383 - Stop Spray and Pray!

0:00Last week I talked about not being a bot. doing what everyone else does, using form approaches, spray and pray emails and letters, no thought, no effort, no empathy. Today, I want to follow up with something very practical. What actually makes a good letter? This applies whether you're writing to a potential board member or reaching out to an acquisition prospect who's not actively selling. And most of the time, it's better to go after those that aren't selling rather than going for a business which is for sale. And the starting point of that outreach is simple. A good letter is not about you.

0:45It is about the person reading it. Let's start with board members. When you write to a board-level person, your objective is not to impress them. They already are impressive. They know what they've done. Puffery does not work. What does work is thoughtful acknowledgement without flattery. That means you did some homework, not stalking them, not being creepy, but enough effort to show you understand who they are and what matters to them. You might reference a role they held, a transition they made, an industry they helped shape, and then you connect that to what you're building and why it aligns with their interests.

1:29not your needs. Most people get this wrong by focusing on money, equity, upside, valuation. Board-level people rarely need your money. They're usually pretty well-heeled. What they care about is impact, legacy, standards, doing something meaningful with their experience. A great question to ask yourself before sending the letter is, why would this be interesting to them at this stage of their life? If you cannot answer that clearly, guess what? Your letter is not ready. Now let's talk about acquisition prospects. The same rule applies. Show that you did some work. If I'm a business owner and I receive a letter that could have been sent to 10 ,000 other people, I know it immediately, and it goes in the bin.

2:22A good letter shows specificity. Maybe you mention that it's rare to see a Google rating of 4.8. Maybe you reference a particular review that stood out to you. Maybe you acknowledge how long the business has been serving the community. Those small details signal respect. And then comes the most important filter. Do not tell me how great you are unless you explain why that matters to me. People love to write things like, We have 200 years of combined experience on our board. So what? Why does that make my life better? Why does that make my customers better? Why does that protect my employees? Why does that preserve what I built?

3:13If you cannot translate your credentials into benefits for the reader, leave them out. When you set up a conversation, always have an exact desired outcome. But think about it from the other side of the table. Ask yourself, if I received this letter, how would I react? Would I feel respected? Would I feel understood? Would I feel curious enough to respond? And finally, the guiding principle behind all good communication, what is in it for them? Not what they can do for you. Not how valuable they would be to your project. Why should they care? Why should they give you their time? Why should they engage?

3:59When you write letters this way, you stop being a bot. You become a thoughtful business acquirer and human being who stands out in a sea of noise. And that is what opens doors. Yesterday in the Empire Group coaching, I had a question from a mentee. And he said, I got your sales summit. And I thought that maybe I should have gotten the Acquisition Advantage Boot Camp Recordings. And I said, I think that you should have gotten a sales summit. And guess what? I also think you should get the acquisition advantage boot camp. Now, obviously, there's some self-interest in them purchasing both those courses.

4:43But as a person who's spent most of my career in sales or sales management, I'm amazed at how poor sales skills are. and it's easy for me to forget that because it's second nature to me. And when I forget that, I forget some of the things that I would do that come second nature that you might not know because you don't have the experience. So I do think the sales summit recording is helpful to you. I also said to him, you need to understand the steps. and to do that, the Acquisition Advantage Bootcamp, I would highly recommend. So if you are struggling with understanding the steps, if you're struggling with sales, how to handle objections, how to be a better listener, that Sales Summit is a good course to go through.

5:41Just go to brucewhipple.com and you'll see those details. And lastly, if you have an interest in joining the group coaching that I just mentioned this person was in, certainly again, take a look at that on the website and see what's there. And if it helps you, you know, we are adding people to that as well. So hope that all helps, but think about writing emails, letters, communications from the standpoint of the recipient, not what's in it for you. And you will separate yourself from 99 % of the people contacting these businesses and people.