“Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”—Bob Burg, The Go Giver
Mass outreach continues to get worse. I frequently hear from people that “email does not work” or “how can you cold call people when everyone works at home?”
There are still many people out there who think the answer to this declining effectiveness is to send more outreach. If cold email only gives you a 0.1% reply rate, versus the 1% it used to give, then just send ten times more!
Content is too easy to mass produce now
For about the last two decades one of the ways to improve cold outreach has been to send content (like this email!) to cold connections in the hope that the content would so impress them they would inevitably be drawn into your universe. The issue of course is that two decades in, nearly everyone sends content, and it is very hard to stand out unless you have amazing insight or primary research.
The new age of AI we have just entered is making content production so easy that the value of average content is dropping exponentially.
So, if you’ve relied on content as a value-based tool to get in the door with connections, what can you do? Do you need to get into an AI-based arms race to develop the best possible content so that you stand out?
Humans still rule
I don’t think so. My experience is that the value of human connections always exceeds the value of any content you can produce.
Instead of focusing on sending people great content to build goodwill, look for opportunities to connect people, so they can use other people’s knowledge and connections to help them solve a problem or create new opportunities.
You may not know the solution to an individual person’s problem but someone in your network does—or at least they can point them in the right direction.
When you consider that we humans can maintain an average of 150 relationships, that means that our friends’ friends number around 22,500 (150 x 150)! Within 22,500 people there is decent chance that someone can help.
If you keep connecting people, you will in time develop a reputation as a connector. People in your network will start to learn that they can come to you for connections. You will become a valuable person, not only for your knowledge and skills but for the knowledge and skills of every person in your network.
Develop a connecting habit
Making yourself a connector does not take a lot of time. I allocate 30 minutes per day to maintaining my network. This includes replying to outstanding emails and then checking my CRM for people I have not spoken to in a while. I check their LinkedIn profile and postings for any interesting news that I can ask them about. If I see something, I will base my update email on that, if not, I will go with something like “Just thinking of you? Do you need anything?”
With just 30 minutes per day, I have found that in less than a year, people will start identifying you as a “well-connected person” and they will start to ask you about some of their more pressing needs.
Summary
- Mass outreach yields are cratering. Adding content to mass outreach is still a losing battle, as AI makes content too easy to produce.
- Instead of sending people content, become a connector so you can help people form new relationships! Most humans still like other humans more than their AI bot.
- It does not take a lot of time to maintain your network. I have found 30 mins per day will do it. Develop a habit of doing this and you will soon be known as a valuable resource.