The message that hit my inbox a few weeks ago certainly piqued my interest. The subject line referenced the name of a person I hadn’t really thought about for years – someone I’d connected with during my days writing for a daily, local newspaper. The subject line was simple: “[Person X] said it best…”

So, I opened the email to find out why a random stranger was talking about someone I used to know. The email was mostly standard boilerplate from a salesperson trying to sell me a service I didn’t need (and didn’t even have the authority to approve if I’d wanted it). The difference was that the sender had copied a glowing recommendation someone had left on my LinkedIn profile seven years ago – and compared it to the level of service their company could provide me.

I get what this sales rep was trying to do: Forge a personal connection, with a dash of flattery for good measure. But even though the attention-grabbing subject line got me to open the email, the whole thing left me feeling irritated and even less receptive to the sales pitch that followed.

This wasn’t the only time I’ve received a tone-deaf pitch from a random marketer. In fact, it’s a pretty regular occurrence for me to get messages where someone I’ve never heard of gushes about how profound, world-changing and insightful one of my articles was … before launching into a spiel that proves almost definitively that they’ve never actually read anything I’ve written, nor do they have any idea what promotional products are.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m certainly not immune to flattery, but these attempts to get on my good side are pretty lazy.

LinkedIn, when used correctly, is a powerful tool for networking, recruiting, marketing and sales. According to stats from LinkedIn itself, 79% of business-to-business marketers see the social media site as a very good source of leads, and 43% have sourced at least one customer from LinkedIn. And, in general, buyers are ready to have sales conversations on social media: 62% of B2B customers respond to salespeople who connect by sharing content and insights that are relevant to them.

If you look up advice with how to network on LinkedIn, there are dozens of articles with tips on how to make personalized connection requests. There are templates to help you create custom InMail messages, and there are message-automation tools that let you reach out to a batch of prospects with the same message, but key personal details changed. There are even sites selling artificial-intelligence writing services for people who are trying to make that all-important human connection via LinkedIn. Yep, they’re trying to sound personal and personable with the help of a robot.

I’m not necessarily opposed to using templates and automation to save time, or even AI to help finesse your writing, but it sometimes seems like professionals are missing a crucial step in the process. Before you reach out to a prospect – whether it’s by phone, email, LinkedIn or another social network – do your research to make sure you understand who you’re reaching out to and what they do.

Consider these four rules the next time you’re cold-emailing a prospect on LinkedIn or elsewhere.

1. Do your homework. Create a buyer persona, and then do some research on a prospect to make sure they match up. Look into the company you’re targeting and take some time to find the people who are the actual decision-makers, rather than just taking a wild guess. Read through your prospect’s social media posts and find areas of commonality.

2. Personalize your messages (but don’t be creepy and tone-deaf). Go beyond simply using the prospect’s name and referencing their workplace. If you’ve met the prospect in person or at a virtual event, mention that. If their public posting history shows you have a shared interest in something, that could be a way in. Flattery can definitely work as well, but if it’s over the top and obviously false, it will be counterproductive.

3. Be genuine and offer value. Show them you actually care about their needs and pain points. Before you jump straight to a sales pitch, share a piece of content, free sales tool or something else that might be useful.

4. Know when to quit. If the prospect doesn’t respond after a couple of attempts to connect, it’s probably time to move on. I’ve had marketers send me the same email three or four times “just to make sure I’ve seen it.” Trust me, I’ve seen it. I’m not going to answer. Take a hint; there are ways to re-engage with past prospects, but that’s not it.

When it comes to messaging someone on LinkedIn or elsewhere online, I think the key is to consider how the message you just wrote would sound if you were greeting someone at an in-person networking event. Would it spark a conversation and potentially launch a friendship or a mutually beneficial business relationship? Or would it have your prospect making a beeline to the bar, stuffing their face with hors d’oeuvres or ducking behind a potted plant to get out of the conversation?