Here is the first sentence of three recent cold reach outs. Which one do you think I accepted?

1. “I strongly believe I can help your company grow by creating strategic deals at the B2B Enterprise Global Scale.”
2. ”I noticed we share 4 connections, so I thought I’d reach out.”
3. ”Congratulations on the success of your book!”

Effort.

It’s my biggest ask of my kids. I have the word written on my whiteboard in my office.

In everything they do, all I ask for is effort. With their schoolwork, with things they need to do around the house or in any of their pursuits, when we can see that they’ve tried, it goes a long way. So maybe I’m a bit biased, however…

…When you’re prospecting, just a little effort goes a long way, too.

…When you’re sending a LinkedIn connection request, same thing.

Subconsciously, when someone makes an effort, it’s easy to see, and we are more likely to reciprocate.

Look at those three above again. Which one shows even a touch of effort? Which one could only really be sent to me?

• #1? Given I’m a sole proprietor who speaks and teaches, it shows they did zero homework, since it doesn’t even apply to me.
• #2? That’s why you reached out? I’m guessing this individual swaps out the number for every person they reach out to.
• #3? Clearly looked me up. And what they wrote couldn’t have possibly taken more than a couple of minutes to look up. It’s the difference between me engaging and not engaging.

The ROI on effort is significant.

“But effort is too difficult to scale!”

Like I always tell my kids – everything they think is easy today was once very difficult for them. Eating. Walking. Even going potty (which is when they laugh, but actually get it).

Effort.

Have you bought the book, The Transparency Sale?

• If yes, you’d be doing me an amazing solid if you gave it a review from wherever you bought it. I’ll be your best friend if you do! 😀
• If not, you can find it on Amazon or pretty much anywhere books are sold online. It’s still in a few stores, too. www.transparencysale.com/order

As always, please feel free to reach out if you are looking for a speaker or training workshop for your organization, or just want to nerd out on some of this stuff. Email to tcaponi@salesmelon.com, or you can just reach out or follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter, too.

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