How To Write LinkedIn Prospecting Messages? [19 Examples]

LinkedIn sales prospecting performances heavily rely on salespeople copywriting skills.

With the right strategy, your LinkedIn prospecting messages can generate dozens of meeting every week.

See for yourself:

linkedin sales prospecting

In this article you are going to see:

  • How to write LinkedIn sales prospecting messages?
  • 7 LinkedIn sales prospecting strategies with templates
  • 5 things to do before you start prospecting on LinkedIn
  • 3 LinkedIn prospecting tools to boost your sales

Let’s make you better at LinkedIn prospecting.

How To Write LinkedIn Sales Prospecting Messages?

9 LinkedIn prospecting message tips:

  1. Write short messages
  2. Don’t pitch in the first message
  3. Don’t add notes in your request if not relevant
  4. Give a clear reason for outreach
  5. Ask a question to qualify
  6. Back your question with data
  7. Give a good reason to reply
  8. Send 3-4 follow-ups
  9. Always add value in the follow-ups

1. Write short messages

According to LinkedIn datashorter messages tend to have higher reply rates than longer ones.

linkedin inmail best practices

Other studies like the one led by Waalaxy on its user base corroborates this fact.

You can see that messages below 300 characters clearly outperform the others.

write short linkedin prospecting messages

Shorter messages work better because you are asking less effort from your prospect.

Nobody likes to read super long messages. It’s too much effort to make for a complete stranger.

linkedin prospecting messages template

Time is value.

Why would I spend 5 min reading this text that looks completely boring?

2. Don’t pitch in the first message

Pitches make your messages a lot longer.

That’s why you shouldn’t put your sales pitch in the first message. Neither ask for a meeting right away.

bad linkedin prospecting message

What happens with this kind of messages is that they propose a solution without asking if there is a problem first.

Your sales pitch should only come out when you confirmed with your prospect that he has the problem you are solving.

3. Don’t add notes in your request if not relevant

It’s better not to add notes than add a bad note. At least when you don’t add notes, you have the benefit of the doubt.

When you’re sending a non-personalized note like this one, it’s a red flag. You tell your prospect: “Hey, I’m here to annoy you with non-personalized messages. Want to connect?”

bad connection request note

In its study, Waalaxy found something interesting. Connection requests without notes tend to have a higher acceptance rate.

note linkedin prospecting

Moreover, if your note doesn’t get accepted, you can still send them and InMail which are direct messages that bypass the connection request step.

And you don’t get a reply to your InMail either, you can still find your prospects’ emails and send them a cold email.

Export Sales Navigator leads with Evaboot

You see, not getting your connection request accepted is not the end of the world. You can do cold outreach in many ways.

4. Give a clear reason for outreach

First thing that pops in your prospects’ heads when they see your message?

  1. Who are you?
  2. What do you want?
  3. Why am I even reading this?

That’s why you should start by explaining why you think starting a conversation is relevant. Find common ground as soon as possible.

write icebreakers for you linkedin messages

Just explain in simple words why it’s a good idea to start talking. You can mention:

  1. something your prospect did
  2. a post he published
  3. news about his company

Anything that could make you think that your prospects may find value in exchanging with you.

linkedin prospecting messages

Have you ever walked up to someone at an event and ask for a meeting without even introducing yourself?

I guess not. People tends to forget that real life interactions and message interactions follow the same rules.

5. Ask a question to qualify

The goal of the first LinkedIn cold message is not to get a meeting. It’s to qualify your leads. Are you willing to take a meeting with someone not qualified? I guess not.

So, you need to ask a question whom answer will immediately let you know if continuing the conversation with this prospection is relevant.

linkedin prospecting message template



So separate your LinkedIn outreach in 2 steps:

  1. Ask your lead if he has the problem you are solving
  2. If he does, ask for a meeting
  3. if he doesn’t, it’s not worth it
linkedin prospecting strategy

Really keep in mind that prospecting is not selling, prospecting is qualifying. If you know for sure that your prospect has a problem you can solve, selling will be much easier.

6. Back your question with data

You must help your prospect understand why you are asking this question. Most of the time, it will be that you have seen many people like him struggle with the same challenges.

back up your linkedin prospecting message with data

This part is about reinforcing your legitimacy to contact your prospects. Your prospect don’t know you. So you need to build trust.

We can’t take the words of someone you don’t know for granted. You need to provide data and concrete example on what you can provide.

Here is an example of someone that says that he has worked with a business similar to ours. It will be better to add the names .

(if it’s even true, which is not so sure).

bad example of linkedin prospecting message

He then says he had great success with business similar to mine. Success is a broad work. What are the results that you have achieved?

example of a linkedin message not backed up with data

Don’t say something you can’t prove. If you say you can do something. Give proofs.

7. Give a good reason to reply

You need to give your prospect a good reason to reply. What’s in it for him?

how to end linkedin prospecting messages

No need to give too many details here. People want their problem solved. How you solve it is a detail. If they are really feeling the pain of the issue you can solve, they will reply.

If your value proposition and call to action is not clear, your prospect have no good reasons to reply.

linkedin sales messages

Take the time to work on your proposition value. How can you sum up clearly the value you can bring to your prospect in just one sentence?

8. Send 3-4 follow-ups

You heard it several times: “money is in the follow-ups”

This statement is backed up by data. This is also something that the Waalaxy study put forwards.

linkedin prospecting follow ups stats

The second message improves reply rate by 27%, the third by 7% and the fourth by 2%.

After 4 LinkedIn follow-ups messages, the reply rate is almost 100%. You see that sending follow-ups is super efficient, but you have to do it the right way.

9. Always add value in follow-ups

When you are using LinkedIn to generates leads, make sure to add value every time you send a follow-up.

Most people simply repeat their proposition value and ask for a meeting again. There is no added value for the lead in this type of follow-ups.

follow up on linkedin

In this message, the person asks for a meeting, whereas the prospect has not even shown interest for the proposition value yet.

Instead of just repeating your proposition value, try to bring new arguments to the table.

For example, you can send content you created on the topic to show your expertise.

Client testimonials are gold for following up.

good example of a linkedin follow up

.

Sending an engaging video is even better because that allows your prospect to discover who you are and to start creating a relationship without you.

It also shows proof that you are legit business and you have already created value for similar people.


Now that you know how to write LinkedIn prospecting messages and follow-ups. Let’s see some concrete strategies and templates.

7 LinkedIn Sales Prospecting Strategies With Templates

7 efficient LinkedIn prospecting strategies:

  1. Retarget your LinkedIn post commenters
  2. Retarget competitors’ post commenters
  3. Reach out to competitors’ followers
  4. Retarget LinkedIn event attendees
  5. Retarget LinkedIn group Members
  6. React on a company news
  7. Leverage your existing clients

Each one of them aims to leverage interest signals to have relevant conversation starters that don’t sound salesy.

1. Retarget your LinkedIn posts commenters

This strategy is simple. If you have a content that you know your audience will be interested in:

  1. Describe the content in a post
  2. Ask people who want this content to comment your post

First, the more comments you post gets, the more viral your post will be. So this strategy push the LinkedIn algorithm to show your post to a maximum of people.

I have followed this strategy for a post that get 730 comments.

linkedin prospecting on post commenters

The second step is contact all the people that commented your post to send them the content and start a conversation

For that, you will need to extract all post commenters into a CSV. Go on Phantombuster and select the post commenters extractor.

how to extract linkedin post commenters

Copy-Paste the URL of the LinkedIn post.

paste url phantom buster

At the end of the process, you get a CSV with the LinkedIn URL and Name of your prospects

Upload the file on your favorite LinkedIn outreach tool and send a message like this:

Message #1

Hello <first name>,

You recently commented my LinkedIn post to get the <name of content>

Here it is: <link>

Hope you will enjoy it! Let me know if you have any questions after reading it.

By the way, I’m curious about why you wanted this content. Do you currently experience <problem your company solves> ?

Best, <your name>

In this scenario, you want to start the conversation by giving value, and then explore your prospects’ challenges to see if you can make a sell.

Follow-up #1 (7 days after message #1)

Did you have the time to take a look at what I sent you last week?

Interested in your feedback


Following up here is easy: you simply need to ask feedback on the content you sent

Follow-up #2 (4 days after message #2)

Hey <first_name>,

Are you still interested in <topic of the content> or you asked for <content> by curiosity?

Still looking for any feedback to improve the quality of my work

You simply want to start a conversation using your content, don’t send a sales pitch without starting a natural exchange.

2. Retarget competitors’ posts commenters

Commenting a post is a great sign of interest for a topic. And all post comments are public.

Why don’t you steal post commenters from a post related to your niche?

how to search for linkedin post for sales prospecting

Thanks to the LinkedIn search engine, you can look for post in your niche and extract the commenters.

Simply type your keywords and select “Past week” to be sure people will remember having commented this post recently

Just repeat the process describe in the Part 1.
Here is an example of results I’ve gotten with this strategy.

example of linkedin prospecting campaign on post commenters

Here is the message I sent:

Message #1

Hello <first name>,

I saw that you commented <competitor>‘s post regarding the generation of icebreakers via AI.

I’m doing a webinar with WeClose on the subject next Tuesday 2 p.m.

Here is the link: <your link>

Most of the tools that do this today are English and do not work well on the French.

WeClose’s AI is trained on French so I thought it might be relevant for you 😉

Best, JB

You can send a follow-up to check if the person commented for a thorough reason or by curiosity.

Follow-up #1 (4 days after message 1)

Are you still interested in this topic or your commented <mention the post> by simple curiosity?

In the next follow-up, you can send a kind of ultimatum. Like you will stop distributing the content after a certain date, or the fact your event is happening soon.

Follow-up #2 (1 week after follow-up #1)

Hello <first name>,

Just in case you’re still interested, the webinar happens tomorrow. Let me know if you want to join us or see the replay.

Best, <your name>

3. Reach out to competitors’ followers

There is a hack to steal your competitor’s followers on LinkedIn. These people are a great target for a LinkedIn prospecting campaign.

Export Sales Navigator leads with Evaboot

As they follow your competitors on LinkedIn, you can be sure they are interested in your topic.

Pro-tip: make sure to exclude employees and founders from the followers list.

Here is an example of a campaign you can use:

Message #1

Hello <first name>,

I’m reaching out because I see you are a follower of <competitors>.

Is it a product/service you are using? Or you simply like the content they post?

The goal here is to start conversation and to gather information on your prospect.

Follow-up #1 (4 days after message #1)

You may have noticed it on my profile. I am working at <your company name> which is a competitor of <competitor name>.

Would be interested to know if you’ve ever heard about us and if you benchmarked our 2 solutions.

Here you say more about your intentions but you are looking for feedbacks, not a sale.

Follow-up #2 (5 days after follow-up #1)

If you ever benchmark our 2 solutions one day, know that:

– <advantage 1>
– <advantage 2>
– <advantage 3>

If these makes a difference for you and you have questions, feel free to reach out to me here.

If your prospect is still not curious, bring concrete advantages to the table. Maybe that will trigger his interest.

4. Retarget LinkedIn event attendees

Attending to a LinkedIn event is a great sign of interest for a topic. If some companies in your niche or your competitors create a LinkedIn event, you can totally steal all the people who signed up to it.

how to use linkedin for prospecting event attendees

First, look for event in your niche.

Find an event from which you want to extract the attendants.

linkedin event search results

If you want access to the list of attendees, you must register for the event.

add to see linkedin event attendees list

You now have access to the list of participants.

access linkedin event attendees list

Once you complete these operations, you can now go to Phantombuster and look for “LinkedIn Event Guests Exporter”.

how to extract linkedin event attendees

Simply copy-paste the LinkedIn event URL into the field. You will get a CSV with all event participant information.

You can now import this CSV into LaGrowthMachine and repeat the process described in part one. Here is an example of a prospecting message you could send after the event.

Message #1

Hello <first name>

I’m trying to collect feedback on the webinar {{webinar_name}}.

Did you attend to it?

Interested in your thoughts

Best, JB

Many people sign up for the event but never show up so make sure to ask if they did participate in the event.

Follow-up #1 (4 days after message #1)

Sent you this message because I’m hosting a similar event myself in 2 weeks.

Would be curious to know what you expected from it if these expectations have been met.

Here, you disclose your intentions a little more.

Follow-up #2 (5 days after follow-up #1)

Are you still interested in <topic of the webinar> or you just signed up out of curiosity?

A reason why you don’t get a reply is that the person is not interested in the topic anymore so make sure to eliminate this lead.

5. Retarget LinkedIn group members

Being part of a group is a good sign of interest. It means that the person is interested in the topic and want to get content about it or exchange with other people in the community.

Contacting people that are members of some LinkedIn groups in your niche definitely worth a try. So how to get them into a CSV?

You can use Sales Navigator to prospect group members, but it is not mandatory.

Export Sales Navigator leads with Evaboot

You can also use the basic search engine and Phantombuster to do that. Look for a group with the LinkedIn search engine.

how to use linkedin for prospecting group members

Join the group by clicking on Request to join.

how to join linkedin group for sales prospecting

Warning

You will have to wait for the admin of the group to accept your request to go through the next steps. Otherwise this error will show up.
warning linkedin group extract

Once you get accepted into the group, look for the Group Extractor Phantom. Copy-paste the URL into Phantombuster.

A few minutes later, you get all the group members into a CSV! You can now import this CSV into LaGrowthMachine and repeat the process described above.

Here is an example of prospecting message you could send:

Message #1

Hello <first name>,

I just joined the <group_name> LinkedIn group and I’m reaching out to members to exchange about <topic>

Are you still interested in this topic?

Best, JB

Most LinkedIn groups are dead, full of spammers and people don’t even remember having joined them. Make sure that your prospect is still interested in the topic.

Follow-up #1 (4 days after message #1)

I am personally <tell your link with the topic>.

If you’re still interested in it as well, I’d like to <explain what to expect from the exchange>

Disclose more of your intention and explain what to expect from the exchange.

Follow-up #2 (5 days after follow-up #1)

I just want to make sure that you move forward to another thing before giving as I’m sure we can bring value to each other.

<sent a content your created on the topic>

Would be interested to have your feedback on this

At this maybe your prospect thinks you are faking interest to start a conversation, give proof that you are really into the topic by sending a content you produced.

6. React on company news

This one is a classic. One company event is a great opportunity to reach out to someone as people love to be congratulated. Any good news like a fundraise is a good opportunity.

Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator is an efficient way to detect them.

linkedin sales navigator prospecting

Here are the message templates you can use:

Message #1

Hello <first name>

I’m reaching out because I came across a post mentioning that <company news>

Just wanted to say congrats. Great job you guys have done there.

This is completely disinterested. Give an honest “good job” is always a kind gesture.

Follow-up #1 (4 days after message #1)

By the way, I was wondering if <news> will change <impact of the news>

Here, you are assuming for an example that a fundraise will come with new challenges like rapid growth. Try to know if your prospect have anticipated these challenges.

Follow-up #2 (5 days after follow-up #1)

In case <news> changed <impact of the news>, here is a great article on how to handle it:

<link of the content>

Here, you’re making an assumption on the impact and you’re providing a content with some solutions. You try to help. If you’re right, it’s a jackpot. If you’re wrong, it will start a conversation.


7. Leverage your existing clients

People always like to hear about what their competitors are doing. If you already have clients and authorization to work with similar companies, you can use that as leverage.

Message #1

Hello <first name>,

I’m reaching out because we have started to work with <client>, it’s one of your competitors.

We help them <the problem you are solving> and they are pretty happy with it.

Do you have the same issue at <company name>?

Before sending any sales pitch, you want to make sure that your prospect has the pain points as your client. No problem. No sale.

Follow-up #1 (4 days after message 1)

To give you concrete data:

– <result 1>
– <result 2>
– <result 3>

Would achieving these results would be interesting for <company name>?

Here, you sell concrete benefits of your product/service giving concrete data on a similar company.

Follow-up #2 (5 days after message 2)

By the way, we also made a complete case study on our work with <client>

<link of the study>

Let me know if you take a look at it.

Here, you’re giving even more details. With a case study, you explain the results, and also how you achieved them.


You know how to write LinkedIn prospecting messages, you have the right message templates, but you are not done yet. Before you start sending your first prospecting messages, there are some things you must do.

5 Things To Do Before Sending Prospecting Messages on LinkedIn

Before you start sending prospecting messages on LinkedIn:

  1. Optimize your LinkedIn
  2. Learn how to use LinkedIn search
  3. Start posting content
  4. Be aware of LinkedIn limitations
  5. Warm up your LinkedIn account

1. Optimize your LinkedIn profile

You only have one chance to make a good first impression. Before you send any message on LinkedIn, you need to work on your LinkedIn profile.

Indeed, this is the first thing people will see when you will send them a connection request.

optimize linkedin profile for linkedin sales prospecting

Make sure to optimize at least the elements that are visible on the connection request.

However, the person you want to connect with is really likely to check your profile to dig a bit into who you are.

So you definitely want to:

  1. detailed you value proposition visually on your banner
  2. have a nice profile picture
  3. clear headline
  4. showcase your best posts
  5. detail your value proposition in the About Section
  6. Give details about your job experiences

Think about your LinkedIn profile as a landing page.

Someone should understand what’s your value after 3 seconds on your profile.

sales prospecting with linkedin profile

2. Learn how to use LinkedIn search

You need to send the right message to the right people.

A good targeting makes 80% of sales prospecting with LinkedIn.

linkedin b2b prospecting with search

LinkedIn Basic provides a basic set of filters you can search your prospect with:

  • Job title
  • Keyword
  • Location
  • Company
  • School
  • Industry
  • And Much more…

If you want to get good results with LinkedIn B2B prospecting, this skill is a must have.

Lucky for you, here is a complete tutorial on how to use LinkedIn basic search and Boolean operators (wait, what is this word?? Answer below).

Even if you have the best LinkedIn sales messages, you won’t get the results if you don’t know how to build qualified lead list.

Take the time to really master LinkedIn search before sending any message.

3. Start posting content

If you already know the person sending you an invitation on LinkedIn, you are obviously much more likely to accept.

That’s why personal brand & awareness can help you increase your acceptance rate on LinkedIn. For example, every time someone signed up on Evaboot, I add them on LinkedIn.

Results: 60% acceptance rate

For the outbound campaign, the acceptance rate is at 30-40%. You can see here the importance of timing and relationship.

prospecting using linkedin personal brand

So what’s the link with creating content on LinkedIn? Well, each time you make a post, LinkedIn will show it to:

  • First, your personal network
  • Your 2nd circle if you had some success
  • 3rd circle if it goes viral

If your LinkedIn post reaches thousands of people every time, you’ll be likely to reach the people you will invite in your future outbound campaigns.

They may be like : “Oh, this face looks familiar” and accepts your request. You may also reach people you have already contacted who will get back to you after seeing your post

So if you want to transform LinkedIn prospecting into one of your main channel of acquisition, be sure to post great content as well. That will help your prospecting efforts.

4. Be aware of LinkedIn limitations

You need to know the rules before playing the game. Your LinkedIn account can be banned if you go beyond the limits imposed by LinkedIn.

When prospecting using LinkedIn, make sure to stay under these limits:

  • Send 150 LinkedIn message/day (reduce activity on weekends)
  • Send 100 connection request per week

There are ways to bypass weekly invite limit on LinkedIn though. You can see them in the video just below.

Know that you’re aware of LinkedIn prospecting limitations, let’s see how to stay under LinkedIn’s radar while you prospect on LinkedIn.

5. Warmup your LinkedIn account

Second thing you should do if you’re just getting started is warm up your LinkedIn prospecting account.

Finally, the best LinkedIn prospecting tips we can offer are to warm up your account and start using the right LinkedIn automation tools.

If you go from 2 messages and 5 connections to 150 messages and 60 connections daily. LinkedIn might notice you are using LinkedIn prospecting tool.

how to warm your account for linkedin sales prospecting

Here’s a LinkedIn warm-up checklist you can follow for the first week:

  1. Only send a few manual connection requests per day 
  2. Only connect with people you have mutual connections with (2nd degree connection)
  3. Send personalized notes so a high percentage of your request get accepted

You’ve now completed all the checklist and you’re ready to start prospecting on LinkedIn. Let’s see how to craft the best LinkedIn prospecting messages for your campaigns.

If you’re just getting started with LinkedIn prospecting, there are two things that you need to do. If you’re sending out a ton of connection requests, but nobody accepts them, LinkedIn will start thinking you are a spammer.

how to withdraw linkedin connection request

2 solutions to this:

  1. Target the right people and send good connections request (so a maximum gets accepted)
  2. Delete all your connection request older than 3-4 weeks.

To delete your old connection request, go to My Network > Manage. Then click on Sent > Withdraw.

delete linkedin request for sales prospecting

The fewer LinkedIn pending connection requests you have, the more you’ll stay under LinkedIn’s radar.


Cool. You have completed the checklist and started prospecting on LinkedIn. Let’s look at some tools that can make this task even easier.

3 LinkedIn Prospecting Tools To Boost Your Sales

3 tools to boost LinkedIn prospecting efficiency:

  1. Build lead lists with Sales Navigator
  2. Extract to CSV and find emails with Evaboot
  3. Automate LinkedIn prospecting with LaGrowtMachine

1. Build lead lists with Sales Navigator

If you’re serious about making LinkedIn prospecting your main lead generation channel, Sales Navigator is a great to build your target audience.

how to use linkedin sales navigator for prospecting

It makes it easy to find decision-makers in your targeted companies. LinkedIn Basic search is good but won’t be a fit to scale your LinkedIn prospecting:

First, search results are limited to 1000 results (100 pages of 10 results)

linkedin prospecting search result limitation

Second, there is monthly search limitdepending on your LinkedIn activity LinkedIn activity.

This is what LinkedIn calls the commercial use limit.

commercial use limit on linkedin

If you use the LinkedIn search a lot you are likely to see this pop up and not be able to perform any LinkedIn search until the end of the month.

With LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

  1. You have unlimited search
  2. You have much more filter to build targeted lead list

LinkedIn has absolutely no interest into transforming the basic search engine into a high performing tool because… They want to buy the Sales Navigator.

2. Extract to CSV and find emails with Evaboot

Once you are happy with the search results, the process is quite simple. First, you will need a Chrome Extension to extract your search results into a CSV and get the emails of your prospect.

Export Sales Navigator leads with Evaboot

Evaboot is a LinkedIn prospecting software that will help you extract, clean, and filter your lead lists so you can create super qualified lead list in one click.

3. Automate LinkedIn prospecting with LaGrowthMachine

Once you have the data, you’ll need a LinkedIn prospecting tool to automate your messages and follow-ups. I’ve tried many, and LaGrowthMachine (LGM) is the best LinkedIn sales prospecting tool that I’ve come across.

Automated LinkedIn prospecting can save a huge amount of time for your sales team. Here’s how: Instead of sending all the emails yourself, you can design prospecting scenarios in which all the messages are already automated.

LGM is really interesting because it allows to launch multi-channel sequences using:

  1. Email
  2. LinkedIn
  3. Twitter

Using several channels can multiply your reply rate up to 3 time. Once you’ve built your email list with Evaboot, simply import the CSV on LGM.

how to import a linkedin lead list on linkedin prospecting tool

Match the column with data field that LGM expects.

match data import linkedin lead list

Create an audience for your leads.

how to create an audience on linkedin prospecting tool

Your audience is created!

Now, let’s design your email or LinkedIn outreach campaign.

Click on the Campaign icons, then “Create campaign”.

how to launch a campaign on linkedin prospecting tool

You can choose among the templates or design your own funnel.

linkedin prospecting campaign template

Once your sequence steps are defined, you can start working on the copywriting of your messages.

You can personalize your messages with the custom variables you have imported with your CSV:

  1. First name
  2. Company name
  3. Website
  4. Etc…

how to use custom variable in your linkedin prospecting messages

The tool will automatically replace the variables with data that’s in your file for the defined leads. Here is an example:

linkedin prospecting message with custom variable example

Once your campaign is launched, you’ll get an access to a wide range of KPIs to monitor your performances. Here’s an example of results I got using this tool:

how to get statistics on linkedin prospecting

You know have all the skills to start prospecting on LinkedIn.

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