Linkedin is for business connections with other business or people with who/whom you might later build a meaningful or profitable business relationship, NOT a social media type relationship.

So you need to get straight to the point politely and say immediately what your business does, what you hope to receive back and how the two of you [business or personal] could build a mutually beneficial relationship.

Me: Hello (her name)! I found your name in (the name of a course) group.

I Run/do/own/organise whatever. (it must be something you think would benefit them/her/he)

I would like to introduce you to [whatever the services you can offer)

I am available (state the times or when you are at the office etc)

Please feel free to contact me at anytime, to answer any questions.

Looking forward to working with you/ hearing from you / your reply

Regards [YOUR NAME]

[YOUR POSITION IN THE] organisation or whatever it is.

She: Hey it's nice to hear from you.

Me: Hello Good morning (her name) [use hi later if she initiates using hi or that type of business relationship later develops]

Me: Thank you for getting back to me.

( in here you have to start chit chat or begin informal business chat at this early stage)

She: How are you?

Me: Very good, thank you! How are you? Do you like (the course we both do now)?

She: Yes, I do

How can I help you?

Me: (state exactly what you want)

Be careful not to mistype fell like I did initially, that is to do with sewing. not feelings or emotions.

Aud: It’s not about stopping the conversation — it’s about starting the real conversation. Why did you send her a connection request? That’s what you need to say, ASAP. For example: “I noticed X, Y, and Z on your profile. As I’ve been involved in X since 2001, and have recently taken an interest in Y and Z, I was thinking we might share our impressions* from time to time. Feel free to contact me whenever you'd like.” Or something like, “I really liked your comment on X. The way you said Y was very interesting. Anyhow, I’ve been working on X lately myself, so maybe we can share impressions from time to time."

*Aud, note that instead of “share impressions”, you would state what it is you would like. 

I’d say you’re absolutely correct; she’d like to stop the small talk and find out why you’ve contacted her. Americans like it when you get to the point, and if you don’t, they’re going to wonder what you’re up to. As soon as she responded positively, it would have been a good idea for you to tell her what you were interested in. Otherwise, it’s just to easy to imagine that a stranger is a scammer, or a perv, or who knows what. At this point, it's a good guess that she thinks you want something from her, or that she’s the one in a position to help you.

She is wondering what are you looking for. The question is what is the pourpose of this chat, this is LinkedIn it must be an specific interest to be engaged. Be more clear in your communication.

If someone asks how can they help you, it is usually a genuine question. So a response may be

person 1 : How can I help you?

you: I would like to ask you some questions about the course. What did you think of .......

if they did not want to talk with you further they would just end the reply with something like ....

Good luck on the course.

if an English speaker asks a question, they are inviting a reply.

With LinkedIn, people often just want to build up connections. Asking questions is fine if they are work related. Once they have replied, you would reply if you have another question. If you don’t then a simple thanks will end the conversation.

Richard