The Right Way to Reconnect on LinkedIn

So you wake up one night at about 3 AM in a sweat, thinking:

Oh my gosh, I have waaaaay too many connections on LinkedIn! I have to start pruning back first thing tomorrow!

Okay, so that’s likely a bit of an exaggeration. But there’s a lot of people out there who at some point think that their 1st-connection list is too long. At that point, their impulse is to go wade into the list and hack their way out of the situation by taking the proverbial pruning shears to it and cutting way back.

Last week I detailed not only why over-pruning is a bad idea, but I showed you how to do so safely and responsibly. You won’t really injure yourself if you over-prune, but you could damage your business… which would hurt you, no?

So let’s say you followed my pruning strategy and are now looking at a sleeker, better-looking list. If you’re starting to embrace the Social Selling movement, your first impulse may be to immediately start reaching out to your connections for referrals. A big part of that urge would be incorrect; a vast majority of your connections don’t really know you, so why should they refer to you?

Re-Connect After The Big Pruning

Part of that instinct — the reconnecting part — is a good one, and one to build on. At this point, you should reconnect with your 1st levelers, but not to get referrals. You need to simply reach out and make a true connection with them. Build rapport. Ask questions. Listen. I mean, really listen. Answer their questions. Show you’re really an expert in your field with the content of your answers, and your genuine willingness to share your knowledge with them. And of course, figure out if there’s a connection upon which to refer one another business. All of this is a huge part of Social Selling, so you should practice what you (hopefully) preach!

What I’ve described is a part of rapport building, which is easy to learn. (If you don’t know how, I’ll have more on how to do just that next month.) A lot of people, though, may not know how to get the ball rolling to start building rapport. If you don’t know, or are looking for a better way to begin that momentum, here’s a strategy for you. You can do this via phone, coffee, lunch, etc. … whatever makes sense for you:

1. Go back to your freshly pruned list*, and divide its members into three categories:
   A) People you know well;
   B) People you “kinda-sorta” know;
   C) People you don’t really know.
2. Prioritize them in the reverse order of what’s listed above.
3. Use this script to start the re-connection process:[NAME], It has been some time since we first connected on LinkedIn, and I thought it might make sense for us to set up a brief call to learn more about each others’ respective businesses and explore how we may be able to work together. I have next Monday morning or Thursday afternoon available. Please let me know what works best for you.Thanks, and have a great day!~ Bob

*You actually don’t need to prune your list to use this strategy, especially if you have a smaller list. If anything, I’m a bit jealous of people who have small lists or are just starting out, because they can bring momentum to their Social Selling strategy more quickly than people like me, who need to reduce list members to effectively do so.

(The meeting-request process can actually be automated by using an online calendaring service like TimeTrade. I use it in combination with a custom landing page I’ve built for this purpose. Here’s what my “Let’s reconnect…” messages look like:

[NAME], it has been some time since we first connected on LinkedIn. I thought it might make sense for us to set up a brief call to learn more about each others’ respective businesses and explore how we may be able to work together.

I use an online service to schedule meetings; it may seem a bit impersonal, but it really helps save time in these types of situations. Here is a link to my calendar: http://ift.tt/1Qe2VPN ; please pick a time that is most convenient for you. I look forward to our call. Thanks, and have a great day!

~ Bob

TimeTrade really saves me a lot of time!)

At this point you may be thinking, “Wow, how am I going to handle all of those phone calls and meetings?” Believe me, you won’t get that proverbial 100% response rate. If you do get 100% (or a high percentage), though, I’d urge you to rejoice in the fact that so many people want to talk to you about yourself and/or your business, and not panic over how you’ll fit all of those people in.

I also recommend contacting that C group first, because I’d assume that many there would not take you up on your offer (only because they really don’t know you). This way, you should quickly move through that “don’t know” group to get to that “kinda, sorta know” one. At least the B group’s conversations will be a bit warmer because you do have some knowledge of who those people really are.

By pruning back your 1st-degree connection list in a proper way, and then following up with your remaining connections in a sincere, business-building way, you’ll see more success in your professional efforts.

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

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The Right Way to Reconnect on LinkedIn