How To Create Business Relationships and Make Friends with 4 Questions (and a statement)

I heard the greatest phrase today (destined to become part of my lexicon)that applies to so much of social media, particularly Linkedin:

“Pitch slapped”

Perfection. You know the drill…you get the request and immediately they launch into benefits, features and why you need them when you don’t even know them.

They barely say “Hello” before they blast you and what pisses me off even more is when it’s robomail. There have been times I am actually interested but I reply with a response that requires a human answer. If I get the next drop of their 1,893 stage email drip, I drop them.

I decided on another approach and came up with this. Sometimes I get long answers, sometimes short ones, sometimes none at all, but it’s not for lack of trying.

Before I give it to you, I challenge you: If you truly want to business network, answer these and email me: test@gettothedamnpoint.com. No, this is not to trap your email for the above mentioned, and greatly despised, email campaign. I promise not to slam your mail box like a back door.

Here’s what you send:

Who is ____? What makes you tick? How did you get where you are? What is your “heart” story? Tell me one thing about you that isn’t business related.

Stop the pitch slapping and start getting to know people.