DM Etiquette Every Solopreneur Needs to Know
How do you introduce yourself to people in social settings?
Do you shout in their face what you do for a living, how long you’ve been doing it and why they should give you their money?
No? Obviously, we know that approaching someone like this in real life is going to get us ignored…at the very least. The same applies to how you’re DMing your prospects on LinkedIn.
Sending them paragraphs explaining the background of your business or even starting by telling them what they’re doing wrong is never going to get you the results you want. It’s important to follow this DM etiquette if you want to successfully sell on LinkedIn.
Don’t Pitch Slap
Look, everyone knows that most people on LinkedIn are either there to sell or be sold to. But, you can’t just throw around sales pitches and hope one sticks.
Sales relationships - even before the digital age took over, have always been built on trust. The last thing that is going to get people to trust you is slapping them with a sales pitch in the first message. In fact, if you build a digital relationship successfully, you shouldn’t have to send a sales pitch at all.
It takes at least 2-3 back-and-forth messages before a prospect will be willing to talk business with you. Even then, this should be reached through organic conversation that naturally leads to a sale.
Keep it Simple
If you’re too intense in the first (or any) DM message(s), your prospects are going to run for the LinkedIn hills - where your competitors are lurking.
Reaching out in DMs is an essential touchpoint for social selling but it’s about putting you in front of your prospects not demanding a reply. Keeping your messages light and simple, such as “Thanks for connecting. Hope you’re doing well”, is going to be much more effective than, “Hi. I work at x business, I see you’re having x problem. Give me x amount of money to solve it.”
You might be worried that this approach gives your prospects an excuse to not reply. However, even if they don’t reply to your initial message, there is still time for more interactions. The thing to remember is that there is a difference between being persistent and spamming your connections.
Be Persistent, Not Annoying
Patience can be a hard thing for solopreneurs to practise. I get it. You need to see results and you need them fast. So, it’s time you reframe what “seeing results” actually means.
Connecting with your prospects is a result. Sending a DM that didn’t lead them to un-connecting with you is a result. Nurturing an organic conversation with your prospects is a major result.
The important thing is to not be put off if some prospects ignore your initial message. This doesn’t always mean they’re not interested. Waiting a couple of days to send a follow-up message is not going to hurt your chances of building a relationship, but sending multiple DMs in a single day will.
Your First Step on the Road to Success
Solopreneurs need to get over the DM panic; the worry that they only have a short window of time to keep a prospect interested and close a sale.
Following these DM etiquette rules will prove to you that while social selling is more of a long game, it leads to success more often than not.
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