Glossary: Social Selling on LinkedIn

Every key term from the course, in plain English. When a lesson says a word you don't know, it lives here.

The Warm-Up Rule

Never pitch cold: engage visibly with a prospect's content for two weeks before any outreach. By the time you message them, your name is familiar — you arrive as a known quantity, not an interruption.

The Credibility Stack

Profile + content + engagement working together to build trust before the first message. Each layer covers what the others cannot — remove one and the trust collapses.

The Conversation Pipeline

Six tracked stages — identified, warming, connected, engaged, call booked, client — reviewed weekly. What gets tracked gets worked; what lives in your head gets forgotten.

Social selling

The practice of using LinkedIn to build relationships, demonstrate expertise, and stay visible — so prospects come to you, or welcome you, when they are ready to buy.

Pitch-slapping

Sending an unsolicited sales pitch to a stranger — usually in a connection note or first DM. The fastest way to get ignored, reported, or blocked.

Dwell time

How long someone spends on a post — the top signal the LinkedIn feed uses to judge content quality. Thoughtful comments that make people pause earn dwell time for everyone involved.

Buying signal

Any observable sign a prospect is likely to need your solution soon: a job change, company growth, engagement with competitor content, or a post about the exact problem you solve.

Nurturing

The work after you publish — or after first contact: replying, engaging back, staying usefully visible over time. Nurturing turns one touch into a relationship.

Connection note

The short message attached to a LinkedIn connection request. The formula: three lines maximum — who you are, why them specifically, no pitch.

Soft CTA

A low-pressure call to action — a question or invitation rather than a demand. 'Worth a 15-minute chat?' outperforms 'Book a demo now' with cold audiences.

Soft bridge

The low-pressure pivot from conversation to call: naming the prospect's problem, suggesting 15 minutes, removing pressure ('no pitch'), and making it easy to decline.

Dark reach

The invisible spread of your content and reputation — profile views, DMs, and opportunities that never show up as likes or comments but drive real business.

Tier A prospect

A prospect showing two or more buying signals. Warm first, work daily — this is your ready-now pipeline.

Follow-up sequence

A planned series of touches after initial outreach — three touches, 48+ hours apart, each adding genuine value. Never just 'bumping this up.'

List hygiene

The monthly practice of pruning your prospect list: removing role-changers, dead companies, and anyone who asked to be left alone. A clean 80 beats a stale 200.