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Am I too thick or too smart?

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Either I’m too thick to see it…

…or I’m too smart to fall for it.

Either way, I can’t believe people still engage in this kind of duplicitous crap and expect to get a response.

Like a previous a message that landed in my LinkedIn inbox.

It’s an idiots guide on how NOT to win friends and influence people.

It went something like this:

“Hi there, I hope you’re well and enjoying the summer?

The last couple of years have seen significant change for me, so I wanted to share an infrequent update with my LinkedIn community.

If you don’t recall when we connected and this just isn’t relevant, please feel free to move on with my sincere apologies for the intrusion! Before you do, maybe you’d like to update me on what you’ve been doing, I’d love to hear from you at: (email address)

So here’s what’s been going on in my world…

Etc., Etc., Etc.

Enough about me, what about you; can I help you in any way, maybe you’d like some advice or an introduction? I’d also love to hear what you’ve been up to. Just drop me a line with an update or maybe you’d like to grab a coffee?

Best regards”

I’m highly unlikely to respond to this message.

It’s just so wrong on many levels.  And when I say “wrong”, I mean inappropriate, ineffective and unprofitable.  To the degree it created the very opposite outcome to the one I can only assume the sender hoped for.

For a start, despite being connected on LinkedIn, I don’t know this person from Adam.  The major ingredient missing in the entire equation is the most important ingredient of all…

the BIG “R”.

Secondly, for someone who was claiming to be a “Digital Alchemist”, if the extent of his social media management skills is to knock out blanket, impersonal, unsolicited messages on social media updating a largely unengaged and uninterested world on all things “him”, he’ll be in for a rough ride and I, for one, will be steering well clear.

Finally, the message is all me, me, me, me, me, me and me, top and tailored by a half-arsed effort to make out it isn’t.

Don’t take me as a fool.  Call me a cynic but I don’t believe for one second he had any interest in me or what I’m doing whatsoever…unless it meant cash for him.

I could be wrong…but I doubt it.  And even if I am, that’s how his communication landed.

I have no issue whatsoever in being pitched to – even from an unsolicited approach.  Previous to this I had received an unsolicited email from a LinkedIn contact and have done a significant amount of business with him – to the tune of thousands of pounds AND I’ve referred a LOT of people his way.

His approach, to me alone, brought a magnificent ROI.

The difference?

1: It was personalised.  Even in the absence of the BIG “R” it worked because…

2: It spoke into my needs.  It gave me the BIG “V”.

It was still a blanket approach but the guy had taken time to THINK into who he was sending it to and the challenge he could help his recipient overcome.

Ironically, he didn’t send the message – his VA did.  The guy knew his audience, targeted it, created a carefully constructed message to speak into its needs and outsourced it to his VA to personalise each email sent.

Smart.

The other approach?

Dumb.

The implications couldn’t be more black and white.  The one approach got me parting company with my money, the other approach got me parting company with the sender.

It’s nothing personal.  I’m sure he’s a thoroughly decent chap, but in the absence of the “Big R” and the “Big V”, he’s done nothing but turned me cold.

Ice cold.

The BIG “R”?

Relationship.

The BIG “V”?

Value.

If you’ve not got the BIG “R”, you’ve got to provide the BIG “V” because, by providing the BIG “V”, you get the opportunity to build the BIG “R”.

It’s not exactly rocket science but, to my previous LinkedIn connection and many others like him, it might as well be.

 

Christian Simpson is the UK’s leading coach and mentor to business owners and entrepreneurs. For COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS to tried, tested and proven entrepreneurial success strategies, click here

 

Picture credit: https://www.123rf.com/profile_feverpitched

Christian Simpson is the UK’s leading coach and mentor to business owners and entrepreneurs. Click below for FREE ACCESS to tried, tested and proven entrepreneurial success strategies...

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