Chapter 5
In This Chapter
Understanding introductions and InMail
Sending introductions
Sending InMail
Accepting and forwarding requests
Declining requests gracefully
One of the goals of using LinkedIn is to expand your personal network of friends and colleagues by seeing who is connected to you at each degree level. When you can see the second and third degrees of your network, your next goal is to start interacting with these people and see how they might fit into your network, goals, or ambitions. However, the whole system of contacting people requires some order and decorum (otherwise, nobody would feel comfortable signing up for the site in the first place). Therefore, LinkedIn offers two methods for meeting and connecting with people outside your immediate network: introductions and InMail. Not so coincidentally, I cover introductions and InMail in this very chapter.
Introductions are simply where you ask to be introduced to a friend of a friend, and your friend can decide whether to pass along your introduction to the intended target. InMail allows you to directly communicate with anyone in the LinkedIn network through a private LinkedIn message. I also cover what to do when you get a request from a connection on LinkedIn.
Your first question is most likely, “What's the difference between introductions and InMail?” (Figure 5-1 shows an InMail example at the top and an introduction at the bottom.) The answer depends on how involved your common friend or colleague is in connecting you with this new contact.
Say you're at a party with your friend Michael, and you say to him, “You know, I'd really like to meet someone who can help me with some software tasks for my company.” Michael looks around, sees his friend James, and introduces you to James by saying, “Hello, James. This is my entrepreneur friend from business school, [Your Name Here]. [Your Name Here], this is my old buddy James. He and I studied computer science together in college.” After that, Michael might give some more background information about each person to the other.
On LinkedIn, an introduction is very similar to my real-world example. You send a request to someone in your immediate first-degree network (Michael) and ask that person to introduce you to someone in his network (James) by forwarding your request to the intended party. In some cases, if you're trying to reach someone in your third-degree network (maybe James has a programming buddy you should talk to), your introduction request would have to go to two different parties before reaching the intended recipient.
Here are some benefits of using introductions:
Because everyone on LinkedIn has a profile and a secure message Inbox, communicating with other people online is easy. LinkedIn allows you to send InMail directly to an intended party, regardless of whether he is directly or indirectly connected with you. The e-mail gets immediately delivered to the recipient's Web-based Inbox on the LinkedIn site (and, if the recipient has configured his settings to get e-mails of all his InMail, in the Inbox at his e-mail address); the sender never learns the recipient's address, so each party has some privacy. The recipient can then read your profile and decide whether to respond.
The cost of using InMail depends on whether you subscribe to a premium account. You can purchase InMail credits (one credit allows you to send one message) at a cost of $10 per InMail message. Premium accounts, such as the Job Seeker account for $29.99/month, come with a set number of InMail credits per month that roll over to the next month if unused. The Business account gets 3 credits per month, the Business Plus account gets 10 credits per month, and the Executive account gets 25 credits per month.
Here are some benefits of using InMail:
When you want to bring two (or more) parties together, you usually need to apply some thought to the process, whether it's figuring out what both parties have in common, thinking up the words you'll use to introduce party A to party B, or coming up with the timing of exactly when and where you plan to make the introduction. On LinkedIn, you should do your best to make sure the introduction process goes smoothly — but don't worry, there's not nearly as much social pressure. The following sections give you tips and pointers for setting up an introduction.
When you want to send an introduction request, spend some time planning your request before you log on to LinkedIn to generate and send it. Preparing a quality and proper introduction goes a long way toward keeping your network in a helpful and enthusiastic mood, and it increases your chances of making a new and valuable connection.
You need to prepare two messages: one for your intended recipient and one for your connection/friend. Each message needs to perform a specific objective. Start with the message to your friend, and keep the following tips in mind when you're writing it:
When writing your message to your intended recipient, keep these tips in mind:
When you've prepared your messages (one to your contact and one to the recipient) and you're all ready to send an introduction request, just follow these steps:
You can use the Search box at the top of any LinkedIn page, or you can click your Connections and search your friend's networks. (See Chapter 4 for the lowdown on searching LinkedIn.)
This step takes you to the recipient's profile page, where, as you scroll down the page, you should see two things: a chart along the right side of the page showing how you're connected to this person and a link entitled Get Introduced. (If you don't have anyone in your network yet, you won't see the chart or the link.)
Suppose I'm hoping to be introduced to Erin O'Harra, PR Associate over at LinkedIn. When I get to Erin's profile page, I see that I have a connection to her (see Figure 5-2) in the form of a business contact who I met through LinkedIn.
You see a pop-up window that starts the introduction process, as shown in Figure 5-3. Select the shared connection who you'd like to have make the introduction. In cases like this example, where there is only one shared connection, you still have to select the person to continue the process.
Adding a note here is required (see Figure 5-4) so the facilitator (the person who receives the introduction request from you) knows why you want to reach the other party. After all, the facilitator is going to vouch for you when he sends this request to the intended party, so the more information you give, the better. (See the preceding section, “Planning your approach to each party in the introduction,” for more about writing this message.)
You see a pop-up window message as you're taken back to the person's LinkedIn profile page telling you that your request has been sent, and your first-degree connection will receive this introduction request in his LinkedIn Inbox.
After that, your facilitator friend will accept or decline your request, and you'll get a notification about the facilitator's decision. You can always view your introduction request in your Sent Messages folder.
Keep in mind some LinkedIn members are inactive or may not respond, so try not to take it personally. Move on to another potentially helpful contact.
If you're looking to connect with someone right away and you don't have an immediate or secondary connection with someone, you can use the InMail feature to send a message directly to another LinkedIn member without anyone else getting involved.
InMail is basically a private e-mail message that enables you to reach other members, but it protects those members’ privacy and e-mail address information. If your message is accepted, you'll receive a message in your LinkedIn Inbox with the other party's name and e-mail address, and you can communicate further. In some cases, you see only the other person's professional headline first, and then you see the person's name after he accepts the InMail message.
When you're ready to send someone an InMail, just follow these steps:
You can use the Search box at the top of any LinkedIn page, or you can click your Contacts and search your friend's networks. (Chapter 4 has all sorts of details for you about searching LinkedIn.)
You're taken to the person's profile page.
For example, suppose that I want to connect with Lynn Dralle, the Queen of Auctions, who can not only teach you how to sell on eBay, but who sells more than $100,000 a year in antiques and collectibles herself. When I look at her profile (see Figure 5-5), I see the Send InMail button, which means she is open to receiving InMail. I would click the Send InMail button to send her a message.
After you click that button, you can start filling out the Compose Your Message form.
You're asked whether to provide contact information that your recipient can use to contact you, in the form of e-mail and/or a phone number. Simply select the Include My Contact Information check box (as shown in Figure 5-6) if you want to send contact information.
As with an introduction, keep your message focused on why you would like to talk with this person, and/or what information you were hoping to exchange. (The earlier section, “Planning your approach to each party in the introduction,” contains advice about writing to an intended recipient that applies to InMail messages as well.) At the bottom of Figure 5-6, you can see how many InMail credits you have; remember that you need at least one credit to send this message.
Be sure to proofread your message before sending it out. If you send a message with typos, it probably won't help your case at all.
Your recipient receives this InMail in her LinkedIn Inbox and can decide whether to accept it. (If she has configured LinkedIn to get immediate e-mails of her InMail messages, she will receive the InMail in her e-mail account Inbox as well.) If your message is accepted, it's up to the recipient to contact you in return. Be patient. While you're waiting, I recommend a game of Connect Four or Internet Chess.
What if someone in your network is looking for your help to meet someone in your network? You can facilitate the introduction between your LinkedIn first-degree connections. Now that your reputation is on the line, too, you should spend some time thinking about and processing any and all introduction requests that come your way.
You really have only two options for handling an introduction request:
I cover these two options in more detail in the following sections. However you decide to handle the request, keep these tips in mind:
When you're ready to accept your friend's request and forward her introduction, follow these steps:
This brings up your Inbox of messages, as shown in Figure 5-7. When you're looking at all your messages, look for a drop-down arrow next to All Messages.
If you receive copies of introductions in your e-mail and then click the link from the e-mail message, you've already completed Steps 1 and 2.
This brings up your Introductions page, as shown in Figure 5-8. Here you can see introduction requests from fellow members, as well as the results from introductions you have requested yourself.
In this example, I clicked Real Estate questions from Jared Elad, my brother. Doing so brings up the introduction request, as shown in Figure 5-9.
Read the full text before acting on the request. Don't just skim it — you might miss an important detail.
A new window opens where you can compose your message to the recipient, as shown in Figure 5-10. The text box in the middle contains the note from your friend to you, which you can supplement with a note to the intended recipient. Be sure to add your own comments, in the place I indicated in Figure 5-10, to help connect the two people properly. You can also delete the first person's note to you, especially if that personal note was for your eyes only, not the intended recipient.
In this case, Michael Bellomo will get the introduction request from me on behalf of Jared Elad. Jared will never see Michael's direct e-mail address, and Michael can decide whether to reach out to Jared and form a connection.
You might receive an introduction request that you just don't feel comfortable sending to the recipient. Perhaps you don't know enough about your contact who made the request, or you're unclear about that person's true motivations. Or maybe your connection with the recipient isn't at the stage where you feel you can introduce other people to this person.
Whatever the reason, the best response is simply to gracefully decline the request. Here are some tips on how to respond:
When you're ready to decline the request, follow these steps:
This should bring up the list of introductions in your Inbox. If you receive copies of introductions in your e-mail and then click the link from the e-mail message, you've already completed Step 2.
You see the introduction request. (Refer to Figure 5-9.)
The Not Interested in Forwarding page appears, as shown in Figure 5-11.
If you pick any of the main options, like “I know X, and this message is not a good fit,” you don't have to provide any additional message. Unless one of these options really states your case, you should probably select Other and write a custom message (or send a separate e-mail message giving more information).
The original contact receives an e-mail as well as a message in his LinkedIn Inbox.
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