Award Recognition Many Names Single Page: Fill & Download for Free

Lots of things, and I would have great difficulty in putting them into discrete adjectives.So instead, here's a story, back from when I was an undergraduate at BITS Pilani.In my second year, I approached a couple of Professors and a senior, to moot an idea about a Science and Tech newsletter for the Institute. At that time, each engineering department, cultural association, and activity club, would publish their own newsletter, usually once every semester. However, there was no overall Institute-wide publication, which did lead to a bit of fragmentation in the student body. Of course, everyone had internet access, and so actually informing people about in-depth issues in Sci & Tech was not the point. My idea was more along the lines of, a publication that would point out, "Hey! This is interesting!Have you looked at this?" - Something which the Quora Digest feature tries to do as well.Long story short, the powers that be thought this was a good idea and let me run with it. The first issue of Aurora, which I wrote had 800 copies printed on a single sheet of paper folded in half to make 2 pages. Its centre-spread contained the then developing story of the disaster at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant.In BITS, newsletters were simply left on tables at mess entrances for students to pick-up after dinner. I trudged around campus, stacking them up and when I had finished, I went to my room and promptly fell asleep.The next morning I woke to find my inbox inundated with messages of congratulations. Aside from a few academic achievements, this was probably the first time I had been recognized and applauded by my peers for a project I had concieved and executed. I don't think I stopped smiling for the next week.Ever since I received the message from Archie informing me of this accolade, I haven't stopped smiling either.Its an amazing and a humbling feeling at the same time, followed by something along the lines of, "Oops, now I'd better stop lazing around and actually start writing."Quora is probably the only community that I engage in so exhaustively. The sheer variety of quality content that is available here is quite overwhelming and exciting at the same time. Its BNBR policy makes interactions on it much more civil than the rest of the unfiltered sewage that floats about. But most importantly, its NOT a gated community. The barriers to entry are very very low. A decent human being with an internet connection. That's what makes me WANT to participate here. Going forward I do hope Quora retains this feature.About a year ago I started to transition from one of the 80% of Quorans who skim, to possibly one of the 20% who contribute, and this award's recognition of that fact tells me that I have at least been partially successful.Quora has also changed since its inception, with most of the changes being for the better. I have, as well. That makes Quora an inseparable part of my life.Many many thanks to the Quora team, Archie, and of course, the amazing Koyel Ranu | কোয়েল রানু .Fun fact. When I whatzzapped my mother, the blog post from QOTW, her first question was, "Is this MY son?" Followed a few minutes later by, "I guess you weren't going to be my baby boy forever. Congratulations, you've officially grown up."So yes Quora, in addition to everything else, Thank you, for finally making my mother admit (at least to me) that I am indeed an adult.

Honest answer warning!!This is one question that has been buzzing on social media after Sushant’s demise. People are going bonkers on top Bollywood producers abusing them and saying whatnot for supporting the star kids and saying that these top Bollywood producers should encourage talent.Nepotism is a strongly built foundation on which Bollywood rests on. Remove nepotism and it will collapse.First, let me start why these producers prefer launching star-kids compared to an outsider:Free publicity: Imagine Akshay Kumar’s son is debuting the next week in a movie. All channels will show programs about his actor, newspapers will run to him to take his interviews. Everybody from Shahrukh to Kareena will tweet about this movie and give it publicity. Now, if an outsider’s debut movie is releasing, no one will bother to cover him.A star-kid is managed well. They have gone to acting classes, dance classes, horse-riding training, they know how to handle the media, they can afford fashionable clothes, they have all the page 3 connections, etc. An outsider will know maybe one or two of these things. So, a producer needs to teach them all this, which in turn adds to his expenses.Guarantee: If Taimur’s debut film fails, Kareena will compensate the producer behind the scenes. The same will go on if Shahrukh’s children, Aamir’s children, Ajay’s children, or Akshay’s children. Hence, the chances of making losses for the producer on such a film are very less. If an outsider’s film fails, the producer has to bear all the losses.Are only producers to be blamed for not working with outsiders?Let me give you a few instances, which might help you understand.There is an actor named Vineet Singh. He is wonderful at acting and fights. He acted in supporting roles in a few movies, but he knew he was cut-out to be a lead actor. So, he approached many writers to write scripts for him. No one bothered. So he wrote a script on his own and approached Anurag Kashyap who directed that movie. It is a great movie and he earned some respect. Two years later, he is back to zero. Writers still won’t write scripts for him.The movie Tumbbad was made on a budget of fewer than 10 crores. That is equal to the budget of a Tiger Shroff’s fight scene. Because no one was ready to co-produce the movie, the lead actor who was also the producer, had to compromise on the budget of the movie.An actor who hardly has 3 expressions in his forté, Arjun Kapoor's latest film Panipat had a budget of approximately 100 crores. National Award-winning actor Rajkumar Rao’s movies are made on a budget of maybe 25 crores. The reason Panipat got a budget boost was that Sanjay Dutt was also a part of it. Will Sanjay act in a movie with Rajkumar in the lead?Deepika Padukone refused to work with a less-known actor like Vicky Kaushal in Padmaavat. He was later replaced by Shahid Kapoor.Star director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali cast debut actors Ranbir and Sonam in his movie Saawariyan. The movie also had Salman and Rani Mukherji doing cameos.Not even a single award show recognises these actors.So, the entire film industry is built around nepotism and built to support nepotism.And, if you had 100 crores in your hand, would you give it to your child or your neighbor’s child because your neighbor’s child is more talented?Similarly, a top producer will make movies with only his family and friends.With no producers producing their movie, no distributors releasing their movies, no casting directors ready to cast them, and no writers willing to collaborate with them, where will these outsiders go?So, the audience has a much smaller role to play in outsiders not being successful in Bollywood. If the audience doesn’t even know that an outsider’s movie is released, how will they watch it?We all rave about Tummbad and regret not watching it in theaters, but how many of us knew about it when it was in theaters?So, nepotism is to be blamed for outsiders not getting enough recognition, not the audience.

At a high level, when we’re talking about creating an effective message, there are 5 things that you need in every single cold outbound sales email:Find a reason to connectTell them why they should careBridge the gapGive a clear CTAWrite the subjectEdit and sendLet’s take a deeper look at each of these.1) Find a reason to connectGive your prospects a reason they should want to connect with you; a reason to care. You really have to get into the shoes of your prospects, and think how they think.This requires research. I always like to start with LinkedIn, as it’s the most up-to-date source for relevant business information on any prospect, then move to other tools across my sales stack. Cover all your bases, and check their Twitter, skim their blog, visit their AngelList page, etc.When finding a reason to connect, look for things like:A mutual friend or colleaguePoints of affinity, such as the same hometown, Alma Mater, interests, etc.Good blog post or content sharedRecent awards, recognition or achievementsTrigger events, such as funding announcements, new leadership, etc.General positive contribution to the communityThis section should be 1 or 2 sentences at the most.2) Tell them why they should care.What can you do for your prospect? Don’t waste your time or theirs. Clearly and concisely explain your value proposition. It’s going to be tough and will take tweaking, testing and wordsmithing different value propositions to get it right, but is tremendously powerful when you nail it.According to The Challenger Customer, there are now 5.4 decision makers in a complex b2b sales. This means you’ll likely have different value propositions for each different decision maker. Included in the decision could be the sales manager, the VP of sales, procurement, sales ops, marketing ops and the CRO. Each buyer persona will derive a different value for your product, so craft your value proposition accordingly. If you’re new to the sales value proposition or needs some help, I recommend checking out Jill Konraths Value Proposition Kit.Aim to accomplish this in 1 sentence.3) Bridge the gap.Now, you have to connect the reason you’re reaching out with telling them about your product or service. You’re going to insert this between the two sections to connect them. Since the two previous sections are distinctly different ideas, if you don’t insert this transition, there will be too large of a gap in ideas for the prospect, and the disconnect will turn them off.This could be as short as a few words, but no longer than one sentence.At this point, you should have a three things in your email: a reason to connect, a transition word or statement and a sentence about you or your product/service.4) Give a clear Call-To- Action (CTA).Don’t forget why you’re there in the first place.As a salesperson, your goal is not to have them look at a one-pager for your company. It’s not to build brand awareness. Your goal is to get a prospect talking with you, ideally on the phone. So ask them for a call. Don’t be shy. You’ll never get what you don’t ask for. Here’s how you do it: “Do you have 10-15 minutes on Monday or Tuesday morning to chat about how {{your company or service}} can help you?”Keep your CTA reasonable. Asking for 10 minutes of someone’s time is much more reasonable than asking for 45 minutes. Make the hurdle as low as you can. Lastly, there should only be one CTA per email. The bottom line is don’t make it hard for them to say yes — make it dead simple and easy.Your CTA should be another one sentence.5) Write the subject.It may seem counterintuitive to do this last, but the subject line is a reflection of the body content of the email, therefore should be written last. If you write the subject line first, you’re biasing the rest of the email and may conform it to that subject line. You risk overlooking more important and relevant information.Since the goal of the subject line is to get the recipient to open the email and read the first sentence, I like my subject lines to reflect step 1 — the reason I’m reaching out to connect. For example, if I’ve found a great blog post my recipient wrote and open the email with a reference and nod to that post, I might thank them in the subject line: “Thank you, {first name]!”Here’s a list of good words to use in your subject lines that are proven to help boost your open rates:TomorrowFreeAlertDailyUpdateFollow upIntro/IntroductionHere’s a list of words to avoid in your subject lines:FinalReminderSaleMeetingTemptingSpecialsComplimentaryHelpExcitingUniqueDiscountSolutionPartnerState of the art{{any other buzzword}}For more ideas and actual examples of subject lines that work, check out the PersistIQ Cold Email Generator.Keep your subject line to seven words or fewer.6) Edits and send.At this point, I like to step away from my email for a little bit and come back later with a fresh set of eyes. When I come back this is what I look for. Use it as a checklist before you hit send.☐ Is it personal? Emails that are obviously automated are immediately ignored, Remember,customization is NOT personalization.☐ Does it sound like a salesperson? People love to buy, but hate to be sold to. At any sign of being sold to, up go the defenses.☐ Does the entire email flow? One sentence should lead right into the next, and reading the email should be effortless. Also, write in a conversational tone.☐ Is it short, concise and to the point? After your first draft, cut it in ½. Then cut out another 20%. Remove extemporaneous words that don’t add to the message. Don’t use 15 words when 8 will do.☐ Does it offer value? This may seem obvious, but how many emails have you received that don’t offer any value?☐ Would I open it, read it and respond to it? Step into their shoes. Would you open the email? Would you feel compelled to respond?☐ Is it a truly thoughtful email with your prospect in mind? Use the word “you” more than “I.” Make it obvious that you took the time to research your prospect.You can get really creative with the content of the email, but if you use this general outline, you’ll be able to quickly and easily create effective cold outbound emails that work. You’ll see that most of the templates follow this relative structure. It’s because this works!Now, if you still want some plug-and-play templates, check out the free PersistIQ Cold Email Generator tool where you can find 40+ proven templates ready to go. You can even send yourself the plain text, then cut and paste into your favorite outbound sales platform, like PersistIQ.