It’s a familiar process to all of us to be invited to connect on LinkedIn. You get the standard “invite you to connect” email (please, never use this standard email!), you check out the person to see if there is any reason to connect, and then you accept. And that’s usually the end of it.
Mark Connolly does it differently
Mark Connolly is an inbound marketer in Glasgow, Scotland. He and I connected on LinkedIn a year ago and much to my surprise, he sent me a really nice “thank you for connecting” email that introduced him and offered his assistance. I was so impressed with it that I am reproducing it below.
I hope it inspires you to do something similar after you connect on LinkedIn with your next contact. (By the way, Mark’s LinkedIn profile is here.)
His email starts with a small LinkedIn logo, his photo, name and occupation, so I can immediately place him and understand who is emailing me. The subject line is “Thanks for connecting.”
Hi Larry,
Thanks for connecting — it is my pleasure to welcome you to my network.
I do make a sincere effort to view the profile of all my connections, to reach out the them, and attempt to find ways in which we can help each other. After all, isn’t that the goal here?
WHO IS MARK CONNOLLY?
O am a Chartered Marketer with 15+ years of business experience. I am an inbound marketer who specialises in the tech sector, and have worked in both client-side and agency side. This has helped me gain the necessary skills to understand our clients pains and help them discover their solution, creatively. I work closely with our clients to understand their strengths and make plans to utilise the most effectively to generate ‘hot’ leads.
I have been leading my own digital marketing agency, Sprout Traffic — planting the seeds to helps your business grow, for the last 2 years.
The work we do involves marketing strategy, digital communications, branding, SEO and social media in both the design and marketing consulting area. Our work has many applications in almost all industries from the tech sector, to education, to retail and engineering and many, many others.
I am also well-versed in representing the Cambridge Marketing College to teach CIM courses. I am responsible for the delivery of weekend learning modules for the Marketing Communications and Digital Marketing modules. Typically I support 15-20 learners each academic year, providing them with syllabus knowledge and advice. In addition, I am a Brand Ambassador for the college in Scotland where I help grow the brand and offer students advice on what courses are best suited to their needs.
If I can be of any assistance in these areas, answer any questions you may have, or try to direct you to an appropriate person, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
If you like, you can check out my company website (linked) or follow me on Twitter or our blog.
Thanks,
Mark
Wow! I’m re-inspired by Mark’s email as I re-create it here!
If you combine a customized personal LinkedIn connection request with this kind of thank you email, you’ll be generating new business prospects very quickly.
Why not also followup with a quick phone call a week later? No sales talk on this call. . . just an inquiry about your new contact and their interests. Then you know exactly what type of content to send them in the future.
Effective use of LinkedIn is an important tool for B2B executives. Learn more about how your company can implement inbound marketing to 1) automate the above process, and 2) drive highly-targeted leads to your website.
