I get invitations to collaborate, or promote things in my inbox all the time. Most I just delete, or reply to very briefly. However, there are some that actually engage me.
I honor all (well, most) of the invites. It takes vulnerability to reach out like that. And it can be a really powerful way to help your business reach new audiences, and to expand and develop in different ways is to make new relationships with folks.
However… however… there are polite ways to do it. And ways that are… less… polite that will get your invites trashed. And the impolite ways don’t always seem impolite until you really think about it, seeing it from the receiver’s point of view.
So let me explain.
There are, of course, the outright “Hey, I’ve got the most amazing thing, and you’ll be a fool if you don’t jump in this with me!” Thanks for insulting me! Delete.
However, let me save you time and zoom in those invites that can *seem* polite but actually aren’t helpful.
They read something like this:
“Hi there,
“I have an idea I’m excited about, and wanted to connect with you. Can we get on a call so I can explain it? I think it might be something really good for you.”
Now, there are *elements* of politeness in this request. It’s not insulting me, it’s asking and not demanding. If I take them at a face value, they seem to have my interests at heart.
What is NOT polite about this is that it requires me to get on a call to even hear what the idea is, to evaluate it.
The simple message here is that if you are pitching someone an idea, give them a really concise idea of what it is, so they can evaluate whether they want to hear more.
The other side of impolite is to send a huge message with a lot of information that I need to take in to even understand what is being asked.
Here’s a polite invite:
“Hey there, Mark,
“I’ve been following your work for awhile, and it touches my heart. An idea occurred to me that I thought you might be interested in, too.
“Very briefly: I have an approach to doing “X” which I don’t think you already work with directly. I was wondering about doing a webinar with you on this topic, or maybe easier, giving you an article to share with your audience.
“Here’s a link if you want to see what I’m talking about. If you’re interested, maybe it would be good to schedule a call to discuss?”
Concise, to the point, I can tell immediately whether it’s something I want more information or not.
Even better, is to give an idea of timeline.
“My timeline is really open, so i can be flexible with your schedule, ideally sometime in the next 1-4 months?”
or, if it’s not flexible. “I have a schedule I’m working with, and I’m hoping this would work for you sometime in April. If April doesn’t work, maybe in the fall sometime?”
The key point here is to give me the information I need as a potential collaborator, to see if it’s even possible.
It had become so difficult to get clear answers from people inviting us, that we created a whole form that we required people to fill out before we would consider their requests. You can see that form here. https://heartofbusiness.com/contact-us/project-invitation/
If you craft invitational emails, you can’t go wrong if you hit most of the points in that form as briefly as possible.
Collaborations can be SO powerful. I really hope this inspires you to be thoughtful and effective in reaching out to appropriate collaborators.
with love and gratitude,
Mark silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
Need help with making lots of little things in your business work?
Often it’s not HUGE things in your business. But small things, like inviting someone to collaborate or help promote with you.
But there are so many small things… and, big things, too. And you don’t even know often until you run into them.
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