Why Give a Damn:<\/h3>\n
Emails are how we communicate with each other in this day and age. Writing them well can be the difference between successfully building a relationship and not. This post includes example emails for how to get meetings, ask for introductions to investors, say no gracefully, and more!<\/em><\/p>\n The author of this post, Teju Ravilochan<\/a>, is co-founder and CEO of the Unreasonable Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n When emailing, we do things that we\u2019d never do in real life.<\/i> \u00a0Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Emails are strangely awkward. They give us the ability to start a conversation with anyone in the world, without the social cues of an in-person interaction. So we do things that we\u2019d never do in real life via email. Can you imagine walking up to someone at a dinner party, handing them a large document and saying, \u201cHey Steve, it\u2019s great to meet you! I\u2019ve heard a lot about you and was wondering if you\u2019d give me feedback on my business plan?\u201d And yet, I get emails like this. A lot of people get emails like this.<\/p>\n So this post is dedicated to effectively writing what I believe are seven of the most important relationship-building emails. I\u2019ve assembled articles and examples for each of the emails below and hope this helps you to start the critical relationships you need to produce extraordinary results!<\/p>\n 1. How to get busy people to respond to your emails.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Want to get in touch with Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google? Adam Grant<\/a>, New York Times best-selling author of Give and Take<\/i> (which is one of my favorite business books of all time, by the way), lays out six key steps for getting important people to respond to your emails in this post. He includes a story of how a Princeton undergrad sent an email that got a response from then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt! This is a great post!<\/p>\n 2. How to ask for an introduction.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n This post from Scott Britton<\/a>, whose company SinglePlatform, exited for $100 million, includes analysis of an email requesting an introduction. Critical elements include:<\/p>\n Another Great Example:<\/b><\/i> Tim Ferriss<\/a> offers this exceptional example<\/a> of how someone reached out to him asking for connections to angel investors.<\/p>\n 3. How to make an introduction between two people.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman and two-time author and entrepreneur Ben Casnocha explain that there are three ways to introduce people over email. The very best of the three involves:<\/p>\n This might be more work than putting two people\u2019s email addresses in the CC field and saying, \u201cJason and Brad, consider yourselves connected!\u201d But it is far more effective in ensuring your true outcome: that the two people you are introducing meaningfully connect and build a mutually productive relationship.<\/p>\n 4. How to ask for feedback.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Techstars Founder David Cohen<\/a> receives 50 cold email requests for feedback each day. In the post above, he explains why the featured email brilliantly won his attention and earned thoughtful feedback from him. The core elements include:<\/p>\n Read the post to see how it\u2019s done concretely!<\/p>\n 5. How to ask for a meeting.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Scott Britton\u2019s elements of a good meeting request include:<\/p>\n Are you noticing some patterns here? A little thoughtfulness goes a long way in getting people to say yes to your requests. Read the post to see an example!<\/p>\n 6. How to be politely persistent in getting someone to write you back.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n I assume that people I reach out to cold (and even people I get introduced to) won\u2019t respond to my first email. It often takes 2-3 emails to hear back from them. Impact Hub Boulder Co-Founder Greg Berry<\/a> taught me the best technique I\u2019ve come across for getting responses for folks who haven\u2019t emailed me back. It involves sending them an email about a week later saying,<\/p>\n The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say \u2018no\u2019 to almost everything.<\/i> \u00a0Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019ve written hundreds of these kinds of emails and received only one<\/b> clearly negative response (which said, \u201cStop it. You\u2019re annoying me\u201d). Interestingly, that was the one email where I left out the phrase \u201cfriendly nudge\u201d and didn\u2019t ask them to \u201cforgive me for emailing again.\u201d But in other cases, I secured a funder for $1 million (which took several emails over the course of 6 months), and the New York Times best-selling author Chip Heath to serve as a mentor at Unreasonable Institute (which took over a fifteen emails over the course of four years).<\/p>\n 7. How to say no gracefully.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n In the words of Warren Buffet, \u201cThe difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say \u2018no\u2019 to almost everything.\u201d Odds are that tons of opportunities are flying your way: invitations to speak at conferences, requests for advice, suggestions to open operations in new locations. You might be excited by many of these, but when some come along that you\u2019re not interested in, here are two examples of how to say no.<\/p>\n The first is a humorous example from author E.B. White, which I found in this blog post<\/a> by Greg McKeown<\/a>. It reads:<\/p>\n I must decline, for secret reasons.<\/p>\n Sincerely, The second example comes from an email I recently sent:<\/p>\n If there\u2019s something quick I can help you with or if you have a specific question, do send me an email about it and I\u2019ll be happy to get back to you!<\/p>\n My best, Master these seven emailing skills and I submit that you will produce remarkable results for your work!<\/i> \u00a0Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In Conclusion:<\/b> Conclusion: Knowing how to make asks via email, particularly in being considerate to the people you are reaching out to, will go a long way in helping you build the relationships you\u2019re looking to build. And the good news is that you can start practicing right away<\/i> with everyone you email! If you would like, feel free to send me a practice email anytime at teju@unreasonableinstitute.org. http:\/\/unreasonable.is\/skills\/the-7-emails-you-need-to-know-how-to-write\/ The 7 Emails You Need to Know How to Write 8 months ago by Teju Ravilochan 0 Comments Why Give a Damn: Emails are how we communicate with each other in this day and age. Writing them well can be the difference between successfully building a relationship and not. This post includes example emails … Continue reading 7 Emails You Need to Know How to Write<\/span>
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\nE.B. White\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nTeju<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nHappy emailing!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"