I’ve got a bone to pick and it is with you… YOU! The guy/girl who decides to send me random LinkedIN and Twitter messages telling me about his new social media project that I should try out. You are really excited to tell hundreds of random people about a new product or service. This is cold calling and it needs to stop. You are screwing up my day. Period.
Here is what a LinkedIN cold call looks like:
Hey [ insert email/linkedin name]
Hello, we’ve not met before, but the reason for the message is that you mentioned you were open to new ventures and business deals. I am from the Indianapolis area, working with a business mentorship and development group out of Charlotte, NC doing some things online. We are working with over 1300 companies – blah blah blah – to name a few. We are expanding now and your profile fits what we’re looking for. I know this is kind of a shot in the dark, but I was checking to see if you (or someone you know with a profile similar to yourself) are currently looking for a secondary income or open-minded to some new business ideas? If so, what we’d need to do is schedule a 10 minute phone interview to give a brief overview of what we’re putting together. I’d need you to have internet access at that time. If interested, please respond with several available dates/times and a way to reach you by phone.
[spammer name]
Do I really have to say anything more? Why do you feel the need to email me on LinkedIN? How do you know I have any interest in your product or service? Did you communicate with me first? Do you care about what I think or what I have to say? How do you know I am a good pick for what you are doing? Did you just minimize me to a profile?
Next time you decide to direct market on LinkedIN maybe you should pick out a couple of people to start COMMUNICATING with instead of spamming thousands.
I do not care about your product and if you ever message me again… I will get Kayne to interrupt your typing and life.
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It's definitely possible that it's spam, but you were probably contacted because you are a very well known name in the social media world and your expertise is desired by not only professionals, but also those with little experience in the medium. I wonder if telling them that you have a large retainer fee will steer away the ones that *are* just spammers, but then possibly landing a couple of whale clients?
I'm with Nicki. I definitely can agree that spam is annoying but at the same time I'm not always against cold calls. Do you have other friends/connections who received the same message?
I know there can be a lot of overlap between the telemarketing/spam/cold calls, but sometimes, especially if you're a little guy or new to the market, cold calls are a reasonable means to either gain recognition or find clients.
Kyle, I could not agree with you more… I too am sick and tired of getting these random tweets from spammers who I am not connected with and who have not taken time to get to know me. Nothing makes me hit the "block" button quicker than this type of message. Thank god I have a "block" button to hit.
I saw a statistic yesterday that "90% of the email sent now is by spammers" …. actually that came from the "Do You Know" video you posted. That is scary stuff.
Keep fighting the good fight… we appreciate you!
@michaelmccurry
I don't have a problem with cold calling. Pick up the phone and call me then. This is about a canned email to a ton of people about a stupid product.
A canned email is 10 times different than a cold call. I actually appreciate cold calls.
I also saw that statistic. It is crazy!
Am I the only one that truly appreciates the Kanye interruption ending? [Stands up to clap] Well done sir. Well done. Side note: couldn't agree more with invitation/connection/network marketing spam.
Just to confirm that it is a mass message/spam, I received the EXACT same message on LinkedIn. When I caught that they used the term "doing some things online" without saying exactly what they were looking for or specifying what traits on my profile really caught their eye, I trashed it. But now I'm thinking that a reply with a link to this post would be in order.
ya, i got the same message, and here i thought linkedin somehow got themselves above this
I found your post by Googling part of the LinkedIn message I received verbatim. I actually got the message twice, but the two people were actually listed as alumni of my school and also members of the alumni group on LinkedIn. So the first message I thought might be real, as the guy was listed as being at my college at the same time, but when I got the second one, red flags stood up in earnest. Your post confirms it. I was curious, though, if you responded to any of them? I thought about calling the guy just to call him out on the whole ordeal.
What about the fact that many business managers today claim that they dont have time to pick up the phone for a cold call, but would rather appreciate an email instead?