Say; "I want to sell you something." Now that wasn't hard, was it?

Dale Carnegie preached “sell yourself first.” LinkedIn experts always stress the importance of making a personal connection before going in for the “ask.” FaceBook gurus tell us to maintain a 3:1 information to sales ratio. All sage advise - but all ready to send out to pasture. We simply don’t have the time - or the patience - for these things anymore.

Today we are bombarded with messages by text, email and however many social networks we care to chain ourselves to. While our face-to-face interpersonal skills may be in decline, our electronic BS meters are increasingly being honed to a razor fine edge. So please, don’t try to tell me that you are my new best friend. Spare your personal back story. Don’t feel my pain. Save the small talk for the bar. If you care about me just get to the point. And if you want to sell me something, just tell me what it is, what it does, and how much it costs. Offer to send me more info on it. Yes, you can follow up. But if you dance around first, don’t you think I will know what you’re up to? Then it just feels sneaky and very not genuine. Mr. Carnegie would not approve.

Now please don’t think that if I like you it won’t help. It will. But I don’t know you and probably never will except through the translucent veil of electronic communication. Conversely, if I don’t like you I will not buy from you. But that’s easy to get away with unless you are so dumb as to state your political or societal views on the same platform as you are contacting me on.

Does this mean I espouse being completely transactional and to eschew all personal interconnections? That we should we keep everything on a “simply business” footing? No way. What I am simply saying is PLEASE respect my intelligence and my time. You can do that by saying “I want to sell you (fill in your product here).” Then together we will bask in the beauty of a straightforward, honest, and meaningful connection. And that’s how you will get me to like you.