It’s the Little Things
There are very few of us in business who are not attractive to others’ being interested in selling their services. I mean, it really is the nature of business right? At the end of the day, we are all selling something; so, it is incredibly important, and often times overlooked to pay attention to the details. When interacting with prospective clients, business partners, collaborators, you really better be paying attention to the “little things”.
-Know your audience
No really, know who you are trying to contact. I cannot tell you how many times over the years I have seen in the email preview, “Dear Ben…”. What do I do? I immediately hit delete without ever opening the message. Why? Because my name is Bob, not Ben. What happens here is my name is Bob Benjamin, and someone wants to contact me about their services sends me an introductory email that not only got my first name incorrect, but felt so comfortable with the approach that they shortened my last name in some odd attempt at familiarity. That person has zero shot with me. If you can’t take 2 minutes to at least get my name right, there is no way you will ever meet my expectations with anything you are selling.
Same thing goes when using honorifics (Mr. Mrs. etc) in written communications. If you are attempting to contact “Sam Smith” because you found their information online somewhere, you really need to understand who Sam Smith is. More specifically, starting an email with “Dear Mr. Smith…” is probably not a great idea. What if Sam is a female? I find that I start all initial communications with “Hi Sam”, or something less specific. This takes the guesswork out of it, and will ensure that you don’t step on a land mine in this area.
-Be genuine
Don’t network or connect with people under false pretenses. It is a waste of everyone’s time. This cannot be stressed enough. I recently had a connection request on LinkedIn which I was happy to accept. Upon accepting, this individual messaged me to start conversation which is great. I love meeting new people. The conversation was fine, and we agreed we would stay in touch. Not 5 minutes after this seemingly normal conversation, I was messaged with “oh by the way, let’s set up a few minutes to see how we can work together. I agreed, and meeting day comes and this person was late, and it was not even the person I connected with! Nope, it was his business partner, that wanted to assess my marketing strategy for “free”, and the person that connected with me is sorry he couldn’t make it. Seriously!?!? These tactics are not only infuriating, but an incredible waste of everyone’s time involved; not to mention an automatic disconnect, label as spam etc.
With the speed at which the world moves today, there is very little room for error on the little things. We are all busy meeting deadlines or sourcing the perfect fit for whatever project we are working on. Many of us rely on companies, or service providers to assist us in delivering our services, and to that end, it can be exhausting weeding out the noise. In conclusion, don’t be the noise. Take the two minutes required to know who you are attempting to contact, and be genuine; it may just be these two small things that don’t get you sent straight to spam.
About Bob:
Bob Benjamin is a professional voice over talent based in Orange County, New York with a unique background having worked with creative teams for decades in various capacities. He understands the need for excellence, honesty, and the importance of building strong business relationships based on results. Bob continuously works with professional voiceover coaches to improve his skills and ensure he is able to deliver the highest quality product, on-time and on budget. Recording from his own professional studio, Bob can connect with clients via Source-Connect and ipDTL if live directed sessions are desired.
