We all like to see who visited our LinkedIn profile. It’s human nature. But do you do anything with this information? Probably not.
The technique I am going to share with you has led to so much business for my clients and for me and it is based on the fact that when someone visits your profile there is a reason.
This reason may something minor such as looking to see the spelling of your name or get your contact information. The reason might be something more such as they are mining your connections. The reason might be something big such as they want to discuss working with you or have a referral to a potential client for you.
How to respond
How you respond will depend on if the person who viewed your profile is a first or second connection and if a first connection, how long it has been since you communicated with them.
First connection that you communicated with recently or just connected with:
They likely visited your profile as part of connecting. It makes sense to reach out to start a conversation for networking purposes or to get to know them better.
First connection you have not spoken with in a while:
There is a reason this person visited your profile. Whether it is for a little reason or a big one, your response allows you to strengthen your relationship and, in some cases, can speed the time to an introduction, a client, or other business.
You do not want to say, “Why did you visit my profile?” because that can feel creepy or pushy. Soften the statement by saying something like: "I noticed you stopped by my profile. It’s been a while since we connected. How are you?"
The first time I thought of this was when a connection named Manny visited my profile and I hadn’t spoken with him in a while. Immediately after I responded he called me on the phone and said that he meant to call me and that a common connection named Susan told him I was THE person to speak with for training on using LinkedIn strategically. This led to a big client.
If I hadn’t noticed that he visited my profile and reached out, what if he got too busy and never reached out? What if Susan had given him three names and he reached out to someone else first?
Even if the reason is something simple it gives you a chance to reconnect.
Second connection:
Again, there is a reason a second connection visited your profile.
Here is what to do:
- Review the person’s information from the Who Viewed Your Profile page.
- You will be able to split the people into three groups: people you have no interest in being connected with, people you might like to be connected with, and people you absolutely want to connect with.
- If there is someone you absolutely want to connect with you can do two things: engage with their content before sending a connection invite or send a connection invite.
- If you are not sure if you want to connect you should visit their profile to see what they are all about and then decide if you want to connect or not.
If you want to connect with someone and they are active on the platform, and when I say active I mean that they share content, you can engage with their content first to start a conversation and then send a connection invite.
If they are not active, you can send a connection request that includes that you noticed they stopped by your profile, that you are curious how they found you, a comment on something in their profile, and that you’d like to connect. Make it about them, not you.
What if all my views are from “A LinkedIn User?”
If all your views are anonymous it could mean you have the free LinkedIn account and have your setting turned to anonymous when you visit a profile. If your visits are not visible LinkedIn will not show you who looked at your profile. I recommend keep your visits public 99% of the time because that allows conversations to start and that’s what we want.
So, next time you look at who viewed your profile try these techniques to strengthen relationships or shorten the time to business.
