But, I still have a couple of other ways to navigate, so I’ll try those.

Just wanted to keep you in the loop.

The note declining my request, written by linkedin, states that the user “doesn’t know you well enough to represent your interests when forwarding requests or facilitating contacts”.

That seems silly. I don’t need a representative or an introduction when I can make contact myself. If linkedin is instructing users not to accept connections from people they don’t already know, it’s not facilitating much is it?

Thanks for chiming in – no worries, I wasn’t that irritated or I would have posted the entire email with names and addresses – just kidding.

I see your point too, let’s just see if we can get moved up in the queue with some help from my readers – in my mind this might turn into a nice little experiment.

Apparently the ‘too busy’ answer is all too common at LinkedIn. I’ve tried to work with them to purchase premium LinkedIn memberships for PeerSight’s members and they’ve employed some classic sales techniques… like the ‘Templated Response’ and the ever so effective ‘Things are really crazy right now’.

I think the product’s got some real benefit especially if you work at it but the company behind the product has been less than responsive.

I’ve got Reid pretty close in my network, but I think you’d have better luck starting the conversation with Konstantin Guericke, the original VP of Marketing and a co-founder of LinkedIn.

Downside? Checking his profile, he appears to be serving the role of “adviser” to LinkedIn, now.

Upside? He regularly participates in conversations about LinkedIn on email discussion groups and the like.

I’m game for that – do you want to make the introduction with Konstantine?