I Got This Super-creepy Email. Here Are Some Lessons…

Wow… Sometimes I can’t believe the garbage that lands in my inbox.

I got this one last week from a guy named Joon:

Hey Tom,

I don’t want to sound weird, but I was creeping your LinkedIn profile and wanted to reach out.

Thought I’d see if you’re open to hopping on a call.

Put simply, I run a white label marketing agency that will hop on the sales call, execute the work, and manage the account. All under your brand.

If you think there could be something here, let’s hop on a quick call.

And then he included a link to his booking calendar.

One last detail. After that line about “creeping” my profile, he added this emoji:

And then he included a link to his booking calendar.

Ummm. No, thanks, Joon. 

Let’s break this one down (so you never, ever send an email like this one). 

So many lessons email. Here are a few: 

1) As my mama used to say, “When someone says, ‘I don’t want to be weird, but…,’ they’re about to be weird. 

2) “Creeping” my profile?!? 

Yuck! 

It’s OK to tell someone you came across their profile. But when you say, “I was creeping your profile,” people will think YOU’RE A CREEP. 

(Here comes relevant marketing advice even if you’re not a weird creep)

3) Don’t lead with what  you’re going to do. Lead with why your prospects would want you to do it. 

Why would I hire Joon?

Maybe I’m stressed out making sales calls myself? Maybe I’m not reaching the right people (or enough of them). Maybe I have other important things to do that I’m not doing because I’m making sales calls. Maybe I want to make more sales with less effort. The list of reasons is long. 

So instead of telling me he’ll hop on calls, execute the work, and manage the calls, Joon could have told me he’d relieve my stress, reach more and better prospects, and close more sales — all while allowing me to focus on other critical things in my business. 

If he had promised me that — in a less weird and creepy way — then I might have thought, “Cool! How does Joon do it?” Then I would have been paying attention when he described what he does. Then, I might have hopped on a call with him.

If you want prospects to lean in and say, “How do you do that?” so they’re more likely to meet with you, and buy, see below. Lots of ways I can help you do that…