How to write DMs they can’t ignore

We’ve talked about the what, why, and who of outreach…

Now here’s where the rubber meets the road.

Let’s get tactical.

Here’s HOW to outreach.

And we’ll start off with what NOT to do:

Never ever never ever expect a response if you use any of these:

• Hey

• Can you follow me back?

• How is your journey on X?

• A sales pitch without following and engaging first

• Over 1,000 characters of hard-to-read text blocks with no context

Why?

Because for 1, they're making me work to figure out what they want. This takes up time and mental energy. It's the opposite of what you want.

You should never make people put in work to interact with you. It's not polite.

For 2, the generic “Hey” or “How’s your journey" messages without even following me says that you don’t really want a relationship. You want something from me.

A transaction, not an interaction.

It blows my mind how many people don’t send personalized outbound DMs in favor of one of these.

Putting in the 5 minutes of extra effort to personalize each message makes a gigantic difference.

That leads me to my first recommendation:

Give them a compliment

Find something they are working on (book, project, video, piece of content, etc) that truly resonates with you.

Send it to them and tell them exactly how and why it resonated with you.

(note: this requires you to actually like their work)

But this will always give you highest percentage of response success.

Why?

People love compliments, I know I do.

And the principle of reciprocity says that most will feel obligated to repay this “favor.”

And, showing interest is charisma 101.

Showing interest makes you interesting to them.

Here’s a couple examples:

After someone leaves a warm reply:

Provide the almighty VALUE

This is the thing everyone talks about, but hardly anyone does.

This is especially true if you are offering a service.

Slide into the DMs with a gift in hand.

An actual, valuable gift.

Don’t go straight for a transaction when you haven’t given anything first.

Show that you are interested in helping them.

So how do you help them?

You have a few options:

1. Send actionable tips or connections that will help them get closer to their goals.

2. Send resources, systems, or videos you’ve created or remember off the top of your head.

See where you can help. Connect them with someone else in your network. Look at their website, funnel, and newsletter and see what you can help with. Do your research.

If you have no value to give you can send a resource that can help them with their goals.

And resources could mean YouTube videos, articles, or anything that may be able to help them or piques their interest.

Just be cool.

Be appreciative

The other side of the coin is connecting with someone that followed you first and is engaging with your stuff.

Example:

Remember, people can spot a generic message from a mile away.

A little bit of genuine interest and respect go a long way.

Cheers,

Swanagan

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