Bad Emails

In LinkedIn outreach and email prospecting, I see three mistakes all the time; in fact, I’ll identify areas for improvement based on several messages I received in the last week...

• Be sure that you come across as genuine. If you try to sound too familiar when personalizing your message, it can seem disingenuous. Platitudes such as “I hope you and your family are well” if you don't know them personally or “I really admire that you've been a business owner for 15 years!” are over the top. I appreciate the attempt to make the connection but make sure when customizing your message that it’s appropriate and sincere.

• Avoid making assumptions. The messages I get daily are often super assumptive about the way someone can help me: they’re sure that they can assist me, they have a proven strategy to help me, they know they can help me, and so on. Be careful about being too presumptuous—the prospect won't believe you and you’ll scare them away.

• Don’t get too excited. If you’re overzealous in your initial communication with someone you don’t know, you’re very likely to scare them away. Minimize your use of exclamation points and anything wording like “I am excited to connect with you!”

In your prospecting emails, it’s important to be personable, confident, and interested, but it’s easy to go overboard. Edit yourself as needed, stick to your process, and the rest will follow.

Onward.

Tom