Stop pretending you “did your homework.” Intent beats shallow personalization, every time. I’m sure we’ve all seen those emails that start with, “I saw you love basketball, thought it’d make sense to connect” or “Noticed you went to XYZ university, let’s catch up.” Let me be honest — people don’t have time for that anymore. Just today, I received one of these "personalized" emails. It seemed like the person had done their homework, made it feel like they were genuinely interested in me as a potential client. But in the end, it was just a pitch — trying to sell me something without addressing my needs. 🚫 Here’s the problem: Personalization without intent is just noise. If you want to break through the noise, it’s not enough to mention you saw my post, or we went to the same college. Sure, it’s nice, but it doesn’t address the pain or show that you understand my challenges. Here’s what really works: Be direct. Point out the pain. Address their intentions. Personalization is just one piece of the puzzle — the real key is being relevant to the problem your prospect is facing. Intent-driven messaging beats generic personalization every single time. So next time, skip the fluff. Get to the point. Show you understand why you’re reaching out and what you can Anyone else tired of those basketball anecdotes in their inbox? 🏀 Drop a comment below if you agree!