Your network is only as good as it is big and targeted toward your prospects.
A. Finding Your People
Many people advise against connecting with people you don’t know. But how do you define the people you do know? After all, a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet.
1. Go to the search bar and type in the name of the prospect with whom you wish to connect. Sometimes there may be more than one person with the same name.
2. You can improve your search by then typing the name of the prospect's company. The more you type into the search bar, the better job LinkedIn will do at helping you find that specific person.
3. Every once in a while, you may be looking for someone with a very common name. In this case, you should type their name into the search bar. Then, at the bottom of the search, click "See all results."
You may be overwhelmed by the number of pictures you have to scroll through to find the right person. Don't worry--you can use the filter keys at the top of the page to filter out the results.
4. One thing to take note of is that LinkedIn doesn't want you doing millions of searches inside of the platform. They want to sell that to you with a product called LinkedIn Navigator. Because of this, they limit the number of searches and filters you can do inside of LinkedIn.
Don't worry about this--all this means is that you may have to wait until tomorrow to do some more free searches.
B. How to Connect
1. Once you've found your prospect, click on "View Profile."
2. Firstly, check out "People also viewed." You can often find people who work with or for your prospect. Additionally, you can find people with similar titles in the same industry.
3. If you're still not sure whether you want to connect with the person, you can click on the "More" button, then "Follow."
This enables you to see all the content the person posts online. Additionally, the person will be notified that you are now following them.
4. Even if you just look at the person's profile, LinkedIn will notify them--unless you've changed this in your privacy settings. Just by looking at somebody, they will know that you are interested in connecting.
5. Once you are ready to connect, you will have the option to "Add a note." Leaving a note greatly increases the chances that the prospect will connect with you.
Don't just leave any note--leave a note that will help them understand why they should connect with you. Explain your commonalities. No sales pitches are necessary when leaving a note like this.
C. How to Withdraw Requests to Connect
LinkedIn doesn't like it if you have many outstanding connections that people have not responded to.
1. If you want to, you can withdraw your request to connect by first going to "My Network" at the top of your LinkedIn toolbar.
2. Next, click on "Manage."
3. In "Manage Invitations," select "Sent."
4. You will now have the option to "Withdraw" pending invitations.
If people aren't connecting with you over time, think about what you might be doing wrong with your strategy, and withdraw those connections.