Get Busy People to Spare Some Time by Making Your Commitments Small

When you're emailing or trying to set up a meeting with someone you know is busy, make it as easy as possible for them to say yes. Ensure that time investment on their end is small, and the potential rewards that they can reap are great.

Here's how attorney John Corcoran emailed Appsumo founder Noah Kagan and successfully set up an interview:

I said the interview would take only 5-7 minutes of his time. If you're asking for something, you want to make the commitment so small and the benefit so great, they can't possibly pass it up. I think Noah probably realized it was likely the interview would run longer than 5-7 minutes, but it's good to demonstrate your willingness to keep the time demand commitment short out of respect for your recipient's time. And in fact, when I did interview Noah, I offered multiple times to cut off the interview but he allowed it to go longer.

Although Kagan was nice enough to continue the interview past the allotted time, you shouldn't expect that. When time is up, prompt the other person out of courtesy. They probably won't say no if the meeting or task isn't complete, or if the conversation is going smoothly, but you can show that you respect their time.

How to Connect with VIPs: 5 Tips for Cold Emails | Okdork via 99u

Photo by Dru Bloomfield .

from Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/get-busy-people-to-spare-some-time-by-making-your-commi-1675377887

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