Some of you probably know that I’m a big fan of Guy Kawasaki, one of the rock star of startup world and former Apple evangelist. I’ve spent part of my holidays this Summer reading his book ”Enchantment”.
This is again a goldmine to help you in your startup journey. In this book, you’ll learn a lot about how to motivate people to join your cause, or evangelize your cause. But there are also a plenty of tips and tricks you can use directly.
One of them is how to contact people you don’t know, technically named “cold call” or “cold email”. I’ll mention here the last one. Guy advises to be highly effective when you’re contacting someone who doesn’t know you, if you’d like to get a response.
In 5-6 sentences, you can do it and hope to have an answer. But (try to) follow this guideline:
- WHY you’re contacting the person;
- WHO you are;
- WHAT your cause is:
- WHAT you want (from the person);
- WHY the recipient should help you;
- And finally, WHAT the next step is.
It looks simple and stupid (and it is), but it is really, really effective. For instance, I’ve tried this guideline with Guy himself in August. I was trying to meet and interview him alongside to the conference Swiss Energy and Climate Summit, which took place in Bern mid-September. As Guy is an Ice Hockey fan (therefore, we have more than startup as a common passion!), I’ve invited him to attend the first game of SC Bern at home.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work for him (he had a crazy schedule) but, he answered me. In less than 5 days. For someone so famous and so demanded, I can only admire it… When you think about how many messages you never get an answer (and that’s often from colleagues or friends you know HAVE time to handle them), that’s just… impressive.
But no more additional blabla. Buy the book and learn how to evangelize your cause. You won’t regret it.