Linkedin Sales Navigator Messages (Strategy & Templates)

Are you tired of not getting the results that you would like from your Linkedin messages?

Perhaps prospects aren’t responding to your messages, or the ones who are, don’t need what you’re selling right now. 

Meaning: People aren’t buying, which = no money in the bank. Which = Frustration and stress.

You might be wondering why your outreach messages aren’t working or you could be looking for templates that get results. 

This article will share connection requests, follow-ups, and CTA message templates that you can use in Linkedin Sales Navigator that will guarantee qualified results. 

We will also discuss why your sales messages aren’t getting the results you want, and what you should implement for successful lead generation campaigns.

Why you aren’t getting a high response rate with Linkedin outreach.

If your list is perfect, and you know you’re reaching out to a refined list of prospects who will most likely say yes, the problem could be with your copywriting. 

(Unsure if your list is perfect? Read this article on how to build a super refined list of prospects for Linkedin lead generation.)

And that’s okay because copy can be fixed. After all, at Salesbread we believe in A/B testing messages to see which ones are a hit. 

So why aren’t prospects replying?

Here are 3 reasons. 

1. You aren’t using enough personalization

When you think of personalization you might be thinking of adding the prospect’s name into your message, or maybe their job title. But it’s so important to take it a step further.

Why? 

Because prospects are spammed with sales messages on Linkedin all day long. 

Here are just some sales messages I received this week:

No…

Will prospects reply to these messages?

Probably not, unless they really need what the seller is selling. 

Why didn’t I reply?

Because I’m not interested in either offer and because I knew it was a sales message, I never even opened the messages until now, (for the purpose of this article.) And this message was probably sent by an automation tool that was sent to hundreds of other people on Linkedin too. 

And this is probably why prospects won’t reply to these kinds of messages either.

When a prospect gets a whiff of anything that smells remotely close to a sales pitch, they ignore it.  

So if you want to capture the prospect’s attention, you have to write them a message focused solely on them. You need to think of something that will engage them in conversation. 

When you use personalization it creates a “pattern interrupt.” 

How do we create a “pattern to interrupt” at Salesbread when reaching out to potential leads? 

We use the CCQ method. 

• Compliment
• Commonalities
• Questions

When we write any of our Linkedin connection messages and follow up’s we always use this method. 

This means that we will either compliment the prospect on something, mention a shared commonality or ask them a question. 

And to do this, we have to research each prospect on our list. 

Here’s an example:

“Hey Devesh, I loved your post about not fussing over decisions. I liked your idea of testing Facebook ads, I’m going to give it a go. Can we connect here?”

By mentioning something specific about the prospect the chances of them accepting your connection request will be higher. The same goes for sending follow-ups too. 

You can simply have a look at their Linkedin profile and asked yourself:

• Which LinkedIn groups do they belong to? Could I perhaps use some information from their interests in a message?
• Have they posted any interesting articles that I can compliment them on?
• Is there something that I could ask them a question about?
• Do we share the same degree connections and know the same people? Or is there someone in my network who they might like an intro to?

Always add this level of personalization to your messages because it will capture their attention. The message is directed solely to them.

2. You’re selling in your messages

As we mentioned earlier the fastest way to lose a prospect’s interest is by adding in a sleazy sales pitch.

The only time you should ever add a sales pitch into your message is if you know your offer is a slam dunk and your prospect list is so accurate that you know they will say yes.

At Salesbread we don’t sell in our messages. Instead, we asked for a booked meeting or call, and that’s when our clients will then chat about their product or service.

Below is a message we received in our Linkedin inbox from a competitor:

It’s kind of like, no wining and dining on a first date, and asking to jump straight into the sack. 

It.ain’t.going.to.happen. (Only in very rare situations. Maybe.)

So don’t do this. 

Engagement is key. Think of outreach as just starting conversations. 

Your messages need to be written in such a way as to just get your foot in the door for the prospect to chat. 

Here is another bad example:

This was shared whilst doing some research on Linkedin (see my post below:)

Too many sales teams do this. And this puts prospects off responding.

Whereas if a conversation was started and not one about sales, Jacob might have replied.

Also notice, the writer talks about themselves and their product most of the time.

Remember, at Salesbread we use the 90/10 rule. Speak about the prospect 90% of the time and only 10% about yourself for context. 

3. You aren’t following up or you’re spamming

Another problem that we have seen is that some sales teams either don’t follow up, or follow up too much, so they come across as spammy. 

If a Linkedin user doesn’t respond it’s important to follow up 3 days later. 

At Salesbread we follow up between 3 and 5 times with people on our lead list.

But some salespeople go to the other extreme, they might end up sending 2 to 3 messages in one day. Or 1 message every day.

You can imagine how frustrating this could be, especially if a prospect is receiving hundreds of sales messages a day from different marketers. 

And you cut through the noise with personalization. This is so important. 

4. You are relying solely on automation tools.

Linkedin doesn’t take kindly to automation tools, but if you have to automate your messages, try not to automate everything. 

It’s important to have a human interact with prospects in real-time. 

In the past, Jack (the founder of Salesbread) mentioned having received an automated message, and the offer sounded good, but once he replied and asked a question about the offer, he got an automated response back and his question was never answered.

And this put him off. 
So if you do use automation, be sure to have a real person reply once a prospect reaches out.

10 Connection Request Templates

1. Hi (Name). I hope you’re doing well. I’m (your name), co-founder of (your company’s name) We’re looking for agency partners and it would be great to connect over a “virtual” coffee/chat and see what we can do together? (introduce webinar in the chat)

2. Hey (Name) I hope your week is off to a great start, I noticed we both work in the HR/Employee Experience field together. I would love to connect with you.

3. Listening to you now & subscribed! Just stumbled upon your podcast and wanted to say thank you for sharing your insights using them to help land a lead gen job. Thank you!

4. Hi (Name)I hope you’re doing great! I’m on a personal mission to grow my connections on LinkedIn, especially in the field of B2B lead & demand gen. So even though we’re practically strangers, I’d love to connect with you.

Have a great day!

5. Great to meet a fellow podcast host. I am the host of (podcast name) and looking forward to having you as a guest on the show.

6. Hi (Name), I wanted to reach out, as it seems like you would be the right person to discuss travel management given your role — although you may not be currently traveling, would you be interested in exploring how (company name) can help you prepare for the future of business travel?

Best,

7. Hey (Name). I notice we share a mutual connection or two & would love to add you to my network of professionals.

If you’re open to that let’s connect!

8. Hi (Name). I noticed we have a common area of interests & would love to connect. I work with (companies name)We help companies to automate business processes & increase productivity through Artificial Intelligence. Looking to connect with you

Cheers

9. Hello (Name). I am presently looking for a new opportunity. I spent my career in logistics and actually in pharmaceuticals for a good portion of that time. If you think a conversation might be beneficial please let me know.

Thank you

10. Hi, (Name) I’m (Your name) a  Recruiter at (your company’s name) I noticed your profile and thought I would connect about any potential hiring needs for your company now or in the near term. We have a 10% direct hiring fee.

Are you available next week to chat?

Follow-up Templates

Below are some templates that Jack received that he thought were well targeted to his needs. Notice the personalization. We will also share some from our own outreach campaigns. 

{first_name}, good to connect. By the way, happy to give you an intro to anyone in my network now that we’re connected. I’ve been doing some research on (XYZ) (We provide (what your company does.)Since we’re newly connected, I’d like to share this post with you:

(Share a link that’s helpful from your website.)

P.S. It explains (XYZ)

Hi {first_name}, If you could help {company_name} with (XYZ) would that be worth a short conversation?

I’m asking because of XYZ. Worth a short conversation?

Thanks for connecting (first name). I’d love to connect outside of Linkedin too. Very curious to hear about where you get most of your (XYZ). What does your calendar look like over the next week or two to connect? PS: For background, my company does (XYZ).

Hi (first name) Thanks for connecting. We just opened our (discuss in short what your company does) I’d like to share some details about this opportunity with you. What’s your best email? (your name)

10 Calls to action templates

1. When are you free to connect this week? You can use this link to book directly on my calendar.

2. Can we target {{=bday+2}} afternoon to discuss [BENEFIT/PROBLEM]?

3. What’s the best way to schedule 5 minutes to talk?

4. Would you have some time next {{=day}} to discuss?

5. If you find the spec interesting, should we set up a confidential chat?

6. Can we grab time Thursday afternoon to see if [MY COMPANY] aligns with your goals for this year?

7. Are you available for a quick meeting to discuss your use case and see if we can assist in any way?

8. Do you think it could help {{company. name}}? If so, happy to tell you how (here’s my calendar) or show you a demo. 

9. Would you be open to a high-level call to learn more?

10. Do you have 10 minutes in the next few days to see how video can generate sales and reduce acquisition costs for {{company.name}}?

A quick note on Inmail messages vs. Linkedin messages.

InMail is a paid-for service. Each Linkedin sales navigator package offers 50 InMail credits per month.

In the past, some sales teams took a more expensive pricing option for their Sales Navigator account because they would get more InMails, but this isn’t the case anymore. 

You can use InMail if you are really good at personalization, and already have the skills for getting high response rates.

Then using Inmail can be worth our while, especially if you are targeting high-value prospects.  

At Salesbread we don’t really make use of InMail, as we send messages to our client’s second-degree network first through their Linkedin accounts. 

We have found that prospects in your second-degree network are more likely to respond than those who aren’t.

For us, Inmail is really a last resort. 

If you’re interested in figuring out if InMail is the right choice for you as a sales professional, you can read this article: https://salesbread.com/inmail-vs-email/

(It also shows the pros and cons of cold emailing vs Linkedin outreach.)

If you would like 20+ qualified leads per month…

Reach out to us below…

Remember that if your messages aren’t getting results, it could be as simple as just adding in more personalization.

But if you are still not seeing results, hop on a free consultation call with Salesbread.

We are always happy to help.