Golden Rules of the Invite Message:
Make it as personalized as possible to the receiver's professional title (especially if you're using automated messaging)
The back-handed compliment
Don't pitch in the invite message
Don't even give the receiver the impression that they're about to get pitched in the follow-up message.
Leadoku recommends having 1 professional title (or professional theme) per Search URL. For example, people in the marketing department such as Head of Marketing, Marketing Director, CMO. Don't create a campaign that's targeting "CFO's" and "Marketing Managers" and "VP Sales". Instead, we recommend creating a separate campaign for each audience.
Some examples of good invite messages can be:
Resource:
Hey {receiver.first_name}, my name is Jane, Founder of <company> - (we automate something cool). Upon seeing your experience in <cyber>, I’d love to connect and discuss if we can be a resource to you in any way.
Looking forward to speaking soon.
Opportunities:
Hi {receiver.first_name}, My name is {user.first_name}, I'm in the <industry> working at <company name>. I'm looking to connect with experts in the <industry> field and hopefully discuss some possible opportunities in the future.
Looking forward.
Current initiatives:
My name is Xx, and I'm the Xx of <company>, a <description>. As a <title> professional, I’d love to connect and discuss your current initiatives in this space.
Best,
Xx
Golden Rules of the Followup Message:
If you've adhered to the rules of the Invite Message, then you've waited until the followup in order to make your pitch. The pitch has 3 parts:
A) The Opening
B) The Meat
C) The Closing
Open the convo with a short introduction of yourself and company.
Address the receiver's pain and your service/product can solve it.
Offer the company's unique selling point (this is where you flesh it out)
Name Dropping (if possible)
Call to action, for example, ask to schedule a call. Be aggressive in a humble way. (especially in the closing lines of your pitch.
Assuming that you've chosen a targeted audience per campaign, you should also be able to enter the shoes of the professional you're addressing.
Obviously, the problems faced by Marketers is different than the problems of Sales People, just as the problems of a CFO within a 1,000-person company is different than the CFO's within a 10-person company.
Remember: the aim of the followup message is to discover whether it's worth your time to continue nurturing the relationship. Therefore, the closing line should be something like: "Does this sound like something that would solve a pain of yours or a pain of a colleague of yours?"
In case you're interested in experimenting (which is the perfect mentality for building a strong sales funnel), here are some more variations for you to try out for your closing line:
"We're pitching to companies like yours and I was wondering if I could get your feedback on our product."
"Our Product is very popular for the Israeli Market, but we're looking to offer it to the US Market. Therefore, if you could take a moment to browse the features list and let me know your thoughts, I'd be very grateful."
Reasoning: If they find a use for the product within their workflow, it will naturally turn into a Sales Conversation.
You may have noticed within this guide that you shouldn't give the receiver the impression that you're in a rush to a close the sale. Instead, the focus should be on the pain of the receiver and how you can step in and save the day.
An example of a Follow-Up Message can be:
Thanks for connecting {receiver.first_name}.
As briefly mentioned in my last note, <company name> <describe what you do>. <Describe their possible pain and what value you can bring>
We're currently working with <Other companies you work with> to <solve the same pain>
I would be happy to set up a quick call and learn more about your business and if we can bring value to your organization. (calendar link)
Or feel free to view more information on our website:
<Link to site>
It’s great to have you in my network and I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best,
{Your_name}