--- title: "LinkedIn Outreach Message Templates for B2B | Ant Assist" description: "Copy-ready LinkedIn outreach message templates for UK B2B: connection requests, follow-ups, replies and re-engagement, with timing and safe-sending rules." url: "https://ant-assist.com/resources/linkedin-outreach-message-templates/" --- RESOURCES · LEAD GENERATION · LINKEDIN TEMPLATES # LinkedIn outreach message templates for B2B sales LinkedIn outreach messages earn replies when they are short, about the other person and ask for nothing big. Keep the pitch out of the connection request. Tools our VAs use for this - Updated 23 October 2026 - 13 min read - By Ant Assist [Calculate your savings](https://ant-assist.com/calculator/) · [Book a free 15-min call](https://ant-assist.com/book/) In short A LinkedIn outreach message gets a reply when it is short, about the other person, and asks for nothing big. Send a brief connection request with a real reason to connect, a first message that offers something useful or asks one easy question, two polite follow-ups, then close the loop. The templates below follow that sequence. If you would rather not send them yourself, a [dedicated outreach VA](https://ant-assist.com/services/lead-generation/linkedin-outreach/) can run our LinkedIn outreach message templates for you, in your voice. On this page Lead Generation Virtual Assistant [Book a free 15-minute discovery call](https://ant-assist.com/book/) On this page [Book a call](https://ant-assist.com/book/) · [Calculate your savings](https://ant-assist.com/calculator/) Lead generation ## What makes a message get a reply ### Dos and don'ts **Do:** - Lead with them: their role, their company, something they posted or said. - Give one specific reason for writing to them and not to everyone. - Keep it to a few short sentences. On a phone, a long message looks like work. - Ask one easy question, or offer one useful thing. - Write as you speak, in plain British English, with their first name. - Personalise the line that matters as well as the name field. **Don't:** - Pitch in the connection request. - Paste a paragraph about your company. - Ask for "15 minutes of your time" before they know who you are. - Use flattery that could apply to anyone ("I was so impressed by your profile"). - Send the same message to several people at the same company. - Follow up the same day, or more than a few times. ### Phrases to avoid Some phrases signal a mass message and get ignored: "I hope this finds you well", "I came across your profile and", "quick question", "just following up", "touching base", "we help companies like yours". None of them is wrong in itself. They are simply what everyone else sends, so the prospect stops reading. Replace each with something only you could write to this person. The rule holds whether you send the messages or [a dedicated lead generation assistant](https://ant-assist.com/services/lead-generation/) does. Part 3 ## Preparing the profile, audience and note ### Profile and audience Every person you contact will look at your profile before replying. Make the headline say who you help and with what, keep the About section short and written to the buyer, and post something useful now and then so your activity is not empty. Then decide exactly who you are writing to: sector, company size, region and the job titles that own the problem you solve. Our [LinkedIn lead generation strategy](https://ant-assist.com/resources/linkedin-lead-generation-strategy/) guide covers both in full. ### Should you add a note? Usually, yes, when you have a genuine reason to connect: a shared event, a shared connection, something they wrote. A good note explains why you, why them, why now. A blank request can work when your profile already makes the reason obvious, for example when you are both active in the same niche, but a note helps the person place you. ### Note length and the free-account limit LinkedIn caps how long a connection note can be and, on a free account, how many personalised notes you can send each month; Premium members are not limited in the same way on personalised notes. LinkedIn's own help pages give the details and have not always agreed with each other, so check the current position on [LinkedIn Help](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a563153) before you plan volume. In practice, write two or three short sentences and you will be well inside the cap. Part 4 ## The message formula The LinkedIn message formula has four parts: a first-name greeting, one line of context, a reason for writing that is about their world, and a sign-off with an easy question or soft close. Every template below follows the same four parts: The four parts behind every template. [All 17 LinkedIn templates: connection requests, first messages, follow-ups, replies and re-engagement](https://ant-assist.com/assets/downloads/linkedin-outreach-templates.docx) (.docx, Word, 39 KB) 1. **Greeting:** their first name. "Hi \[First name\]," is fine in UK B2B. 2. **Context:** how you know of them, in one line. 3. **Reason:** why you are writing, about their world, not your product. 4. **Sign-off:** an easy question or a soft close, and your first name. Fill every \[placeholder\] with something specific. If you cannot think of a real line for \[Context\], this person may not be the right prospect yet. Part 5 ## Connection request templates Use a LinkedIn connection request template that matches the situation: no prior contact, a meeting at an event, a shared connection or group, or a trigger event such as a new role. Replace each \[placeholder\] and read the message aloud before sending. ### No prior contact Hi \[First name\], I work with \[type of business\] in \[region\] on \[problem area\]. I saw your post about \[topic\] and thought it was spot on about \[specific point\]. Would be good to connect. \[Your first name\] ### Met at an event Hi \[First name\], good to see you at \[event name\] on \[day\]. I enjoyed your point about \[topic from their talk or conversation\]. Let's stay in touch here. \[Your first name\] ### Shared connection or group Hi \[First name\], we are both connected to \[mutual connection\] and I see you are in \[group name\] too. I work with \[job titles\] at \[type of business\] on \[problem area\], so thought it made sense to connect. \[Your first name\] ### Trigger event Hi \[First name\], congratulations on \[new role / new site / contract win / funding\]. That usually means \[a challenge it creates\] is on the list. I work on exactly that with \[type of business\], so I would like to connect. \[Your first name\] Part 6 ## First message after acceptance Send your first LinkedIn message a day or so after the person accepts, so it does not look automatic. Keep the pitch out of it. ### The useful offer Thanks for connecting, \[First name\]. We recently put together \[short guide / checklist / benchmark from your own work\] on \[topic relevant to their role\]. Happy to send it over if it would be useful, no strings attached. ### The easy question Thanks for connecting, \[First name\]. Out of interest, how are you handling \[specific task or problem\] at \[Company\] at the moment? I speak to a lot of \[job title\]s in \[sector\] and the answers vary more than you would think. ### The direct ask Thanks for connecting, \[First name\]. I will be straight with you: we help \[type of business\] with \[outcome\], for example \[one-line description of what you do\]. If \[problem\] is on your list this year, would a short call be useful? If not, no problem at all. Part 7 ## Follow-up sequence templates Follow up on LinkedIn with a short sequence: two follow-ups and a closing message after your first message. A short sequence gives a busy person more than one chance to reply, and plenty of silence is busyness. Space the messages out and stop when the sequence ends. The sequence in this guide. A reply at any point moves the contact to the after-a-reply templates. ### Follow-up timing - **Follow-up 1:** a few working days after the first message, if there is no reply. - **Follow-up 2:** about a week after follow-up 1. - **Close the loop:** a week or two after follow-up 2. - **Then stop.**: Log the contact in your CRM and move them to re-engagement. Never follow up on the same day, and never send a follow-up that only says "bumping this up". ### First follow-up Hi \[First name\], I know messages pile up. Picking up my note about \[topic\]: is \[problem\] something you are dealing with at \[Company\], or is it handled? ### Second follow-up Hi \[First name\], one more thought on \[topic\]. \[One short, useful observation, e.g. "Most \[job title\]s I speak to fix this by changing X before they spend on Y."\] If it would help to talk it through, I am around \[day or week\]. ### Closing message Hi \[First name\], I will not keep filling your inbox. If \[problem\] becomes a priority, I would be glad to help, and you know where I am. All the best with \[something specific to them\]. \[Your first name\] A polite close asks for nothing, which makes it easy to answer, and some people reply to it when they ignored the earlier messages. Part 8 ## Reply templates The four kinds of reply and what to send back. ### They are interested Thanks, \[First name\], great to hear. Would \[day\] at \[time\] or \[day\] at \[time\] work for a \[short / 20-minute\] call? If neither suits, here is my diary link: \[booking link\]. I will send a short agenda beforehand. ### They ask for more information Of course. In short: \[two sentences on what you do and the result for a business like theirs\]. \[Link to one relevant page or case example you are allowed to share.\] Would a quick call be easier than going back and forth here? ### Not now Understood, thanks for letting me know. When would be a better time to pick this up, \[month\] or later in the year? I will make a note and come back to you then. ### Not interested Thanks for the honest reply, \[First name\], I appreciate it. I will not chase. Good luck with \[something specific\], and do get in touch if anything changes. Every reply, including a "no", goes into your CRM with the date and the next step, so nobody contacts that person again by mistake. Our guide on [how to qualify leads](https://ant-assist.com/resources/how-to-qualify-leads/) shows what to ask before booking a call. Let someone send them Your templates, sent and followed up for you A dedicated lead generation VA adapts each template to the prospect, runs the follow-up sequence and logs every conversation in your CRM. [See LinkedIn outreach](https://ant-assist.com/services/lead-generation/linkedin-outreach/) · [See your savings](https://ant-assist.com/calculator/) Part 9 ## Re-engagement templates Use these LinkedIn re-engagement templates for contacts who accepted but went quiet, or said "not now" a few months ago. ### Something has changed Hi \[First name\], it has been a while since we spoke about \[topic\]. Since then \[new development: a change in the sector, a new service, a result you have seen\]. Is \[problem\] any more of a priority at \[Company\] now? ### They said "come back later" Hi \[First name\], you mentioned \[month\] might be a better time to talk about \[topic\], so I am coming back as promised. Is this still on your list, or has it moved? ### Content-led Hi \[First name\], I saw your post on \[topic\] and it reminded me of our conversation about \[earlier topic\]. \[One line responding to their post.\] Happy to compare notes if useful. Part 10 ## Templates for the person who sends them In many UK businesses an assistant or an SDR sends the messages on the owner's behalf. That works well if three things are agreed in advance. - **Whose voice.**: Messages sent from your profile must sound like you. Give the sender your templates, a list of phrases you would never use and examples of your own messages. - **What they can say.**: Agree what the sender can share (prices, case examples, availability) and what goes straight to you. - **Where it is logged.**: Every request, message and reply goes into your CRM against the contact and the company, with the next action and date, so you can see the whole pipeline in one place. For how lead data is protected along the way, see our FAQ on [how lead data is kept secure](https://ant-assist.com/faqs/how-is-lead-data-kept-secure/) . Costs ## Realistic acceptance and reply rates We found no independent benchmark for LinkedIn acceptance and reply rates; the published figures come from outreach tool vendors' own data. Rates also vary with your market, your profile and how well you target. A more reliable approach is to measure your own: - **Acceptance rate:** requests accepted divided by requests sent. - **Reply rate:** replies divided by first messages sent. - **Positive reply rate:** interested replies divided by first messages sent. - **Meetings booked** from LinkedIn per week. Run the same templates for a few weeks, then change one thing at a time (the note, the first message, the audience) and compare. Your own baseline beats anyone's average. Lead generation ## Automation and account safety ### Personalising at scale Templates save time; they are not meant to be sent unchanged. The safe middle ground is a fixed structure with one or two lines written for each person. AI writing tools can draft those lines, but a person should read every message before it goes, because one wrong detail undoes the personal effect. ### Limits and restrictions LinkedIn limits how many invitations you can send and how many can sit unanswered, and it does not publish a fixed weekly number; figures quoted elsewhere are unofficial. If you reach the limit, LinkedIn can restrict invitations for a period that, according to its [help page on invitation limits](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a550555), cannot be shortened. Automation tools act through your own account, so any restriction lands on you. Send to good-fit people, personalise, withdraw stale requests, and keep the pace steady. Lead generation ## Outsourcing message sending and follow-ups If the templates make sense but the hours do not, a [dedicated lead generation VA](https://ant-assist.com/services/lead-generation/) from Ant Assist can send them for you: researching prospects, adapting each message, running the follow-up sequence, logging every conversation in your CRM and booking meetings into your diary. The VA is one named person, never shared, working full time from our managed office in Cairo on UK hours, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, supervised there and not a freelancer or AI. Rates start at £5 per hour on the introductory rate; put your own hours into the [calculator](https://ant-assist.com/calculator/) to see the monthly cost. Our guide on [how to hire a VA for lead generation](https://ant-assist.com/resources/how-to-hire-a-va-for-lead-generation/) explains how to brief one. For the full breakdown of spend, see [LinkedIn lead generation cost in the UK](https://ant-assist.com/resources/linkedin-lead-generation-cost/). Rated 5.0 on Google. · Trusted by our clients FAQ ## Questions about LinkedIn messages ### Should you pitch in a connection request? No. The request has one job, which is to get accepted, and a pitch makes that less likely. Give a real reason to connect and save the offer for a later message, once there is some context. ### What is the difference between Message and Connect on LinkedIn? Connect sends an invitation to join your network, with an optional note. Message sends a direct message, which you can do freely with existing connections; messaging someone you are not connected to usually needs InMail, which comes with paid plans. ### How do you do outreach on LinkedIn without sounding salesy? Write about their situation, leave your product out of the first message, and ask a question you genuinely want answered. Keep it short, use their first name and one specific detail, and leave any offer until they have replied. ### Can AI write my LinkedIn outreach messages? It can draft them, and it is useful for adapting a template to each person. Read and edit every message before it goes: a wrong name, an invented detail or a tone that is not yours undoes the personal effect the message depends on. ### How do you track LinkedIn outreach? Log every request, message and reply in your CRM against the contact and company, with the date and the next step. A simple pipeline of requested, connected, replied, meeting booked and closed lets you see where the sequence is working and where it stalls. ### What is LinkedIn outreach? LinkedIn outreach is contacting people on LinkedIn who match your ideal customer, usually with a connection request followed by a short sequence of messages, to start a sales conversation. Done well, it reads as one professional writing to another. Didn't find your answer? Browse [more common questions](https://ant-assist.com/help/) in the Help Center. Get Started Your messages, sent every day. One dedicated outreach VA, from £5 per hour. Book a free 15-minute call. [Book a free 15-min call](https://ant-assist.com/book/) · [Calculate your savings](https://ant-assist.com/calculator/) Discovery call · Role brief · VA matched · Onboarded into your tools