Professor,My name is Patrick, I was in Professor Bob's capstone course where you came in and spoke to us about your book and your experiences in the business world. I graduated in May and have entered the Brand Licensing industry.
I noticed that you recently worked with Krusty Krab. I was hoping you could introduce me to Sandy Cheeks, the Sr Director of Global Licensing with the Krusty Krab. The agency I work with represents the Chum brand and I would love to speak with her regarding a partnership to have the authentic Chum brand to enter the premium crabby patty industry.
I appreciate any help or introduction you can make —
Thank you in advance.
Very best,
Patrick
Note: this was an actual email I received. The only modification is that all names have been changed. (If you are fan of a certain Cliona celata, you may be able to spot his influence in my daily life.)
Patrick, the email above would normally elicit the prompt use of the delete key. But I like you. You remind me of seafood stew — pleasant enough, but requiring some cooking time. In order to get you fully baked, here's some advice on how to fix your email:
Respect instead of disrespect. It's wonderful that you reminded me where we met. And because it was a teacher-student relationship, I'm certainly more inclined to help you out.
However, you don't go that extra step of saying what you remember from the class. And since you were supposed to have read my book, and you clearly Googled my career, it should not have been too hard to come up with something nice to say.
The point isn't just paying me a compliment, but also showing me that if I connect you with Sandy, you'll do your research and say something that will make your cold call more pleasant than aggressive.
Remember that you know nothing of my relationship to Sandy. Consider the following different scenarios: 1. Sandy was much more senior than me. 2. Sandy was much more junior than me. 3. I am best buds with Sandy. We worked together closely and our families go SCUBA diving off the Great Barrier Reef together. 4. My former company has 20,000 employees and I was so many divisions away from Sandy, I had no knowledge of either her or her department.
Actually, no surprise, it's #4. In order to get to her, I'll have to ask someone else a favor to even locate her department. The fact that you didn't say, "If you know her or someone who might know her," comes across as arrogant and pushy.
But regardless, you're asking me to ask someone to do something, which always has the potential to undermine the relationship. And as your email reads now, I'm inclined to think that's what will happen if I try to connect you.
Tell me what's in it for me — and Sandy. Your email makes clear there's something for you to gain. But what's in it for us? I used to work for this company. I correspond with folks there maybe once every few months. I save those relationships for a rainy day. You're asking me to use up one of those limited coupons for you, and you haven't said why it's worth doing that.
Don't assume I know what you're talking about. For me to write an email of introduction, I've got to explain why I think the receiver wants to know you. However, I haven't the faintest idea what Global Licensing does. And worse for you, I have no idea what Chum Brands licensing is or does. Both have the word "licensing" so that's a start, but you take me no further. I could do some Googling of her, you, your company, her press quotes and link up all the dots...but that would be your job, right?
Give me something to cut and paste. You want me to write an email to Sandy for you. The easiest way for me to do that is cut and paste from yours. But you've not given me any substantive information to use.
Don't Use Txt-Speak. It would have taken 4 more keystrokes to write "Senior" instead of "Sr." By taking a short cut, you've again told me you don't care.
I've rewritten your email to give you an example that's more likely to get you positive results:
Professor,I met you in Professor Bob's class. Your lecture there was one I really enjoyed. I especially remembered how you said "business is about people." Given that truism, I'm reaching out to you.
I was reading your blog and that led me to do some more research on you. (I hope you don't mind.) I realized that you worked at Krusty Krab, who I've been calling on from my new firm.
I realize that you no longer work there, but I am hoping to connect with someone in the Global Licensing department. (One person there is the Senior Director, I believe her name is Sandy Cheeks.)
If you know Ms. Cheeks or can point me in the direction of how best to go about reaching her department, I would be forever grateful. (I know it's not much, but I already forward your blog posts regularly to the folks here at my new company.)
If it helps open a dialog, my company offers specialized licensing programs for global consumer goods companies. We've developed techniques for growing brand awareness and sales, and do it in a very cost-effective way. For example, a program we did for Starfish Foods grew their sales by 18%.
I appreciate any help or introduction you can make, and would look forward to staying in touch regardless.
Thank you in advance.
Very best,
Patrick
Reader, what do you think? Am I being too hard on the kid? What do you do when someone asks you for a favor of introduction?
When I teach time management, I always start with the same question: How many of you have too much time and not enough to do in it? In ten years, no one has ever raised a hand.
That means we start every day knowing we're not going to get it all done. So how we spend our time is a key strategic decision. That's why it's a good idea to create a to do list and an ignore list. The hardest attention to focus is our own.
But even with those lists, the challenge, as always, is execution. How can you stick to a plan when so many things threaten to derail it? How can you focus on a few important things when so many things require your attention?
We need a trick.
Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru, knows all about tricks; he's famous for handcuffing himself and then swimming a mile or more while towing large boats filled with people. But he's more than just a showman. He invented several exercise machines including the ones with pulleys and weight selectors in health clubs throughout the world. And his show, The Jack LaLanne Show, was the longest running television fitness program, on the air for 34 years.
But none of that is what impresses me. He has one trick that I believe is his real secret power.
Ritual.
At the age of 94, he still spends the first two hours of his day exercising. Ninety minutes lifting weights and 30 minutes swimming or walking. Every morning. He needs to do so to achieve his goals: on his 95th birthday he plans to swim from the coast of California to Santa Catalina Island, a distance of 20 miles. Also, as he is fond of saying, "I cannot afford to die. It will ruin my image."
So he works, consistently and deliberately, toward his goals. He does the same things day in and day out. He cares about his fitness and he's built it into his schedule.
Managing our time needs to become a ritual too. Not simply a list or a vague sense of our priorities. That's not consistent or deliberate. It needs to be an ongoing process we follow no matter what to keep us focused on our priorities throughout the day.
I think we can do it in three steps that take less than 18 minutes over an eight-hour workday.
STEP 1 (5 Minutes) Set Plan for Day. Before turning on your computer, sit down with a blank piece of paper and decide what will make this day highly successful. What can you realistically accomplish that will further your goals and allow you to leave at the end of the day feeling like you've been productive and successful? Write those things down.
Now, most importantly, take your calendar and schedule those things into time slots, placing the hardest and most important items at the beginning of the day. And by the beginning of the day I mean, if possible, before even checking your email. If your entire list does not fit into your calendar, reprioritize your list. There is tremendous power in deciding when and where you are going to do something.
In their book The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz describe a study in which a group of women agreed to do a breast self-exam during a period of 30 days. 100% of those who said where and when they were going to do it completed the exam. Only 53% of the others did.
In another study, drug addicts in withdrawal (can you find a more stressed-out population?) agreed to write an essay before 5 p.m. on a certain day. 80% of those who said when and where they would write the essay completed it. None of the others did.
If you want to get something done, decide when and where you're going to do it. Otherwise, take it off your list.
STEP 2 (1 minute every hour) Refocus. Set your watch, phone, or computer to ring every hour. When it rings, take a deep breath, look at your list and ask yourself if you spent your last hour productively. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour. Manage your day hour by hour. Don't let the hours manage you.
STEP 3 (5 minutes) Review. Shut off your computer and review your day. What worked? Where did you focus? Where did you get distracted? What did you learn that will help you be more productive tomorrow?
The power of rituals is their predictability. You do the same thing in the same way over and over again. And so the outcome of a ritual is predictable too. If you choose your focus deliberately and wisely and consistently remind yourself of that focus, you will stay focused. It's simple.
This particular ritual may not help you swim the English Channel while towing a cruise ship with your hands tied together. But it may just help you leave the office feeling productive and successful.
And, at the end of the day, isn't that a higher priority?
