Yesterday, I received a LinkedIn connect request that got my full attention. Let’s deeply analyse it here for the purpose of better understanding the important difference between content and context.
So, this is what I’ve received from a Business Development Manager of a software development company – he sent me this in his connect request:
Content analysis
At first glance this looks very professional and you think that he did a great job with personalization his invite. No, he just appears to be a power user of a particular SW tool – that runs on top of LinkedIn – that does all the magic:
- Trigger: {prospect} reacted on {selected.post}
- I looked at your profile, and IMHO you have an impressive career in {prospect.company} as {prospect.jobtitle}.
There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the content itself. Ok, maybe a bit strange is to read “career in BizXpand”. Would you say a founder makes an impressive career in his own company? I haven’t heard that before.
But, ok, my problem with this invite is not about the content.
Let’s go deeper and analyze the context
I do have a big problem with the context of these three elements:
- Trigger – what triggered me to reach out to you
- I’ve qualified you – I might have something interesting and/or valuable for you
- Call to Action – let’s connect to xyz
Trigger:
I checked and found out that I really “liked” Anna’s blog post. The article was about getting additional funding for her company. But the fact that I liked the article and the BDM may also have liked the article is not something what makes me feel that we have “something in common”.
Qualification:
Where’s the new information for me when you tell me my job title and the company I work for? It does not make you more interesting?
Call to Action:
“Connect to exchange knowledge”. C’mon! Really? Who are you? Why should I share my knowledge with you? Why would I want to hear your knowledge? Exchange knowledge about what?
Translate this to the analog world
2 persons on the same bus on their way to work. “You’ve been on the bus yesterday and you are wearing a red t-shirt and nice Nike sneakers. Let’s connect and exchange knowledge.”… You better run! 😉
6 STEPS GO-TO-MARKET CHECKLIST FOR "B2B GERMANY"
Applicable For Software And Services Companies That Want To Successfully Work The German Speaking Market.
Learnings for BDMs and SDRs:
Using sales automation is totally fine, and make a lot of sense if used correctly. We move mountains by using modern technology in sales. All those sales enablement tools can help a lot when it comes to repetitive jobs – but as of today (AI is a buzzword) no such tool can put the content in the right context on a personal level. You still have to use your brain and do this manually. A little help is to segment your audiences more granular and automate in smaller chunks.
Ok, but what happened with that Business Development Manager?
I accepted his connect request, politely replied and explained what I’ve noticed about his connect request.
He replied:
