Read time: 4 min

In today’s issue, I’m going to show you how to craft the perfect InMail to send to your sales prospects on LinkedIn.

If you send the best InMail, you’ll drastically improve your ability to book meetings with your ideal customer and build a thick deal pipeline.

And even if you aren’t ready for sending plenty of InMails, you can still learn to prospect better and increase your chances for success.

Unfortunately, most people don't utilize their InMails they get every month which is a complete waste.

You may be wondering, what is an InMail? Simply put, an InMail is a credit that Premium LinkedIn users get that allows them to send a custom message to anyone on LinkedIn without being connected to them.

They're incredibly powerful.

The system I'm going to show you is what I call the Warm InMail Approach.

The benefits of this system are:

→ It's simple to write.
→ It's scalable to send 50/mo.
→ You'll be able to grow your network.
→ You'll become better at starting conversations.

Step 1: Subject Line

The goal here is to get your prospect to open your InMail.

It's great that you can write an eloquent message, but if they never open it, what's the point?

My best advice to get high open rates of your InMail is to have a short yet appealing subject line. Something that will pique your prospect's interest and get them to open your InMail. Keep it under 4 words and you have a high chance they'll open it as long as it's interesting enough to click.

Once you've done that, you've won half the battle.

The other half of the battle is getting them to respond.

Step 2: The Body

The intention of the body of your InMail is to get the prospect to respond.

An InMail is essentially a LinkedIn Email, and so it naturally follows the same type of prospecting process in order to get someone to respond.

This is where the Warm part of the Approach comes into play.

Our goal is to get them to respond.

But why?

Well, LinkedIn has quite a rewarding system for those who are able to socially sell. Everyone has limited InMail credits every month. These are spent when you send an InMail to someone. The reward for sending a good InMail that gets opened and responded to is that LinkedIn reimburses you that credit.

Incredible.

You could essentially send unlimited InMails to prospects if you're able to craft the perfect InMail.

That's why the Body of your InMail is so important.

Using all the information at your disposal by looking at your prospect's profile, their activity and their connections, you'll be able to create a "warm" InMail that is well-researched.

Warm InMails tend to perform better than cold pitches of your service. 

Of course, you don't have to sell immediately, but the information is there, so why not use it?

Here's a simple format for an InMail that mentions similar connections:

Hey X,

I saw that we both have mutual connections, how do you know Y?

Anyways, I looked at your profile and I was impressed by your time at Z. Are you busy (relevant activity related to your niche)?

Looking forward to engaging with you.

 Kind regards,

Step 3: The Approach

I mentioned that a Warm InMail is better than a cold approach by creating a well-researched message that is targeted and relevant.

Selling immediately in your InMail is never generally helpful unless your research has shown you that you know their immediate need and you have a solution.

Unfortunately, we never quite have a full picture until we've met with our prospects and asked relevant questions.

So then, what's the best approach to sending an InMail?

Should I pitch?
Should I ask to meet?
Should I ask about their needs?
Should I ask for their hand in marriage?

Well, it's not that simple.

I think relationship building is the best method of approach for a warm InMail.

This can be done in multiple ways:

1) Mentioning something you saw in their posts that you liked
2) Praising them for something notable they've done that is in your niche
3) Communicating how their experience aligns with something in your niche and how you'd love to chat about X, Y, and Z.
4) Asking how they know a mutual connection (the above format in Step 2)

The list can go on.

But relationship building is a great way to approach InMails.

Especially warm, well-researched and intentional relationship-building.

So in summary:

1) Have a short subject line to have a high open rate

2) Write a warm body that utilizes all the information at your disposal

3) Focus on a relationship-building approach to build your rapport and organize a meeting