LinkedIn: start a conversation, don’t pitch

The sequence

1. Connect, no note. Blank requests get accepted more. A note screams “sales.”
2. Not accepted in a few days? Don’t wait. Keep calling and emailing. A non-accept isn’t a dead end, it’s a nudge to try another door.
3. A warm intro beats a cold connect. If someone at your company knows them, ask for the intro first.
4. Have someone senior send it for exec-level people. It converts better, and it opens the warm path above.
5. They accepted but ignored your question? Send a voice note or a video DM. Almost nobody does this, which is exactly why it works.
6. Still not connected by the end of the week? Send an InMail. Last step on this channel. It lands in their inbox whether they accepted you or not.

Your profile is a landing page

They will click it before they reply. Make it read like a page about them, not your resume.

• Banner: your logo plus a proof line. e.g. “Helping [customer type] [outcome]” with a row of customer logos.
• Headline: what they GET, not your title. e.g. “I help [who you sell to] [outcome] | [Company]”, not “BDR at [Company]”.
• About, first line about THEM: e.g. “If you run [team] and you’re tired of [the problem], this is for you.”
• Photo: real and friendly. Not a cropped party pic.
• Use a softer title than BDR/SDR in your headline. It lifts connection and reply rates.

The first message

Once they accept, do not pitch. No link. No paragraphs. No “got 15 minutes?”

Send one open-ended question they can answer off the top of their head, short enough to read like a text. That’s the entire formula. It has to be about their world, not your product.

You’re not booking a meeting with this message. You’re getting a reply.

Here’s ours, so you can see the shape

"Hey [Name], do you go up against [Competitor 1] or [Competitor 2] pretty often?"

Now write yours

Ask what the equivalent question is for your category. It passes if it’s all five of these:

• Short enough to read like a text. One line. If it wraps three times, cut it.
• Answerable off the top of their head. No thinking, no looking anything up, no digging through a spreadsheet.
• Open-ended enough to start something. Not a survey question, not a yes/no dead end.
• About their day, not your product. If your company name appears, start over.
• Zero pitch. No link, no ask, no “would you be open to”.

Some shapes that travel well across categories:

"Hey [Name], how's your team handling [the problem] these days?"

"[Name], curious what you're using for [category] right now?"

"Hey [Name], is [the problem] still a headache for you or have you got it sorted?"

"[Name], who owns [the thing you sell into] on your team these days?"

Not sure what yours should be? Ask ChatGPT to draft five and pick the one you’d actually send.

When they reply “yeah, why?”

Don’t dump a pitch on them.

"We help [teams like yours] [outcome]. Worth swapping notes for 10 min? Even if we never work together I can send you [the thing you're offering]."

Warm-up move

Leave a real comment on their recent post before you DM. Not “Great post!”, an actual thought.

Now you’re a friendly face instead of a stranger.

No reply? Send a voice note or a video

They accepted you and then ignored your question. Don’t send another typed message into the same silence.

Send a voice note or a short video instead. Almost nobody does this, so it doesn’t look like the forty other messages in their inbox. They can hear that you’re a real person having a normal day, which is very hard to fake in text.

How to actually send one

• Both are mobile only. Open the LinkedIn app, go to the conversation, tap the microphone for a voice note or the camera for a video. You can’t do either from your laptop.
• LinkedIn caps voice notes at 60 seconds. Aim for 45. Ending a little early sounds confident; hitting the cap mid-sentence sounds like a rant.
• Wait 3 or 4 days after your opener went unanswered. Same day reads as desperate.
• Learn the beats, don’t read the script. If it sounds read, it’s worse than text. Know the five points below and just talk.
• Say their name in the first three seconds so they know it’s actually for them.
• Stand up and smile. Both are audible. Record somewhere quiet, one take, and don’t re-record five times chasing perfect.
• For video: look at the lens, not at yourself. Put a window in front of you, not behind. Keep it to 30 or 45 seconds.
• No pitch, no link, no calendar. Same rules as every other message. And never a word about the competitor.

The beats

1. Who you are, fast. (5 seconds)
2. Acknowledge you’re following up, with zero guilt. (8 seconds)
3. The real reason you’re bothering them: the problem, one proof. (20 seconds)
4. The ask, which is not a demo. (8 seconds)
5. An easy way out. (4 seconds)

Sample: 45 seconds

"Hey [Name], it's [You] over at [Company].

I sent you a message last week about [the problem] and didn't hear back, which is completely fair, you're busy.

Figured I'd try this instead.

The reason I keep bugging you: I talk to a lot of [people in their job], and [the problem] comes up constantly. [Similar customer] had the same thing going on, and [what changed for them].

I'm not trying to book you into a demo. I'm just curious how you're handling it, because if you've got it sorted I'll leave you alone.

Either way, hope your week's a good one."

If they reply, you’ve won the channel. Answer like a human, stay curious, and go back to the phone playbook for asking about the meeting.

Last step: the InMail

They never accepted. You’ve called, you’ve emailed, the week is up. InMail is your last swing on this channel, and it goes to their inbox whether they connected or not.

You get a subject line here, so use it. Same rules as everything else: no pitch, no link, one question, and never a word about the competitor.

Subject: quick question

Hey [Name], tried you a couple of ways so I'll keep this short.

Do you go up against [Competitor 1] or [Competitor 2] much? Curious how your team handles [the problem] these days.

No pitch, genuinely just curious. If it's not your area, point me at whoever it is and I'll leave you alone.

You get a limited number of these a month, so spend them on high-priority accounts. If they don’t reply, the LinkedIn channel is done. Keep the phone and email going.

What NOT to do

Next: Phone playbook · Email playbook · Get ChatGPT to write it · Who works what