We sent the same short, polite connection template to about 500 prospects over two weeks. Acceptance rate stayed under 15 percent and replies were almost zero. A colleague later showed me his inbox and my message looked identical to dozens of other pitches he had received.

Sending the exact same note to everyone clearly gives the reader nothing personal. For those of you running outreach through your CRM or sales sequences, what changed your acceptance and reply rates once you stopped using one generic template?