Hi Mike and Mark and other members of the community -
Recently I remembered a positive encounter I had with a contact at a company a few years back. She is no longer employed there, but the person who replaced her was generous enough to give me the contact information for another manager there who runs a department I am interested in learning more about.
I have never met this person and haven't been introduced, but I would love to email her and request we meet so I can learn more about the job, hear more about the company and pitch myself/network with her. I am nervous that I am going to say the wrong thing please advise on how I can make a great introduction and get that initial interview.
Thank you!
How about a phone call?
Hello Kimberly,
To start with, I'd suggest you call instead of sending an email. Your voice provides subtleties that are lost in an email.
Consider reading Keith Ferrazzi's book, "Never Eat Alone" for a comprehensive perspective on networking and building relationships.
--Michael
Thank you for the
Thank you for the suggestion, Michael! Any advice on what key points I should try to touch upon during the call? Not great at being brief and concise on the phone.
I will look for "Never Eat Alone". Thanks!
It's all in the book...
Anything I try to add here would be a disservice to Mr. Ferrazzi.
I apologize for the delayed response. Sometimes life happens!
Good luck,
--Michael
Phone
Like you, Kimberly, I feel like I'm not my most concise on the phone. So what works for me is to script out what I want to say before I call (and I agree you need to call and not email first).
Just write down some bullet points about what you want to say, in the order you want to say it. Bullets are best because then you need to flesh them out while talking and it doesn't sound like you're reading a script. Practice once or twice before you actually call. Bullets are also good, because if you get side tracked you can then quickly look at the bullets before you finish the call to make sure you've covered everything you need to say.
What works for me is to follow up the conversation with an email confirming date/time and any points you want to restate from the call.
Don't worry too much about saying "the wrong thing". If you're showing a genuine interest in them and what they do, they'll gladly take some time for you or direct you to someone who can help. The initiative you're showing is so rare, they're likely to be impressed just by the fact that you're calling. Really, the only way you could go wrong is if you have a "what can you do for me?" approach as opposed to a "I want to learn from you" approach. Nobody likes being cold called by salespeople.