LinkedIn or email first

Go where the buyer already is. If they're active on LinkedIn, start there. If they're quiet there, email first.

The channel matters less than the message. But picking the wrong one can bury a good message where nobody reads it.

Read the buyer, not the playbook

Some sellers default to email for everyone. Others swear by LinkedIn. Both are wrong half the time.

Look at the person. Have they posted in the last few weeks? Do they comment on other people's posts? Is their profile current? A buyer who's active on LinkedIn reads their messages there, and a note that refers to something they posted feels natural.

A buyer whose profile hasn't changed in years and who never posts is probably not reading LinkedIn messages either. Email is the better bet.

And some buyers are visible in other ways. They speak at events, they're quoted in industry press, they show up in filings. Those are research sources, not channels. Use them for the hook and pick the channel separately.

Let the hook pick the channel

Where you found your research hook can tell you where to send.

If the hook is their own post, LinkedIn is the right place. Replying in the same place they shared the thought keeps it a conversation.

If the hook comes from the public record, like a 10-K, an earnings release, an RFP or a job post, email often fits better. It reads more like a business note, and it's easier to forward inside the company.

If the hook is a new seat, either works. New leaders tend to be more active on LinkedIn in their first months, accepting connections and posting about the new role.

Using both without being annoying

You'll often use both channels with the same person. The order matters, and so does the spacing.

A clean pattern is a short connection request first, with one specific reason and no ask. The craft is in LinkedIn connection notes that get accepted. If they accept, send the Hypothesis Opening there a few days later. If they don't accept in a week or so, send it by email.

Don't send the same message on both channels the same day. That reads like a sequence. It is one.

Say a CFO at a specialty retailer is quiet on LinkedIn, and the latest earnings release mentions a plan to close underperforming stores and cut overhead. That hook is from the public record, and the buyer isn't active on LinkedIn. Email first.

The earnings release says you're closing underperforming stores and taking out overhead this year. Store closures tend to leave finance rebuilding reporting and lease accounting on the fly, alongside the cost program itself. My guess is the close process is getting longer right when the board wants numbers faster. Is that accurate, or is the bigger issue something else?

If there's no reply after a week or two, a connection request on LinkedIn with a single line about the same topic is a gentle second touch.

Where warm fits

Before either channel, check for a warm path. Someone you know who knows the buyer can forward a short note, and that beats both LinkedIn and email.

The warm intro usually comes by email, since connectors forward. So write your forwardable note as an email from the start. If the intro doesn't happen in a week or two, go direct on whichever channel fits the buyer.

The short rule

Active on LinkedIn and the hook is social? LinkedIn first.

Quiet on LinkedIn or the hook is public record? Email first.

Warm path available? Neither. Ask for the intro.

And whichever channel you pick, the message has to earn the reply on its own. A strong hypothesis gets answered anywhere. A weak one gets ignored everywhere. The method is the same in both places.