In this episode, Sarah Sal shares tips and guidance on writing effective LinkedIn connection request notes and podcast pitches while reviewing the student’s work!
She talks about;
Name: Sara Sal
What Sarah Does: Freelance Facebook & LinkedIn Ads Specialist at Hootsuite
Company: Sarah-sal.com
Noteworthy: With 7 figures in Facebook ads spent under her belt in 10+ years, she’s run ads for companies like ClickFunnels and Strategyzer. When she started running ads for the latter, they struggled to make $0.40 for each $1 spent on ads, and she moved them to $18 for each $1 spent.
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Key Insights
💡Demonstrating Value in Communication
Sarah Sal consistently discusses the importance of conveying value in every communication. Whether it’s expressing gratitude, sharing success stories, or pitching ideas, she advises communicators to highlight the benefits for the recipient. This approach ensures that the recipient sees a clear reason to engage and respond positively.
💡Specificity in Communication for Success
Sarah talks about the importance of being specific when communicating success stories or achievements. Generic numbers like “10,000” may not convey the real impact. Instead, she suggests providing context and explaining the tangible benefits, making it clear and compelling for the audience.
💡Streamlining Connection Requests
In the context of LinkedIn connection requests, Sarah Sal advises against asking too many questions upfront. Instead, she suggests expressing admiration for the recipient’s work, keeping the initial interaction simple and focused on building a connection. By minimizing the perceived effort required to respond, the chances of receiving a positive response increase.
💡Leveraging Social Proof Effectively
When reaching out to professionals or influencers, Sarah Sal recommends strategically placing strong social proof early in the communication. By sharing a compelling success story or testimonial at the beginning, the communicator captures attention and establishes credibility. This approach is particularly effective in making the recipient curious and interested in the conversation.
💡Tailoring Pitches Based on the Recipient’s Perspective
Sarah Sal emphasizes the importance of customizing pitches according to the recipient’s perspective and interests. Whether it’s a podcast host or a professional, understanding what topics they’ve covered in the past and presenting a unique angle or story significantly increases the chances of securing their attention and interest.
💡Keeping Messages Concise and Direct
In various instances, Sarah Sal underscores the need to keep messages short and to the point. Whether it’s a LinkedIn connection request or a podcast pitch, brevity is key. She recommends condensing information to fit within specific character limits, ensuring that the recipient can quickly grasp the message without feeling overwhelmed.
sarah sal 0:04
Okay, I’m glad that the AI assistant reminded me about taking notes. So I started recording sorry about forgetting to hit record. So this is why I said, Okay, you got them 10,000. So what was the result? Oh my god, now, instead of getting 10s of people to go to their event, hundreds of people, because you might say it’s a local library, but maybe I’m an accountant, maybe I’m a tax lawyer. And maybe as a tax lawyer, there is only five people who show to my event.
And if I had 50, people who show to my even, instead of five, I will get more people. Maybe I’m a jewellery designer, maybe I’m a fashion designer. And if I could get hundreds of people to my store, where I have an event for a new collection, I’m going to get more sales. So So always, when you write something, you want this specificity, and you want to ask, How can I talk about my successes from centre left and right? And really be clear on the benefits so nobody can doubt it?
Because if you say 100,000, for us, and so what, right? If you tell me, I’m getting 10 times more people offline to come to my store? Because offline business, like hey, I have a restaurant people smell the food and come in why do I even need an online presence? Well, you need an online presence, because you could get 10 times more people to come into your store. As a result, I wouldn’t ask question in a pitch. And here is why you want to make the decision. Let’s say I get a connection request.
If all I need to do is click Accept. A more likely to do it. Now. If I feel like I need to click Accept, and then write a reply. Then I’m like this like a homework. That’s extra work for me, right? So you want to make ease. You don’t want them to feel oh my god. Now she’s going to ask me 500 questions. So if it was me, I was talking, by the way, I was writing for blunt action. The drums say you’re a copywriter. I’m a big fan of your work. I really love what you did for them and how you contributed to the campaign.
By the way, the gal with a pearl earring is fabulous, right? Similarly, if you say it that way, I don’t feel like once I click Accept connection request, I need to send you a reply, because the aim is not. I mean, they might do, they might still reply on, they may still ask question, and it may still have a conversation. But I don’t feel like I want to have the obligation. So if it was me, I would keep all of that. Then I would say I’m a big fan of the work. You did. I, by the way, the shows of the girl with a pearl earring was fabulous.
Yeah, I mean, I would not even ask question. And to be honest, in a connection request, I would not ask question. Now, okay, let’s assume I’m a journalist, but I want to interview them. Yes, I would ask question. Let’s assume a company that wants to, let’s say, Okay, this is Pepsi, let’s say, Okay, you worked with the coke ad. And let’s say I’m Redbull. And I have $1 million. And I want to hire somebody, I might say, at Redbull. We’re a big fan of what you did for the coke ad. We have a few questions for you, because we’re interested in hiring you. And if you say, oh, okay, it’s Red Bull. And if I answer the question, maybe I’ll get $100,000 Sure. I’ll answer the question. Right. But when we’re freelancer, we’re individuals. Yeah, we want to make it easier for them to say yes.
sarah sal 4:21
And yeah, you love his work on that campaign. And you want to congratulate him on the good taste he had in the gal with the wife earring. Yeah. I mean, if you’re writing a piece on them, yeah. I mean, I mean, I get that I had Active Campaign do that. But remember Active Campaign, how they said, Oh, we’re interviewing experts or landing pages. We want to have your opinion by the way. This piece is going to be promoted to 50,000 people, right? Yeah. Or if, if, if, if you want to write content on them, you could even say, Hey, I’m writing a blog post on x, or I’m featuring the best of the best. And I admire you the work you did for that. Are you interested? Or can I interview you?
When asked question in that case? Yes. In that case, yes, because everyone has want to have free publicity. Okay, this is good, this is good, this is good, this is good. The only part where I would change is the transition. So I would, I would even bring this one higher, right. So you could start with this. And then you say, however, Fiverr, when done correctly, or however, my experience with Fiverr, I got as a client, somebody who created video for Lady Gaga, and they got a five to $10,000 client, despite it being a platform for $5. Jake, it’s not.
And then you could add an explanation, that the type of skills you need on Fiverr to make $5,000 is different from the type of skill you need to get on Upwork is not that Upwork, and the absolute is better than Fiverr Fiverr is better. It’s just that the skills and how you present yourself and how you write your profile, and so on. To get those projects on Fiverr, you need a different mindset, you need a different set of skill, you need a different approach. So to summarise, all of this, I’m going to keep here, this is really strong proof, this is really strong proof. So you want to bring hire. However, Fiverr is where I got somebody who created video for Lady Gaga to hire me. And it was not for $5.
Actually, on Fiverr, I got five to 10,000 is not that Fiverr is better than Upwork, or vice versa. It just how you present yourself the type of skill and mindset you need to get those high clients on Fiverr are different. And then you could finish with everything. Else. Yeah, no, not not more. So yeah, yeah, this specific example, you bring it higher, because you have social proof, right? This is like this here that is highlighted is really strong social proof. And it will make people curious, right?
Because imagine somebody reading is busy, they have 100 thing. You don’t want them to read this, and then they stop reading. So I would put this one higher. However, it’s on Fiverr, that somebody who created video for Lady Gaga, but hired me and it was not for $5. Now you got my attention, like you have the social proof that why I need to listen to you. And then here, instead of saying, I’d love to discuss working, I would ask a question, because you’re putting it from your point of view.
You see, it’s like, I love publicity. I love to use your audience. You want to think about what is the value for them. So instead of saying I’d love to discuss, I would ask a question. Would it be of value for your audience? If I talked on how to leverage Fiverr to get $5,000? Work? Right. So always think of the point of view of the benefit of the person. Other than that, it’s a really great picture. Yeah, it’s a really good pitch any questions? Okay, no question. I’m moving to the next page. Let’s see. It’s not lengthy.
It’s nothing. It’s nothing. It’s well written. I don’t think I don’t think being lengthy is a bad thing. Because it’s well written. It just with a would make tiny changes where I would bring the social proof higher. And here instead of saying, I’d love Oh, it’s asked, Would it be a value for me to teach your audience on how To leverage Fiverr to get 10,000 contracts, the rest is good. It’s not lengthy. Now, I have just said, Yeah. Let me put this here
sarah sal 10:28
let me see or did I know, let me see.
sarah sal 10:52
You don’t want to say this cost further because imagine if you have an app, it’s very popular, right? I could tell you from HootSuite, let’s say, they created an amazing platform, they have customer service, if somebody has question as a client, and if I’m the owner of HootSuite, I wouldn’t want people to connect with me to talk about the app. I would say if you’re a client, and you have a problem with the app, go talk to customer service.
No one, no one open their email, or open their LinkedIn and said, I have five email today. I wish I had 50 email, right? Nobody look at their LinkedIn and say, every week I get 100 message. I wish I have 500 message because I’m feeling lonely. And I want to share it with someone. It’s not a chat and application. So I would just thank them for the great app. I mean, I would say I went through your culturally app, I just wanted to thank you for making such a great app that boosts intrapreneur. performance. And I would stop, you do want to say I would love to know more about your app. Because you could go on the website of the app, right? You’re not best friend, you’re not best pals.
So you just thank them. And you tell them you’re a big fan of the app. And even better, you could say, if you need any testimonial about how amazing is just let me know. I’m happy to do it. Right. So now there is a value. So if I’m the founder of culturally, and I see this, I’m like, What’s in it for me? Nothing, right? If now you say I love your app, it’s one of the best of a ver. I mean, well, you don’t say it’s one of the best you say, hey, it helped boost my performance. I wanted to thank you for doing it. By the way, if you need a testimonial, just let me know. I’d be more than happy to do it. Now I’m thinking oh my god. Yes. Okay, I get what’s the benefits for me? Okay, here
sarah sal 13:35
you don’t say learn more about your pause because the pulse is already public, right? I mean, and again, that over time, so people let’s say they would read a blog post I wrote let’s say copy hacker, right. And this is work that is out there. You could read it for free. You could learn how to write ad not pay me even $1. Right. But what I don’t want this company to say I have 20 question about the post that you wrote. Because then I say then you book a call with me and you pay for one hour of my time because the way I make money is by people booking my time to ask question. And if they say I want to I want to learn more I want to ask question, I feel is somebody who want to borrow my brain or pick up my brain for free?
And I’m like, No, actually, I earn a living by giving advice. I look at ad accounts that don’t work and I give advice. I don’t want to be on LinkedIn somebody messaging me saying hey, my ad account doesn’t work. How could you fix it? I’m looking for it your reply and then I’m like, Yeah, send me a screenshot. Oh my God fix this. It’s like this is not a hobby is how I earn an income is how I pay rent and etc. A hobby is maybe spicy vegan food is travelling as horse riding is walking through the woods. already, it’s hiking.
But whenever is something that is professional, this is not a hobby is how people earn incomes. So you don’t want to say I would love to connect to learn more about your posts because it looks like you want to pick their brain for free, right? You just want to say thank you very much for that. Pause. I admire it and nothing more, or even just keep it to hear but never say I want to learn more because it look like you want them to do free work for you, TEDx that’s a really difficult one. That’s a really difficult one.
And, I mean, here’s the thing, where TEDx is very, very, very, very, very, very, very different from the other one. If I have a podcast, and I talk on that podcast every week, it’s me, right? TEDx, there is maybe 100 people, and maybe they have 20 employee who approve people. So when you say I watch the power of entrepreneurial Bill Raj, the person getting the email might not even have watched it. So that’s a very different one, right? I would tell a story, really, I would really tell a story. Just because I mean, TEDx is a very difficult one. But if I would tell the story about somebody you helped, let’s say, there is a young entrepreneur that started with $10. And now they have a company worth 10 million, I’m making up example, I don’t know your story.
I would lead with that, how you help them. And saying, by the way, that person birth, his or her business ID without spending a dime. But But generally speaking, the problem with TEDx is they get maybe 1,000th time more pay pitches. The person reading the pitch might know nothing about what you listen to. And maybe they have like 20 people approving people. So it’s a really difficult one. I mean, if you have a local event, let’s put it that way. And if this is like a, like, online, right? That’s a very difficult one. I would not start with that one.
I would start with something smaller. And once you got on maybe four or five smaller podcasts, then go for the bigger one. Because because then you could say, hey, go listen to those five other interview I have. This one is very difficult. That’s that’s my main comment. But if but if I was going with them, I would tell a story. I mean, I would make it like 100% stories, not like I was listening to. It’s not about helping younger one is not about here is the challenge. I would make 100% about a story about how you yourself that you became an introvert or how you help that entrepreneur. Just because it’s TEDx. Any question before I move to the next one? No, again, this is similar. Any question? Okay, perfect. This is similar to the three previous one.
You don’t want to say I’m doing summary shares. And I would like your perspective on it, because it feel like the reason accept connection request button. And once I did it, you’re going to send me 20 questions. And it’s going to take me two hours to answer those 20 questions. Now, if you said I am Forbes magazine, and as part of Forbes magazine, we’re writing an article that is going to go to 100,000 people. And we would like your perspective on productivity overload. Of course, he’s going to say yes, because you are forebears right.
But when you’re a single entrepreneur, yeah. Keep it simple. I will just say I just want thank you very much for recommended getting things done as a book. It helped me a lot. I just wanted to say thank you. And if there is any way I could return the favour, let me know. Keep it simple. Okay, so now let’s look at To the podcast
sarah sal 20:08
I would start with a thank you, I would start with a thank you. I mean, people love the thank you right? I would shorten this, but I would just say thank you. I’m a fan of your podcast, I just wanted to say thank you, you really don’t know how your tips helped me with my budget? And if there is there any way I could return the favour, let me know. And let me go here
sarah sal 20:51
Now, imagine you listen to the podcast. Okay, how is your experience different from all the other? So I give you an example. I often pitch podcasts that talk about advertisement and Facebook ads and LinkedIn ads, right? If they already interviewed 100 person who talk about Facebook ads, right? If I come and I say I could talk about Facebook ads, they say we already interviewed somebody else. We already cover the topic. We don’t need it. Right?
So I tell them among the five people you interviewed about Facebook and not you didn’t talk about the power of copyright, and you didn’t talk about the power of the Facebook ad copy. And in my experience, this is the difference it could make. Or or or let’s say I’m pitching a copywriting podcast. And they have talked about email copywriting sale page, cold pitching cold email, landing page, and they had no one talking about advertisement copy, then I would say Bye the way I noticed you didn’t talk about ad copy.
And it’s a part of copywriting where you could get amazing results here is my results. Right? So what you want to do, it’s okay, I don’t know the name of the podcasts. Okay, understand, okay, this is the name of the episode not etc. But if they have like 50 episodes, you want to look what they talked about what they did not talk about and tell them how you are different. What do you make different? Because if you say my Paul’s got a lot of comment about money, Yeah, but how is that post different of everything they talked about? So you need to differentiate yourself right. Any question before I moved to the last one? Okay, no questions. Now, I am looking at Matthew’s work
sarah sal 23:23
this one is too long. LinkedIn connection request is a maximum of 300 characters. So if I go to tools here, word counts, you’re right 830 It’s almost three time longer, you wouldn’t be able to send that on LinkedIn. Because LinkedIn is maximum 300 character
sarah sal 23:59
so I would choose either this one or this one. And like the other comment I made for other people say thank you very much for that article. And the other thing Sure, sure, sure, you can send that you can send the link here.
Yeah, you can send the link here and the person on the percent is there something you would just thank them I mean, okay, connection requests is short. So I would think I would not say prove that you listen to them, but I would thank them here
sarah sal 24:57
so, this look like A pitch right? Often creators promise to make things complex. What is something about if you let’s say you listen to multiple episodes about Casey, what is one thing Casey have said? That if you wrote it in the page, she’s 100% Sure you’re a listener of her podcast. Okay. So if Casey said, since I moved from Utah to Vancouver, I go hiking more often right? Then you could start with on it was an axe. I listen, you love hiking, by the way, I love hiking while listening to your podcast.
Or, Hey, I in sorry, losing my voice. I see. You love hiking more since you’re in Vancouver. Your Podcast helped me with hiking because I’m, I’m hiking for longer distances, because I cannot stop listening to one episode after another. Right? That’s like proving you listened to her? Now, think from the point of view of case you what is the value of bringing you in life? So whenever we say something, we need to stop and say what is the value for them? Because human brain is lazy.
And if they get 100 emails per day, they’re not going to stop, highlight this and think for five minutes. What is the value? If they don’t get the value for one second? Well, just in your head. So you need to spell out the value? Is it possible that Casey, if you look at her article podcasts in the past, she talked about people from less privileged part of the world and say it’s our job to help them right, then you could bring that in, let’s say in an epic.
Let’s say in an episode nine month ago, she said something about how blockchain is helping people not only in the US and Europe, but people in the less privileged part of the world. They remind her of that, right? And then you say, by the way, what you said is really important. And I’m the perfect example. As a matter of fact, Blockchain is how I got my job that I would never have gotten before. And that job paid three times more than the minimum wage where I am.
And then you say, Hey, would my and then you tell them why your story is of value to their audience? If if, if now, she never talked about equity or helping people in other parts of the world, you need to think about the benefits. I mean, I’m not familiar with Blockchain. But you would, you would need to think what is the value for her audience? Right. Let me make up the example. Let me make up an example. In the US, if you’re in the East Coast, West Coast is where you have most of the job. Most of the job aren’t either in finance in New York or in technology.
In the West Coast, which would be San Francisco, then you have Hollywood and everything in the middle. They’re really struggling, the economy is horrible. There is no manufacturing job if you’re in the middle of the United States. So it’s basically you have job in one part of the east of the country, one part of the West and then nothing. And then you can say, You know what, I’m gonna have a good job. You don’t need to move to New York, you don’t need to move to Vancouver, you don’t need to move to Los Angeles where the rent is $3,000.
As a matter of fact, you could live in Salt Lake City where all the factory have gone bankrupt and unemployment is really high, and still build your life and have a good job thanks to blockchain without paying $2,000 per month right? Now, this is benefit to their audience. But whenever you write something, you need to think about what’s the benefit for their audience. Any question before I move to the last one? Okay, cool. So now I’m looking at the last one. It’s here. I’m just reacting her real life because As I haven’t read it before
sarah sal 30:06
let’s see how many character is here
sarah sal 30:25
let’s do long you need to make it shorter to 300 character
sarah sal 30:58
I would say, I became a big fan of your work since your webinars are two years ago, I mean two years ago, you could put it as a number just to make it shorter. You could remove Hi, Alan just to see if you could make it shorter. Or since your webinar with Atlantis live on, actually you don’t even need to say two years ago. I mean, since your webinar with that client. I mean, if you say since your webinar with Atlantis, you don’t need to say the one you did with you don’t need to say you two years ago, you make it shorter since your webinar with Atlantis on throwing SMS into the marketing mix. I became a big fan of your work. Then I would say I learned so much great deal from your paws, including how you grow our shimmy works to where it’s it’s today.
You don’t need to say it’s a big lesson on resilience. Because on LinkedIn, you don’t have a lot of space, then you say I really don’t want to stop. I’m sending a connection request because I want to see more of your post. Or I really don’t want it to stop. I’m sending a connection request. So LinkedIn will show me even more of your posts. Yeah, so think about how you could shorten it to 300. Maybe not start with Hi, your name is on your profile. Since so this is shorter. Since then, we’ve been Are you did with Alif not the one not two years ago. Up to here, I became a big fan. It made me reach out to you. That’s obviously I need to say it. I learned a lot a great deal from your post here.
I don’t want it to stop someone sending connection requests because I want to see more of your post. And then you could say I really love how you grew as you meet your ex today. Okay, that’s good. That’s good. That’s good. That’s good one. I would start with this one. And then I would say something. I’m a student learning how to use email to help businesses increase revenues. And I’m only doing it in exchange of the case study. By the way we’re having as teacher some of the best copywriter like Sarah Sal, who helped company like strategize.
I mean, if if let me I’ll send you the link to where there is my bio here and you would want to click on that right now before the end of the call because zoom delete everything. So you would start with okay, I listened to your YouTube about the mindset this is exactly what a top copywriting expert is teaching us that to do slow email. And we’re ask that for in exchange of a case study will help somebody email generate more revenue and then became paragraph we’re not asking you for any money. We’re just doing it for the case study. And then you say don’t worry, our teacher Sarah Sol, who helped company like strategize er via the power of copy make a $10 for each $1 they spent on ad or help strategize or via the power of Good copy, increase the revenue 36.
Or let’s put it like that how to come means like shizer get 36x more revenue from their used copy, I’m not going to say if it’s ads, email, etc, it’s just the copyright, because he wouldn’t know who I am, he would have zero idea who I am. So I would start with this one. And then I would say this is exactly what one of the top copywriter are teaching us with email. And she asked me to get a case study. I’m not asking you for anything, I’m doing it for free just for the case study.
And then you could have what they just wrote in the text, like, by the way, she’s very well known and she helped company like strategize or get the result that Ada because you cannot say Yes, that one he he would not know who I am. And I wouldn’t say other you decide to go with it, or no, it’s fine. I just, I would phrase it differently. I would say I wouldn’t even thank for your time what I would say whether we work together or not, I wish you the best of luck with your business.
I just wanted to reach out as I love your work. Because when you say reach out to you anyway. It looked like yeah, I just wanted to reach out to anyone. So I would just I will not say thank you for your time. I will not say either you decide or not. That’s fine. I will say whether we work together or not. I want you I wish you the best of luck with your business. And I really love what you’re doing and then that’s it. Any questions or any questions in general?
sarah sal 37:22
If no question, I would transform the call into a video and I will upload the video sometime like half an hour okay. It seemed like there are no questions okay. Next week, we’re going to talk about email marketing. And then the week after it we’re going to talk about landing pages. And then I still need to decide okay Okay, take care of one Bye
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