I’m sure all of you have received a few questionable messages in your email accounts promoting everything from vast network-marketing riches to nocturnal performance pharmaceuticals.

For the most part, my LinkedIn account has been immune to all of this. I’ve not seen suspected messages in my account since 2007 when I saw one early spammer get booted from the network for sending out too many “new business opportunity” messages.

But I knew it couldn’t last forever.

Which is why recently I was only mildly surprised when I received this email in my Linkedin inbox:

Hey Lawrence ,

I saw you in one of my groups and noticed you were also in the SEO business. We do a lot of white label services for SEO companies and provide extensive backlink services. Our links are all hand built, manual links on high PR websites with Anchor Text surrounded in LSI. We also vary the types of links we create and vary the anchor text so the links look natural to Google. We never use backlink creation software and have worked with companies like Yahoo Sports, AOL Video, Dr. Scholl’s, Tire Kingdom, The Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, BuyersTap, and many others. Our services can get most websites ranked in as little as two weeks in the SERPS for the keywords that will have an impact on sales and conversions. We understand correct SEO Practices and only provide high quality services using a dedicated off-shore team to keep our prices low so there is plenty of markup you can pass on to your clients. Our website is www.[supergreatservice].com so feel free to check us out and read some case studies about our services, clients, and technology. Thanks

“Bob”

A little over 24 hours later, I received the exact same message from someone else:

Hey Larry,

I saw you in one of my groups and noticed you were also in the SEO business. We do a lot of white label services for SEO companies and provide extensive backlink services. Our links are all hand built, manual links on high PR websites with Anchor Text surrounded in LSI. We also vary the types of links we create and vary the anchor text so the links look natural to Google. We never use backlink creation software and have worked with companies like Yahoo Sports, AOL Video, Dr. Scholl’s, Tire Kingdom, The Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, BuyersTap, and many others. Our services can get most websites ranked in as little as two weeks in the SERPS for the keywords that will have an impact on sales and conversions. We understand correct SEO Practices and only provide high quality services using a dedicated off-shore team to keep our prices low so there is plenty of markup you can pass on to your clients. Our website is www.[supergreatservice].com so feel free to check us out and read some case studies about our services, clients, and technology. Thanks

“Bob2”

Both senders had LinkedIn profiles that were highly suspect. The senders belonged to a number of highly susceptible LinkedIn groups involving online marketing, e-commerce, and online sales. They only had a handful of contacts – in fact, Bob2 had no contacts at all. And neither one had any work history to speak of. It was as if someone just opened a LinkedIn account and didn’t take the time to fill in any of the details because they were in a rush to get their email spam out.

There was something else that made me think that, as a sales person, you really need to be cognizant of how you project yourself in your email messages and sales letters, especially if you plan on using Linkedin to connect with your contacts.

Review of LinkedIn Email

Take a look at the email broken out below:

Greetings and salutations [my words, not theirs],

I saw you in one of my groups and noticed you were also in the SEO business.

[He tries to establish the relationship. Starts by stating what he was doing—cruising one of the LinkedIn groups. The personal nature of the first sentence indicates that this is a sales letter, not a generalized marketing piece.]

We do a lot of white label services for SEO companies and provide extensive backlink services.

[Starts with what they do. No mention of how this is going to impact me.]

Our links are all hand built, manual links on high PR websites with Anchor Text surrounded in LSI.

[Starts with their service and how good it is. I’m left to figure out how they are going to help me.]

We also vary the types of links we create and vary the anchor text so the links look natural to Google.

[Starts with their service and the specialized tactics. I’m still left to figure out how they are going to help me.]

We never use backlink creation software and have worked with companies like Yahoo Sports, AOL Video, Dr. Scholl’s, Tire Kingdom, The Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, BuyersTap, and many others.

[Starts with what they do and tries to achieve a level of social proof with specific names. I still don’t know how they will help me.]

Our services can get most websites ranked in as little as two weeks in the SERPS for the keywords that will have an impact on sales and conversions.

[Starts with their service with claims. They aren’t even pretending to want to help me.]

We understand correct SEO Practices and only provide high quality services using a dedicated off-shore team to keep our prices low so there is plenty of markup you can pass on to your clients.

[Starts with them again. But now he tells me how I can benefit. It’s the third time the word “you” is used. He used it twice in trying to establish the relationship.]

Our website is www.[supergreatservice].com so feel free to check us out and read some case studies about our services, clients, and technology.

[OK. Back to the original formula. Starts with them again. Come by and check out how wonderful we are.]

Thanks

Seller’s name

Yeah, every sentence in this introduction message begins with “I”, “Our”, “We”, “Me”, or “My”. These guys spend all of the letter’s capital talking about them, their super great service and how many people they’ve done business with.

Focus Your Email On The Right Subject

Spammers and Scammers will use “smoke and mirrors”, intimidation, flattery, charm, namedropping, and everything else under the sun to grab your attention, keep it focused on them and away from their hands reaching into your pocket.

What they don’t talk about is what they can do for you or me.

And why would they? After they’ve got your money and credit card information, they would prefer to never see you again.

It’s the ultimate transactional sale!

When you are composing your sales letters, remember that your prospects really don’t give a hoot about what you can do, how big you are, or how many people you know. Well, they might, but only after they know that you are interested in helping them, not helping yourself at their expense.

Write your email and your direct mail pieces so that your prospect is the subject of the message, not you, your company, your product or your service.

If you want to give the impression that you are a sales professional and not a Spammer looking for the next transactional sale, let your prospect be the center of attention. Let your email messages and letters reflect a genuine interest in them, their business and their problems.

You just might end up with a better response rate.