Avoiding me-centered messaging in emails

Stop sending "personalized" emails VP of Sales doesn’t need you to mention their like on a LinkedIn post. Prospects care about their problems, not your small talk. They need someone who understands THEM. "Hi {FirstName}, I saw your dog's name is Cooper. I love dogs too, btw we provide software development services" - it's not smth they need to hear, it's just noise in their inbox. Here’s why relevancy wins: 1/ Decision-makers care about their problems, not your flattery. A CFO doesn’t need you to compliment their recent webinar. They need cost-saving strategies, and how EXACTLY you deliver. 2/ Timing + context = relevancy If you reach out right after a funding round, during hiring sprees, or when they’re launching a new product - your message will more likely resonate. 3/ It’s about them, not you. Instead of “I saw your tweet about AI,” try “I noticed {{Competitor}} just launched X - curious how you're handling Y.” 4/ Use P.S. for your personalization line. 9/10 of personalized emails have an awkward transition. Instead, put it in the P.S. section: "P.S. Saw you were on {{Podcast Name}} - love your insights on scaling sales teams!" Research isn’t just scanning someone's profile for 10 seconds. Relevancy requires understanding their business context. Generic emails feel like spam. Relevant emails feel like value. P.S. Which are you sending?

87% of the cold emails in my inbox start with the word "I." That one word tells me everything I need to know about why you aren't getting replies. Seller-centered messaging is the most common reason outbound stops working and it's also the easiest to fix once you know what to look for. 👉 Here is a simple audit your team can run on any piece of outbound copy right now. Count how many times the message uses "I," "we," "our," or "my." Then count how many times it uses "you," "your," or "their." Aim for a 1:3 ratio. The ratio tells you whose perspective the message is written from. Seller-centered copy talks about what you do, what you offer, and what you'd love to schedule. Buyer-centered copy talks about what your prospect is dealing with, what they care about, and what a solution would mean for them. The pivot is not complicated, but only the top sales leaders take the time to have their team perform this audit. Stop describing your product and start articulating the problem your prospect is facing. Your goal is to help them recognize themselves in your message and feel that a conversation with you is worth their time. Prospects don't care about your product's features unless those features solve a specific problem they're already thinking about. You're not selling a product. You're selling a solution to their problem. 📌 What one word would your prospect use to describe your sales emails?

Stop personalizing your cold emails. "I noticed you were hiring for X." "Saw your recent post about Y." "Congrats on the Series A." It looks thoughtful. But most prospects can smell it instantly because the "personalization" is just a toll you paid to get permission to pitch. Personalization is a tax on poor targeting. If you have to hunt through someone's LinkedIn for something to reference, you probably don't understand their problem well enough to be in their inbox. The real work isn't writing 47 custom first lines. It's finding 47 people who share the exact same pain so specific that a single message hits all of them like it was written just for them. A CFO at a 50-person SaaS company burning $400K/month with 14 months of runway doesn't need you to mention their podcast appearance. They need someone who understands that their board is asking hard questions about burn rate and they're weighing layoffs vs. fundraising in a brutal market. That's personal. Not personalized. The difference: Personalization = I researched you for 3 minutes and found a hook. Personal = I understand your situation so well that this message could only be for people like you. One is a parlor trick. The other is positioning.When your ICP is tight enough, your message does the targeting. Every word filters for fit. The people who don't have the problem ignore it. The people who do feel seen. Stop asking "what can I reference about this person?" Start asking "what problem is so specific that anyone who has it will stop scrolling?" Make your list the message. P.S. I put together a doc with 5 "personal" cold emails that booked meetings without a single line of personalization just tight targeting and problem-aware copy. Comment "PERSONAL" and I'll send it over. Personal = I understand your situation so well that this message could only be for people like you. One is a parlor trick. The other is positioning. When your ICP is tight enough, your message does the targeting. Every word filters for fit. The people who don't have the problem ignore it. The people who do feel seen.Stop asking "what can I reference about this person?" Start asking "what problem is so specific that anyone who has it will stop scrolling?" Make your list the message. P.S. I put together a doc with 5 "personal" cold emails that booked meetings without a single line of personalization just tight targeting and problem-aware copy. Comment "PERSONAL" and I'll send it over.

"We help athletes improve." This sentence could apply to a running coach, a nutritionist, a sports psychologist, or a supplement company. It's generic enough to appeal to everyone, which means it appeals to no one. Compare that to: "What are you doing to ensure your IRONMAN 26.2-mile run doesn't turn into a Frankenstein walk?" This second sentence speaks to a specific person: someone training for an IRONMAN who's experienced or fears the dreaded run-walk shuffle at mile 20. Fairfax M. Cone, legendary advertising executive, said: "Good advertising is written from one person to another. When it is aimed at millions, it rarely moves anyone." This principle applies directly to cold emails. When you try to appeal to everyone in a job title, you appeal to no one specifically. The fix: pick one specific person within your ICP. Give them a name. Understand their specific daily frustrations. Not "VP of Sales at a mid-market SaaS company." But "Sarah, VP of Sales at a 200-person SaaS company, who spent four hours yesterday manually building a commission report because her three sales tools don't integrate, and now she's getting Slack messages from reps questioning their payouts." Write your email to Sarah. Use her words.  Reference her specific pain points. The counterintuitive result: when you write for one specific person, many people in similar situations will see themselves in that email. When you write for everyone, no one sees themselves. Specificity scales. Generality disappears. Are you writing to a persona or a person?

Nobody Cares About You. Most cold emails flop in the first 3 seconds. Why? Because they start like this: 🚫 “My name is…” 🚫 “I wanted to introduce myself…” 🚫 “I’ve worked with…” 🚫 “I came across…” 🚫 “I recently…” That’s me-centered messaging — and your prospect doesn’t care. Flip the script. Make it about them. Try leading with: ✅ “Noticed you’re hiring for _____” ✅ “Saw your post on _____” ✅ “Checked out your site—really liked _____” ✅ “Looks like you’re scaling your _____ team” ✅ “Saw you just launched _____” ✅ “Is [challenge] something you're working on?” Start with their world — not yours. When you open with relevance, you earn permission to continue the conversation. 👉 Curious — what’s your go-to opening line when reaching out cold Audience? Drop it in the comments. I’d love to hear what’s working for you.

Most email outreach fails for one reason: It sounds exactly like what your competitors send to your prospects. Most "personalized" emails still sound generic and flat. And your prospects? They can smell the copy-paste from a mile away. So here’s how we flipped the script using real personalization with AI — and it actually works. Picture this: You want to send an email that feels like you actually know the person reading it. But you also want to scale it across dozens (or hundreds) of leads. Here’s the step-by-step playbook we use at Level: 1. Start with your CRM- Pull real data from your client or prospect profiles. 2. Use Browser AI to research- Scrape their website to find language, priorities, and cultural cues. 3. Grab their LinkedIn insights- Who are they? What are they posting? What matters to them? 4. Build a real persona- Use the "Jobs To Be Done" framework to define their motivations and pain points. 5. Map your services- Clearly list what you offer and identify case studies that match. 6. Ask ChatGPT to matchmake- Feed GPT the persona + services + case studies and ask what fits best. 7. Write the email with GPT-4.5- Give it a clear tone direction, include the inputs above, and let it draft a personalized message. The result? An email that actually feels like it was written just for them. No spray-and-pray templates. Just smart, human-centered messaging, at scale. This approach changed the game for us. It's faster, more relevant, and makes every lead feel seen. #AI #Personalization #B2BMarketing #MarketingInnovation #ChatGPT #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #AIMarketing

Drafting a job application email is an art that requires personality, focus, and effort. Candidates can make a strong impression and increase their chances of landing an interview if they avoid the below mistakes. Imagine sending out dozens of job application emails and hearing nothing but silence. Frustrating, right? The first communication with a recruiter or hiring manager is your chance to stand out in a crowded inbox. Yet, many applicants sabotage their chances with poorly drafted emails that lack personality, focus on themselves, or appear lazy. By avoiding these common mistakes and adopting a targeted, personalized approach, you can transform your application email into a compelling introduction that opens doors. 1. A generalized email lacking personality and effort can instantly turn off a hiring manager. Take this example of a generic email: “Dear Hiring Team, I am applying for the Sales Manager role. Please find my resume and cover letter attached.” This message completely lacks any personal touch or expression of excitement, making it easy for a recruiter to overlook. Personalization and authenticity are essential to capture attention. While these emails lack personality, self-centered emails can also miss the mark. 2. A self-focused email that highlights what the job can do for you instead of what you can do for the company is another common pitfall. Take this example: “I’m thrilled to apply for this position because it aligns perfectly with my skills and career aspirations. I’m confident it would be a great step for me!” This email places too much emphasis on the candidate’s personal ambitions while neglecting the employer’s priorities or challenges. A better approach is to demonstrate how your skills and achievements align with the company’s mission or needs. Even worse than a self-centered email is one that simply recycles your cover letter. 3. Copying and pasting your cover letter into the body of an email sends the wrong message about your effort and creativity. A hiring manager receiving a lengthy, unedited cover letter in an email may see it as a lack of respect for their time and effort. Emails and cover letters serve different purposes. While a cover letter provides detailed information, an email should be concise and engaging, giving the reader a reason to open your attachments or schedule an interview. To steer clear of these common mistakes, a strong email should focus on three key aspects: - specifying the position you're applying for, - showcasing authentic enthusiasm for the opportunity, and - briefly emphasizing two to three of your most pertinent achievements. Your email is your first handshake with the recruiter—make it firm, warm, and memorable. With the right approach, you can stand out and set the stage for a successful application process.