The Anti-ChatGPT Sales Approach: Why Personalization Still Wins

In an era where AI-generated emails flood inboxes and ChatGPT-powered outreach has become the norm, one sales professional is bucking the trend with remarkable results. Tim Johnson, Head of Brand Partnerships at Blossom Social and former Head of Brand Partnerships at Wattpad (acquired for $753 million), has achieved something most salespeople can only dream of: an 80% response rate to his outbound emails.

On the latest episode of the Levels Podcast, Tim shared his contrarian approach to B2B sales that prioritizes human connection over automation, quality over quantity, and genuine relationship building over transactional interactions.

The Problem with AI-Powered Outreach

Tim's frustration with the current state of sales outreach is palpable. As someone who receives dozens of B2B emails daily, he's witnessed firsthand how AI has degraded the quality of business communication.

"I get outreach every single day by B2B folks. I had two which were customized. One was from Datadog and one was from TikTok. So of the outreach that I got, two were actually personalized to me and what I was doing. The rest were written by ChatGPT. And if you think that we can't tell, ChatGpt wrote your outreach email, then you're wrong. It's just so obvious, right?"

The tell-tale signs are everywhere: generic weather references, obvious template language, and a complete lack of understanding about the recipient's actual business or challenges. Tim describes the typical AI-generated approach:

"Like you can't even spend the time. You can only spend like one minute to actually see who I am. Why would I spend one minute in responding to you? No."

The Power of Genuine Personalization

What made those two successful outreach attempts stand out? They demonstrated actual research and provided real value. Datadog's email addressed Tim's specific business problems, while TikTok took a different but equally effective approach.

"TikTok invited me to a dinner to meet interesting creators in my vertical and meet other app founders. Are you fucking kidding me? You bet I'm going to that dinner, right? I wanna meet interesting creators, I meet app founders, like down straight, this is amazing."

This example illustrates a crucial principle: instead of pushing your message out, focus on attracting prospects to you by offering genuine value. The TikTok invitation wasn't just personalized—it was irresistible because it solved multiple problems for Tim simultaneously.

The Stag Hunt vs. Squirrel Hunt Philosophy

Tim's approach to sales is built around what he calls "stag hunting versus squirrel hunting"—a metaphor that fundamentally changes how you think about prospecting and client relationships.

"I think a stag hunt versus a squirrel hunt feels like a very, very different thing. With a stag hunt, you're organized, you are focused, you know what you're looking at. You're looking at this big creature that's gonna feed you for a long, long time, right? And it's a very, very deliberate process going towards working with that partner. Versus a squirrel, you're sort of like chasing after it, expending a bunch of energy, and then it's not gonna last long term anyway."

This philosophy drives Tim to focus on high-value prospects who meet specific criteria:

• They have a repeating budget
• They're consistently looking for your audience
• They have a realistic timeframe for decision-making
• They can integrate technically with your solution
• Success metrics can be clearly defined and agreed upon

Building Relationships, Not Closing Deals

Perhaps most importantly, Tim rejects the traditional "closing" mentality that dominates sales training. His approach is more collaborative and relationship-focused.

"I wouldn't say that there's any like maybe the stag analogy like isn't good for the going in for the kill because there's this pressure in like sales of like closing... That's definitely not the way that I do sales because there's no big close. There's no like big reveal where you put this big price on and like you try and trap them into it somehow."

Instead, he uses an analogy of gradually building trust: "It's like a very ongoing process. I guess it's more like you have like this food and you're putting like the food towards the stag and the stag is coming towards you and then you're like putting like, can I put like a harness on you? And they're like, yeah, okay, you can put a harness. Okay, cool. Can I put this saddle on you? Is that okay?"

The Event-Based Relationship Strategy

One of Tim's most effective tactics involves hosting carefully curated events that bring prospects into his orbit naturally. Rather than cold outreach, he creates opportunities for meaningful connections.

"It's just as simple. It's a dinner or it's a small client event. I've got a nice bar, come, grab some cocktails and learn something and meet some people. It's a nice little mix of all three. See what your competitors are doing. You do that and you invite this person."

These events work because they address different personality types simultaneously: detail-oriented people are attracted by insights, socialites by networking opportunities, and competitive individuals by seeing what others in their space are doing.

Quality Over Quantity: The Four-Hour Video Principle

Tim draws inspiration from creator McKenna Murphy, who spends four hours creating a one-minute video. When questioned about this seemingly inefficient approach, Murphy explained: "I noticed if I spent four hours on my one minute video, it was more likely to get a million views. And if I spent less than four hours, then it would get between like 10K and 20K. So there's an outsize return on me spending longer on it."

This principle applies directly to sales outreach. The extra time invested in genuine personalization and relationship building yields dramatically better results than mass, generic outreach.

The Human Element in a Digital World

Tim's success ultimately comes down to treating prospects like human beings rather than entries in a CRM system. He emphasizes being "this fully fleshed out person that is interested in the space and has expertise" rather than "this one person that does one tool-like thing."

The key is becoming a valuable resource for your prospects—sharing industry insights, making introductions, and genuinely helping them succeed, whether or not they become customers.

Since joining Blossom, Tim has brought in around $2 million for the seed-stage company using these relationship-focused methods, proving that in an age of AI automation, the human touch remains irreplaceably valuable.

Key Takeaways

• Personalization beats automation: Even a few minutes of genuine research outperforms AI-generated templates
• Focus on "stag hunting": Target fewer, higher-value prospects for long-term relationships
• Create value before asking for it: Host events, share insights, make introductions
• Build relationships, don't close deals: Think partnership, not transaction
• Quality over quantity: Better to send 10 thoughtful emails than 1000 generic ones
• Be a resource, not a vendor: Establish expertise and provide ongoing value to your network

Ready to learn more strategies for scaling your consumer app? Listen to the full conversation with Tim Johnson on the Levels Podcast.