I remember of an incident that took place with one of my colleagues a few years back. Alex was doing great work and had strong credentials, so his resume was not the problem. He was targeting influential, high-level executives, but the response rate was poor. Senior executives are busy, see less value spending time with someone lower on the hierarchy, and are likely to miss or ignore requests through email or social media. Alex thought back to the university students who contacted him last year, and sheepishly admitted that he blew off most of them. Ask someone influential to put in a good word for you, introduce you, or help arrange a meeting with the person you want to meet. Alex’s team contracted a consultancy the year before, and he had impressed the consultancy’s partner during the engagement. The partner had a wide network of senior contacts at other companies, so Alex asked if the partner could introduce him to a vice president he wanted to meet. The partner was happy to do so and recommended him to two other executives. Alex boasted that he always helps people from his university, or who studied in the school’s economics department. Alex responded to an engineer who contacted him, mainly because of her focus on artificial intelligence. Play up unique knowledge you may have, framing how that might benefit the person, and highlight credentials, like affiliations with prestigious institutions, that give you credibility.” Alex asked an executive if they could meet so Alex “could get the executive’s C-suite perspective and advice on how I might use this skill to help retailers, as I take the next step in my career.
One student employed none of the approaches above, but Alex still responded. To combat our resistance to using flattery, especially the belief that it will not work across cultures, think about flattery as making the other person feel good about themselves. For example, the very act of seeking someone’s sage expertise and advice is a form of flattery. A German executive highlighted key points he liked from the speech of a vice president in another division. The “flattery” was sincere. He secured a coffee meeting and started a relationship that accelerated his career. Most people are too embarrassed to ask or feel that reaching out will not get a response. Use the approaches above to make a request more compelling, and make requests in person, which are even harder to turn down. Every few months Alex sharpens his approach, based on what is working. Follow Alex’s lead. You will land more meetings, which will lead to more conversations, which will build your network, and advance your career.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath