“Hi Michiel, I noticed your impressive work at YouLynq.me and your passion for helping businesses grow. At [COMPANY], we help innovative leaders like yourself increase revenue by 37% with our groundbreaking AI-powered solution. Would you have 30 minutes this week for a quick demo?”
This might be one of the worst first messages you can send on LinkedIn.
It starts with fake AI personalization, immediately pushes a proposition, talks almost entirely about the sender and then asks a complete stranger for 30 minutes of their time.
And somehow, we’re surprised when people don’t respond.
LinkedIn outreach shouldn’t start with selling.
It should start with networking.
When you meet someone at an event, you don’t walk up to them and immediately explain your offer, show them your product and ask them to schedule a demo.
You introduce yourself.
You find some common ground.
You ask a question.
You listen.
And you see if there’s a reason to keep the conversation going.
So why should LinkedIn be any different?
Your first message should be personal, short and easy to respond to.
There should be reciprocity instead of pressure.
Genuine interest instead of a sales pitch.
And enough space for the other person to decide whether they actually want to engage.
You don’t need to convince someone in the first message.
You don’t even need to explain everything you do.
You just need to start a conversation.
Because B2B relationships are built over time.
Someone who doesn’t need you today might need you in six months. Twelve months. Maybe even two years from now.
If your first interaction was pleasant, relevant and human, you’ve already started building something.
If your first interaction was a badly personalized AI pitch?
You probably burned the relationship before it even had a chance to exist.
Stop treating LinkedIn like a cold email database.
Start treating it like the biggest networking event in the world.
Short term: start a conversation.
Long term: build a relationship.
And eventually, the business will follow.
🎥 Collins Key
