The more literal and descriptive your LinkedIn headline is, the lower connect acceptance rate you will get… because you’re less interesting. 12 months of data proves it.
Hu? What? As usual, what "sounds good" and makes "perfect sense" is RARELY the best strategy.
“Watch what everyone else does – do the opposite. The majority is always wrong," said Earl Nightingale many moons ago.
Especially in sales and marketing, y'all.
Don't be a dummy
Let's pretend. You’re on LinkedIn, scanning connection requests. You are reading people’s professional headlines.
Full stop.
How do you feel -- when you read requests from people with 'I help small businesses 10x their leads' or 'Transform your marketing challenges into business success’?
I feel like they want sex on the first date. Their #1 priority is SELLING.
And they're dumb enough to communicate this in the headline.
Sorry, not sorry.
Want to blend in with the sea of sellers -- who customers are trying to avoid? Communicate what you sell, to who and what’s in it for them -- right in your LinkedIn headline.
Scream at the top of your lungs, “Connect with me and watch me start SELLING.”
Because that’s what your customers are used to.
Connecting and immediately being pitched.
Or you can watch what everyone else does -- and do the opposite. Because the majority is always wrong.
Case in point: Your LinkedIn headline.
Attract, don't tell
Formatting your LinkedIn headline like most sellers do is the kiss of death. It took me YEARS to figure this out -- and change it.
Being clear about who you serve, how, etc. etc. (what you sell) is the WRONG move. But don't listen to me. Do what CEO Jonny Staker did. Experiment for yourself.
A year ago, Jonny told me while everyone he compete with zigs, he should zag. Less is more. By not peddling anything -- and instead -- letting people wonder who and why he wants to connect seems smarter, more captivating and intriguing.
Jonny Staker
Jonny said, “I wager I can stand out by NOT having a bullshit (obvious, follow-the-herd) headline."
Fast forward to today.
“The more literal and descriptive you are about what you do in your LinkedIn title, the lower connect acceptance rate you will get… because you’re less interesting," he says.
Jonny A/B tested this theory for the last 12 months. He says, “The level of engagement, connection rate AND qualified leads drops precisely in proportion to how descriptive I am about what I do.”
This is exactly my experience -- after changing my LinkedIn headline.
A simple way to stand out
Jonny takes the words right out of my mouth when he says, “This is because all we are used to seeing on every connection request that pops up is 'I help' 'we drive' 'transformative' etc. So when you DO NOT do that, you stand out.”
And not only stand out -- by not looking like a seller. You attract. You create curiosity about yourself.
But there's more. When we say, “I help X people with Y problems” or “I help A people achieve B goal” we appear low status to customers.
Eric Berne spent a big chunk of his career studying why people behave this way -- why when we say, “I’m here to help” people consistently hear “I’m here to sell.”
Berne called his work Transactional Analysis.
Want to put Transactional Analysis to work for you when performing outreach? Leave a comment and I'll line you up. For now, know this: People are pushed away when they see our 'I help' words.
Because they are conditioned to understand -- we’re trying to persuade them.
We’re trying to look powerful.
Jonny puts it perfectly.
“To be powerful, we must act like an important person acts. Important people don’t sing their own praises and offer their value proposition CV style. We need to communicate the opposite of what everyone else is doing.”
Be ambivalent, confident
Here’s another way of looking at it. With a good, strong, LinkedIn headline, you transfer confidence and provoke curiosity. Your headline doesn't need to be catchy.
It needs to express confidence -- by being a little ambivalent. That stands out.
Ambivalence is the experience of having an attitude towards someone or something that contains both positively and negatively toned components.
In other words, ya gotta want it -- BUT not care so much.
Don’t try so hard. AVOID asking for sex on the first date -- by being indirect about it.
Don’t be clear. Be UN-clear.
Tony Hughes says, "You must radiate confidence that you don't NEED the business. You must educate in a detached fashion before you persuade.”
Early on, Tony says, we should "entice, wait, entice again, tease and wait… until the other person is screaming for it!"
Like a good lover. Consider: The more interest you show in prospects the more repulsed they become.
Tony Hughes
The more you show active interest the less interesting you become.
Just like dating. Just like courtship.
I changed my LinkedIn headline and instantly got more connection requests accepted. I got more good connection requests coming at me -- that I probably would not have received before.
By good I mean I've got a shot at selling to them!
Plus, people frequently say the reason they ask to connect is my headline. It pulls.
While everyone else's headline of "I'm here to serve X person with Y product/service" pushes. It blends in AND screams, "I'm a marketer!" Connect with me and get ready for me to pitch yer ass!"
Oh -- and marketing services entrepreneur, Feras Khalbuss forced me to consider context. No surprise because this gets back to how he and I originally met -- and how he saw curiosity as a blind spot across multiple business facets.
I'm concluding -- the LinkedIn headline should be crafted with four elements in mind. Comment below or email me and I'll share.
Otherwise, how would you rate your ability -- to get people curious -- by projecting confidence?
Let me know in comments below. Cheers!
Let me know, the four elements to create a very good subject line.
Emailing to you now, Aryan.