Raphael The Holy Family painting

Raphael The Holy Family paintingWilliam Bouguereau The Broken Pitcher paintingWilliam Bouguereau Love Takes Flight painting
Never invest less in an interaction than the other person. If you want something, commit the time. Sending a bulk email to 100 recipients is easy, and that’s exactly why most people ignore them. Handwritten notes, personal calls and emails you write individually all show you care about the interaction and not just the success percentage.
No means no. While no response doesn’t mean you should give up, always allow the option of a clear no. I suspect most people wouldn’t care as much about spam if the “Unsubscribe” links actually worked. When fundraising, I would be persistent in my calls, but I backed off as soon as I had an unambiguous answer.
Provide an exit. Don’t corner people. Give them a polite, socially acceptable option of refusal. Some marketers and salespeople twist the social norms to make it difficult to get out of an interaction. Success coerced isn’t success at all.