How to engage Handraisers on LinkedIn

Welcome to the Thought Follower, the savvy Solopreneur's weekly source of LinkedIn advice & writing tips.

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I’ll never forget the first day of my internship. It was the day I introduced myself to someone as Paul. Even though my name is Joe (always has been, probably always will be).

I wanted to melt into the floor and disappear.

How did this happen!?

I’d sat next to a guy in the orientation session. I glanced at his nametag and thought I read ‘Paul'.

In the morning tea break, I saw him walking up to me. In my head, I told myself: “here comes Paul, you’re about to meet Paul, just make a good first impression.”

He stuck out his hand and said:

“Hey, I’m Peter.”

I blurted out the only thing I had in my head:

“Paul.”

By the time the word was out of my mouth, it was too late. I knew then & there, I’d have to quit on my first day and never be seen again.

Thankfully, a few seconds later, someone else joined us and I introduced myself with my actual name.

I can only imagine Peter’s internal monologue at this point - “I swear he just said…”

Crisis averted.

My point is, talking to new people can feel awkward.

But there are some simple steps you can take to make it easier.

Step 1: Get your own name right.

Step 2: Use present commonality to break down barriers.

What’s present commonality?

Imagine you’re going to a friend’s wedding. You arrive early and stand at the back of the venue, surveying the scene.

After a quick glance around, you realise you don’t know anyone there. You’re going to have to sit down next to someone you’ve never met before.

You choose your target, wander over and slide into the seat next to them. You say Hi and exchange (correct) names.

You glance at your watch and realise there’s 15 minutes until it all starts. You don’t want to sit there in awkward silence.

What question might you ask to start a conversation?

Most people would say the same thing. Something like 'how do you know the bride & groom?' 

This is a perfectly logical place to start.

Why? Because it references the thing you've got in common with this person, in this moment - the wedding you’re both at, and the couple you both know somehow.

That's called Present Commonality.

Present commonality is the basis of any human, non-slimey conversation starter.

And it’s the biggest gap I see in most Solopreneurs’ approach to outreach on Linkedin.

Reality is, if LinkedIn is part of your sales & marketing engine, waiting for people to message you first is costing you money. There are people in your LinkedIn orbit raising. their hand to hear from you, but most people on LinkedIn don’t want to make first contact.

So we need a simple, polite way to start a conversation with these handraisers.

Who are handraisers on LinkedIn?

There are 5 groups of LinkedIn handraisers. Anyone who:

• Sends you a connection request

• Starts following you

• Views your profile

• Comments on your content

• Likes your content

These are all conscious actions, showing some kind of intent. They’re hand raises. So there's nothing slimy about reaching out to these people, if you do it in the right way.

Try using present commonality the next time you want to start a 1-1 conversation on LinkedIn.

Something that quickly references the thing you’ve got in common with a handraiser, then passes them the microphone to respond if they want to.

It's as simple as:

"Hi [name], Thanks for [checking out my profile / liking my post / commenting]. Did anything stand out?"

You’ll be surprised at how many conversations you start.

Want more message templates & ideas to have revenue-generating 1:1 conversations on LinkedIn? Check out my free Content to Conversation Playbook.

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