Sending cold emails on LinkedIn has become one of the most popular ways to try to get new prospects and generate leads. And while LinkedIn makes it very easy to connect with and message prospects, it is also very easy to make mistakes with your messages.

With that being the case, here is a brain dump of what I consider dos and don’ts for sending cold emails on LinkedIn.

Don’t make it about you.
I believe one of the biggest mistakes that salespeople make with their LinkedIn cold email messages is that they typically make the email all about themself. What I mean by that is that their email is structured around something like “Hello, I am with Company X. We sell Product Y. Are you available for a meeting where I can try to get you to buy my product?”

Make it about them.
Instead of making your email about you, make it about the prospect. One way to do this is by shifting from talking about the product you sell and focusing more on how your product can help the prospect.

Don’t sound like a salesperson trying to sell something.
There are many salespeople on LinkedIn that are trying to sell something so the worst thing that you can do is create LinkedIn cold email messages that make you sound like you are trying to sell something.

Sound like a business person or a consultant.
Even though you are a salesperson who is trying to sell something, you can try to communicate in a way where you look more like a business person or consultant than a salesperson.

Don’t do the ”instant pitch.”
I accept connections every day on LinkedIn, and the majority of the time, I receive a LinkedIn cold email almost immediately after clicking accept with the salesperson telling me what they sell. I call this the “instant pitch” cold email because it is sent almost immediately and the message is a very direct product pitch.

Either delay your message with your pitch or decrease the amount of pitch in your message.
In order to prevent the “instant pitch”, try to delay your email so that you are not instantly pitching or change your LinkedIn cold email so that it is less of a product pitch.

Don’t try to sell the product.
When sending LinkedIn cold emails, try not to sell the product. I say this not in terms of what you say in your message but more so as to the goal you are focusing on. You most likely cannot sell your product through a LinkedIn cold email so don’t try to have that as the goal of your message.

Try to start conversations.
Instead of having a goal for your cold email of trying to sell the product, try to focus more on selling a conversation. Try to get the prospect to agree to meet or talk. Not only is this the actual step you would have to go to next in order to try to sell your product in most cases, but it is actually an easier sell than getting your prospect to agree to buy from you.

We hope this gives you some ideas for how to improve your LinkedIn cold emails!