Welcome to the go-getter

This is the first edition of the revamped go getter newsletter - thanks for joining!

When we move to Philly, I’m pretty sure my wife opened up a secret bank account. To manage all my “give backs”.

I’m that guy in Philly that can be persuaded to help anyone.  You are sitting outside a staples and asking for money to help keep dogs out of kill shelter’s?  You got me.  You are a homeless man in Whole Foods who could use some money for food, here you go.  You are sitting outside the paddle ball courts and wish you had a better book to read? I’ll be right back. 

Hunger is my thing - comes from not having much as a kid and not wanting others to feel the same way.  Can I change the world?  Nope. But do I have an unyielding belief that if everyone just helped out where they could the world would be a much better place?  Yep.

That’s my ethos here. Its not a $25 Whole Foods gift card but its sharing my stories of living the life of entrepreneur.  The rewards, the mistakes (there are so many) and sharing stories along the way about my career that may inspire or help a few of you.

Here’s my first give-back. Put in the effort.  

When you live the life of an advertising sales executive and entrepreneur, it’s hard work. You spend your life with the likelihood of daily failure staring you in the face.

Back when I started in sales, success rates were akin to baseball batting averages. Hits could be anything – callbacks, RFP requests, actual sales – you name it.

If you hit .200, you're still in the game; .300, and you're flirting with all-star status.

Today - with email reigning supreme as the primary mode of communication, so much competition and technology… what is the average now? I don’t even know. It ain’t baseball averages that’s for sure.

So what can you do? My advice is go the extra mile.

If you are sending emails, how much effort are you putting in to personalize your message and increase your chances of success?

Personalization is not Dear (Name) and I love your (company).

Personalization is seeing you have a shared connection to offer, you find something on their Linkedin that connects you both. Or you have a shared interest and you can offer some value.

I’ll give you an example - Rotary Digital has a client that has been a great spender but I wanted a face to face meeting to dive deeper into why this partnership is working.

After going through their Linkedin, I saw that this person went to Princeton University. I lived in Princeton for 20 years. One of the best ice cream places in Princeton is The Bent Spoon.

I simply added in the message how much I loved their ice cream and within the day we had a meeting set.

Was that the reason they responded? I think so. This person gets thousands of outreach emails and this genuine personalization certainly upped my odds.

So take a minute and think about how you can put a little extra effort in to make your communication stand out. It’s guaranteed to increase your batting average.

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I’m one of the founders of Rotary Digital. I’m an entrepreneur and advertising veteran for 30+ years counting. I’m married with three beautiful kids and one day hope to make art full time and continue to eat at Whole Foods.