Add to my network…

LinkedIn has changed. Or rather, how it’s being used has changed.

I get one of these types of connection requests every day (3 yesterday!):

“I’m growing my connections/network in [insert generic learning term here] and came across your page. I’d really like to connect.”

What you mean is I’ll make you think this is a genuine, professional interest in your work, so we can share our passions and interests, and maybe even work together, etc, etc.

Then you go and spoil it by sending the “can we arrange for a 10/15/30 minute call so I can explain/demonstrate my new system/tool/company/etc …” private message.

Yeah, I get it. Times are hard and businesses need to be bold with how they approach new clients. I am happy to connect with people who have similar interests and/or want to share ideas, thoughts, projects, etc. But please don’t pretend to want this to then deliver a generic and sometimes poorly crafted sales pitch.

I’m not interested. If I am looking for a new solution or system or tool, I’m happy that we’ve connected and I know that, within my network, there may be someone who can help. I’ll put the call out and we can talk about it then. Not before.

• This post is Day 65 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100DaysToOffload.com.

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash