The "connect and pitch" act on linked in continues to take a toll on people's credibility and personal brands. Here are ways to hurt the network knowingly and unknowingly.

2. Hurting the Network: “Connect and Pitch” Tactic on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a platform for connecting with new people, building relationships, exchanging value, learning, and
growing together. Sales and business can also be a byproduct of these relationships, but things get toxic when
only pitching becomes the primary intent.
Introduction
inkedIn, when used professionally and
appropriately is an outstanding medium to
create, exchange and amplify value. The
deeper your network, more the value potential but
one must use the network effect and social capital
effectively and judiciously. Given the advent of
smart spam filters, AI based mail filtering etc., it has
become harder for email driven sales reps and
most people do not answer calls from numbers they
do not recognize. This has created an aggressive
new push towards pitching on LinkedIn.
“Connect and Pitch” Drivers
In recent times, we have an increase in the
“connect and pitch” tactic (COVID-19 is one driver)
– these pitches have disengaged many genuine and
interesting people from connecting with new
people.
The “connect and pitch” artists are doing this in the
name of social selling and many of these people
would have had at least one interest through their
outreach. The act itself conveys lack of
understanding around social selling which really
means connecting and building relationships rather
than hard selling. People forget that the cost of that
one success comes at a cost of alienating
thousands of people, tarnishing their own and the
company’s brand on social media.
Now, do not get me wrong - I am one of the biggest
fans on LinkedIn. Personally, I am someone who
has embraced and harnessed the platform and
have driven over $10m in sales over several years
owing to strength, breadth and depth of
relationships built on this platform and this is why I
personally loath the connect and pitch style.
Perception vs Reality
Contrary to their own belief, here is how perception
and reality works on people:
▪ It is the robocall equivalent on social media
and most people get put off by spam
▪ An intent signaling a genuine interest but an
action with a straight pitch is immediate
breach of trust
▪ An unsolicited and untargeted pitch
indicates lack of understanding around the
evolution of sales as a discipline
▪ A “connect and pitch” approach makes the
product or service look like a commodity
otherwise lacking traction
▪ Without genuine intent to connect, know and
understand the needs of an individual, the
whole interaction is shallow and will not
yield results
▪ LinkedIn has built a brand, reputation, scale
and promise on being a stellar platform to
connect professionals and exchange value.
When people deviate from this intent with
the “connect and pitch” act, it comes across
as a violation
▪ If you cannot provide value, there is limited
value in a shallow pitch
It also puts people with genuine intent to connect
and build a relationships at a disadvantage due to
the behavior of certain groups of people. It might be
tempting to use your access to a new connection
immediately to start a sales pitch, it will ruin
authenticity, credibility, and outcomes. Genuine
people are on LinkedIn for its brand, unique ability
to bring people together who could help us
exchange value and those who we can help learn
and grow.
The messages in your inbox are also more intrusive
(and time consuming) than banners, pop-ups, ads,
bots and other distracting methods of online selling
and attention seeking. There are other ways of
engaging your network through thought leadership,
content sharing, engagement in groups and virtual
events – these methods are less intrusive, more
engaging, provide value and demonstrate your
expertise with a higher likelihood of converting
sales.
Analyzing Personalities
Let us look at the seven distinct types of
manipulative and dishonest approaches, analyze
them and explore strategies for avoiding them and
minimizing intrusion in our social media lives.
L
I am one of the biggest fans of LinkedIn
having built many lifelong relationships and
driven over $10m in revenue over several
years without the “connect and pitch” act

3. Figure 1 is an attempt at plotting these personalities
and their approaches. One can also extrapolate the
likely effectiveness of these techniques based on
your own experiences too. The lower end of the
either axis is also very low on sales effectiveness as
much as the upper end of each axis.
Conning Connie
Connie wants to con you with a message on
genuine intent to connect i.e., help each other in
true LinkedIn fashion, then get you on a call and
unload the sales pitch.
Offer Oscar
Oscar’s bait is to show you something too good to
be true, see if you bite and then switch to show their
true colors when the time arrives. The typical
scenario is for them to get to you a discussion and
then unleash several people from their company on
you.
Luring Laila
Laila uses the deceptive and stale technique using
the question e.g., take a survey, wanting more
customers, mode leads, solving challenges in a way
that does not insult your intelligence or capability
but ultimate goal is to first deceive you to a meeting
and then pitch.
Concerned Charles
Charles reaches out without knowing you or your
business with a messaging expressing concern on
your pain, distractions, ability to manage, having
access to resources or your lack of
inability/intelligence to solve a problem that you
may or may not have. There is no intent to build a
relationship or provide value, the goal is to get you
on a call and hard sell.
Figure 1: Impact grid
Desperate David
David is so desperate and quick that the pitch is
mentioned in the invite itself. They are trying to find
people who are absolute suckers and people who
will buy in the first five minutes of contact. At times,
they even mention “don’t sweat the invite, if you
don’t intend to buy”.
Lame Louis
Louis has no clue what you want, has no idea of
what he is selling either. Connect with as many
people and throw the same message. They do not
even do the mass mailing with sincerity!
Soldier Simon
Simon represents those people who are just acting
on boss’s orders from above. Mostly, they have no
vision and are just public devotees of their bosses.
They do handle themselves professionally and back
off when they see a dead end.
Conclusion
ocial capital is new currency of business and one should not expend it without good reason, be honest,
build genuine relationships, authentic connections and business will follow. There are no short cuts to
sales without risking your personal brand.
Here is something for LinkedIn to evaluate about their future strategy on where they want to be i.e., become a
brand associated with spammers or a platform to build, nurture and promote genuine relationships. Perhaps
time for a new social platform to emerge and become the glue of a truly value exchanging global network. The
near future will tell!
S
It is not the primary intent of professionals to
join LinkedIn to get pitched something, nor do
they expect people to pitch something as soon
as the connection is established

4. About the Author:
Nitin Kumar is a two-decade veteran in the Hi-Tech industry. He is currently the CEO of
Appnomic but played a variety of hands on executive roles ranging from CEO, Chief Growth
Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, M&A Integration/Separation Leader, BU Head and
Management Consulting Partner (corporate and PE portfolio companies). He is considered a
business builder, thought leader and pioneer of many innovative approaches. During his
operating and consulting roles, he has used social media in an extensive manner to drive more
than $10m in sales revenue. He and was named as one of the “Movers and Shakers” in 2018/19.
Nitin was also named in the “Silicon Valley’s Magnificent Four” for being one of the most
connected executives in the TMT (Technology, Media, and Telecom) sector.