Had a chat with a sales rep at a coffee shop that changed how I do outreach

I was grabbing a cold brew downtown last Wednesday when a stranger asked about my laptop sticker from a conference. Turns out he was a marketing director who said my cold emails felt like a template even though I thought they were personal. Has anyone else had a random conversation that totally flipped how you see your own work?

2 comments

2 Comments

linda_murphy19d ago

Wait, what specific thing did he say that made you realize you were still sounding scripted even with the personal references?

sethmartinez19d ago

Yeah I used to be one of those people who thought throwing in a "saw your post about X" was enough to make an email personal. Then a guy at a coworking space told me my emails still felt like I was reading off a script even when I was trying to be casual. He pointed out that real personalization means actually referencing something specific about their work instead of just name-dropping their title or company. That conversation made me go back and look at all my old outreach and cringe a little. Now I spend way more time on research and way less time on volume.