How to get more replies to your direct messages on LinkedIn

If you're like many small business owners, you wish you could reliably get responses to the direct messages that you send on LinkedIn. You're tired of your direct messages getting ignored.

You might be asking yourself, “What did I do wrong?”. You know how important it is to have a reliable way to connect with potential clients, but the thought of constantly sending more direct messages and not hearing back is exhausting. 

Direct messaging requires a thoughtful approach and a well-defined strategy. 

When you learn how to convert direct message conversations into discovery calls and sales, you’ll feel control over your client pipeline.

Once you’ve honed this skill, you’ll have a powerful and reliable tool for generating leads, and you won't have to just rely on taking any clients that show up at your door. You’ll feel relieved knowing you can create client opportunities whenever you want. And you’ll no longer feel icky when sending messages.

Instead, your messages will feel natural and flow well—because you’ll know you’re offering real value and solving others' problems.

Strategy 1) Make your messages personal.

Prospects can spot a generic or copy-and-pasted message instantly, which degrades trust and reduces the response rate.

When sending messages, mention something specific about your prospect's business and ask thoughtful questions that shows genuine interest. Pay careful attention to what they said, and respond to it. Your goal is to sound like a human, not a robot, which builds trust and makes people more likely to respond.

If you're stuck with what to say, picture you're at a conference or in-person event and what you'd say to a prospect there and adapt that for your online message. Feel free to borrow and customize either of these templates:

• Hi (first name), I noticed that (something specific about the prospect). How has that been going?

• Hi (first name), thanks for liking my post today about (topic)! Have you been focused on (relevant topic)?

Strategy 2) Stop pitching so quickly.

Many small business owners believe that pitching in your first message is the fastest way to a new client. This strategy often requires sending hundreds of messages and doesn’t feel aligned with how you want to run your business.

That’s why I don’t recommend pitching right off the bat. Instead, I suggest you first build trust with your prospect and get to know their situation. This path leads to strong relationships that result in signed client contracts.

Picture you want to make a new friend at a social event. You wouldn't go up to them and immediately invite them to coffee. You'd first get to know them and understand what's important to them. The same applies online.

Strategy 3) Contact the right people.

It can be tempting to follow a "spray and pray" approach of sending messages to many of your connections at once, hoping something will stick. However, I don't recommend doing this because you'll end up talking to folks who aren't a good fit for your service. And since it'll feel discouraging and you won't get results, you'll dread sending messages.

Instead, I recommend contacting those who are most likely to benefit from your offer, starting with the folks already in your network. In my monthly coaching program Leads on LinkedIn, I'll teach you the exact strategies to identify those poised to have above-average interest in your services.

As a result, you'll have much better and more fruitful direct messaging conversations, and those conversations will actually get you booked discovery calls.

In this article, I outline the three primary reasons business owners dread sending direct messages and provide practical strategies to overcome them.

Strategy 4) Create (and update) your lead list.

If you aren't tracking your leads, you're letting leads slip through the cracks. Your memory is imperfect, and it's nearly impossible to remember every potential client without the support of a reliable system.

When you track leads, you'll know exactly who to follow up with and when. You will only collect the most important information about each lead, making the system light and easy to maintain. In my monthly coaching program Leads on LinkedIn, we develop and refine your lead tracking system so that it serves you and guides your outreach.

Strategy 5) Follow up with your prospects.

It's easy to assume that if someone doesn't reply once, they're not interested in your services. However, your prospects are busy, and a lack of response doesn’t always mean a lack of interest. Actually, it often doesn't mean that!

Thoughtful, timely follow-up can keep the conversation alive and move prospects closer to working with you and getting the support they need.

Now that you know these mistakes to avoid, you might wonder, "but who should I message? "

To start, I recommend sending messages to ideal clients who are already in your network. You can search your existing network for specific keywords. For example, if you're a lawyer who primarily works with CEOs, you can search "CEO" or "Chief Executive Officer".

If your network isn't tailored for your ideal clients, you may first need to broaden your LinkedIn network so that you're connected with the right folks. You can do this by sending connection requests to those who match your ideal client characteristics.

When you target the right people, your messages are more likely to be well-received, and you'll create stronger connections with those who can become clients. By taking a smart approach to LinkedIn messaging, you'll get more replies and build genuine relationships with your prospects. You will choose who you work with, generate leads when you need them, and feel good about it in the process.

The next steps you can take to get leads on LinkedIn

I want you to get replies to your messages and know that your time on LinkedIn is worthwhile because it leads to booked discovery calls.

Here's how I can help you with that:

Step 1: When I start working with a small business owner, we always start with a Profile Optimization so that you clearly explain your credibility, who you serve, how you serve them, and what action the profile viewer should take.

This process takes about 3 weeks from start to finish, and provides you with a profile that captures the attention of your ideal clients and gets them to take action.

Step 2: Once your profile is optimized, we create your LinkedIn strategy so you can get visible to the right audience and attract more interest in your offerings through my coaching program Leads on LinkedIn.

This program takes two months. We focus on two main skills - LinkedIn posting and direct messaging. These skills bring the right clients into your orbit so you can consistently grow your business without relying on time-consuming strategies like video and expensive strategies like ads. 

Within just a month, you'll have identified and contacted 30 prospects for your business. You'll have the skills and systems to do it again whenever you want an influx of leads. And, this rinse-and-repeat process gets more effective every time you do it!

Step 3: After, we create a habit of LinkedIn marketing through my coaching program so that you can count on ongoing leads for your business. We integrate LinkedIn with your other marketing strategies (e.g. email and in-person networking) to prevent duplicate work and create a marketing ecosystem that gets you leads and clients.

Learn more and get started here.