Here's a really simple but subtle tip.

I'm sure you've read tons of advice about your Linkedin profile. Most of it solid and sensible:

• Have a decent profile image
• Make sure your headline isn't just your job title but instead tells people what they'd get from working with you (perhaps the problems you solve or the benefits they'd get)
• Make sure your profile summary expands on that so they can see the value of working with you, backed up with proof, and followed by a call to action to connect or visit your website or call you.

But you have to be careful with that advice.

You see, how we use Linkedin has morphed over the years.

Most of the advice on profiles hasn't changed from back in the days when we thought the main way to get business on Linkedin was to be found in searches by people looking for someone who does the sort of work you do.

In fact, you'll still see people stuffing a bunch of keywords into their headline and profile in the hope there are people out there searching for people just like them ready to hire them.

I don't know about you but if I want to hire someone I don't start by searching for someone I don't know on Linkedin. I start with people I know.

And although it used to happen, I can't remember the last time someone contacted me to work with me after finding me on a Linkedin search. But I regularly get people contacting me after reading posts I've made on Linkedin.

So these days the most powerful use of Linkedin is to build credibility and trust with potential clients by using it as a publishing platform and as a follow-up messaging platform.

And both of those methods require you to be connected to your potential clients.

That means the most important use of your profile is not to “optimise” your profile for search and then persuade people to contact you or go to your website; it's to persuade someone who you've sent a connection request to to accept it.

If they don't connect they don't see your content. They don't get all that value you put out to build credibility and trust.

If they don't connect you can't message them to begin nurturing conversations or follow up on them.

So it all begins with them accepting that connection request.

And I should correct myself here. The goal really isn't to “persuade” them to accept your connection request. It's to avoid them rejecting it.

I've been doing research recently on what makes people accept or reject connection requests and the overwhelming finding is that people filter out rather than filter in.

In other words, they primarily look for red flags that give them a reason to reject your connection request rather than searching for positive reasons to connect with you.

Some people only connect with a few people. But most people are fairly open and are happy to connect with a wider group of people – as long as they don't see red flags.

What's a red flag?

Overwhelmingly it's when it looks like you might start aggressively selling to them if they connect with you.

Sometimes that's down to what you do and can't be avoided. Don't get me started on the number of “high ticket closers” I get asking to connect with me – and I just know their first message is going to be about how they can help me close loads more sales blah blah blah.

But very often the problem is the way you've written your profile.

If you've written your profile thinking that people looking to hire you from cold will find it via search then there's a good chance it will try to grab them, tell them about all the amazing benefits they'll get from working with you, and push them into calling you or going to your website.

And there's a good chance it will come across as a bit too salesy because of that.

Not for everyone. But for someone who could be a great client but who's not currently looking (exactly the sort of person you want to build a relationship with based on giving value first) it can give the impression that you might try to pitch them if they connect with you.

It's one of the most common red flags that people use to reject your connection request.

For example, my headline used to say something along the lines of “I help consultants and coaches get more clients without the pain and expense of traditional marketing”.

That's pretty decent in the sense that if a consultant or coach on the lookout for help to get clients stumbled across it they might check me out.

But the reality is that that tiny sliver of people aren't going to stumble across it.

Instead, most people who don't know me will see it when I send them a connection request. And to people who don't know me, that headline says “I am going to try to sell you my services to win clients”.

Even though in reality I won't. My approach is to thank them for connecting, to publish valuable content, and to wait for them to contact me when they're ready or when a post triggers their interest.

So these days I use the headline “Creator of the Value-Based Marketing Blueprint. Owner of dodgy beard. Grower of exotic chillies.”

The first sentence hints that I might have something interesting for them if they're interested in winning more clients – but doesn't ram it down their throats. The next two sentences add a bit of humour.

Most importantly, it hasn't got the red flags that would make them reject my connection request.

Because people aren't going to hire me based on reading my headline and profile. They're going to hire me based on the value they get from me after we connect.

It's a subtle difference, to be sure.

You still need your profile to say what value people get from you.

But you want to tone down the sales side.

Your goal isn't to get them to take action to hire you straight away. It's simply for them not to reject your connection request.

Once you're connected then the value you give on an ongoing basis comes into play and over time they'll come to see you as the person they want to work with.

But only if they connect.