The Forward-Able Email

One of my favorite things to do is to connect great people who I know will benefit from knowing each other (and then get out of the way and let them run with it). This might be to explore a job opening, offer advice or mentoring, consider a business opportunity or just generally to "swap stories" as I like to say. Fortunately, I've also been blessed with a pretty strong personal and professional network, which allows for such opportunities on a regular basis.

In other words, people ask me for introductions pretty regularly. Most of the time I'm really excited to make the connect (because it's clear to me why it will add value to both people's life) and I enjoying adding value to people's lives. Since, however, I do very much value my relational capital, I also like to err on the side of caution and make sure the party receiving the introduction actually wants it.

The best way that I have found to make this happen (whether I'm asking someone else for an intro or making one myself) is via a forward-able email. This is pretty straight-forward; you send me an email that I can forward along directly to the person who you're requesting an introduction to. I send your note along, add a little personal note, and leave it up to them whether they'd like to respond directly to you, have me make the connection, or do nothing.

I love this method because:

• It gives the receiving party the opportunity to decide whether they would like the introduction (at this time) and they can actually say "no" by doing nothing (or shooting me a quick reply explaining why it doesn't make sense).
• It gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself (and the reason for the reach out) in your own words; which would frankly take me a lot of time to do and I likely won't do you a justice (so you make it easier on me and increase your odds of a successful intro

So what should this forward-able email include? Great question:

1. What's in it for the person you're asking for the introduction to (as specifically as possible). Which seems more compelling to you; a general "I would like to connect with them" or "I noticed they have problem x which is something we have helped another company, just like them, solve."
2. Who you are; very quick introduction and maybe a link to your Linkedin profile.
3. Who your company is (if it's related to work); this may include an executive summary one-page document, related case study, link to a page on your website of anything else relevant, BUT KEEP IT BRIEF. Don't inundate people with info before they've asked for it, just provide enough reason to believe we should connect.
4. What do you propose as next steps; are you proposing a phone call, in person meeting, email exchange or something else?

Just like anything else this takes practice and the more time and thought you put into it, the more value you'll get out of it. I usually start by doing a quick initial draft of my note and then spend the bulk of my time trying to chop that down and make it as succinct and relevant as possible (as Mark Twain famously said, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead).

Good luck, and if I can ever help you with an introduction, don't hesitate to drop me a forward-able email!