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1. The Spear Connection Request
This is the one exception to the Vampire Sales Rule and it is for a very specific set of circumstances.
As originally articulated by Justin Michael, the spear is a carefully crafted piece of outreach.
- 3ish sentences with a CTA
- Succinct, ugly, and compact
Here’s an example template Spear from JM himself:
Hey {firstname} - curious if you’re open to chat re:[business function] strategy? [Similar customer] was able to [quantifiable outcome], saw a reduction in [pain point] and [positive outcome] using [process]. If it makes sense Q4, should we set up a call? Thanks - {initials}
The way this could actually look:
Hey Morgan - curious if you’re open to chat re:sales strategy? Alignd was able to lift pipeline by 31% in 60 days, reduced their sales cycles by 22% and generated 30+ booking meetings off of LinkedIn using our social prospecting method. If it makes sense Q4, should we setup a call? Thanks - NT
At a strategic level, the spear is formulated to prompt an immediate response. Think back to creating your Account and Lead Lists. The spear will likely be relevant to 1-3% of your total list. They are a high priority target based on a particular trigger. Instead of going through the warm up motions, a well-crafted spear can cut through the noise and prompt an immediate conversation.
At a tactical level, the spear is formulated in a way that grabs their attention. Instead of some BS connect request with a follow-on pitch, or even waiting for content to generate inbound leads, this is a request that is highly specific and prompts immediate action.
This is very similar to a tight, well-crafted cold email on outbound. The only difference is – you’ve got one chance. Don’t blow it. There are no follow-ups, sequences, or bumps you can send to a connection request.
The original formula is a great starting point but not the only way to do it. Will Allred’s popular email framework uses “Observation + Insight + Question” as a way to kickstart the conversation.
Hey Morgan – noticed you’re hiring for 2 SDRs. Companies your size struggle to ramp them quickly, preventing them from being 100% effective in their first quarter. If we could help you get results in their first quarter, would that be worth a chat?
Or in a template format:
Hey {firstname} - [Observation]. [Insight]. [Question CTA]?
Like any cold outbound campaign, this is an artform and something worth testing out. These are simply examples.
The reason we invested so much time with Preparing Your Outbound Campaign is because all of that knowledge informs the way you’re articulating your outreach. Your Account and Lead Lists being correctly prioritized also helps with this.
We recommend the following:
- Write 3-5 different spears / cold outreach requests
- Start with 1 option and send to MAX 5 highly-qualified leads. If it doesn’t get accepted, time to move on to the next option! If it does get accepted but doesn’t generate a response, work on the specificity of your messaging.
- Don’t send more than one spear campaign per week. Keep most of your outbound campaign focused on everything else outlined previously.
2. The Curiosity Opener DM
Okay, okay. Enough with the spears.
How do you open up a conversation with someone you’ve recently connected with on a blank connection request? Or, how do you restart a conversation with a lead you thought was really good but it sort of fizzled out?
Our preferred one is a curiosity opener. Josh Braun called it “poke the bear.”
For an outbound campaign we ran for a company in energy efficiency, this is what the curiosity opener sounded like:
Hey Morgan, over the past year energy prices have doubled in our province and I was curious — how are you managing that cost?
Another example could be:
Hey Nick, over the past 3 months I saw there’s been serious churn in your sales team. How’s the onboarding for the new hires going?
A general template looks like:
Hey {firstname}, [observation]. [Unsettling question]?
This format doesn’t work as well in a Connection Request because it hits most buyer’s mental spam filters. It implies you have something to sell (which is true) and is better accommodated as a DM with someone you’ve already connected with.
It’s also better in the DMs vs. in the comments because it potentially reveals sensitive information.
3. The Profile Visitor DM
Now onto profile visitors. There are a number of possible triggers for this DM:
- Someone viewed your profile who you’ve been already engaging with in comments or content
- Someone viewed your profile who is an unsaved lead at a target account (trigger in Sales Navigator you automatically set-up when saving Account Lists)
For this play, we’re combining the idea of a connection request & a DM as it’s possible some people will be 2nd or 3rd degree connections who view your profile. Just consider your connection request in this play your 1st DM.
The start of the outreach will be context based.
As Nick says in the video, if you notice that they found you from search –– bring it up in the DM and/or connection request!
Hey Nick – saw you stopped by my profile from search. Were you looking for anything in particular?
Or another option:
Hey Morgan – saw you stopped by my profile. I know we’ve been connected for a while, but you found me in search. What were you looking for?
If you’ve been having ongoing conversations with someone in the comments and see they visited your profile, use that to your advantage. This is only for accounts who you’ve already connected with.
You’re not calling out their profile visit, instead using it as an intent trigger to prompt more conversation.
Hey… I kept thinking about that thread we had so I went looking for additional resources. Have you seen this article?
Okay so after our conversation last week I went asking around and found out…
Did you see this post? It reminds me of that convo we had last week. Thoughts?
There’s so many infinite variations on this, but you’re just tying together the conversations you’ve had with additional resources or insights.
There’s three different options here.
- Send a connection request that says:
Hey {firstname} - saw you stopped by my profile. Looking for anything in particular?
This is a bold one and gets rejected about 50/50. Depends on the lead — this one usually works better with lower seniority accounts (SDRs, Managers, or Specialists who have free time on their hand). Higher seniority accounts (CXOs, Directors) are prone to ignore this.
- Run an outbound play that generates an inbound connection request.
This works best with active accounts (view their profile and see if they comment or like things). If they are active, use one of the outbound plays to warm them up and get to that Rule of 3!
- Send a blank connection request.
This works best for “lurker” accounts — the accounts who don’t post or comment, but view people’s profiles. They probably will ignore anything too personalized, so it’s best to send them a blank request.
4. Running Discovery in the DMs
You don't need to wait for a meeting to do discovery. Why not do it in the DMs? Here's the thing, though. You have to make it a casual conversation. You cannot make it a robotic discovery conversation.
Rules of Engagement
- Coffee House Rules. Keep it casual. If it’s not something you would say in person over a cup of coffee, don’t say it. LinkedIn is a professional network, but make sure your personality is infused in the DMs.
- Obey Vampire Sales! If you’re not asked to pitch, don’t. Keep the conversation going and ask deeper questions to understand more of what they’re experiencing.
- Offer value without hesitation. If the conversation reminds you of a good article, share it! If the topic at hand references something your company’s marketing blog has, send it along. Keep the conversation going and balance asking questions with offering insight.
Goal of Discovery in the DMs
Chances are this meeting will probably be much better than your average discovery call because the buyer is already interested in what you have to offer!
Let's look at an example. Someone reached out to Morgan asking about this guide. (Certainly not a high $$ offer, but it's a good example).
and Morgan continued on the conversation.
The questions Morgan is asking are casual (even if he called him out on discovery!). We're focusing in on the problems he's experiencing and how we can help, and whether we're the right fit.
These kinds of questions:
- Confirm to us he's the right fit. Sometimes prospects aren't the right fit and we shouldn't qualify them.
- Build interest in what we have to offer. Because Morgan isn’t trying to sell him on anything and is taking a genuine interest, he’s building trust and rapport. That creates psychological interest in what we have to offer.
- Creating pressure toward a meeting or a purchase. The further along this conversation goes, and the deeper questions we ask, the higher likelihood of him asking us for a meeting to discuss more or just directly purchase the guide (in this case).
