[Nfbk] Getting V I Ps To Respond To Your Emails

[Kevin Pearl]

6 Steps That Get Big Shots to
Answer Your Email
by Pace Smith:

You need to get the attention of a powerful internet marketer, A-list
blogger, or busy CEO.
Maybe you’ve got a brilliant idea for a joint venture that would make you
both scads of money.

Or maybe you just wrote a brilliant guest post that a certain top blogger’s
audience will love.

Whoever it is, you’re convinced you’ve got a win for this person.

Unfortunately, the big shot you’re pitching won’t answer your emails.

It’s not because she’s evil, honest. She’s just got a lot of other pitches
in her mailbox, and there’s no way to give all of them her full attention.

Your mission is to get yours to the top of her list. Here’s how.

So how do you get prominent people to pay attention to you?
Obviously, the most sure-fire way is to know the hotshot personally. If you
didn’t happen to go to grade school with your famous person of choice, you
can still make a connection.

You can go a long way just by being consistently sincere and helpful to her
and her friends. Social media tools come in handy here.

That takes time, though. When you don’t have time, follow these six steps
instead.

1. Open with compelling subject line
Your reader likely gets hundreds of emails each day. Make yours stand out —
not with all caps or lots of exclamation points, but by condensing the best
points of your offer to create a sense of urgency.

WEAK:

  An invitation for you

STRONG:

  Paid speaking opportunity, no travel required (deadline approaching)



  2. Introduce yourself in one sentence
  Your reader doesn’t care about you (yet). Don’t blather on and on about
your accomplishments or your history.

  Introduce yourself in one sentence. Include a link to your site, so if
your hotshot wants to know more, she can investigate.

  3. Do your homework
  What sorts of offers has this person accepted in the past? What kinds of
propositions is she interested in, and what sorts of incentives does she
need to say yes?

  If you find that your big shot agreed to a $6000 fee for a three-day
conference, offering $2000 for 90 minutes of her time on the phone makes for
an irresistible offer.

  4. Keep it short
  State your offer clearly in one paragraph.

  Not a long run-on paragraph either. Six sentences, tops.

  5. Be bold, not precise
  Your goal for this email is to get this person interested. Too much detail
at this point wastes your reader’s time and attention. (But do include the
one or two details that will capture that attention.)

    You’ll get 51% of the registration fees from the people who click on
your affiliate link, unless they click on someone else’s affiliate link
after they click on yours, or unless they clear their cookies or buy from a
different computer or switch browsers. Or unless the cookie volcano erupts.

  Way too complicated. Instead, stick with:

    You’ll get 51% of the profits from everyone you refer ($212 per sale).

  Keep it bold and simple.

  6. Don’t squee all over your shoes.
  Acting like a rabid fan won’t win you any points; it will get your
proposal taken a lot less seriously.

  Don’t go on and on about how you’ve read all this person’s books and that
you stood in line for hours at a convention once to meet her and does she by
any chance remember the woman with the mauve hair carrying a bunch of
asparagus because that was you.

  Act like a peer with a good proposal, and you’ll find you’ll get replied
to like one.

  It’s fine to mention that you like the person’s work. But too much gushing
and your email is going to wind up with all the other fan mail — not in the
“A” folder of messages that need a quick response.

  No one can guarantee you’ll capture that busy big shot’s attention. But
follow these six steps and you’ll stack the odds in your favor.

  About the Author: Pace Smith is the co-leader of the Freak Revolution, a
bunch of weirdos who do awesome stuff. Her latest project is the
World-Changing Writing Workshop, featuring six famous writers who replied to
her email.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20100526/0f195b59/attachment.html>