How to really connect with your prospects (and stop pitch-slapping them)
Welcome to today’s issue of Conversion Alchemy Journal. If you received this from a friend and enjoy it, subscribe here.
If you're on Linkedin you're probably familiar with it.
It's the dreaded "pitch-slap".
That's when someone sends you a connection request and inevitably, immediately, sometimes "automagically" - they pitch you on whatever the hell they sell.
Pro tip: you can prevent this just by looking at their profile description.
For example, in my case, I'm a copywriter.
If someone sends me a request and they "help agencies and freelancers get more calls booked", chances are they'll likely try to pitch me.
And if they do so right away - to me, they're dead. I'm gone.
But we have hope, don't we?
Humanity doesn't have to be so screwed with AI and all.
Don't get me wrong, pitching is fine, but it doesn't have to be so random, or out of the blue.
We CAN still make a personal connection AND pitch what we do.
It comes down to personalization. But not the automatic or robotic kind.
Let me explain...
I first heard about the pitch slap by sales consultant Sam McKenna, in her highly recommended free masterclass (no affiliation).
Immediately something clicked for me.
If Sam, who's great at corporate sales, sees it this way, well, my prospects probably feel the same. And I do too!
Again it all comes down to empathy.
And what better way to create some emapthy for my clients than to study how THEY sell their products to companies?
Anyway, I went through that masterclass and loved Sam's approach. So much that I've customized it for my own services and I'm in the process of pitching prospects (without the slapping).
She calls it "Show Me You Know Me". And it boils down to one big lessons I wanted to share with you today:
Your pitch copy, needs to make sense ONLY to THEM to be good.
In other words, the more specific, vivid, and personal (even intimate, but without the creepyness) the copy is, the more your prospect will resonate with it. Which, sounds obvious, but what a lot of people don't think about is that the specificity also acts as a repellant.
You attract the people you want while driving everyone who doesn't qualify away.
Let's assume we're targeting a procurement manager named Alex, who enjoys golf, follows sustainable business practices, is a fan of "Game of Thrones," and might be looking to save on strategic costs.
Some fictional subject lines what would click with Alex, and NOT with anyone else could be:
- "From the fairway to forecasting: tee up your next big save"
- "Winter is coming... But so are more savings"
- "Hole-in-one: scoring big on your next procurement deal"
- "Dragons aren't real, but these cost cuts are"
- "What's beyond The Wall? Cost reductions!
You get the point.
Someone other than our prospect reading should think: "What the hell are they blabbing on about?".
It's a pretty good, quick self-check you can do before sending another slap email.
Have you tried it?
📚 3 things to get better at copywriting
Video: How to sell you on reading The Bible (even if you don't give a f*%k)
After reading this post by Derek Sivers on why and how he read The Bible, I checked out this Youtube channel he recommends. I'm not religious at all, but I believe in the power of a good story. These guys know how to tell one and manage to make The Bible interesting and clearly understandable for anyone.
If anything I'd study this video just to learn how to tell a great story.
Article: Your new AI copywriting assitant (better than ChatGPT)
I've started experimenting with Claude 3 Opus, the ChatGPT 4 level alternative by Anthropic. It's REALLY good. For the first time I'm not getting all that flowery, vague language and it's much better at analyzing long documents in detail (while keeping more of it in memory for future chats).
It's another $20 per month, but personally I think it's insane value if you have both GPT and Claude in your stack to bounce things off each other.
This thread goes into it in detail:
Swipe file: The anti-swipe or what not do do to get attention
Simply put, don't use AI to fool people.
Unfortunately it's becoming a trend:
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10:22 PM • Mar 19, 2024
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Use this as both a warning (study, use and understand AI to spot it), and a call to use it with integrity and respect.
It's how we as marketers will stand out from the herd of spammers.
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Work with me on your copy
Let's get more customers →
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✅ Don't miss it
Episode 7 of The Message-Market Fit podcast is out. 🎉
I had an epic chat with Natalie Marcotullio, head of growth and operations at Navattic. Here's what you'll learn:
- How you can harness the power of storytelling in product demos
- How to align website and UX copy for cohesive messaging
- How interactive demos compare to traditional marketing channels
- Cheat codes to leverage customer feedback and refine your messaging
- How to be a continuous learner
- How to navigate messaging challenges in a competitive market
And way way more.
Check it out here, wherever you listen to podcasts or on Youtube. And if you find it valuable, would you consider subscribing and leaving a rating? 🙏
🤔 Thought of the week
"The professional self-validates. She is tough-minded. In the face of indifference or adulation, she assesses her stuff coldly and objectively. Where it fell short, she’ll improve it. Where it triumphed, she’ll make it better still. She’ll work harder. She’ll be back tomorrow."
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
Be your own harsh critic and your own raving fan. When your internal standards are not subject to external influence you can’t be beaten.
Have a great weekend!
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Chris Silvestri
Founder, Conversion Alchemy
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🙌🏻 Let’s be friends (unless you’re a stalker)
