2011-09-22 Wednesday - How to FAIL at LinkedIn networking

Dear Clueless LinkedIn Spammer:

In the spirit of being a Mentor - here's a little feedback for you:

a) I clearly state on my profile that I only accept invitations to connect from people that I have actually met.

b) therefore, you clearly didn't read my profile very thoroughly

c) I don't know you - so how could I be a person that you trust?

d) You didn't provide any background or context on how we might know each other

e) You didn't provide any background or context on who we might mutually know

f) You didn't provide any background or context on why I might want to accept your invitation

g) You profile indicates that you are a ceo - and yet - you only have three connections - and no recommendations.

h) You did not display a photo on your profile

i) Your profile does not indicate your background or experience

j) Your profile does not indicate your education

k) Your profile does not indicate your interests

l) Your profile does not indicate any shared groups

m) You claim to be seeking a business alliance - or selling a service - but your use of a (yahoo | gmail | facebook) email address leads me to suspect that you are not serious about your profession

n) Your email initial contact did not include any contact information | no signature block | no title | no phone/fax | address

o) You either didn't send me any literature about your service (actually that's a bad idea - don't flood my inbox with crap PDFs - or worse - huge PowerPoint decks).  Better - would be to include a linked to a document you've uploaded somewhere on the net

p) Curiously, although you have over 200+ connections - not a single one of them has posted a recommendation.  And you are trying to sell me on buying your service?

q) You either don't have a web site -or if you do - it looks like a generic template - with no thought leadership / white papers posted.

r) Where is the list of articles that you've published  - how will can I discern what value you might bring to the table?

s) Where is the list of clients you have serviced in the past?  Testimonials?

t) You either don't have a blog | or you have a single [or no] posting

u) If you're LinkedIn profile says you are in the U.S. (say, Tustin, CA) - but I subsequently track your IP to somewhere else (say, Bangalore, Karnataka in India) - then you are really not getting off to a very good start in establishing credibility.  In fact, my assumption would be quite the opposite.

v) If your reaction to this list is defensive, or in anger - then you need to look more closely at what you are doing, how you are doing it - and perhaps why you are doing it.