Five Ways to Get More LinkedIn Connection Requests Accepted

Though I try to keep up with incoming LinkedIn connection requests there is still a backlog in my pending list. Some are probably spammers and some are just people who have no idea who I am, but there are probably some genuine requests in the list. Looking through the pending requests I realize that many of them would have been accepted immediately if the sender had made it clearer who they were or how our paths crossed. There are, in fact, five handy techniques anyone -- me included -- can use to make it more likely that connection requests are accepted immediately;

Personalize the connection message. By far the best way to get a connection request accepted is to personalize the message, clarifying why you want to connect and how you thought of the person. LinkedIn changes the interface regularly but at present the only place you have this option is when you send a connection request from the person's profile, not from search results. You should in any case always look at someone's profile unless you know them very well.

Mention event where we met on social media. Very often people send a request after they have seen me speak or they have been at one of my workshops. I sometimes Google names that I don't recall and if I find a Twitter account where you mention hearing me speak then I can understand how you know me. Posting information about what you are doing on social media has unexpected benefits like this that make it more than worthwhile.

Watch your incoming messages for replies. When I receive a connection request that looks plausible but I don't recall the person I usually send a reply message asking how they know me or why they want to connect. Most people never reply. Some, I assume, have no answer. Many others probably just don't read their LinkedIn messages. This is not a good idea because if you see messages like this and reply you are much more likely to get your connection request accepted.

Make sure your profile is reasonably complete. Often people send me connection requests but their profile has no picture, so I can't recognize them, or no biographical details, so I can't see if we are in some way linked. Before you ask other people to connect always fill in your profile with key information and a photo.

Contact first through another channel. Another way to make a LinkedIn connection request more likely to be accepted is to engage with the person through another channel first. Sometimes people send an email after a workshop or lecture commenting on the content; other times people tweet about something I have done. When a connection request arrives I am then much more likely to recognize who the person is.

But no matter how hard you try sometimes a request falls through the cracks so don't give in. Try instead through some other channels first and when you have engaged with the person there try LinkedIn again, this time sending a personalized request from a solid profile.


Lectures, Workshops, Coaching & Writing

 For interesting and useful lectures and workshops about professional networking contact Andrew Hennigan through speaker@andrewhennigan.com or 0046 73 089 44 75. You might also check out the book Payforward Networking, available in paperback and Kindle editions from Amazon.


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