How to *Properly* Reach Out to Thought Leaders: 4 Important Principles

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

Following the insightful interview I had with Seth Godin (The New Resume, Dancing with the Fear of Innovation and Nike’s Brand: Special Interview with Seth Godin) and after I shared my personal experience of giving my students an academic assignment of contacting thought and industry leaders, I decided to share four principles that I keep in my mind (and practiced with my students) when I try to approach VIPs online.

Yes, even if they seem very far, unreachable and we do not know them personally, there is a proper and respectful way to reach them.

Important note 1: These principles helped my students land a contact with top seniors in fields such as: marketing, army, government and communication. You can read more about it here: “This Academic Assignment Got My Student a Meeting with Coca-Cola’s Marketing VP”

Important note 2: The following principles are what we might consider as common-sense (“nothing new here”). However, I keep seeing people who just don’t pay attention to this common-sense thinking, so I guess this approach is not always that common…

Ok, without further ado — here are the four principles for approaching thought and industry leaders the right way:

1. Personal, short and respectful — It is most likely that well-known and successful people are also super busy. Therefore, a message that is too long will be ignored, if only because of the effort and time required to read this long message.

In addition to being short, the approach must be respectful, accommodating and personal. I, as a person who has received an invitation or a message from someone I don’t know, must see that this message is addressed to me personally, and it is not a copy-paste invitation that many people are currently receiving.

How do you do that? You can specify an article, an achievement or anything that is exclusively (and professionally) related to your VIP recipient. And for that, and here’s the important point, you really need to know and really understand who you are trying to contact.

Networking (thought leaders or not) is about respect and integrity, never forget that.

2. Using a non-personal platform — It is highly recommended not to try and contact people on personal online platforms. Well, there is no accurate definition of what a “personal platform” is, but any platform you use based on your phone number can be considered more personal.

Therefore, sending a WhatsApp message, or just calling a person who does not know you might badly hurt your chances to receive a positive response (unless you received the number with the approval of a common friend, and you explain that).

The more appropriate online platforms for this kind of outreach can be, for example, LinkedIn (DM), Twitter (DM) or email.

3. No typos — This is not a catastrophe, but people can, sometimes, disqualify attempts to contact them because of typos, so it’s worth making sure your text has none.

Also, you MUST verify that you are not typing the name of the recipient wrong.

My name (Morad) is not a common name in Israel, so when someone approaches me with “Morag” or “Moran”, he or she will have a very low chance to get an answer back. Not because of my ego (well, maybe a little) but, mostly because they did not do the minimum and wrote my name right, so why should I bother? Even more common names like Karin or Natalie, can be spelled as Kareen or Nataly. It is very important to check and be accurate here.

4. Value, value, value — after we have made sure that our request is short, respectful, personal, without errors and through a platform that is not perceived as personal, the main part has arrived — the value, or “what’s in it for me?”.

We keep asking ourselves this very question, during our day with many of the things we are doing ourselves (without even noticing). When it comes to very busy and very successful people, this question even becomes more complex and more difficult to properly answer it.

You must understand what value you offer in your approach to that person, and express it clearly and accurately. It can play on ego and publicity, and it can also be aimed for a good cause that you know your recipient is into. Either way the win-win situation must be prominent and clear.

I hope you liked this article. As I said, even if your role model seems far and unreachable - there is a proper and respectful way to reach him or her. Do not hesitate. Sometimes, being a top thought leader or a VIP puts you in a very lonely place to be.

Please share with me more of your principals of networking and contacting and Feel free to contact me on LinkedIn or Twitter

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