One of the main sales tips that we recommend is to not sound like a salesperson that is trying to sell something when communicating with prospects. But there are two reasons that make this even more important when communicating with prospects on LinkedIn.

First, the people that you want to pursue are likely getting messages from a lot of product selling salespeople. With that, if you reach out and sound like a salesperson who is trying to sell something, you increase the odds of being received in a negative way.

But another reason to try to not sound like a salesperson is that, while you might be on LinkedIn to sell your product, the people you are reaching out to are probably not on the platform looking to buy what you sell. In other words, LinkedIn is not a marketplace where buyers and sellers go to meet because the prospects are not buyers.

What I mean by that is that the majority of people join LinkedIn to network, stay in touch with friends and colleagues, share ideas and information, advance their careers, and sell their own products. As a result, when they create a profile and accept an invitation to become connections, they are not doing all of that with the hope that someone will find them and try to sell them something. This does not mean that you cannot sell to people you find on LinkedIn. More so, this is just something you should be aware of and sensitive to when figuring out what best to say when you reach out.