT for sales subject lines

Whether writing an email or InMail, subject lines are the key factor to a higher open rate.

In this blog, we will show you 3 ways how to use Chat GPT for sales subject lines.

Way #1 Copy & paste your cold email and give a prompt.

Copy and paste the email to Chat GPT and ask it to suggest subject lines.

Here’s what my prompt looked like.

This is what I’ve got.

You can go ahead and play with it just like we did in the previous examples.

I asked Chat GPT to make the subject lines shorter, for example.

Way #2 Insert keywords and important information and give a prompt.

Describe your product (you can also copy and paste information regarding your ICP and Buyer Persona that you think should be included in your subject line) and give a prompt to Chat GPT.

Here’s my prompt.

Here’s what I’ve got.

Summary

As you may see, your options for using Chat GPT for sales are infinite.

Our only advice is not to be afraid to experiment and to give new prompts and feedback until you are completely satisfied with the result.

Also, keep in mind that you can always manually adjust any solution Chat GPT suggests.

And if you wish to test out 7 days for free how to combine Chat GPT with Skylead, a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, check out this link.

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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LinkedIn is a social media for professionals, and it’s classified as the number #1 choice for lead generation. This is because it now counts more than 900 million LinkedIn users. Moreover, 4 out of 5 of these members drive some business decisions. So no wonder that marketing, recruiting and sales teams make LinkedIn outreach part of their daily work routine.

LinkedIn outreach is a vast topic, and there are many misconceptions and good tips on how to do it. That is why we decided to create a detailed LinkedIn outreach guide that uncovers the following:

Benefits of LinkedIn outreach;
What medium is better to use for the outreach - LinkedIn or email;
Strategies, rules, and methods that work best and those that do not;
How to use LinkedIn for outreach in 6 easy steps and build positive relationships;
Some of the best outreach message templates you can use;
Answers to most burning questions about LinkedIn outreach.

What is LinkedInoutreach?

LinkedIn outreach is a process of sending connection requests and messages to your potential clients via LinkedIn. It’s the best way to expand your network, get in touch, warm up, and build positive relationships with your leads.

The main benefits of Linkedin outreach

It’s not just about the ability to send a connection request, InMails, or other LinkedIn messages, but what you will accomplish with them. Here are the benefits you can expect if you use LinkedIn and every aspect of it in the outreach process.

1. Reach high-quality B2B leads with ease.

LinkedIn has over 900 million professionals from every industry in the world. So it's no wonder this audience has twice the buying power of the average web audience (LinkedIn). Therefore, sales teams can rest assured that with the right filters and top LinkedIn lead generation strategies, they can find the most qualified business-to-business leads for their business.

2. Increased reply rate.

LinkedIn is, first and foremost, a social media platform where you can find various information about your leads. That said, the secret to LinkedIn outreach is personalization and genuine conversation. That said, by looking at your lead's profile, you can search for any information to personalize your message. Whatever you find, be it a mutual connection or a post they shared, you can reference that in your outreach message and thus increase your acceptance and reply rate.

3. Target B2B leads with more precision.

Marketers no longer need to struggle to find professionals on Instagram or Facebook. Instead, they can find and reach out to their potential leads easier with targeting and retargeting options via LinkedIn ads. Moreover, they can generate greater awareness for their product or service. LinkedIn marketer can also easily contact their target audience via sponsored InMail ads and experience 2x more conversions.

4. Find ideal employees.

One of the best perks of LinkedIn is that recruiters can publish job posts for free. However, they can also find the best employee for their business by tapping into a larger pool of talent and headhunting the ideal candidates directly.

5. Break the wall and reach out to recruiters.

By using job posting websites, you can’t get a hold of recruiters. However, LinkedIn allows you to find, send a connection request and reach out to the hiring managers in your ideal company. This way, you can explain why you are perfect for the job or get feedback on your application, all of which you cannot do on other platforms.

LinkedIn vs email outreach - Which one is better?

Both LinkedIn and email channels are used extensively for outreach. However, there is a "slight" advantage to LinkedIn.

The thing is, the social media nature of LinkedIn allows more genuine communication between its users. On the other hand, cold email outreach is distant and often perceived as spammy since, among other things, you cannot always see and find out more about the person behind the cold message.

And the end result can be measured shown in numbers.

For example, according to the official LinkedIn learning courses, InMails have an average response rate of 18 to 25%. On the contrary, cold emails have only a 3% average response rate, and this happens for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, LinkedIn outreach is more transparent since potential leads can see your LinkedIn profile, work history, bio, or posts. In other words, what they are all about.

Secondly, LinkedIn sends a couple of alerts and reminders when the prospect receives a message. In addition, if the leads have a LinkedIn app installed, they will also receive a notification on their phone. What's more, if you send a follow-up message, LinkedIn will send the same amount of alerts, making it harder for your prospect to forget to reply or ignore.

Lastly, if you use LinkedIn, you can find your ICP and people who work in it in the blink of an eye. This way, you can easily reach out to your potential customers without navigating multiple platforms.

However, with LinkedIn's power, we must recognize email as the outreach channel simply because some users prefer email communication or are inactive on LinkedIn.

That said, it's best to use both LinkedIn and email outreach for optimal results. So, we will discuss it in the LinkedIn outreach rules section below.

LinkedIn outreach methods

LinkedIn offers multiple ways you can use to reach out to your potential customers.

Connection requests

The first outreach action in line is a LinkedIn connection request. You can send a connection request to your 2nd and 3rd degree connections along with your first message.

This cold message comes with a restriction of 300 characters, so try to keep your personalized message short and sweet. For example, you can reference a mutual connection or that you’d like to discuss the event they attended and wish to connect.

Direct messages

Once the lead accepts your invite, they become your 1st degree connection, and you can send them a direct message. This message acts as both chat and email since it’s delivered straight to your lead’s inbox along with the notification. In addition, direct messages can be 8,000 characters long or somewhere between 1142 and 2000 words.

InMail messages

If your lead ignores your connection or leaves it pending for a long time, you can always send LinkedIn InMail. These InMail messages are structured as emails and can have up to 200 characters of the subject line and a body of up to 1900 characters. However, keep in mind that shorter InMails get a better response rate.

As mentioned before, LinkedIn InMail gets far better results than emails. Especially if you write a message that will generate a high response rate. If you are not sure how to write such messages, here are a couple of LinkedIn InMail templates to get inspired.

You can send InMails to your 2nd and 3rd degree connections. However, depending on your subscription plan, you will have different amounts of Inmail credits per month. For example, a LinkedIn premium subscription grants you 15 paid InMail credits. On the other hand, the Sales Navigator account offers 50 paid InMails per month. If you pay a Recruiter subscription, you will have 30 paid InMail credits a month.

Apart from paid ones, you can also send 800 free InMails per month. The trick is to find people with their LinkedIn profile set to Open. The easiest way to find people with an open profile is by going to your 2nd or 3rd-degree connection’s premium profile. Then click the Message button. If you see the text Free message at the bottom, that person has an open profile.

View profile and follow features

And if your outreach falls behind, you can always stop by your lead’s LinkedIn profile to view or follow them. The leads will receive a notification of whichever action you perform. In other words, it will almost always remind them of your message and give them a nudge to respond to you.

LinkedIn outreach in 6 easy steps

1. Define ICP and buyer persona

The first step to finding qualified prospects & leads is creating an Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona.

These documents represent the aspects of your perfect leads and the company they work in. They are the basis for quality lead generation and usually contain specifications such as:

Job titles;
The industry they work in;
Company size;
Pain points, etc.

ICP and Buyer Persona are best created based on your current customer data, such as who:

Has the shortest buying cycle;
Keeps high retention rate;
And refers your product elsewhere.

In addition, try to keep these documents actionable. In other words, create the specifications so you can use them either for:

Your prospecting via LinkedIn, Recruiter, or Sales Navigator advanced search filters;
Or for LinkedIn outreach messaging.

2. Find leads using LinkedIn search & creating lists

The next step is finding prospects that match your ICP and Buyer Persona.

If you use LinkedIn Sales Navigator or Recruiter for lead generation, you are probably familiar with various advanced search filters. Simply use these filters and import all specifications from your ICP or Buyer Persona documents. Then, save the search URL, or create a list of prospects for the next step.

If you don’t have a LinkedIn Sales Navigator account, no worries. You can still use basic filters to find your ideal leads. Or you can use some of these top LinkedIn lead generation strategies.

3. LinkedIn outreach automation: Setup your campaign

In today’s day and age, we use various tools to help us in our mundane tasks. Therefore, it’s natural for sales, marketing, and recruiting specialists to do the same.

One of those solutions is the LinkedIn automation tool. These tools help you streamline time-consuming outreach tasks, so no wonder they become a must-have for many experts.

To set up your LinkedIn outreach campaign, let’s take our outreach automation tool, Skylead, as an example.

First, go to your Skylead account dashboard and click Create a new campaign.

Next, choose the source of your leads. Then, paste LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Recruiter, or basic search URL. Or you can import your CSV file.

Lastly, choose the connection degree you wish to reach out to and click Next.

Now here is where you define the operative part of your campaign. Choose which options you want and set up the start and end date of your campaign.

4. Create an outreach sequence

Moving on. We’ve come to the Smart Sequence builder.

By creating the Smart Sequence, you actually create an action path that Skylead will follow to outreach your leads. In addition, what makes the sequence unique is the if/else condition, such as If connected. Thanks to these conditions, you can create countless scenarios, and Skylead will perform the scenario corresponding to the lead’s behavior.

That said, to create your coherent outreach sequence, simply drag and drop different actions and conditions. Here is an example.

5. Craft your LinkedIn outreach message

LinkedIn outreach is all about how you craft your messages. So, here is a nifty hack for you. In general, every message, be it a connection request, InMail, or email, should contain one of the following:

Your background;
The purpose of your outreach;
Personalized points;
The hook;
A solution to the pain point.

And aim for the following structure:

Personalized intro;
Context;
Added value;
CTA.

6. Nurture & engage

Once the lead responds, it’s your job to engage and nurture them to conversion. People skills play a significant role here, so here are a couple of pro tips that will help you:

Be empathetic so you can understand their problem and how they feel about it.
Don’t pitch first. Instead, ask them about their specific problem and customize your pitch.
Be confident.
Listen actively.
Read between the lines.
Understand body language and voice tones when you jump on a meeting.
Be an expert at what your company does.

7 LinkedIn outreach rules you need to consider

1. Have an optimized profile before you start

Before using your LinkedIn account for cold outreach, you need to sort out your LinkedIn profile and optimize it. In other words, setting up your profile includes:

Picking the best profile picture and cover photo;
Creating a catchy headline;
Write your detailed summary;
Fill in the experience section.

If you do it thoroughly, people will be more prone to accept your connection request or respond to your InMail message.

2. Use safe automation tools

If you use some kind of LinkedIn automation tool, you should know that there are 3 different kinds:

Chrome extension;
Desktop apps and web browsers;
And cloud-based solutions.

Chrome extensions are the least safe tool to use since they inject the code into the LinkedIn platform. This action sends LinkedIn an instant alert, and you risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted.

Desktop apps and web browsers are a bit safer. However, they don’t have a dedicated IP or the option to mimic human-like behavior. Moreover, you must have your PC turned on to keep your campaigns running.

Unlike other solutions, cloud-based LinkedIn automation tools are safer, as they do not inject the code into the LinkedIn platform. Moreover, you get a dedicated IP address that shields your activity, and they mimic human-like behavior making it impossible for LinkedIn to detect.

That said, choose carefully which LinkedIn automation tool you will use. For example, to keep your account safe and secure, we at Skylead have 3-layered protection for your LinkedIn account:

Human-like behavior;
Account warm-up;
And action limits;

3. Think multichannel

Did you know that companies with omnichannel engagement strategies retain 89% of customers (invesp)? Then, don’t just stop at LinkedIn outreach; for the best results, include email outreach as well since it’s still an essential means of correspondence.

This way, you are showing your target audience that you care and that you are expanding your reach. What’s more, you increase the chances of getting a hold of your leads who are not active on LinkedIn. Or in case your lead leaves your invite pending for a long time.

4. Don’t be too salesy

Nowadays, LinkedIn prospecting and cold outreach can’t do anything if your approach is too salesly or spammy. In other words, don’t talk only about your company or a product. Instead, take a legitimate interest in your target audience, build the relationship first, and connect on a human level. It’s the only way without sounding too salesy and a part of the tremendous social selling. So always choose a more genuine approach to nurturing leads.

5. Provide value

Consistently provide value in the form of educational content or throughout the meeting. The pro tip here is to do it after you’ve asked your leads about their pain points. This way, you’re ensuring you are tailoring your value according to what they precisely need and want.

6. Follow up consistently

Leads often do not respond to your message, and it’s not always because they are not interested. Maybe they forgot or were busy at that time.

Suppose your prospect doesn’t respond to your LinkedIn outreach message or email. Send them a follow-up one. After all, if you do, you will increase your chances of receiving a response by 25% (invesp). So why waste it?

To help put your follow–up message together, check out our templates to send follow up emails after no response and get inspired.

7. Revoke old requests

One of the main rules people doing LinkedIn outreach stick by is canceling their LinkedIn invites.

There is a common fear that LinkedIn won’t allow you to send new requests if you accumulate unanswered ones. Unfortunately, the fear is legitimate, as quite a few people have experienced this restriction.

If the lead doesn’t answer the LinkedIn connection request or follow-ups in months, chances are they are not interested anyways. So be sure to lean up your LinkedIn invites regularly.

5 Best LinkedIn outreach templates [Our best picks]

Linkedin outreach message templates for sales

Sales outreach is about the initial impressions, so your first message should contain at least two of the points we mentioned in the last step of LinkedIn outreach. That said, here are a couple of templates that demonstrate those exact points.

Templates

Hey {{firstName}},

I came across your LinkedIn profile and was so inspired by your background in {{industry}} and your passion for {{workAreaOfInterest}}. I’d like to connect and exchange ideas in both areas.

LinkedIn connection request example

Bonus points if you can reference mutual connection. And if you feel like being humorous, you can spice up your invite with an industry-related joke, such as this one:

How many {{leadPositionTitle}} does it take to screw in a light bulb? None – they’ve automated it. 🙂 Just kidding, {{firstName}}.

But if you really wish to automate almost every part of your {{leadSectorName}} workflow, let’s chat. I’d like to show you something that would make your life easier. Let’s connect.

LinkedIn connection request example

However, if all fall short and your lead doesn’t accept your invite, you can always send a LinkedIn InMail such as this one:

Subject line: There is a key to solving {{painPoint}}

InMail message:

Hey {{firstName}},

My name is {{yourName}}, and I tried reaching out and connecting via LinkedIn invite. It appears that we didn’t get the chance to connect.

I was very much impressed with your LinkedIn profile. So, I believe your experience and dedication to {{workAreaOfInterest}} make you the perfect person to introduce you to our groundbreaking {{toolSpecification}} tool {{yourSoftwareName}}.

Our tool is created by {{leadPositionTitle}} for {{leadPositionTitle}} and it helps you:

1# {{Benefit }}

2# {{Benefit}}

3# {{Benefit}}

4# {{Benefit}}

I'd love to offer a personalized demo, so you can see hands-on how it works. Let me know if you're up for it, and we'll schedule a 15-minute call asap.

Best, {{yourName}}

InMail example

LinkedIn outreach message templates for recruiters

For example, let’s say you wish to reach out to your perfect candidate for the job in your company. Your LinkedIn connection request can sound like this:

Hey {{firstName}},

My name is {{yourName}}, and we’re currently seeking a {{Occupation}}, and I truly believe that this role offers you a platform to leverage your skills and make a significant impact at our company. I’d be happy to share more details about the role and benefits we offer.

LinkedIn connection request example

If, however, your ideal candidate doesn’t reply, use InMail format to land straight in their inbox.

Subject line: Exciting job opportunity at {{yourCompanyName}}

InMail message:

Hey {{firstName}},

I understand that you may not be actively seeking new opportunities at this time. Still, I truly believe that this role provides you with a platform to leverage your {{Occupation}} skills and make a significant impact at {{yourCompanyName}}.

{{yourCompanyName}} is a {{shortDescription}}, where we take care of our employees and offer the very best, including:

1# {{Benefit 1}}

2# {{Benefit 2}}

3#{{Benefit 3}}

If this opportunity piques your interest, I would be happy to share more details about the role over the call. So let me know, and we can schedule an initial meeting at your earliest convenience.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Warm regards, {{yourName}}

InMail example

LinkedIn outreach message template for job search

We’ve all been there at one point - reaching out to companies and trying to get ahold of recruiters. Thankfully, you don’t need to search for their email addresses, as LinkedIn allows you to contact a recruiter from your ideal company directly. However, if you really wish to catch their attention, use this connection message template.

Templates

Hello {{firstName}},

I have been following {{companyName}} and I’m impressed by your values, and dedication to innovation. As a skilled {{Occupation}} and enthusiast for {{companyIndustry}} I believe your company could benefit from my background. Let’s meet each other and talk about it.

LinkedIn connection request example

Moreover, if you have a LinkedIn Premium account, even better. You could send them an InMail that looks like this:

Subject line: Proactive and passionate {{Occupation}} ready to make a difference at {{companyName}}

InMail message:

Hey {{firstName}},

My name is {{yourName}}, and I am a skilled {{Occupation}} with extensive experience in {{companyIndustry}}. I have been following {{companyName}} for some time now, and I am incredibly impressed by your {{Achievement}}, values, and dedication to innovation.

As someone really passionate about {{companyIndustry}}, I believe my background and skill set make me an ideal candidate to contribute to your team’s ongoing success.

I have achieved {{specificAccomplishmentOrResult}}, which has led me to {{quantifiable outcome}}. In addition, my expertise in {{specificSkill}} has allowed me to make a significant impact on my team’s performance and overall business growth.

I am excited about the prospect of bringing my skills and enthusiasm to {{companyName}}. I have attached my resume for your review and would be grateful for the opportunity to speak with you about how I could contribute to your team.

If there are any open positions or upcoming opportunities that align with my background, I would appreciate your consideration.

Thank you for taking the time to read my message, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Best, {{yourName}}

InMail example

LinkedIn outreach stats

1. Users who have 70+ SSI have 45% more opportunities and are 51% more likely to hit sales targets. Moreover, it will grant you 20% more reach. (Tribal impact)

2. LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation, far more than platforms like Facebook and Twitter. (HubSpot)

3. 92% of potential clients are willing to engage with an industry thought leader, making the thought leadership LinkedIn lead generation strategy very effective (CH Consulting Group).

4. Marketing managers experience up to 2 times higher conversion rates on LinkedIn. (LinkedIn)

5. Sending a personalized InMail will increase your response rate by up to 30%. (LinkedIn)

6. Lead conversion rates on LinkedIn are 3x higher than other ad platforms. (LinkedIn)

7. Audiences exposed to brand and acquisition messages on LinkedIn are 6x more likely to convert. (LinkedIn)

Frequently asked questions about Linkedin outreach

Those were some fascinating stats, ha? 🙂 Before we conclude this blog, let’s answer some frequently asked questions about the topics we didn’t get the chance to mention above.

Is prospecting on LinkedIn worth it?

Yes. LinkedIn prospecting helps you find your ICP and Buyer Persona with filtering options such as company size or industry. Moreover, the lead’s LinkedIn profile usually contains publicly available contact information, such as phone numbers or email addresses, that you can use to contact your leads outside LinkedIn.

What is the success rate of LinkedIn outreach?

LinkedIn outreach success rate depends on your goal and personalization level, but it’s usually high overall. For example, one of our sales team’s campaigns has the following result: out of 2782 connections sent, they experienced a 33% acceptance rate and 17% response. In some cases, the results go even higher.

What is a respectable number of LinkedIn connections?

You can have up to 30,000 connections, but the respected number depends on what you want to achieve. For example, for salespeople and recruiters, it’s essential to connect with as many people as possible to expand their network, thus reaching people outside of it and getting more leads.

Is it better to have followers or connections on LinkedIn?

Followers and connections are equally important, so it depends on your goals. For example, if you are a LinkedIn marketer and wish to focus on sharing content, gaining followers might be better for you. However, salespeople benefit better from the connections, as building relationships is the basis for successful selling.

Ready for LinkedIn outreach?

That’s a wrap-up for LinkedIn lead generation! This has been a wild ride.

Naturally, you can’t memorize everything from this article. Therefore, make sure to bookmark it, so you can return to it and remind yourself about best practices for LinkedIn lead generation.

Just remember to follow these 6 steps to start your outreach campaign:

Define your ICP and Buyer Persona;
Generate leads using the LinkedIn search or other methods;
Set up your outreach campaign;
Create a sequence;
Write and personalize your messages;
And nurture and engage.

If you need more inspiration on how to write your messages, feel free to use templates we have listed in this blog and throughout other blogs.

And don’t forget about the golden LinkedIn outreach strategies and rules we’ve mentioned in this article. You’ll experience a surge of qualified leads if you truly follow them.

Happy outreaching!

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According to the ManpowerGroup survey from Q3 2021, 69% of companies and talent acquisition specialists around the globe reported talent shortage. Moreover, according to Officevibe*, some top candidates have a 10-day window before landing a job.

Now, with the short time frame and a small pool to pick highly-qualified candidates from, talent acquisition specialists are in a difficult position. If they wish to hire the best employees, that is. This is more than enough reason to roll your sleeves and research talent acquisition and how to ace it.

So, if you wish to help your company, and find the best talent out there, then get ready for the jolly ride. We will uncover everything there is to know about talent acquisition and reveal tips to help you hire the best talent out there.

What is talent acquisition?

Talent acquisition is a process of recognizing and gathering the top employees for the company. In other words, talent acquisition means finding and nurturing the right employees according to the company’s needs.

The importance of talent acquisition has become evident to companies all over the globe, regardless the size. The reason is that talent acquisition specialists:

Attract the most skilled employees on the market to fill the key roles according to company culture and strategy. This ultimately leads to the company’s improvement and reaching the desired results;
Nurture and keep employees motivated, which leads to high retention rates and company advocacy;
Develop and provide education to help employees reach their professional goals;
Find the right employees and therefore save hiring time and money in the long run;
Are advocates for the company and provide the best hiring experience, thus creating a competitive advantage in the labor market;
Establish a talent pool for future hires, thus being prepared in advance.

And we just named a few 🙂

Recruiting and talent acquisition are often mistaken for one another. Yet, these two are the different sides of the same coin. Moreover, talent acquisition and recruiting may or may not be a part of the same sector. However, they are closely tied and cannot work without one another, which will cover in a second.

Talent acquisition VS recruitment

What is the Difference Between Recruitment and Talent Acquisition?

Talent acquisition is much more than just recruiting. It is a strategy on how a company should present itself in the labor market and become an ideal place to work in. Furthermore, the talent acquisition team is responsible for everything talent-related, including but not limited to:

how to source the talent;
supervise hiring;
hire themselves in some cases;
identify future leaders for the organization;
lastly, they are responsible for screening candidates for leadership positions and the ones who need diversified training.

As opposed to the strategy, recruiting is the sole action of filling job vacancies and short-term company hiring requirements. In other words, recruiters:

Find candidates or screen job applications;
Interview candidates;
Evaluate and select;
Hire candidates.

What is a talent acquisition specialist and what do they need for a job well done?

So what does the talent acquisition specialist need to have for the job? First, they need to have a psychology background and to know their way around people. Secondly, they also need to know how to nourish relationships inside and outside the company. Thirdly, they need to keep employer branding at the highest level.

Another thing someone needs to have is strategic thinking and the ability to know what the company needs or will need in the future.

As their job is to find top talents, talent acquisition specialists need to know how to do their research. Moreover, they need to know how to track job search impulses, set candidate alerts, and find perfect candidates for the job at the right time.

Lastly, it is always handy to have a set of sales skills for interviewing top-tier candidates. To clarify, the sales skills will help you get the employee that does not necessarily wish to change their job but would be just perfect for the role.

Process of talent acquisition

Talent acquisition includes the following stages:

Strategy Development
Establishing/Updating Talent Pipeline
Lead Generation
Recruiting
Interviewing
References Evaluation
Candidate Selection
Hiring ( and Onboarding)
Succession Planning

Let’s get into the details with every one of these activities.

1. Talent acquisition strategy development

Before developing any talent acquisition strategy, one must first define:

The company’s position in the market;
Budget available for talent acquisition activities;
Who the competitors are;
Competitors’ labor market behavior and their funding (if available).

Once you establish the previously mentioned, you can use that information to plan your strategy carefully.

There are two types of strategies that go hand in hand:

Employer branding strategy
Talent finding and acquiring strategy

The strategies can be any combination of activities. From participation in the job fairs and universities to boost your employer's brand awareness and gather early talents, or referral programs and sponsoring job fairs, for example. Only, whatever you decide your strategies are, be detailed, organized and mindful of your company’s industry, needs, and the budget.

2. Establishing talent acquisition pipeline

As talent acquisition strategy depends on talent pipelines, you need to create a mechanism to keep them full at all times. If your talent flow for every position in your company is continuous, you will always have someone to pick and choose from, should the need arise.

Otherwise, you need to discover what makes your pipeline “leaky” so you do not waste additional resources to fix the damage every time.

3. Lead generation

Once you have your strategies and talent pool in place, you need to define the online (and offline) channels you will use to find and generate your leads, aka candidates. Next, you need to write an alluring job post and an application form to start filtering out and identifying the best candidates. Lastly, distribute them across defined channels and according to your strategy.

4. Recruiting

If your company doesn’t have a separate recruiting sector, get ready to roll your sleeves. Recruiting is much more than just interviewing the candidates and choosing the right talent. Remember, they are also choosing you.

So apart from standard recruiting and evaluating the applications that landed in your inbox, you need to do something extra. Firstly, establish ways to create a positive experience for your candidates. Secondly, nurture them throughout the process. Lastly, keep the relationship with those who are not currently your ideal match but someday they might be.

5. Interviewing

This is where your psychological background and sales skills really shine. When interviewing the candidates, talent acquisition specialist should ask a series of questions related to:

the candidate's specialty;
problem-solving skills;
resourcefulness.

And not to forget, they need to figure out if the candidate has skills for any current or future positions.

Interviewing is usually held between 2 to 4 instances, depending on position seniority. However, talent acquisition specialists are trying to shorten the number of instances to provide as pleasurable an experience as possible.

6. References evaluation

Talent acquisition specialists often forget to cross-reference the information their candidates provide during the interview. Reference evaluating can provide another perspective on your candidate, confirm your thoughts and opinions, or provide additional information you wouldn’t find anywhere else.

7. Candidate selection

Talent acquisition specialists and recruiters lean on many metrics and systems to make data-driven decisions and select the top candidate for the job. Some of them include candidate scoring, internal evaluating systems, and even software that can do that for them. So be sure to research these systems and choose one which works best for both you and your company.

8. Hiring and onboarding

In some companies, talent acquisition teams also onboard new employees. Thus, apart from showing them around the office, or workflow, talent acquisition specialists are responsible for establishing new relationships.

9. Succession planning

The last activity that talent acquisition specialists need to do is succession planning. a process of identifying and finding substitute candidates for the leadership roles within the company in case something unexpected should happen or in case of retirement.

Succession planning is beneficial due to several reasons. Firstly, the company is always ready for any unexpected events. Secondly, it encourages employee development within the organization. Lastly, succession planning allows filling the roles quickly without losing much of the workflow.

15 Tips and best-case practices to improve talent acquisition activities

1. Minimum requirements

When creating a job description, it’s best to define the minimum and the maximum requirements someone needs to have to be qualified for the initial interview. To clarify, the reason for the minimum requirements is that you might meet someone who doesn’t have the highest experience you need, but they might have it in the future.

This means you can put them straight into your talent pool and contact them at a later stage. Or perhaps the person with less experience is a perfect match according to other company parameters (e.g. cultural, behavioral), as opposed to the one with the maximum requirements.

2. Collaborate with other sectors

Every sector and job position within the company has its specialties and expressions different from what the talent acquisition team uses. It’s okay not to know them all, as long as you keep collaborating with the rest of the company during the previously mentioned process for individual positions.

3. Write job post that is alluring

With each vacancy comes a special job description. So, be aware of what kind of talent you wish to draw to your company and write job posts to appeal to them. Spice it up with some benefits, perks, and employer branding testimonies, and you’ll be good to go for initial lead generation.

4. Remote or hybrid workspace

To stay competitive in the labor market, you must keep up with the trends. And one of the most popular trends now is precisely Remote or Hybrid workspace. Be mindful of this, and if your company doesn’t offer a fully remote position, at least offer a hybrid position, so you don’t lose top talents over this.

5. Where to build a pipeline?

Different talent acquisition teams use different platforms to help them build their talent pipeline and keep track of the candidates. That said, the most widely used is LinkedIn Recruiter or Recruiter Lite, which allows you to get candidates inside the pipeline with just one click and to the appropriate pipeline stage.

6. Include your co-workers in the process

It’s nifty to discover alternative ways to find and generate your candidates. However, remember that you, as a talent acquisition specialist, are not alone in your company. Thus, think about creating a referral program for your employees.

Your co-workers are the next best thing to know what kind of personnel your company needs, and if you set proper awards, you are more likely to find the right candidates quicker. After all, there is a “Six degrees of separation*” theory stating that any person can be connected to any other person in the world through six intermediaries at most.

7. Don’t rush

Finding the right employee is not an easy task, especially if we talk about C-suite positions. Thus, take your time and do not rush any activity. If you are thorough and dedicate time to each part of the talent acquisition process, you will save resources in the future.

For example, most talent acquisition specialists use LinkedIn Recruiter, and the one thing they never rush is filtering the right candidates for the job. Thus, take advantage of every LinkedIn Recruiter filter and take your time zeroing in on the candidates you will reach out to.

8. Research your candidates

If, for example, you use LinkedIn to find candidates, you should consider the following advice.

Firstly, to laser-target your candidates, be sure to specify your search as much as possible. In other words, use filters to import the most relevant skills needed for the role.

Secondly, when looking at LinkedIn profiles, observe the diversity of interests a person has. The information you find will contribute to your company and imply what you need to do to achieve employee satisfaction.

Thirdly, if you are searching for the people to fill in higher-up roles, be sure to analyze the skills they possess that served them in the previous positions that can be usable for the one you are reaching out to.

Lastly, if, for example, you're searching for a team leader for your programming team, you might consider how the team could contribute to the team leader’s development.

9. Streamline a part of your talent acquisition process

If you headhunt using LinkedIn Recruiter, then you must’ve experienced how tiresome it is to reach out to every person on the list manually. Luckily, you don’t have to. You can streamline your outreach process by getting a solution to do it for you and thus save so much time.

Take Skylead, for example. You can create an outreach campaign quickly and easily. Firstly, take your LinkedIn Recruiter pipeline or talent pool URL with all the candidates you found by prospecting on LinkedIn.

Then, go to Skylead and paste it into the respective field. Be sure to name your campaign, and select the type of campaign.

Next, create your Smart Sequence steps and your messages. To clarify, Smart Sequences are Skylead’s groundbreaking algorithms. They allow you to use multichannel outreach and personalization at scale.

And you are done!It is that simple.

Skylead can also help you schedule your interviews from the Smart Inbox, so there is no need to navigate between the platforms.

10. Personalize your messages

Nobody likes getting generic emails, nor will your ideal candidates for the top-level job. Thus, to provide the best experience for your candidates, make sure to personalize your outreach according to their resume or LinkedIn profile. For example, include their name, position, or the skills that stood out to you the most.

11. Don’t forget to proofread

Typos, wrong names, and grammatical errors in your email can come across as unprofessional and can put your company in a bad light. So, to avoid this, edit, proofread your messages, and double-check contact information for any mistakes before sending.

12. Timing is everything

Good timing is a desired virtue for talent acquisition specialists to have. Timing to recognize and outreach candidates at just the right time according to their job search impulses.

However, there is one other timing equally if not more important than that - responding to your candidates on time. If you wait too long, especially if you hire management roles, you risk losing your candidate’s interest and someone else taking them over.

13. Choose your questions carefully

Sometimes the candidates won’t be as direct as you would like them to be. So, to get the information, you need to get creative during the conversation. The best-case approach here is to ask so-called probing questions to specify their response. In other words, you can ask them a series of questions like:

- Tell me, how did you manage a group of people to achieve the best productivity throughout the day?

- What objectives did you set for the group?

- How did you motivate them?

- What was the most difficult part of this task?

In addition, take note of what the candidate asks you in return, how they prioritize their interest for the role, and what they are curious about the company (benefits, conditions, market share, organization culture, etc.).

14. How should talent acquisition team choose the best candidate?

Selecting the right candidate for the job can be a hard decision for a talent acquisition specialist. If you are lucky, you can pinpoint the person you wish for your organization. However, what to do if you have two or more top talents in your hand?

Hire them all 🙂

Jokes aside, here is what you can do to ease your decision.

The first thing you need to pay attention to is authenticity and synchronicity between the candidate's personal preferences and the information you get from the interview. In other words, analyze verbal and non-verbal communication, and the thought process and write your observation down.

The other thing you can also do is to walk the candidates through questions about personal preferences of informal, trivial topics and get to the main questions later. Using this method, the candidate could reveal themselves through potential incoherence.

Once you have all data in place, choose the candidate with the smallest amount of discrepancy and highest compatibility.

15. Honesty is the best talent acquisition strategy

Somehow in the business world, we always come back to honesty, and talent acquisition is no exception. I mean, have you heard about Microsoft’s promise to disclose salary ranges in January 2023?

Many talent acquisition specialists are true advocates for honesty, and there are major reasons for that. Firstly, it adds to the authenticity. Talent acquisition specialists often share why they work in a particular company, their motives, and what motivates them the most to be where they are. This way, candidates can see the true passion in the conversation and wish to work in that company, as well.

Talent acquisition specialists and recruiters thus act as a live banner of the company. If the candidates do not resonate with the passion, it’s best to reveal it from the start - it will save you so much time in the future.

So, keep in mind that being honest and believing in your company is one of the best things you need to show to your candidates. Not only will you filter and acquire the best candidates, but you will also contribute to the Employer branding strategy.

Lastly, your honesty and passion will be such a strong argument that negotiations and whether someone wishes to work for the company won’t even be a question anymore.

Summary

Talent acquisition and the labor market are one of the most changed segments due to technological development in the last couple of years. Apart from company Goodwill, talent acquisition sectors are the ones that represent a company directly to the outside world.

Speaking from the company’s point of view, it pretty much became a standard to have talent acquisition specialists simply because of all the benefits it comes along: from resource savings to reaching higher goals by finding a perfect match and employee satisfaction.

However, none of it comes without the talent acquisition team’s hard work and activities that involve:

Strategy Development
Establishing/Updating Talent Pipeline
Lead Generation
Recruiting
Interviewing
References Evaluation
Candidate Selection
Hiring ( and Onboarding)
Succession Planning

And let’s not forget that our trusted talent acquisition specialists are go-to guys for everyone in the company. They are somewhat of our genie in the bottle for professional development.

Nonetheless, talent acquisition specialists can perfect their craft by following the tips and best-case practices mentioned above. Lastly, people are dynamic, so if you, as a talent acquisition specialist, help others develop their talents, don’t forget about yourself.

Wish to discover how to streamline your talent acquisition process? Check out Skylead and schedule a Demo!

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We all know that LinkedIn is the #1 tool to find B2B sales leads. And with an impressive 810 million users, search filters, and many features such as business insights, how could it not be? However, finding leads who would be immensely interested in what you sell is not an easy task, even on LinkedIn.

So, here is the question: As your sales quota depends on the perfect targeting, would you lean on LinkedIn as your only lead source? Would you decide not to do extra targeting work and risk getting the wrong sales leads or wasting time building campaigns that won’t convert?

Fear not. There is a way you can take your prospecting up a notch. How - by searching the sales leads all over the internet and discovering the ones that will match your ICP or buyer persona perfectly.

That is why, in this article, we will go over a couple of places outside of LinkedIn where you can find sales leads and improve your prospecting efforts.

So let’s put our detective cap on, and jump to it.

What you need to do before searching for the leads online

Unveiling the bigger picture

If you plan to find sales leads and do cold outreach, you should go all in and be prepared.

Cold outreach, aka outbound, is a powerful way to build relationships and close more deals if done right. However, one should not forget that cold outreach is just a portion of the bigger picture. In other words, there are a lot of things that should be working in the background.

So before you start to find leads online, here are the 3 main things you should prepare first.

1. Build your inbound strategy

Imagine a scenario where you outreached the lead, and they visited the website to learn more about the product. Perhaps they wanted to see or download templates and documents or chat with support.

However, the website they land on has no blogs, educational content, lead generation forms, nor the possibility to book a demo, and the chat is just the thought of the future. I can go on, but you get the gist. Your cold outreach, in this case, won’t be successful as the lead will perceive you as unprofessional or not credible. Consequently, you will waste your lead.

Whether we would like to admit it or not, inbound and outbound are mutually beneficial. One affects the other, and you should have both prepared for the maximum results.

2. Define your ICP and buyer persona

Both Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona are the documents that dictate what type of company or a person you are going to outreach. Thus, defining both should be your first step before finding sales leads.

To clarify, the Ideal Customer Profile describes the company that would benefit the most from your product or service. These companies should have the fastest conversion cycle, highest LTV, highest customer retention, and are willing to refer your product or service to others.

On the other hand, a Buyer Persona describes your perfect decision-maker. In other words, a Buyer Persona is a collection of a person’s data such as age, location, likes, dislikes, goals, wishes, challenges, and motivations.

Ideally, both Buyer Persona and ICP should be based on existing customers and the data, as it will help you define these documents more precisely.

Education alert! We prepared step-by-step guides on how to create your ICP and a Buyer Persona, as well as free templates to get you started, so be sure to check them out.

3. Create the sales leads personalization document

Social Selling is about building relationships and helping your sales leads reach their goals with your product.

However, before doing so, you need to catch their attention and find the means to start the conversation genuinely. So, the big part of your research is finding the sales leads' details to help you personalize your cold outreach.

To personalize your outreach at scale, you would need to get crafty. In other words, while finding the perfect sales leads, you would need to research what they do, the content they published, or get more personal by finding their hobby.

This is where you will feel like a true detective. Start by creating an Excel file with the columns such as:

First name;
Last name;
LinkedIn profile URL;
Company.

Then, continue by inserting information, such as:

The topic of the content they published;
What stood out for you the most from the particular post;
School they went to;
Field of study;
Jobs they posted;
Company growth information;
Personalized message intro (the message you can create based on above mentioned);

In other words, create a column for everything you can come across while researching. The reason for this document is every piece of this document becomes actionable in your outreach. So, read on to see how you can use this document and benefit from it.

Hint: Before you start your outreach be sure you have your LinkedIn prepared to sell for you.

Why should you use other ways to find sales leads?

LinkedIn is still our #1 platform to generate leads. However, by taking different approaches to find sales leads outside of LinkedIn, you will gain even deeper insights into your potential ICP or Buyer Persona, which will help you maximize your sales efforts and results.

In addition, we will still show how to use these approaches in combination with LinkedIn and even outreach on autopilot to save 11 hours a week so you can focus on closing the deals.

26 ways to find sales leads outside LinkedIn

We are all about practical education. Thus, the approaches we will mention below have their purpose and certain information they can give away, which you can use in your outreach.

The information can be the company changes or giving away certain buying impulses you can use as your upper hand. Let's get to it.

1. Find sales leads via the job search websites

When a company is hiring, it usually means one of these 3 things:

They gained a bigger budget for the department;
Something is not right in the current process;
Or a person from the team is leaving for some reason.

Nonetheless, job postings are the result of the department change, and you should seize that opportunity. This is where recruiters usually spill the beans, so keep a lookout on the department and industry of interest.

For example, let’s say you are selling team management software for remote teams. You can go to any job search website like Indeed and filter the jobs by industry, job type, and by remote work.

This is a great place to find your ICP and go from there. In addition, if you have a LinkedIn Premium account, you can check out the company’s growth insight on LinkedIn and move on to find your decision-maker.

You can, of course, do this process on LinkedIn, as well. However, keep in mind that if your ICP are small companies, you might not be able to see their job posts unless you are their 1st-degree connection or they promote these posts on LinkedIn.

2. Sales leads from the companies that got fundings

Another great way to find your ICP is to research what companies recently gained some sort of funding. Since they have got money to invest, be sure that these companies’ priority is growth. So this is something to keep in mind for your outreach.

So, to find these companies, you can choose one of two ways. Firstly, you can use company data websites, such as Fundz, TechCrunch, or Crunchbase. Crunchbase is easier to find the information as you can filter the companies using the free Funding Rounds feature.

Secondly, you can google the companies using Boolean search operators.

Whatever approach you choose, making the connection with the person from the company that just got the funding and building the relationship can result in a long-lasting partnership.

3. Facebook - Where all sales leads are secretly active

Bet you didn’t see this coming, eh? 🙂 All jokes aside, Facebook is a perfect place to find your Buyer Persona. However, you just need to dig a little deeper to find them, and join a couple of groups here and there.

The first thing you need to do is to research and find the Facebook groups your sales leads follow. Then, join these groups and wait for approval.

From there you can find your sales leads by posts they published. The only thing you need to do is search the group by the keyword.

To clarify, you can search sales leads by, for example, the exact pain point they experience, or goal they wish to achieve.

From there you can respond directly in the comments, go to the profile and check for the email, or simply find them on LinkedIn and prepare their profile for the outreach campaign.

4. Finding sales leads on Twitter

A simple search on Twitter can go a long way. However, you would first need to write down keywords and hashtags you need to search to laser-target your sales leads. In addition, make a note of the various topics prospects tweet about.

Once you find them, you can either engage with them by retweeting the post, writing a comment, or finding them on LinkedIn and preparing them for the outreach campaign.

The other thing you can try is to find a relevant post and see who reacted to it, as you would, for example, find people who reacted to certain LinkedIn posts.

You could also search posts by competitors’ mentions and reach out to people who are not satisfied with them.

5. Search YouTube comments to find sales leads

Let's continue with the Social Media trend. Apart from Facebook and Twitter, you can find sales leads in the YouTube comments section too.

All you need to do is find the videos your sales leads might be watching and look down in the comments. In other words, try to find someone with the full name and a profile picture, take a screenshot, and find them on LinkedIn to prepare them for your outreach. It is a simple yet effective strategy as this way, you will laser-target your sales leads who like to chat online and share their thoughts.

Let’s say your sales leads are SaaS founders. Consequently, you would find a video in relation to SaaS, such as this one.

Next, scroll down, check the comment section, and try to find a couple of profiles with the real picture and a name.

Lastly, take a screenshot, and try to find them on LinkedIn.

6. Review websites

Speaking of people who are not pleased with your competitors, you can find them on listing websites too.

If, for example, your competitor is a software tool, you can use any SaaS review website, including:

Simply go to the review website of choice, find your competitor, and then search for people who posted negative reviews. Here is an example of a person who is not satisfied with calendar software.

7. Sales leads in website community

Website communities such as GrowthHackers or SalesHackers are another place where you can find sales leads. With plenty of topics to search from, you will be pleased with how many discussions and users you will come across.

For example, the nice thing about the GrowthHackers community is that you can find the user, see their publications, and topics they follow, and choose to follow them or contact them directly.

So, hit the internet and find the website community from your target industry.

8. Slack communities that sales leads are a part of

Now, this is what sales dreams are made of. If you thought those website communities were interesting, you would be ecstatic with the Slack channels! What’s interesting is that you can contact each member privately via chat.

There are different communities all over Slack, and you can explore and find the ones your buyer persona joined. For example, a B2B content director must be following the content trends, so you will most likely find them in the Superpath slack community under content-b2b channel.

What’s best is that Slack channels like RevGenius or Trenches are very educational, supportive, and welcoming. Thus, apart from finding sales leads, you can enjoy your stay and learn something along the way.

9. Discord - Unexpected place where you can find sales leads

Speaking of app communities, have you ever thought about Discord? It is a place where people can communicate with each other via either text or voice chat. Unlike Slack, Discord was initially created as an informal place to hang out with your friends or even play massive multiplayer online games.

However, Discord grew to be so much more. Now, it is a new hotspot where people all around the world gather to share their experiences and thoughts on various topics. Thus many so-called Servers, aka groups, emerged, and you will be able to find one to which your sales leads belong.

For example, here is what the Salesforce discord channel looks like.

10. Discovering startups

If your ICP are mostly startups, look no further than the websites such as ProductHunt, BetaList, AngelList or Crunchbase. BetaList is the place for recently launched internet startups. It cleverly segments startups by industries, so there is no way you won’t find the one you need.

Another advantage is that you can contact the founder directly by finding their social media account on the profile listed beneath the company description.

11. Researching the niche platforms to find perfect sales leads

Not all companies are alike, and there are a lot of niche businesses whose Buyer Personas have unique jobs. So it is important never to stop researching and visiting platforms where the target audience has their profile.

For example, if your target group is videographers or graphic designers, you would most likely visit Behance or Vimeo. On the other hand, if your sales leads are music artists, then SoundCloud is the place for you. Looking for developers? Give Github a try.

If, for example, you are selling an invoice management tool and need to reach out to freelancers, go to Upwork. The more information you have on your sales leads, the easier it would be to start the conversation, such as:

Hey, 
I have seen the ratings on your Upwork profile, they are amazing. 
I bet you get a lot of work as a freelancer. I was just wondering what tool for the invoice you use?

The possibilities are pretty much endless here.

12. Medium

Many people of all occupations share their stories and thoughts on Medium, and your sales leads could be one of them. To clarify, Medium is a blogging platform with over 100 million readers and 175,000 authors who are thought-leaders, journalists, and experts, so you have a deep pool of sales leads to search from.

Moreover, Medium is pretty easy to use. You just need to type the topic of interest in the search bar and browse through articles.

Once you find an interesting post, go to the author's profile. You will usually see their LinkedIn profile or other Social Media URL in the About section, so it is easy to qualify sales leads right away.

In addition, you can also see the comments and the profile of the person who posted that comment. Thus your sales leads could be one of them.

13. Generate sales leads from your customers

One of the most powerful ways to find sales leads is by asking your clients. In other words, you can reach out to your best existing customers and ask them if any of their business contacts would be interested in your product or service.

To clarify, we say this is the best option as once they give you a contact, you can mention this mutual connection and gain higher credibility and trust from the start. This is the oldest “trick” in the book and never fails to show results.

However, never forget the person who gave you the contact. To show gratitude, you could offer some sort of discount or similar incentives.

Outreach the sales leads by streamlining the process

Remember when we mentioned the personalization document with actionable data? Well, this is where you are going to use it.

To streamline your process and outreach the sales leads you found, you can create a new CSV file out of the information you gathered or use the existing ones. The only condition here is to insert a person’s LinkedIn profile and email address. If, however, you cannot find the person’s email address, you can use one of these ways to find emails yourself or let Skylead take care of that.

Skylead already offers the following native variables for the message personalization based on the sales leads’ LinkedIn profiles:

First name
Last name
Current company
Years in current company
Total career positions count
Total years of experience
College name
Occupation

Nonetheless, you can insert other information divided into columns, and Skylead will recognize them as custom variables. To clarify, here is what our Ivana has to say on Custom Variables:

So, your end CSV file can look something like this:

Creating a CSV campaign in Skylead

Once you create your CSV file, it’s time to launch the campaign and reach out to the sales leads you found.

To do so, first, go to your Skylead dashboard and click the Create New Campaign button.

From there, choose the Import type campaign and upload your CSV file. Then, name your campaign and click Next.

Next, set up your additional settings, such as date or email tracking metrics, and proceed.

Now you need to create a coherent action path that Skylead will follow - aka Smart Sequence.

Simply drag and drop actions and use different conditions based on their behavior to maximize getting in touch with your leads.

Discover numerous templates and step-by-step multichannel outreach strategies that helped us grow Skylead from 2500 to 10 000+ users in just months. Download our Free eBook now.

Finally, do not forget to create personalized messages for the actions, such as an invite to connect, LinkedIn InMail, LinkedIn message, or Email message. Here is where you can use native and custom variables you created previously, making your message look something like this:

And this is just one way you can use to outreach your sales leads in Skylead!

In conclusion

The sales industry is ever-changing, and we always keep discovering new ways to improve our outreach efforts.

However, one thing is constant - you need to care for your sales leads and wish to help them. Only then will you be able to make something meaningful and close the deals.

So, what’s better than finding the perfect sales leads and gaining immediate insight so you can have something to kickstart the conversation and continue to build a relationship.

Finding your sales leads is one of the most important steps, as it can make or break your outreach. Thus, you should go the extra mile to find the right company or a person for your business.

To do so, here are a couple of things you need to do before finding the sales leads:

Build your inbound strategy
Define your ICP and Buyer Persona
Create Sales Leads personalization document

When you prepare these three things, only then will you be able to proceed to find your sales leads. And to get creative, use the following websites, databases and communities to find your perfect leads and more information about them.

And once you find the best sales leads, Skylead will always be here to help you streamline the most time-consuming part of the sales process and personalize your outreach at scale for maximum results.

Wish to see Skylead in action? Start your 7-day Free Trial!

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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What would you say is the first thing that catches your prospects' attention in their inbox? That is right, email subject lines. They are undoubtedly the most integral part of your cold email outreach. In just seconds, the faith of your outreach success is determined.

How? Well, if you do not create catchy email subject lines, you risk getting your email deleted, your open rate becomes much lower, and you will be disregarded as Spam. Consequently, this ultimately leads to a lower number of warmed-up leads and closed deals. Furthermore, effort and time spent will go to waste.

Don’t panic. We’ve got your back.

In this article, we are explaining what the subject line is and why it is important for your email outreach. Furthermore, we are digging deep into catchy email subject examples, why they work, and help you create your golden subject line that catches your prospects’ attention immediately.

What is an email subject line and why is it important?

Let’s start with the basics. When you open up email inbox, you can notice the 3 following components of the email message:

Senders’ name,
Subject Line,
And Preview text.

Email subject line is a text line next to the sender’s name, describing the title of the email message. In other words, it is an indication of what the message is about and why you should read it.

Email subject line communicates value, sets expectations, and entices recipients to discover more about the topic by reading the email message.

Getting your email subject line just right will make you stand out in the sea of other emails and increase the open rate. In sales terms, this means increasing the chances of getting your message across and warming up leads so you can close more deals.

Another thing worth mentioning is the importance of the Preview Text.

A preview text, aka preheader text, is a line next to the subject line that shows the beginning of your email message. In some cases, preview text can be custom-made if you use newsletter software or similar tools, but in most cases, it shows a preview of your message. That is why it is important to perceive them in synergy rather than separate components to make your outreach as effective as you can (but we will talk more about this below).

How to write catchy email subject lines: Tips to get started

Email subject lines’ first and foremost purpose is to get your prospects to open up your email. In other words, you need to catch their attention and entice them towards this action.

Therefore, make email subject lines mean something. Let’s go through a couple of steps to get started.

1. Determine the type of subject lines

As a salesperson, especially when doing a cold outreach, your job is to set the tone of the email subject lines. There are many ways to do it - making bold, sweet, or commanding statements - but first, you need to figure out the email content. After that, write down the email core meaning, and choose the type of tone which best fits your outreach message, personality, and prospects’ preferences.

The usual subject line types for sales are:

Email Subject Lines Types	Email Subject Lines Examples
Controversial	LinkedIn is not for outreach if…
Lack	Poor quality data costs you. Here’s why…
Personalized	Amy, this tip will improve your business
FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)	Catch limited time offer
Guide	How to close deals in 3 days
Questioning	What is your top priority?
Sneak peek	A discount gift for you
Making an offer	10% off lifetime offer
Statistics	92% of salespeople swear by this strategy
Directive	Use this fantastic tip to improve sales
Pain point	If you struggle with wasting time, use this hack

2. Straight to the point

Be clear and concise about your email subject lines whenever you can. The reason is that often prospects prioritize the emails by their subject line and order of reading/replying. For this reason, the email subject line should communicate what the message is all about and its importance.

Avoid vague subject lines, such as “While I wait for your response”, that doesn't show anything about the email content as it will end up at the bottom of the priority list, and prospects will eventually forget it.

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t get crafty with it. You can create wordplay such as “Let’s Taco ‘bout your performance”, create a theme as “Let’s schedule a coffee chat”, or even use the power words to enhance your catchy email subject lines.

3. Power words in email subject lines

Specific words can trigger an emotion in us on a conscious or subconscious level. Let's take the word “happy” for instance. After reading it, you suddenly felt a slight uplift in your mood, didn’t you? What happens with the word “Sad”? You felt slightly down there, correct?

Words are indeed powerful. So using specific words in subject lines can do the same for your prospect. To be more precise, using Power words can really catch your prospects’ attention and activate an emotion. Furthermore, if you put the Power word at the subject line beginning, it will draw even more attention.

Here are power words example list to catch your prospects’ attention and get them to open up your email:

Providing value:
- Inspire
- Learn
- Guide
- Enjoy
- Proven
- Lifetime
- Discount
- Valuable
- Nifty
- Secret

Pain point focus:
- Ready
- Change
- Save
- Stop
- Avoid
- Easier
- Faster
- Improve
- Skyrocket
- Reach

Note: The important thing is to set expectations with power words, but be careful not to overpromise, as this will only annoy your prospects. And do not go overboard with them.

4. How long should email subject lines be

On average, email subject lines should ideally be 4 to 7 words. If you need more words, aim for a subject line no longer than 9 words, which is the upper limit. Furthermore, contemporary inboxes can reveal up to 60 characters on average, depending on the email provider.

Also, keep in mind that some people check their emails on mobile devices, which show only 41 to 50 characters. This roughly translates to 7 to 8 words. Therefore, to lower the number of characters, you need to remove any filler words, such as just, hi, thanks, going to, etc.

Note: If you plan to reach out to your prospects using LinkedIn InMail, you should know that the subject line character limit is 200 characters. Check out our complete guide on how LinkedIn InMail works and 13 InMail templates for a better response rate.

5. Use subject lines and preview texts in synergy

As we mentioned earlier, the preview text is a line of text found next to the subject line. It shows the first couple of words of your email message. In addition, it can show custom text if you use a newsletter software tool.

Preview text is just as important as the subject line - it is your chance to deepen the message and make it more effective to get your prospects to open up an email.

Preview text is usually 35 to 90 characters long, depending on the email provider. To make a subject line and preview text work together, it is best to perceive a preview text as a collection of details that didn’t fit the subject line. Here is an example:

Subject line: 🎁 A discount gift for you

Preview text: Happy Women’s Day! Up until the end of March, you get a discount of […]

Note: To convince a prospect to keep on reading the email and perform the desired action, make sure you get your opening paragraph and a Call To Action right.

Email subject lines best practices [and some worst ones to keep away]

Now that we’ve set the email subject lines basic steps, let’s go through the best practices and what you need to avoid.

Subject lines best practices

1. Personalization

Did you know that personalizing subject lines can increase the open rate by 22.2%? The increase in open rate happens because personalization creates a sense of familiarity in leads. Especially if you found those leads by prospecting on LinkedIn. Furthermore, it comes across as genuine and that you care for them.

Personalize your email subject lines using the following demographic, psychographic, and firmographic data:

Interaction with your brand
Their location
Years in the company
Current company
Interests and values

To gain a full understanding of how powerful personalization in outreach can be, check out our blogs on how to increase the level of personalization in outreach and how to personalize image and GIF to improve response rate.

2. Use emojis In email subject line

In modern days times, emojis can be a nifty tool to spice up your subject line. They are a friend in need to get your point across, make your email stand out in the inbox, and they cost only one character (speaking of saving the space in the subject line :).

To back this up, take a look at the following statistics:

Emojis in subject lines had an open rate of 56% higher than those without them.

Not bad, ha 🧐?

3. Include numbers

Catchy email subject lines that include numbers achieve 45% higher open rates. This way, prospects will perceive your subject line as more precise and attract their attention. Use numbers to state how many tips you send them, time stamps, or statistics to increase the value.

4. Email subject lines specifying time

Providing your prospects with the right information that is in correlation with time will attract their attention as it represents information that is a “current trend”. Nicely timed subject line will increase an open rate, as well as response rate depending on the email body.

Example:

Here is how to boost your April’s website performance

5. Hint the valuable content

One of the perfect ways to increase the open rate is to give your prospects a sneak peek into the body of the email. This catchy email subject lines’ teaser can be in the form of content that prospects will value, such as images, infographics, and guides with top 5 tips.

Example:

Why Sales Needs To Get Out There And Use Social Selling More (Webinar)

6. Subject line testing

You need to test your email subject lines to be sure you got them just right, and there are a couple of ways you can do it.

A/B testing

Every audience is different, and in some cases, one subject line that worked previously won’t be that effective anymore. And then, there is the following fact:

A/B testing can increase email open rates by 49%.

That is why you need A/B tests as much as possible. In order to do this, take 3 to 5 subject lines and send out those cold outreach emails to check which one has the highest open rate.
For example, in Skylead, you can test different subject lines for your outreach campaigns on autopilot and see which one works best for you.

Online email subject line testers

Online email subject line testers are nifty tools to have at hand if you are not sure about the effectiveness of your subject lines. Whether you wish to test the emotional tone of voice or the overall effectiveness of your subject lines, you can use tools such as Send Check It, EMV Headline Analyzer, or GradeMyEmail.

Email subject lines DON’Ts

1. Hi there

Avoid phrases such as Hi there, Greetings George, or Hello. The reason is they aren’t specific enough and do not show any hint of what the email message is all about. Instead, draw your prospect’s attention by clearly stating the purpose.

2. Misleading prospects

Being deceptive and promising your prospect one thing in the subject line and showing them another will annoy them. Consequently, you will lose trust and respect instantly. Not to mention, you will fail to close the deal with the prospect forever. Therefore, avoid click baits, or RE: and FWD: entirely just to get them to open up an email.

3. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS OR BUNCH OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

See how that was unnerving and frenzy-like? Using letters in Caps Lock or with multiple exclamation points is a synonym for spammers these days. It also looks aggressive and distasteful, and you do not wish that for your brand, trust us. Furthermore, if you use this kind of email subject line, you risk getting your emails in the Spam folder. However, Caps Lock and exclamation points are not prohibited - you can always use one from time to time to emphasize your statement, but please do not go overboard.

4. Avoid spammy words

Similar to all-caps-lock words and multiple exclamation points, spam words can also ruin your outreach efforts. These words have been all over the internet for many, many years (not to mention billiards in the 80s) and are now considered repulsive and plain out pushy.

Here are a couple of examples to watch out for:

Act Now
Cash
Cheap
Credit
Double your ROI
Earn Extra cash
Millionaires
Free
Fast money
Get it today

Catchy email subject lines examples and templates

Follow up email subject lines

Had a {{Topic}} idea for you since we last spoke

Example:

Had a social selling idea for you since we last spoke

Been thinking about what you said

Should I give up on you and close the file?

I forgot to mention in our meeting that…

The final and easy step…

Tuesday meeting at 10PM

Sending info I promised 👉

I spoke with {{ReferredName}} and they said…

Example:

I spoke with Mark, and he said…

Down to business - How we can help

Need any help?

{{firstName}} I need your advice

Have 5 minutes for a quick call?

I don't expect you to open this email but…

General cold outreach email subject lines

❤️ how you contribute to {{DesiredResult}}

Example:

❤️ how you contribute to closing the deals faster

{{firstName}} let’s connect

Are you completely happy with {{CompetitorName}}?

Get lifetime access to {{SoftwareName}}

What are your insights from {{Event}}?

The most exciting opportunity for {{Industry}} companies in 2024

Example:

The most exciting opportunity for insurance companies in 2024

Saw your amazing post - Interested in creating shared content?

Exclusive for {{CompanyName}}: 3 tips to get conversion faster

Congrats on {{Achievement}} 🥳

Example:

Congrats on becoming CEO 🥳

Join forces? 👊

Urgent email subject lines

Do you have these numbers and analytics yet?

Hot conversion data insight for {{CurrentMonth}}, 2024

Resource on {{Topic}} that’d go great in your {{Topic}} post

Example:

Resource on Email Statistics that’d go great in your Outreach post

Omg {{firstName}}...

It doesn’t look good

10 must-know trends to keep up on the market

Your Free Trial is ending!

Save 30% before the New Year

Email subject lines that entice curiosity

Everyone’s favorite {{Occupation}} trick is…

Example:

Everyone’s favorite Sales trick is…

🤫 Real secret to {{Task}} or {{Benefit}} is…

Example:

🤫 Real secret to outperform outreach is…

About your approach…

I have a question about how {{DoingRelevantTask}}

Example:

I have a question about how you handle budgeting

Does Thursday work for you?

New year, a new strategy to {{Goal}}

Example:

New year, a new strategy to achieve 50+ conversions a month

Are you taking advantage of your detailed reporting?

How we accomplished {{DesiredResult}} in 2 months

Example:

How we accomplished 6x more sales in 2 month

{{RelevantTopic}} trends that are the talk of the town

Example:

Sales strategy trends that are the talk of the town

Save 5 hours a week with {{Task}} on autopilot

Example:

Save 5 hours a week with outreach on autopilot

56% of {{JobPosition}} use this trick to improve conversion

A cheat-sheet for better conversion — Interested?

{{Topic}} resources that can help you at this time

Example:

Cold outreach resources that can help you at this time

4 tips to help increase sales during hard times 💪

It’s that simple 😃

Few in the {{IndustryType}} know about these hacks

Pick one out of these 2 strategies

Email subject lines that address pain points

How to survive {{PainPoint}}

Example:

How to survive working 10 hours a day

5 easy steps to beat {{PainPoint}}

How to deal with {{PainPoint}}

Example:

How to deal with LinkedIn algorithm

5 Ideas for {{PainPoint}}

A resource to help you with {{PainPoint}}

How happy are you with {{Department}} performance?

Example:

How happy are you with Sales performance?

Steal this strategy from us - It will work for {{PainPoint}} 😁

7 tips for turning {{PainPoint}} around

Proven solution to {{PainPoint}}

Tired of {{PainPoint}}? Let’s have a chat

Subject lines that relieve pain and offer solution

The fastest way to reach your Q2 target 💹

Here is the shortcut to {{Benefit}} 🙌

Example:

Here is the shortcut to tracking performance easier 🙌

Help is on the way - best strategies for LinkedIn lead generation

Problem with closing the deals? Here is how to fix it easily

Save up 5 hours of work per week

{{ProductOrSolution}} empowers companies such as {{CompanyName}}

Ready to implement {{Tool}} to eliminate {{PainPoint}}?

Example:

Ready to implement Skylead to eliminate wasting time on manual outreach?

Personalized email subject lines

{{firstName}}, I was researching {{CompanyName}} and…

{{ReferredName}} said to reach out to you…

Example:

Your colleague Steve said to reach out to you…

{{ReferredName}} think you’ll love us too

{{firstName}} I loved your post on LinkedIn about {{Topic}}

Example:

Sandy, I loved your post on LinkedIn about how to modernize sales

Does this work for you {{firstName}}?

{{firstName}}, a quick question regarding your performance

{{firstName}}, I notice you try to achieve a 50% increase in sales

Opportunity for {{CompanyName}}

Partner up with {{CompanyName}}

{{firstName}}, I have a story for you

{{TheirCompetitorName}} VS {{CompanyName}}

{{firstName}} perform {{Task}} better from Now on 💪

Example:

Andy perform outreach better from Now on 💪

New managing employees strategy for {{CompanyName}}

Loved the blog you wrote for {{CompanyName}}🔥

{{firstName}} I missed you at {{Event}}

What is your expert opinion on {{Topic}}, {{firstName}}?

Example:

What is your expert opinion on social selling, {{firstName}}?

{{firstName}} is there a lot on your plate r/n?

Humorous email subject lines

🌮 Can we Taco ‘bout your growth?

⚽ I wondered why the ball was in my court, then it hit me

I tried an elevator pitch - it was great on so many levels 🆙

🐝 You are likely an indecisive bee. Might I call you maybee?

🤝 Connect with you in present or future? It’s kinda tense

🪐 Should I organize a space for our meeting and planet?

⛵ Need a {{Topic}} strategy arc? I Noah guy.

Example:

⛵ Need a Sales strategy arc? I Noah guy.

My coffee is mugged and waiting for your call 😅

I'm gonna make him an offer you can't refuse…

May the Force be with you, and {{YourCompanyName}}🌌

{{ReferredName}} said to say hello to his little friend 🙋

“You can’t handle the truth!” Or can you?

Shaken, not stirred. 🍹 A {{Resource}} you asked for.

Example:

Shaken, not stirred. 🍹 A Guide To Outreach you asked for.

I like {{ProductOrAService}} as my wine - sweet and victorious. Do you? 🍷

Summary

Strong and catchy email subject lines are mesmerizing and alluring to your prospects. They are links between your leads and your message. For this reason, it is important to make it as perfect as you can so you can increase the open rate, nurture the prospect and ultimately close the deal. And when you pass through the importance of it all, creating email subject lines and testing them can be fun indeed.

Here is a quick throwback of what you should and shouldn’t do when writing the email subject lines.

Email Subject Lines DOs:	Email Subject Lines DON’Ts:
Use personalization	Avoid words such as Hi and Greetings
Make emojis your best friend	Do not mislead the prospects
Include numbers	Avoid words in Caps Lock
Make timely email subject lines	Remove excessive exclamation points
Hint the valuable content inside the email	Avoid symbols such as $$$
Test your email subject lines	Forget about spammy words

Now it’s your turn. Go and rock out those subject lines!

Wish to use Skylead for your outreach campaigns and A/B test your emails? We would be glad to hear from you and chat. Say hi by scheduling a Demo with us.

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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So, you heard of dreadful LinkedIn Jail, and you wish to know how to avoid it? Or perhaps you got your LinkedIn account restricted, and now you don't know what to do? Fear not - you are in the right place. Have a seat.

We all know the stories about the big bad wolf - LinkedIn Jail. Stories of how you can get your LinkedIn account restricted or permanently banned if you are not being careful about your activity.

It all started circa 2018, but it escalated with the fact that LinkedIn had taken down over 21 million fake accounts between January and June in 2019. What's more, in 2021 LinkedIn reported 11.6 million+ false account restrictions. LinkedIn restricted these accounts at the registration stage or after other members reported it. To provide a satisfying user experience and keep their users safe, LinkedIn has defined strict rules that everyone must follow.

But wait - What about sales reps who use LinkedIn as their main channel for prospecting and outreach? Well, for all the businesses using LinkedIn, sometimes there is a risk of restriction, or even getting into a LinkedIn jail. This can happen if they’re not fully aware of their activities intensity and the tools they’re using. And yes, that applies to those who are manually managing their accounts, as well as tools and software.

Luckily, you have a friend in Skylead to assist you in managing your account and setting your campaigns the safest way.

By the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of:

What is the difference between having your account restricted and ending up in so-called jail;
How to keep your LinkedIn account safe;
How to never have your LinkedIn account restricted;
And what to do if this indeed happens.

What is LinkedIn account restriction?

Getting your LinkedIn account restricted means that you knowingly or unknowingly performed action against Terms of Service or User Agreement. This caused LinkedIn to limit your ability to perform further actions using your account.

You will know your LinkedIn account is restricted, as the similar notification will appear when you log in.

In some cases, the restriction/suspension is temporary or will have the note with the restriction end date. Under more serious circumstances, you will have to contact LinkedIn support.

Fear not - at this point, you can still get your LinkedIn account back. For example, you can contact LinkedIn support (but we will talk about this shortly).

What is LinkedIn jail?

LinkedIn Jail is a term used to describe a permanent account ban or an endless loop of review process after you got your LinkedIn account restricted many times.

In other words, there are two scenarios under which you can end up in LinkedIn jail permanently:

If you get the feedback from LinkedIn support, after submitting ID or other legal documents, saying that your account restriction is final due to repeated Terms of Service violation; (Permanent)
Or if you don’t hear from them for weeks-on-end after you got restriction multiple times. (Not permanent but the process can take longer)

Let's say your account is temporarily restricted due to, for example, overuse of connection requests. LinkedIn will automatically re-enable it at the time specified on the notification. Yet, if you get your LinkedIn account restricted repeatedly, it may result in permanent restriction - aka LinkedIn jail.

Ending up in permanent LinkedIn jail happens in extreme situations only. Hence, if you are a sales representative, you don’t need to worry. However, you need to be cautious and aware of your LinkedIn lead generation activity. In addition, make sure to stay out of the LinkedIn jail as a part of your daily or weekly routine.

How do I know if I am in LinkedIn jail or got my LinkedIn account restricted?

In most cases, every action that LinkedIn considers excessive is a cause for the restriction. You will know that your account is restricted as, for example, you won’t be able to send connection requests to your second or third connections. Furthermore, you will have a notification such as:

“Your account has been restricted” and stating the reason behind the restriction.

“It appears you are sending a high number of connection requests.”

It is essential to read and immediately address this issue. Also, make sure not to repeat the action that got your LinkedIn account restricted in the first place.

Why is my LinkedIn account restricted?

LinkedIn jail and restriction exist because of two reasons. Firstly to keep the platform safe. Secondly, to make a Linkedin organic and beneficial place as much as possible.

To achieve this, LinkedIn sets rules to show what is acceptable, what actions are suspicious, and what content is inappropriate.
Are you asking yourself what you did wrong to break the rules and get your LinkedIn account restricted? There are a couple of reasons. So let’s check them out.

The reasons for getting your LinkedIn account restricted or landing into LinkedIn jail may vary from excessive use of features, hacking or posting prohibited content. In most cases, the main causes for restriction are:

1. Creating an account with a name that isn’t your own or violates user agreement

People sometimes create their profile using the name of a company, some other business or entity, which is against the LinkedIn Terms and Conditions. In case you use the platform to represent your company, the better decision would be to create a company page for it.

In addition, creating an account with a false name, and if detected, can be a subject of immediate restriction or a ban, according to LinkedIn User Agreement.

2. Creating multiple profiles from the same device

LinkedIn’s User Agreement states that you cannot have more than one real profile created from a single device or a proxy, especially if one of the accounts is restricted. In case you intend to create multiple profiles, be prepared for getting all the LinkedIn accounts restricted.

3. Exceeding the number of connection requests per day

If you send a load of connection requests daily without ANY supervision, then take a step back. The number of connection requests and messages sent daily should not exceed the limit. Consequently, if you overstep your boundaries many times, it can get your LinkedIn account restricted.

The limit itself depends on many factors. In other words, it can vary based on whether you are just starting out, the number of current connections you have, or the connection acceptance rate. In addition, the invitation limit for some people may vary depending on their account's health.

At this moment in time, in 2022, the last year's limit of 100 invitations per week was extended (in December 2021). Now, the number of invitations you can send is between 100 and 200 per week. The catch-22 here is that the LinkedIn limit algorithm often changes.

However, there is a remedy to this. Close to the end of this article, we will uncover how you can bypass this poor number of weekly limits and connect with more people per week completely safe and restriction-free 😉

4. Adding unknown people at scale

In case you’re sending a bunch of requests to 3rd-degree connections without a connection message included, chances are your Acceptance Rate will be low. In other words, you may be a subject of suspicious activity and risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted.

To clarify, there is a possibility that people will ignore your invite connections for some reason. If this number of people is high, you can have a restriction on your hands.

Why is that? Well, the thing is, it could make some users click on “I don’t know this person” therefore, your account will be restricted in a blink of an eye. And we don’t want that, right?

If you get your account restricted multiple times for sending too many connections, this can trigger LinkedIn from that point forward to require from you the person's email if you wish to connect with them. Needless to say, LinkedIn will start to monitor your account from now on.

5. Viewed too many profiles in a short period of time

Sometimes, you can get your LinkedIn account restricted if you view too many profiles in a day or view one person’s profile at a large frequency. If you do so, you might get on LinkedIn’s radar. Why? Because, if this action is not characteristic for your ordinary for your profile, LinkedIn might register it as a bot-like activity.

This situation is rare, but it does happen, so watch out for how many profiles you are viewing.

How to get out of LinkedIn jail or recover LinkedIn account from restrictions?

That could be a real trouble for your business. Your plan should be not end up there in the first place. After all, it is always easier to avoid LinkedIn jail and restrictions, right? However, if your account ends up in the LinkedIn jail, here is how you can try to solve that problem.

1. Understand why it happened

In most cases, when your LinkedIn account is restricted, you won’t be able to log into your account for several days. Furthermore, it often happens that LinkedIn doesn’t provide any explanation why they restricted your LinkedIn account.

So, to understand the reason for getting a LinkedIn account restricted, read the LinkedIn Terms and Conditions and even User Agreement. In addition, check if there is a mistake that you made before you move to step #2.

2. Contact LinkedIn customer support

As mentioned before, if you get your LinkedIn account restricted, it is usually temporary, and restrictions are lifted quickly. Or they will have an “expiration date”. In other cases, such as LinkedIn jail, or vague restrictions, the best-case scenario is to reach out to the LinkedIn Customer Support directly. They are the ones to help you solve this problem and let you recover your account.

Here is how to get to them:

Writing them on Twitter – (keep in mind that this doesn’t always work)
You can also look through the forum to find more info about it

Contacting them here, through the contact form.

Note: You’re probably going to need some identification document to confirm your identity, so prepare it just in case.

You just need to take action immediately. Here is what you should include in the appeal:

Reasons why you need to get your account back;
Acknowledgment of the violation you did (it’s best to be honest);
Assuring LinkedIn support that it won’t happen again.

3. Follow the instructions on your account

If you believe that your account is mistakenly restricted, you should log into your LinkedIn account and follow the instructions from the notification that popped up.

After you do it, someone will review your account in 2-5 days and unlock it if there was a mistake. You’ll also get an email when LinkedIn lifts the restriction from your account.

4. Ask for help

You can also ask around for help in your network. If your connections raise a query and show support for your account, it will help you gain access to your LinkedIn account faster.

Show the real power of your network!

Any of these tips above should help you unlock your account.

Cheers to all the freed accounts!

Now let’s get to the part where we learn how NOT to get ourselves ‘arrested’ by LinkedIn.

How to avoid getting your LinkedIn account restricted

To use the maximum potential of the LinkedIn account and avoid restrictions, you must know how to use it properly.

Let’s go through the best ways to play safe and stay out of LinkedIn jail.

1. Know your limits on LinkedIn

Even though LinkedIn wants you to use their platform, they want you to do it cleverly, as well. There are 5 types of direct interactions with users (if we exclude post likes and comments), and those are:

Profile visits
Following
Connection requests
Messages
InMails

Each of these actions has a daily limit that you need to follow if you don’t want to risk your profile’s safety.

Also, these limits are higher for the premium account users and the old ones with a larger network.

Here are the limits that turned out to be the safest if you are using LinkedIn for some time:

Profile visits: 80-120 per day
Follows: 80-120 per day
Connection requests: 40-60 per day
Sending messages: 60-100 per day

If you are not, scroll down to the next section for the extra advice 🙂

Additional tip: Withdraw your pending requests.

Keep your pending invitation request around 400 or 500. A higher number will get you on LinkedIn radar. So find ones that are 4 weeks old. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to send an invitation to that person in the next 3 week.

In order to withdraw the invitations, you can use a manual method. However, what makes your life easier in situations like these is using a sales engagement tool. For example, Skylead will send out invitations for you, and to keep it clean and safe. It will also automatically withdraw older ones, so you wouldn’t have to do it manually on your own.

2. LinkedIn account warm-up

Let's say your LinkedIn account is fairly new or you’ve already got the restriction. The best approach would be to start with a small number of connection invites, or visits, and build your way up to the maximum limit.

The thing is that if your LinkedIn account is new, and you start sending a large number of invites right away, LinkedIn will consider it as suspicious activity. This way you risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted. This applies to cases if you are doing this manually or using unreliable tools.

Here is what you can prevent this:

Send out as little as 10 connection invites or send 30 messages a day;
Slowly increase the activity numbers by 5-10 weekly;
Avoid sending invites on weekends;
Take a bit more time performing actions;
Ignore connecting with the 3rd connection in the beginning;
Remove all the pending connection requests if not accepted within a few days.

3. Always send friendly and personalized messages

It's all about the attitude and manner of approach. In other words, you need to be genuine, connect with the people you know, and always include a personal message. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t connect with people you don’t know at all - just create a different approach.

For instance, send a personalized invitation including the reason why that person might wish to connect with you. This way, you’ll avoid the label of an unknown person.

If you need inspiration for ways to connect with new users, we have a couple of LinkedIn connection message templates that might help you out. You can also throw in some delicious image or GIF personalization.

4. Don’t sell right away

After you connect with the new users don’t try to sell instantly. It can only push them away and make them ignore you.

It’s important to build a relationship and provide value with updates, articles, and messages before you try to close a deal.

Speaking of building relationships with your prospects - have you heard about social selling? Check out our Ultimate Guide To Social Selling Part 1 and Part 2, where we cover metrics, tips, and how to create social selling strategy with Template.

5. Using the right LinkedIn automation or sales engagement tools

But where are the sales engagement tools, you wonder? Aren’t they also impacting whether you end up with your LinkedIn account restricted? Or worse, in LinkedIn jail?

The answer - some of them, yes. However, the key of not getting the restriction while using a sales engagement tool is to use the right tool.

One of the common reasons people have ban on their hands, is that they use the wrong LinkedIn tools. Yes, LinkedIn automation tools are popular these days, and they can help you. Alas, that doesn’t mean you should just use any tool you find on the internet.

To understand which one to choose, first, you need to understand what type of sales engagement tools exist.

Extensions

1. Firstly, there are browser-based LinkedIn tools, aka extensions. In other words, these tools are extensions in your browser, meaning you can’t run this tool when your computer is off, and it also relies on browser caching, which makes it a lot easier to detect. Other downsides of these kinds of tools are:

- They do not offer dedicated IP,

- Your PC has to be on to be able to run,

- It automatically injects the code into LinkedIn, placing a big ''I am using automation tool'' target on your back.

Desktop apps

2. Secondly, some tools are basically desktop apps. They don't offer a dedicated IP address, the possibility of running Multiple Accounts, and they have to work in the background. Since it works through the web, it doesn’t inject its code into the LinkedIn, making it a bit safer to use than browser-based ones/extensions.

Cloud-based tools

3. Lastly, there are cloud-based tools. Cloud-based software is managed and processed thanks to a dedicated IP address that shields your action on internet (proxy). All your data is not stored on local servers or your personal computer, but on the internet. The software can run even when your computer is off. What's more, only cloud-based software can have Multiple Accounts and Integrated Inboxes.

What tools should you use to keep your account safe?

Due to the above mentioned, our advice is to use cloud-based tools because they work online and are much safer than extension-based tools.

Also, with the cloud-based tools, you have more options and more useful features for your outreach efforts (such as the option for multiple accounts, connection withdrawal, advanced personalization, integrated inbox, working hours limits, etc.), making them better than the desktop apps, but you have to learn how to use them properly.

For example, the good thing about Skylead, as one of the cloud-based tools, is that it’s completely safe to use because of its location-based IP addresses and a proprietary human mimicking system. This means Skylead possesses a human-like behavior (for example, clicking and scrolling as the human would do) making it undetectable and reliable to use.

That makes Skylead a FIVE STARS tool! Plus it has a lot more features to offer.
Moral of the story: Some of the tools are riskier than others, and it’s not hard for LinkedIn to spot this kind of manipulation, and get your LinkedIn account restricted, so choose wisely.

How to connect with more people without getting LinkedIn account restricted?

We previously stated why Skylead is a perfect choice to outreach on autopilot, considering your account's safety and features.

However, there is something you can do to connect with more people every week, and Skylead can help you out with that.

In other words, you can use LinkedIn InMails and emails to multichannel your outreach and connect with more people this way. What's best about these methods is that you don't risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted. Moreover, LinkedIn will love you for it as you will use their InMails. You can also check out our 13 InMail examples for a better response rate

The key here is to find and verify business or other publicly available emails to be able to multichannel your outreach in the first place. Don't worry - Skylead can do it for you. Here's how.

Multichannel your outreach with Skylead

First, go to your campaign manager and choose the campaign type, enter the lead URL source or import the CSV file.

Then, fill in the details regarding your campaign setting and move on to the Smart sequence.

From here, you can select, for example, to Follow and Find and Verify Business Emails On LinkedIn. Next, go ahead, and choose the Invite to connect step. Don't forget to personalize your invite message, as it will boost the reply rate.

Next, you can check if Skylead found and verified your leads' emails. If it did, you can select an email message to multichannel your outreach and connect with people outside LinkedIn. If they do not respond, you can always go back to LinkedIn and send them a paid InMail.

However, if Skylead doesn't find their email address, you can choose to send an InMail message instead.

Et voila! Your sequence template should look something like this.

When you finish adding more steps to create a coherent outreach flow, hit Start Campaign, sit back and relax.

In conclusion

Every social media platform, including LinkedIn, uses policies and rules when monitoring suspicious behavior to protect its users.

Getting your LinkedIn account restricted or ending up in LinkedIn jail due to these restrictions is serious business. Especially for sales folks who use LinkedIn as their main LinkedIn prospecting and outreach tool.

But don’t stress, even if you get restriction, it’s not the end, and you can recover from it. As long as you stick to the advice listed above, your LinkedIn account will recover.

Surely, it’s best avoiding these situations and use the best LinkedIn practices to keep your account safe.

Here is a shortlist of how to avoid LinkedIn restrictions or end up in LinkedIn jail:

1. Know your limits on LinkedIn

2. LinkedIn account warm-up

3. Always send friendly and personalized messages

4. Don’t sell right away

5. Using the right LinkedIn or sales engagement tools

Prospecting and outreaching can be a time-consuming and tiring task. That is why there are many tools on the market to help you out. However, be careful of what tools you are using.

There are many excellent tools on the market, but the safest bet is to go with a cloud-based solutions. Why? Because they mimic human-like behavior and do not inject the code into LinkedIn itself, as extensions do, for example.
Oh, and if you get in LinkedIn “trouble” – you know there are friendly helpers on Skylead Customer Support chat to always help you out.

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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If you are asking yourself "How can I use Buyer Persona to boost sales?" or "What is a B2B Buyer Persona, at all?" then you are in the right place.

Buyer persona became a popular term that got tossed around in marketing teams, but then it landed in the sales lap and made them question their entire existence. Well, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it did make the sales teams think twice about who they should target when doing outreach.

Did you know that 56% of the companies that used buyer personas generated higher-quality leads?

Yes, Buyer Persona is that useful. Therefore, if showing you how to make an ideal customer profile was like taking your blindfold off while playing darts, going through how to create a B2B buyer persona for sales will be like placing the laser on your dart to make sure you hit the bull’s eye.

What is a B2B buyer persona?

Let’s start with the definition. A Buyer Persona is a description of a person who is your ideal customer with all behavioral, demographic, firmographic, and psychographic characteristics. In other words, a buyer persona mirrors who your perfect buyers are, from age, location, their likes and dislikes, goals, and wishes to challenges and motivations.

Buyer Persona is based on existing customer research and other data that might help you define your ideal buyer persona in detail.

There is a common misconception that Buyer Persona and Ideal Customer Profile are the same. However, there is a big difference between them. In short, ICP represents the company profile, and Buyer Persona focuses on the particular type of person’s profile only. Similar to Ideal Customer Profile, Buyer Persona is a perfect representation of the customer who has the shortest buying cycle, highest LTV and is a preacher for your product.

Did you know that 3 to 4 Buyer Personas usually represent 90% of the company’s sales?

If various customers use your product for different aspects of their business, or they simply differ in their position, you might want to think about creating multiple personas. Whatsmore, it is pretty common to have a couple of buyer personas for the sales team.

Example:
Let’s say you have project management software. Your software could be used both by programmers, sales, marketing managers, and alike. Each of these managers presents an individual buyer persona with different wishes, goals, and challenges.

Benefits of having buyer persona for sales

Do not think that Buyer Persona is the document you are going to create, look at it a couple of times and never use it again. Buyer Persona is a powerful document, and it is of great help when you are doing outreach. Why? Because of all the benefits listed below.

Provides details for prospecting and outreach

Buyer Persona provides context for your sales team to zero in on who exactly they should outreach to while outreaching. It will provide you with information such as age, position, industry, education, and consumer patterns to use for prospecting to your fullest.

Personalized approach

Once you have identified Buyer Persona, you will have access to information such as their pain points, challenges, and what type of person they are, so you will know exactly how to personalize your approach and present your product or service in the most alluring way to the prospect. Maybe you can throw in additional personalized images or GIFs according to their liking to improve the response rate.

Improves productivity

Having a Buyer Persona means that the sales team will ultimately ease up their process, improve productivity, results, and lower the time spent on their efforts. In addition, they will attract high-quality leads with more ease, who will ultimately have a higher retention rate.

Addressing customer’s problems

We all know that the core outreach rule is focusing on customers and addressing their problems instead of your own. B2B Buyer Persona will keep you on the right path to doing just that. Whenever you create your outreach message, ask yourself if it addresses the challenges or emphasizes how to reach goals listed in Buyer Persona documents. If it does not, get back to the drawing board.

How to create a B2B buyer persona?

Buyer Persona isn’t hard to create. However, it does take a little bit of time to get it right with all the information you need for the outreach. Luckily, we are here to explain six easy steps to create this useful piece of documentation.

1. Customers breakdown

Before jumping into the details of your B2B Buyer Persona, you need to break down your current customer database into groups. To do this, you need to decide on the broader criteria by which you will break them down and then move on to more narrow criteria.

Example (part 1):

Let's say your broader criteria is the length of the buying cycle. We can agree that some buying cycles are longer than others. Since you are looking for a shorter cycle for your future customers, this is a nifty point to start at.

The following step is to define your second and third criteria to deepen the breakdown.

Example (part 2):

Let’s say from this short-buying-cycle group you have different industries. Naturally, your following criteria would be to break the customers down by industry and then by decision-making role.

If, however, you do not have current customers, you can start with an industry breakdown and proceed to the decision-maker division.

2. Demographic parameters

Now you have a rough draft of B2B Buyer Persona. So, it is time to assign them demographic attributes. The key is to notice the pattern these customers have - their age range, interests, or location. If you are unable to pinpoint these patterns, here is the list that will help you out:

Age
Location
Company type
Function
Seniority Level
Job position
Industry
Years of experience
Education
Role in Buying process
Recent life event

In case you do not have your current customers or customer insight, fear not. You can use the combination of Google Analytics and LinkedIn to gather this kind of information. If you are using Google Analytics, simply jump to your existing Audience Insights section (or ask your marketing team to do it for you :).

For LinkedIn, simple filter options will do the trick.

3. Psychographic parameters

To fill in the picture, you would need additional personal information. Psychographic characteristics are a great way to do it, as it will help you perceive your B2B Buyer Persona as more human, which will also humanize your approach.

Dedicate your Buyer Persona a name to start with, and then proceed on with:

Likes And Dislikes: It is far easier to talk to someone whose general preferences you know, rather than hope that you won’t mess up if you mention something they do not like.

Character type: This will give you an insight into how you should approach the person and construct your social selling. You can use 16 Personalities or similar to determine character type.

Brand and influencers: You can choose the general ones or narrow them down. In addition, choose brands or influencers similar to your business to adjust your sales pitch.

Work motivation: Information such as what drives them to go to work every day and what they like to do the most.

Story Behind Buyer Persona: You can write a short description of what led them to a current position, what is their main trait, how many years they’ve been doing business, and so on.

Preferred means of communication and Social Channel use: It’s also a good idea to find out where the ideal buyer spends time online and how they like to communicate so you know whether you should use multichannel outreach.

How to come by this kind of information?

If you have current customers, the best way to gather this kind of information is by simply talking to them. Here are a few key points to talk about with your customers:

Means of communication they prefer;
Social Media they consume the most;
What is considered to be an achievement in their job role;
Their motivations;
What tools do you use as part of your daily routine? Why?
What they like and dislike most about the job and communication with people;
How they would describe a product’s purchasing journey;
How would they describe their working persona;

Through these questions, the idea is to understand your potential customers’ true behavioral patterns and motivations. The more qualitative and quantitative detail you gather from this conversation, the better you will be prepared for these types of B2B Buyer Personas.

If you do not have your customer base or someone from your buyer persona to talk to, you can use LinkedIn to search for this kind of person and see what they write about in their post and gather information from there.

4. Identify buyer personas’ goals and pain points

In most cases, your prospects’ goals will be your own. Keep in mind, you are not just a salesperson, but the helping hand, a friend in need for their business efforts.

That is why you need to identify their goals, priorities, challenges, and pain points. Furthermore, depending on their pain point, you can adjust and personalize your outreach more to pinpoint and present what your prospects are looking for.

This is where conversation with your current customers comes into play once more. What you need to keep an eye out for is what are...

your challenges?
long-term and short-term goals?
technology and tools used to achieve your goals?
your work priorities?
the influences of your purchasing decision?

Additional Note: If you do not have current customers, reach out to your leads anyway. You would be surprised how many people on LinkedIn will be willing to help by just telling them that you are doing the research.

5. Common objections and value proposition

Sometimes when you talk with customers, they will speak about your product or service. Let them, because they will reveal much about your product itself, and the problems it solves for them.

Furthermore, ask them about what they dislike about your product. It is important to understand negative viewpoints to bulletproof your outreach message. The message with this information will be a valid and irresistible value proposition for the B2B Buyer Persona.

Now is the time to ask one last tricky question: What do they usually say when they try to decline the offer from a salesperson? This is perhaps the most valuable information since they will list a couple of objections that you can prepare for when you outreach this type of B2B Buyer Persona.

6. Assemble your B2B buyer personas

Gather your findings in one place and start building your B2B Buyer Persona. Keep in mind that every piece of information we mentioned above is applicable in practice, be it for outreach or prospecting. You can always go into even more details when defining a B2B Buyer Persona, such as marital status and so on, but the information mentioned above should be your core guide.

With this information, you have a specific description of your potential customer. Give your Buyer Persona name and surname, a picture, and you are done - at least with this one 🙂 Remember to repeat the process in the first step to create a couple more Buyer Personas for the outreach.

B2B buyer persona example and template

Here is an example of how it looks when you sift through the information and present them neatly in the document. A sight for sore eyes, isn’t it?

We’ve even created the template for you. You can download this buyer persona by clicking here. Click on the “Make a copy” button, and it shall be done.

How to use B2B buyer persona in lead generation?

Creating a Buyer Persona can be challenging, but now the real fun begins - it is time to put it into practice.

Remember that these are your IDEAL Buyers. However, if the person outside of your Buyer Persona is interested in your product or a service, do not discard them and proceed with the sales process.

Here is how you can use your Buyer Persona to find leads, create personalized messages and outreach them with more ease.

1. Find leads matching buyer persona using LinkedIn

There are two ways to find leads: by LinkedIn basic account search or Sales Navigator Search.

Find leads using LinkedIn basic search

Go to your LinkedIn account and research the position defined in your Buyer Persona document. Once you do, use additional filters available to narrow down the search according to your Buyer Persona, such as location, industry, and so on.

When the search is complete, create a CSV file with every prospects’ first name, last name, profile URL, and email if you can find it. Additionally, you can import variables such as Value proposition from your B2B Buyer Persona document. Save this file for the next step.

Find leads using Sales Navigator

Go to your Sales Navigator account and click on Lead Filters.

You will see the filters list you can use, so insert all the ones from your Buyer Persona document, such as Education, Years of Experience, Job title, etc.

Once you’ve filtered out the search, hit the “Save Search” button to save leads to the lead list.

Another great way to find leads that are a twin picture of your ideal B2B Buyer Persona is to find that exact person, preferably your current customer, in Sales Navigator and hit the “View Similar” button. Sales Navigator will find leads most similar to the lead profile you select, according to position, age, education, and so on.

Save this list by clicking the “Save” button next to their names, and you are done.

2. Create an outreach campaign

You can outreach the leads you found manually, but to make this process easier, you can use a sales engagement tool to do it for you. Let’s take Skylead as an example. To create a campaign, take the CSV file from LinkedIn results or URL from the Sales Navigator lead’s list, and upload or paste it into Skylead.

3. Create a Smart sequence for outreach

The Smart sequence will allow you to define the steps you need to take for your outreach towards the selected leads. Move and connect the elements, such as actions and conditions, will result in a sequence such as:

4. Personalize your approach

Remember when we mentioned the value proposition, motivation, and type character your B2B Buyer Persona is? This is where you are going to use them. When figuring out the message for the outreach, be sure to personalize it according to all these parameters.

Depending on how many steps your sequence has, you might use these pieces of information sporadically. Here is an example of one type of personalized message for outreach.

Hey {{firstName}},

I couldn't help but notice that working as {{occupation}} brings out different challenges such as {{Challenge1}}.

I know that {{Motivation}} is a huge factor in overcoming this challenge. But did you know that {{ValueProposition}} could be a perfect solution for it?

It would be great to hear more about how you operate in this regard and share some of my tips if you’re up for it.

How does Thursday at 1 PM sound?

And you are done! Relax and enjoy the results Skylead brings to you.

Summary

Buyer Persona helps you bring the right prospects to the table. Furthermore, it provides you with the details which you can use for prospecting and outreach, improving productivity and results. Here are the steps to remember:

Customers’ Break-Down
Define Demographic Parameters
Define Psychographic Parameters
Identify Goals And Pain Points
Define Common Objections And Value Proposition
Assemble The Buyer Persona

Now you go! Create your outreach campaign, use the information you gathered and watch leads convert more efficiently and with ease.

Wish to use Skylead to find and outreach your Buyer Persona with ease? We would be happy to meet! Drop us a message via chat on our website. Or, try out Skylead by signing up for a 7-day Free Trial.

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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In today’s crowded Inboxes, the struggle to get a response is real.

Whether you are reaching out via LinkedIn or email, it has never been easier to get in touch with someone. It’s just that now, standing out in the sea of messages has become an art to be mastered.

There are many reasons why your ideal lead is not replying. However, each solution to this problem starts with catching their attention. One of the approaches that might not be as popular (yet!) with sales reps, but that showed itself pretty effective is including personalized GIFs and Images into your outreach routine.

But before you say that personalized GIFs and Images seem unprofessional or that they exceed too much work, let me tell you that I too was skeptical in the beginning. I came across several personalized GIFs our Sales Team uses in their outreach campaigns, and thought to myself - this looks kind of weird.

However, not until I saw their response rates that went up by 63% and experimented with some outreach campaigns of my own, did I realize the power of personalized GIFs and Images.

That’s why I decided to share tips and tricks picked up by talking to sales reps that scaled up Skylead and following top industry professionals on and off LinkedIn.

In this blog, we’ll touch upon:

How to prepare for outreach to increase your response rates;
Why personalized GIFs and Images make people reply to your message;
Dos and Don’ts when including personalized Images & GIFs;
10 templates of personalized Images & GIFs that helped level up our Sales Team’s response rates.

Poor targeting equals poor response rates

Yes, we’ve gathered here to talk about how to increase your response rates by implementing personalized GIFs & Images into your outreach routine. However, there is one thing that we cannot stress enough. The absolute prerequisite to skyrocketing the number of your replies, Her Majesty - the Targeting.

You can have the best copy in the world and be the most skilled sales rep that ever walked this Earth, but if you are talking to the wrong person, not much can be done. Yes, there is always a way to ask to be redirected to someone else, but why waste resources? Put some time into LinkedIn prospecting and coming up with a quality outreach plan (messages, channels, segmentation strategy, Images & GIFs), and then just focus on closing the deal.

Good sales reps have a clear understanding of who they want to reach out to and they handpick leads even when using a sales engagement platform to make their lives easier (‘cause, why not? We do live in the 21st century, after all). You would be surprised how many sales reps don’t reach their quotas just because they feel lazy to put some time into quality targeting. It’s quite a shame, especially because LinkedIn offers lots of options to find different profiles for those who think strategically.

Target leads that attended a LinkedIn event of your interest;
Use the LinkedIn poll to survey your ideal prospects and then reach out to your target group;
Connect with LinkedIn members that commented or engaged with a certain LinkedIn post;
Join a LinkedIn group to make meaningful connections and eventually reach out to other members. Choose a community where your target audience gathers for this approach to work. The more specific the niche, the better the result;
Sign up for Sales Navigator and take full advantage of its advanced filtering options;
Apply Sales Navigator hacks that only top-notch industry professionals use when targeting leads.

Why personalized GIFs and images work

They’re eye-catching

GIFs, images, and even vector graphics especially if personalized, are more interesting, dynamic, and eye-catching in comparison to static text. The studies have shown that the average person sees over 5000 marketing messages per day. This number goes up when it comes to decision-makers and top-level managers. Therefore, your message has about 8 seconds to capture your lead’s attention. That’s why, when the lead opens your message, even if initially they didn’t want to reply back, receiving a personalized GIF or Image will stick their minds. Consequently, the chances of getting a response are increasing.

You show extra effort

Some leads that receive a personalized GIF or Image respond just because they recognize the effort you put into your outreach. And we know that in sales, sometimes all you need is that one response to spiral up the conversation in the right direction.

They don’t come off as salesy

Instead of sending a reminder message or trying to sell straight off the bat (which is always a big no-no), going with a personalized GIF or Image seems more low-key, yet far more effective for you lead generation on LinkedIn (or off). It might even make your lead laugh a little bit! And that’s always memorable.

What to pay attention to

Using humor in your outreach is always a good idea. This applies to personalized GIFs and Images as well. However, before making a joke do your research. Consider each person’s unique cultural background, and avoid anything you even have the smallest doubt might conflict with it.
Don’t use GIFs or Images that make fun of your or your lead’s competition. It’s just a sign of bad sportsmanship and never comes off well.
Keep it short and to the point.
Be prepared that not everyone will appreciate it. Sending personalized GIFs and Images can be a two-edged sword. But - If you don't take risks, you don't drink champagne.
Know when to stop. If the first doesn’t work and you don’t get a response, don’t send another personalized GIF or Image. Go with a backup plan.
A/B test different personalized GIFs or Images to get a response that you wish for.

How to make a personalized GIF or image?

There are two ways to personalize a GIF or Image - manually or through a sales engagement platform.

I and our Sales Team use Skylead’s native Image & GIF hyper-personalization feature. However, you can do it manually with any other tool you feel comfortable with.

As far as Images and GIFs are concerned, we simply download them from the internet or from Giphy, for instance. More creative ones take their own photos or mini videos that turn into GIFs on Ezgif (super-easy, btw) and then personalize them to fit their leads (and needs).

If you’re using Skylead for your outreach, this is how including a personalized GIF or Image looks on LinkedIn and in an email.

LinkedIn message

A personalized GIF or Image shows as a link with a preview. That way your lead is more likely to click on it, as people tend not to open these kinds of files otherwise.

Email message

A personalized GIF or Image is fully embedded in the body of the email and it shows as represented below.

10 templates of personalized images & GIFs

Send a personalized Image to your lead to invite them for a zoom chat.

Hello Amie,

Thank you for adding me to your network!

I saw that you’re a Head of Marketing at Edge Project. I help B2B companies generate more leads through deep personalization on LinkedIn.

Let’s jump on a Zoom call sometime this week?

Example #2 Conversation starter

Thank your lead for accepting your Connection Request. This can be an excellent conversation starter. Adding a message copy is optional, as this personalized GIF speaks for itself.

Example #3 Humanize your pitch

People want to talk to real people not company pages anymore. This is the number one concept of social selling. Yes, LinkedIn has account profiles as well, but outreach should always be done by people who work in these companies and should represent the personification of that brand. Showing your face in the outreach improves response rates.

Example #4 Overcome common sales objections in a humorous way

One of the most common sales objections is I already have a solution. If you don’t know how to approach it, break the tension with a humorous personalized GIF or Image, and then take it from there.

Example #5 Ask for something

Asking complete strangers to fill out a survey or give your their feedback (or anything for that matter) is a really arduous task, as they don’t owe you anything. The truth is, no one owes you anything. However, feedback and surveys help you and your business grow. Always be listening to your customers, right? Here’s a fun way to get a response.

Hello Iris,

Thank you for attending my webinar “Content Marketing For Niche Markets”.

Quick question - what were the most valuable lectures for you? Is there anything you found redundant for your niche in particular?

Example #6 Make your email invite more casual

There are so many different professional communities and popping a link to your lead to join yours is not enough anymore. You can always lighten up your message with a personalized GIF and make your lead click on the link to at least check it out for a start. It will definitely draw attention among others who just write something like Join my community here {{link}}.

Hello Marie,

I saw that you are Head of Sales at FlyProject. I have this community dedicated to the sales industry that I would love you to join.

We discuss - cold outreach, growth tactics, and anything sales-related.

Here’s the link https://www.facebook.com/groups/sales.tribe.community

Example #7 Make them ask you for more information

Experiment. Play with your outreach. You will only know if you try. Yes, some might say that this message should maybe give more information about the event itself. However, have in mind that nowadays everyone checks out you and your company on LinkedIn before replying to any sort of message either way.

Hey Helen,

Wanna join my…

Example #8 Pinpoint a problem that you offer a solution to

You can make an industry-related joke and strengthen it with a personalized GIF so that your offer doesn’t seem too salesy.

Hey Jeremy,

What does the SEO professional see when they see twins?

Duplicated content.

Jokes aside, every business needs an SEO touch-up, and I just might be your girl!

Example #9 Illustrate your end-goal in a non-salesy manner

As mentioned above, GIFs and Images in outreach can be an excellent alternative to a salesy message. Or, at least, then can soften it a bit.

Hello James,

I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but JKL Transportation & Logistics has a truck shipment that currently offers the highest number of destinations around the world.

Since you expressed some concerns regarding truck shipment in David Jones’ post, I just wanted to offer help and clarification regarding some issues. I truly believe that E-jewel can benefit from it!

Let me know what you think!

Example #10 Pump up your lead’s enthusiasm

Booking a call or scheduling an appointment should not be taken for granted! Not only did you work hard for it, but it is equally important to keep your lead pumped for it as well! Replying simply with Ok, it’s a deal can be substituted with something like this. It will keep your lead excited as well and eager to hear what you have to say!

Alright, Danny!

It’s a date! Monday, at 3 pm.

To sum up

Yes, the struggle to get a response is real but pretty overcomeable with the willingness to think outside the box.

‘Cause, what would you rather - work hard and book less or work smart and book more?

The way you do your outreach directly mirrors the way you do your business. People recognize that. Putting extra effort into addressing your leads communicates that you are the person who always strives to deliver more than expected. And who wouldn’t want to work with someone like that?

Speaking of, you know who also strives to deliver more than expected? Skylead. Sign up for a 7-day free trial, and see it for yourself!

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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2020 and 2021 were the years that baffled all of us. It was like playing a B2B sales outreach card game.

You are sitting in the darkroom, at the round green table. Across from it, there is your competitor, sweating just as much, trying to keep a straight face. Prize? Leads. A handful of them. Card after card, it appears you have rotten luck. As your coin pile gets smaller, you wonder how you can make a fortune smile at you.

If you missed your opportunity to keep up with the market changes in 2021, here comes another chance. Let’s go through the key tips that can be your aces in a sleeve to stay on top of your B2B Sales outreach game.

How has B2B sales changed over time?

In the past, the B2B sales process was pretty simple. A company would recognize the need, identify a solution through Word of Mouth, and contact one or more providers. After a couple of meetings, the deal would be made.

But in recent years and globalization dramatically entering through the big door and competition getting wider, the providers were left riddled about which approach to use to get a bigger piece of the market cake. A vast number of opportunities opened up: the importance of the company’s content, review websites, social media, or paid ads all flooded the world, which made jobs harder not only for the providers but for clients, as well.

Overwhelmed, clients were getting more suspicious of services’ credibility that they decided to do the research themselves. This ultimately decreased SDR’s opportunity to influence the client's decision.

According to TrustRadius, 78% of B2B buyers are spending equal or more time researching the product or service by themselves.

Outcome and changes

Consequently, the idea of sales and marketing merging and working together became a priority task for the companies and ultimate sales strategy.

Another considerable change that globalization and 2020 events brought to the table is the importance of remote communication itself, thus online meeting software usage, such as Zoom or Google Meet skyrocketed. This made it easier for clients to meet with providers without wasting time.

On the other hand, providers finally got the chance to improve their conversion tracking, but the sales team had the new challenge at hand: improving presentation skills for online time-limited meetings to listen to pain points, showcase personalized benefits and install confidence and expertise in prospects.

So with the new 2022 just getting started, we have yet to see the new B2B sales trends develop. Alas, due to recent changes, some ways to master your sales outreach are here to stay, so let’s get through all of them.

#1 Social selling in B2B sales outreach: The new normal

Assertive selling methods are long out of the picture, thanks to Social Selling. As a new way of the sales strategy, social selling requires narrowing down the niche prospects and developing relationships first, before leading them further down the sales funnel. Developing the relationship will allow you to place the idea into your prospects’ heads and nurture it throughout the buying experience steps.

Today Social selling often takes place via social media channels such as LinkedIn. For example, LinkedIn established a Social Selling Index in which users with higher SSI are better positioned to make new lead connections, and therefore more likely to succeed in closing the deal. Consequently, many SDRs' main mission was to improve their Social Selling Index (LinkedIn SSI score).

Social selling is a delicate business, and it took sales teams a while to wrap their heads around it. As time passed by, it proved to be effective, so in 2022 social selling is a must for your sales strategy to stay on top.

#2 Understand where your leads came from

It’s 2022, and it is high time to step up your lead organization game. This is where CRM comes in handy. By inserting all the lead information in one place, you will be able to categorize them later on, depending on where they came from. Why? Because the way you engage with them should be different based on where they originated from to personalize their buying experience.

There are no one-size-fits-all categorizations, but the ones that we found useful are:

1. Hand raisers

Hand Raisers are the leads that have reached out to support or schedule a demo via the website. They already know who you are and are halfway to the conversion, which makes your sales approach easier.

2. Custom leads list

Custom leads were found and added to the system manually by an SDR. These leads can be sourced from personal connections on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator Search, or scraped elsewhere online. With this categorization, you can narrow it further by industry, pain point, and so on to further personalize your cold outreach.

3. Educatees

Educatees are the prospects who downloaded some sort of educational material from your website or signed up for a webinar and left contact information for it. Extra attention is needed here as not all of them are your niche leads, so you need to segment them carefully.

4. Lead warmth

One of the simplest ways to categorize your leads is by warmth. Some may be further down the sales funnel than others, and some might not have that much interest as others.

Cold Lead - Prospects that are right at the beginning of the sales funnel or have little to no interest in engaging with SDRs.

Warm Lead - Warm leads have expressed some interest in speaking to or needing your company by perhaps contacting customer support via chat or contacting you via Social Media channels. Alas they are not ready for a conversation with an SDR. This lead will typically need a nurturing campaign or direct assistance to move further down the funnel.

Hot Lead - These leads explicitly said they’re ready to speak to your company or are asking a lot of questions to support this claim.

The good thing about categorization is that you can use one system or combine them to further personalize your approach. All in all, with lead categorization and labeling, you’ll be able to track your KPIs better, understand your LinkedIn lead generation activities, what leads to lead conversion and know what works best and where you should change your approach.

#3 Use video format

As what feels like an everlasting trend, video format continues to amaze with its effectiveness in 2021, not only in marketing but also as a sales strategy. So in 2022, leverage video and step away from long texts to demonstrate the value of your product or service.

According to Wyzowl’s research, 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.

A brief video can show prospects how the product is used, showcase benefits, short reviews, and set the tone for your sales pitch better than a text format. Incorporating videos into your B2B sales will increase engagement and lead to more sales.

Current trends show that animated explainer videos are a perfect way to demonstrate your product or service, features, and benefits. What’s great about the video format is that it can be used at all stages of the sales funnel.

In addition, videos help the B2B prospect to organically conclude that your product suits them best on their own. It builds trust, especially in cold leads, and fosters further education.

#4 Build trust through education

The world has changed. As we mentioned, it's important that you nurture relationships and build trust with your leads, and one of the great ways to do that is through education.

Think about the content the marketing team produces. Mark them for the sales strategy, and use blogs, webinars, whitepapers, or videos to help educate your prospect on what your organization offers.

Remember when we talked about Social Selling? This is one way to do it. If you help to educate them first, guide them towards your solution, and enable them to make their own decisions, they will begin to trust you. Once you gain the trust, you will nurture a relationship to conversion with more ease.

To get the most out of your educational outreach, personalize it further. Instead of sending an entire blog or webinar by itself, take a quote from them, and send them a linked snippet. Trust us, they will be grateful, and the percentage of objections will be by far decreased.

#5 Update the B2B sales outreach process

In recent years, one of the most popular business mantras you could find was to work smarter, not harder. This meant finding alternative ways to simplify the process while getting the best of it and easily scaling it up. This formula was to be applied to the B2B sales process, as well.

But how were people able to do it? What is their Sales strategy? They implemented sales engagement tools.

With the rise of LinkedIn as the most effective way to find B2B leads, along came various tools to help your LinkedIn outreach out, so you can invest the time in more important matters, such as nurturing your leads to conversion. It allows your sales creativity to bloom, delegates and routine tasks to the software itself.

How to master your sales outreach with it?

1. Multichannel approach:

Some sales engagement tools allow you to use a multichannel approach. This means that several channels are working in synchronicity to maximize sales efficiency. Therefore, you can reach your prospects via multiple channels, such as LinkedIn and email. After all, the multichannel approach does bring the best results to the table.

2. Sequences:

If the Multichannel approach is a strategy, then sequences can be the means by which you achieve it. Smart sequences are the future of lead generation, as you can combine different actions in one campaign, define the time delay between them, and send it out to the prospect. The tool will follow the steps and send out outreach you’ve prepared, so you need not worry if some steps slipped between the cracks.

3. Personalization at scale:

Another trend in the B2B sales process became personalization. You need to get as personal as you can with your leads, mentioning their name, interest or company to develop a relationship, show that you care for them, and wish to solve their issue. Naturally, sales engagement tools became a smarter and easier choice to personalize your cold outreach at scale.

To quote Daft Punk with the twist:

“Work it smarter, make it better, do it faster, make it stronger.”

In conclusion

B2B sales outreach is ever-changing, and it always will be. That is why you need to stay on top of trends and best practices to stay in the game.

There are still many paths to follow to master your B2B sales outreach, but the core ones are:

Update The Sales Process
Improve Social Selling
Understand Where Your Leads Came From
Use Video Format
Build Trust Through Education

You don’t have to implement every tip that we mentioned. Choose the one, A/B test it, and then apply which one works best for you. Own it, win it!

Let’s win 2022 together! Check out Skylead, a LinkedIn Automation & Cold Email Software that thinks for you and try it out for free.

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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Getting accepted on LinkedIn sometimes seems like a mission impossible, but what about starting a sales-oriented conversation with a complete stranger? What kind of a LinkedIn Message Template should be used so you don’t come off as too mild, too aggressive, but, the way Goldilocks likes it - just right.

We’ve been there and know how hard it can be to scale up your business. That’s why we’ve decided to speak about what happens after your LinkedIn Connection Message goes through. That is, how to approach your lead in a way to get more sales.

Of course, no recipe works for everyone and on everyone, but there are some common ground rules that you can follow when sending cold messages on LinkedIn to get more sales.

In this blog, we’ll cover:

What to do before starting your cold LinkedIn outreach;
Dos and don’ts for LinkedIn Messages if you wish to get more sales;
10 sets of LinkedIn Message Templates for 10 different LinkedIn scenarios;
A breakdown of each set of LinkedIn Message Templates in case you want/need to adjust them to your business needs.

Cold LinkedIn messages won’t get you sales unless . . .

You fully optimize your LinkedIn profile.

We cannot stress enough the importance of an optimized LinkedIn profile. Whether going for a LinkedIn outreach, a cold emailing, or a multichannel approach, nowadays, the first thing anyone does is check your and your company’s profile on LinkedIn.

Your LinkedIn profile is your online business card, available to anyone at any moment. Make sure it looks neat and professional.

As the bare minimum, you must:

Write a catchy headline that describes exactly what your job consists of. Imagine how you would describe what you do for a living, in one sentence, to someone who knows nothing about it. That’s your headline.
Put a professional profile picture. Long story short, put a photo that you wouldn't be ashamed to show to your boss or your biggest client.
Upload a cover photo that portrays what you do or what your business is all about.
A LinkedIn summary is all about your professional highlights and keywords you would want to be associated with.
List relevant professional experience.
Tell us what you studied.

You define your ICP.

Not defining your ICP equals gambling with your money, resources, and time.

And just like with casinos, the statistical probability is against you.

The house always wins, so don’t put it all on red. You’ll end up being in the red.

Catastrophic predictions apart, for getting more sales you need to define the companies that match your Ideal Customer Profile.

Now, how do you define your ICP?

Take into consideration both your target industry and sub-industry.
Understand the location of your ICPs.
Take into consideration the revenue that your best customers bring to your business.
Highlight your top 5 current customers that you’d like to replicate if you could and outline their positives and negatives.

If you need more details on how to define your ICPs, the difference between ICP and Buyer Persona, and downloadable ready-to-use templates for defining both check out 4 Easy Steps To Create ICP For Lead Generation and 6 Key Steps To Create Buyer Persona For Lead Generation.

You target what you’ve defined.

Since you’ve spent your time defining the ICP and the Buyer Persona within, and your money on Sales Navigator, you better use them to their full potential.

With 29 Sales Navigator Lead Filters and 15 Sales Navigator Account Filters, the possibilities for quality targeting are endless.

Whether a LinkedIn lead generation expert or a newbie to this process, having a deep knowledge of the tools at your disposal is the first step toward successful prospecting on LinkedIn. And, if you “have the moves” and know how to:

Use the Spotlights filter;
Apply Boolean search;
Exclude leads from your search;
Create a Leads List;
Use Alerts;
Take advantage of the View Similar option;
Filter leads through Account Lists/Lead Lists filters

... the sky is your limit!

For detailed instructions (and more) check out:

Complete guide to Sales Navigator Lead Filters;
Top hacks to Find Leads on LinkedIn .

How long should a LinkedIn message be?

LinkedIn gives you up to 300 characters for your LinkedIn Connection Request Message.

On the other hand, the LinkedIn InMail character limit is:

Subject line: 200 characters
InMail body: 2000 characters
Signature: 150 characters

A regular LinkedIn Message that you can send only to your 1st-degree connections and to members of the same LinkedIn Group, only in case you are a member too, has an 8000-character limit.

However, there is no need to use them all. When writing any of these, keep in mind that you have only few seconds to catch your prospect’s attention. Furthermore, no one wants to read a novel in their Inbox.

In your LinkedIn Message make sure that you:

Hook them in the Intro to read more;
Keep them interested throughout the message to continue reading;
Make them wish to ask questions and want to hear more.

LinkedIn claims that messages up to 600 characters are 50% more likely to get a response. Also, remember to fit the catchy information at the beginning as this is what recipients see in their Inbox preview.

How to cold message on LinkedIn: Dos & don’ts

DOS

Find something that you have in common with the lead that you are talking to. Your conversation-starter LinkedIn Message should have a solid personalized hook or a good joke (‘cause, why not? Everyone likes to laugh), so you can justify further conversation, in case you didn’t put one in your Connection Request Message.
Ask questions - but gradually. No one will tell you the main problem of their company straight out the gate, but once they feel that you genuinely care and that you might have a solution to their problem, they will open up.
Be prospect-oriented. Everything you say must serve the prospect and their business. No one cares what worked for you.

DON’TS

Don’t sell in your Connection Request Message or the first LinkedIn Message.
Don’t use the same pitch on everyone. It might seem a bit time-consuming to come up with a different LinkedIn Message copy for each lead (or group of leads), but trust us, it’s worth your time. Plus, you’ll have LinkedIn Message Templates for getting more sales down below that you can use right away or adjust to your needs if necessary.
Don’t talk about yourself right away. Your lead will for sure check the LinkedIn profile of you and your company, so make sure it sells for you. It is fine to include a brief explanation of who you are and what your company does, but don’t use all the available characters of the LinkedIn Message for it.

10 LinkedIn message templates for 10 LinkedIn scenarios

We’ve listed for you 10 ideas of how to approach your leads and get more sales based on different business goals and LinkedIn scenarios.

Scenario #1: Express interest in your lead’s work to form a partnership

Connection request template

Hello {{firstName}},

I saw on your profile that you’re associated with the {{industry}} industry.

I work in {{yourIndustry}} and would love to connect with you!

LinkedIn message template #1

Thanks for connecting!

I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but {{yourCompany}} has {{customizedSellingPoint}}/{{uniqueSellingPoint}}.

You can check it out in more detail on our website {{link}}.

I believe that {{currentCompany}} could benefit from it!

Let me know what you think!

{{personalizedGIF}}

Personalized GIF

These templates work because you’ve:

Inserted a hyper-personalized GIF referencing the lead you are talking to and their company;
Shown that you’ve done your research by referencing to the lead’s occupation/company/industry;
Offered a solution to their problem or some kind of service that their industry can majorly benefit from.

Scenario #2: Investigate your lead’s current solution to pitch your product/service

Connection request template

Hi {{firstName}},

What is the hardest part of being a product manager?

Explaining what you do to your parents and friends.

Jokes apart, I would love to connect!

LinkedIn message template #1

Hey {{firstName}},

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request.

I saw that you are {{occupation}} at {{currentCompany}}, so I decided to reach out.

I was curious to know if you and your team are using any customer survey tools? If yes, which one, if you wouldn’t mind sharing that info?

Thanks,

John

LinkedIn message template #2

The reason for my outreach was to introduce {{descriptionOfSolution}}.

Briefly, {{uniqueSellingPoints}}.

How does that sound?

These templates work because you’ve:

Used humor in your outreach, which is always a good choice;
Shown that you’ve done your research by referring to the lead’s occupation and/or company that they work at;
Asked questions to get to know their current solutions/problems/needs/rooms for improvement;
Given a brief explanation of what you offer to hook them and make them want to hear more about it.

Scenario #3: Content distribution and promotion

Connection request template

Hey {{FirstName}},

I came across your profile and was really interested in your background as a {{occupation}} at {{currentCompany}}. I share a lot of content about the {{industry}} industry that could be useful to you.

Looking forward to connecting with you!

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for adding me to your network.

I thought that this blog {{nameOfblog}} might be particularly useful for you {{link}}.

Check it out and let me know if you have some comments and suggestions!

These templates work because you’ve:

Shown that you’ve done your research by referring to the lead’s occupation/company/industry;
Offered a resource that the lead’s industry/company can benefit from.

Scenario #4: Reach out to people who attended your event

Connection request template

Hey {{firstName}},

Thank you for attending my webinar {{webinar’sName}}!

I would like to keep in touch.

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for adding me to your network!

Quick question - {{question}}.

{{personalizedImage}}

Personalized image

LinkedIn message template #2

Thank you so much for sharing your feedback!

I also took some time to research your company {{currentCompany}} and wanted to share with you some resources that might help you with {{problem}}/{{roomForImprovement}}.

Here’s a link to it - {{link}}

LinkedIn message template #3

Hey {{firstName}},

I hope that you liked the blog I’ve sent.

If you would like to know more about it and you found that resource valuable, there’s plenty where that came from!

Let me know if you would be interested in {{service/product}}, I would be glad to help!

These templates work because you’ve:

Taken some time to find the lead that attended your event and thank them for it;
Asked for genuine feedback to connect with your lead and create trust between the two;
Put in extra effort to make a hyper-personalized Image to ask for feedback;
Offered to give more resources to help the lead with a particular matter;
Shared a free gift.

Scenario #5: Invite relevant leads to join your community

Connection request template

Hello {{firstName}},

I saw the post that you shared about {{topic}} and I really like the part where {{thePartYouLiked}} / {{postParagraph}}.

Would love to connect!

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request.

I saw that you are {{occupation}} at {{currentCompany}}. That’s so interesting! I actually have this community dedicated to the {{industry}} industry and I wanted to invite you to join!

We discuss {{mainTopics}}

Here’s the link - {{link}}

Wе would love to have you!

These templates work because you’ve:

Referred to a post that a lead shared on LinkedIn and highlighted a part that particularly resonated with you;
Shown that you’ve done your research by referring to the lead’s occupation/company/industry;
Invited the lead in a non-intrusive way to join by sharing a link (no spamming);
Told the lead what to expect from the community and showed that they have value from joining.

Scenario #6: Invite a speaker/lecturer to your event

Connection request template

Hello {{firstName}},

I loved your article {{title}} on {{website}}.

Anyways, I am truly an admirer of your work and would love to connect!

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for adding me to your network!

As mentioned before, your article really meant a lot to me {{reason}}.

Actually, I am organizing a seminar on an adjacent topic {{topic}} aimed at {{occupation}}. I would love to have you as a guest speaker.

Let’s hop on a call and discuss it further one day this week. What do you think?

These templates work because you’ve:

Shown that you’ve done your research and that you know their work by referencing something specific;
Shown admiration for their work. Everyone likes compliments;
Shared how their work helped you. Everyone likes to know that what they do is helpful to others.

Scenario #7: Connect over a mutual friend to pitch a product/service

Connection request template

Hello {{firstName}},

I noticed that we’re both connected with {{mutualConnection}}. I worked with {{MutualConnection’sName}} at {{company}}/{{project}}, so I thought it would be nice to get in touch with you!

How do you know {{MutualConnection’sName}}?

LinkedIn message template #1

Hey {{firstName}},

Glad to connect!

Anyways, I saw that you work as a {{title}} at {{company}}. I have a question if you don’t mind me asking. {{question}}

LinkedIn message template #2

The reason I asked is that we have a new tool that {{benefit}}.

If this is something that your business needs, I would be glad to hop on a quick call and give you some details.

No strings attached. Let me know!

LinkedIn message template #3

Hi {{firstName}},

You are probably very busy, so I just wanted to check in with you one last time and see if you saw my last message.

I would like to tell you how to {{uniqueSellingPoint}}:

{{sellingPoints}}

You can see more details here - {{websiteLink}}

Can you take a call {{time}} to discuss it further?

No pushy sales manipulation, I promise.

I hope to hear back from you!

These templates work because you’ve:

Shown that you have a mutual connection. People like to work with someone who is reliable;
Researched who they are and what they do in particular;
Asked questions to create a deeper bond and to understand your lead’s needs/problems/rooms for improvement;
Tried to create a hook once more by listing the unique selling points of your product/service.

Scenario #8: Recruit the perfect candidate for your business

Connection request template

Hello {{firstName}},

I am a recruiter at {{company}} and I came across your profile.

I would like to talk about a newly-opened position at {{company}} for which I found you to be a perfect fit.

Let’s connect!

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request.

As I was saying, I came across your profile and you seem to be exactly the person that we seek - {{background}}/{{skills}}.

{{yourCompany}} is currently seeking a {{position}} with your skillset to carry out a series of tasks I would like to further discuss with you, in case this sounds interesting.

What do you say?

These templates work because you’ve:

Shown that you’ve done your research and know your lead’s professional experience;
Highlighted a particular skill set that your lead has and that is relevant to the position that you’re offering.

Scenario #9: Target leads who attended the same LinkedIn event as you did

Connection request template

Hello {{firstName}},

I saw that you too attended the {{eventName}} event!

I found {{topic}} particularly useful! How about you?

Let’s connect!

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for adding me to your network!

I saw that you are {{title}} at {{company}}. I help {{niche}} companies generate more leads through deep personalization on LinkedIn.

Let’s jump on a Zoom call sometime this week?

{{personalizedImage}}

Personalized image

These templates work because you’ve:

Referred to an event that both you and the lead attended;
Referenced something specific from the event;
Done your research and referenced your lead’s title/company/industry;
Done extra work to hyper-personalize an Image by making a direct reference to your lead, yourself, and a call-to-action (zoom call).

Scenario #10: Reach out to a lead who asked a question in a post comment

Connection request template

Hey {{firstName}},

I found the question that you asked in {{author’sName}} post on LinkedIn very interesting!

I would love to suggest several resources that could help you solve that issue.

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request.

You asked {{question}}. Have you ever heard of {{product}}/{{service}}?

I would love to hop on a call with you and explain why I find it to be a good solution to what you need right now.

These templates work because you’ve:

Reference a specific question that a lead asked in a comment to someone’s post;
Offered a potential solution/resource to solve their problem.

To sum up

The hardest part on LinkedIn is getting your lead’s attention. Despite the fact that having your Connection Request accepted represents a small victory, bigger “battles” are about to happen. LinkedIn members are being bombarded with so many messages and sales offers, that the majority of them don’t even bother reading them, let alone answering.

That’s why we’ve listed 10 LinkedIn Message Templates for different business scenarios that can help you attract that “ideal” lead’s attention.

Express interest in your lead’s work to form a partnership;
Investigate your lead’s current solution to pitch your product/service;
Content distribution and promotion;
Reach out to people who attended your event;
Invite relevant leads to join your community;
Invite a speaker/lecturer to your event;
Connect over a mutual friend to pitch a product/service;
Recruit the perfect candidate for your business;
Target leads who attended the same LinkedIn event as you did;
Reach out to a lead who asked a question in a post comment.

Whether you’re using them for networking, getting new clients, partners, or doing any kind of outreach, these strategic templates could grow your chances for success.

Use them, tweak them, get inspired by them.

And when you feel ready to scale up your business, we’ll be right here waiting for you.

Launch your first outreach campaign today!

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Minut connected with the leads on a personal level and understood the market better.

Here’s how Toine generated 45% of his business.

After founding his agency, Daniel generated $100K for his client.

10X Millennial went from booking 20 to 80 calls per week.

How to network on LinkedIn

#1 Connect with people from your area of expertise

#2 Connect with your target audience

#3 Attend LinkedIn events and mingle

#4 Join LinkedIn groups

#5 Create content and engage with people who comment

6 dos for networking on LinkedIn

Personalize invites to connect

Complete your LinkedIn profile

Respond promptly

Introduce people

Stay top of mind

Check your SSI

5 don’ts for networking on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is NOT Tinder

Don’t spam people

Don’t post self-serving content

Don’t ignore job proposal & invitations

Don’t talk negative about competitors

Now you know how to network on LinkedIn. Are you ready for it?

What is automated lead generation?

Types of automatic lead generation

Inbound lead generation automation

Outbound lead generation automation

B2B lead generation automation VS B2C lead generation automation

How to automate lead generation [Step-by-step guides]

Automated outbound lead generation guide

1. Define your ICP and buyer persona

2. Find contact data

3. Craft a compelling message

4. Send cold emails

5. Automated LinkedIn lead generation

6. Lead automation: Nurture the leads

Automated inbound lead generation guide

1. Set up your lead generation website

2. Create a lead magnet

3. Set up your landing page

4. Capture leads with a chatbot

5. Get traffic to your page

6. Lead management automation: Nurture the leads

7. Use marketing automation for lead generation

Best lead generation automation tools

1. Skylead

Use cases

Pricing

2. OptinMonster

Features

Page-level targeting

Exit-intent technology

Lightbox pop-up

Onsite retargeting

List segmentation

Pricing

3. Moosend.com

Features

Pricing

4. Mailchimp

Features

Email marketing

Lead gen

Automated customer journeys

Pricing

5. Tidio

Pricing

Automated lead generation examples

1. Lead capture framework

a. Create a lead magnet

b. Set up chatbots

2. Framework for finding leads

3. Outreach framework

a. Inbound outreach

b. Outbound outreach

4. Customer and lead nurturing framework

Skyrocket your leads and conversions with automation

Basics of using Chat GPT for sales

How to give prompts to Chat GPT for sales messages