Write a LinkedIn Cold Outreach Message That’s So Personalized It’s Scary

Harvard Business Review reports 90% of B2B decision-makers never respond to cold outreach.

Does that statistic brighten up your day a little? All jokes aside, if you’ve been in the sales game long enough, you know personalization increases the likelihood of a response. But, it’s much harder than it looks. You want to customize each LinkedIn outreach message, but feel like you don’t have the time or info to get it right. So you personalize a few, shoot off hundreds more mediocre ones, and pray for the best, right?

Well, in this article, we’re going to teach you how to personalize every LinkedIn cold outreach. We’ll have you gathering enough intel to write a message that’s worth their time, showing them exactly what they want to see, and getting a response—in just a few minutes. 

1. Surprise decision-makers by talking about industry verticals

How much do you understand your prospect’s industry and all the moving parts of their day? A good understanding of your prospect’s job role in their specific industry can make or break your LinkedIn cold outreach messages. A marketing manager’s day-to-day challenges look very different at an advertising agency than they do at a company selling a physical product. One way to understand what kind of problems your prospect faces is to learn more about their vertical markets. How can you get that information? With Lusha Extension, a B2B lead enrichment tool that not only gives you your lead’s updated contact info. Lusha Extension also provides key information about their company like industry vertical, company size, annual revenue, and more.

Here’s an example of a lead within the financial services industry. Lusha Extension breaks down its 13 vertical markets.

Now, when personalizing your LinkedIn cold outreach template, you can address current issues their customers may face within those niches, as well better understand what they do every day at work and what challenges keep them up at night.

Worried you can’t get a contact’s information without a connection? Don’t be; with Lusha’s prospecting platform, you don’t need to be connections to view their contact details and company information.

2. Use small details to make your message impactful

Before you start your next conversation with prospects, put yourself in their position. Decision-makers naturally get a ton of InMail; by now, they’ve read them all and have seen the same template re-worked a million times. Sure—they’d love to open their inbox and see the right offer that would solve a problem they currently face, but since the last 25 or so didn’t hit the mark, they’ve grown hesitant to wade through their messages and give someone else a shot. We can’t blame them, really. But this means you’ve got very little room for error! LinkedIn outreach messages will always get a quick delete when they’re not tailored to your prospects.

There are two easy ways you can personalize your message: mention something they wrote in their profile, or watch their posts to follow their actions at work or online.

3. Find a hidden gem in their profile

You’d be surprised at how many sales reps skip out on reading their lead’s profile completely. There are so many pieces of information you can reference to start a conversation that’s worthy of their time and response. Mike Orrantia, a recruiter, goes above and beyond with his outreach. He noticed one of his contacts, a JavaScript developer, was part of a poetry club, so what did he do? He wrote a message in the form of a haiku to grab the guy’s attention. It worked so well the developer posted it on social media and it was even included in a roundup of the best LinkedIn outreach messages. Try to mention at least one personal or professional tidbit that they’ve already shared with the world. You’ll be surprised at how easy this makes it to start a one-of-a-kind conversation.

4. Use Sales Navigator to watch their every move

If you’re still not using Sales Navigator to its full capacity—you’re missing out. When you save individual leads, accounts or company pages, you can set up push notifications every time they make a move on LinkedIn. If you already have this feature going, are you really paying attention and seizing the moment? This works well for LinkedIn lead generation strategies, but you have to act quick. When you see your prospect like, share or comment on a topic, quickly jump into the discussion and contribute. Then, quickly follow up with them in their InMail while you’re still fresh on their mind.

5. Adapt your writing to any personality 

No two LinkedIn outreach messages should be written the same. Why? Because no two decision-makers are the same. Sure, they may have similar job roles and work lives, but the way they think, feel and behave when making decisions will always create a unique combination.

That’s why you need to know and understand their unique personality. Writing with your prospect’s personality in mind increases your chances of compatibility. They’ll feel more at ease if you share the same communication style as them when working. One psychological study says when people match the personality of their work environment, they work more efficiently, can better predict the outcome of projects, and generate higher revenue for their company.

So how do you nail down a prospect’s personality? With Crystal, a Google Chrome extension for salespeople that generates personality insights and reports when you’re on LinkedIn. Crystal analyzes their online data profiles and makes assessments that are so accurate and detailed, you’ll think you met them in the flesh. This tool gives you a laundry list of ideas on how to communicate with your prospect.

Here’s a Crystal personality report for Oprah Winfrey:

• It comes naturally to Oprah to say something with sarcasm

• Oprah is motivated by storytelling, exploration and discovery

• Oprah is stressed by overly factual lackluster discussions and feeling micromanaged

• When speaking to Oprah, project enthusiasm and energy

• When emailing Oprah use emotionally expressive language

Crystal will give you 21 insights on your prospect that will help you send your first LinkedIn outreach message. It even recommends exactly what to say in your subject line, body paragraph and call to action when making a sales pitch! Out of new leads? Use the information Crystal provides to go back and re-nurture old leads with a new approach!

It’s all about the messaging

When it comes to forging important relationships on LinkedIn, it’s all about the message you put together. The tips we discussed will help you personalize your message to form those important connections, but if you want to try a more structured approach, check out our free sales script generator.

Key takeaways

• Personalization is not easy: It’s not just using a prospect’s first name in a message or mentioning their company. Personalization requires extra legwork on your end to learn more about their industry, personal life and personality to command a response.
• Scare prospects a little: The point of getting hyper-specific in your LinkedIn outreach message is to make them jump at how well you know them and have done your research. Your template should be customized to each prospect’s distinct needs and communication style.
• Go deeper into their job role: Decision-makers don’t want to over-explain their job role, and you won’t need them to when you have tools like Lusha Extension. It can answer a lot of basic questions about their position and industry including their standardized role, revenue, and, most importantly, industry verticals. Knowing what vertical markets they deal with will give you a greater understanding of the unique challenges they face so you can craft a better message.

To get started, sign up for Lusha Extension for free.