Every time I cross a milestone on LinkedIn - like a work anniversary or a new business - my inbox gets flooded with tons of congratulations emails.
The problem is, they're all exactly the same.
While it's nice that these people took a second to click "congrats" in their connection opportunity feed, it doesn't really make an impession on me - they all flood together because they're all the same. I don't feel any more connected to these people on the day they send these messages than I did the day before.
This is where I'd like to urge you to do something different - and it only takes five minutes.
In the first message box that you're clicking congrats to, write a heartfelt note that's personal enough to make an impression, but also generic enough to be sent to others. Once you're done, copy your text, and send the note.
Then proceed to go down the line. Paste in your unique message, taking a few seconds to include their name or a personal sentence about them.
Sure, you are pasting in a message, but it's a different message from what others are doing, and that can make all the difference. Plus, if you just take five minutes every week to repeat your task, you're continuously writing unique messages and only spending a few minutes more.
I guarantee it'll make you stand out, heads and tails, above your peers and really will make people remember what you have to say. This can go a long way towards improving your relationships in the long run with all of your LinkedIn connections.
This post originally appeared on the MoxieDot blog.