I get a lot of offers through LinkedIn. It’s the biggest downside of posting on that platform. Everytime I post something new, I get a flood of new offers. It’s annoying and frustrating for two reasons.

First, they clearly don’t know who I am. They’re just “cold-calling” through LinkedIn. 

Second, and most importantly, they’re selling from the get-go. They’ve barely said hello and already they're putting an offer on the table.

The salesy pitch makes me cringe; I can’t hit delete fast enough.

Do you worry about sounding salesy? Does this fear stop you from creating content or putting your offer out into the world?

I hear you. I’ve struggled with this, too.

These salesy people on LinkedIn are actually doing us a service. We can learn from them!

Here’s their #1 mistake: They are focusing on the sale before they’ve gotten to know their prospect.

Some of them will even go so far as to fill their offer message with details about me that they gleaned from my profile… (“I see that you’re a coach…") but they haven’t really noticed what I do through my business and it’s still clear that it’s a plug-and-play form letter.

THAT is why they sound salesy. They know nothing about me. They have no idea who I am or what I do, and already they’re putting the offer out there. 

Yes, we need to put our offers out into the world, but not like that!

Instead, we need to focus on the prospect – the person. Who are they and what is the problem they are struggling with? What does the solution look like and how can we help them achieve that? And most importantly: Why should they trust us and our solution?

When we focus on the person, their problem, and the solution, we don’t sound salesy. We sound helpful! We sound trustworthy. 

These actions demonstrate that we have our customer’s best interest in mind. They show why our answer makes sense, and that is what will enable the sale, without us needing to be pushy.