Many businesses, especially here in Southeast Asia, are burning through valuable LinkedIn leads by using the same old cold outreach playbooks. Heads of Departments, senior managers and other middle management layers are completely exhausted from opening their inboxes to find generic sales pitches and uninvited requests for discovery calls. When you show up with the same transactional approach, your brand instantly gets grouped with the noise, making it incredibly difficult to build a real relationship.
Here’s how to fix it.
Change the power dynamic entirely by leading with value instead of a pitch. Instead of asking for their time to sell them something, invite them to share their expertise and journey with your audience. Build content around it. Think of it as a professional, human-focused feature, giving them a platform to be recognised as thought leaders. Then, publish it on the ‘magazine’ within your website.
You see, by making them look good first, you completely remove the typical defences people have against cold messages. Once they are featured and part of your ecosystem, a deep layer of trust is naturally established, making any future business conversation a smooth and logical next step. People with positions hate being sold to, but they love being recognised for their expertise. If your outreach strategy is entirely focused on what you can take rather than what you can give, you are closing doors before they even open. Reverse the dynamic, highlight their story first, and let the partnership grow from a foundation of mutual respect.
