This is a guest post by Joshua Baron, a lawyer in private practice in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Messaging is the best and most underutilized tool on LinkedIn.

I used to reject connection requests if I didn’t know the person.

Then COVID happened and I had to stop going to lunch with other lawyers. Other lawyers give me 90% of my referrals.

I started accepting those random connection requests. But instead of just clicking “accept,” I strike up a conversation and try to get to know the person.

I ask them about the cool experiences on their resume or the projects they’re working on or their goals for the year.

Nothing is better than face-to-face. But I find that the more conversations I have, the more people I know. And the more people I help, the better my business does.

So try using messenger. Not to send an automated sales pitch. But to start a conversation. You’ll enjoy LinkedIn more and you’ll actually have more meaningful connections.