The Ultimate LinkedIn Messaging Guide

CHAPTER 21INMAIL MESSAGES ON LINKEDIN

For anyone who hasn't used Sales Navigator before, it's a premium platform that LinkedIn offers that works alongside LinkedIn. By paying a monthly fee, you get a whole host of additional features, one being the ability to send messages to people you're not connected with yet. If you hadn't noticed, you cannot do this on standard LinkedIn; you are only allowed to directly message 1^st‐degree connections—people you are directly connected with.

With Sales Navigator, you are able to send a number of InMail messages to people you are not connected with (the number of InMails you're allowed to send will depend on the level of membership you or your company has).

Now, let me first address the elephant in the room…

When someone receives a LinkedIn InMail, they often know one simple truth:

You have PAID to send them that message. And if you have paid to send them that message, it is probably because you want to or are trying to sell them something!

This puts you at an INSTANT disadvantage when using InMails. They're no different from sponsored ads that you see on most social networks, adverts that companies have paid a lot of money to get in front of your eyes. When you see them, you often are quite quickly put off; it's no different from seeing a salesman approaching you at a shop—you know you're about to be sold to.

So, when decision‐makers see an InMail in their inbox, the likelihood is high that they'll be sitting there thinking, “Oh, here ...