Getting Powerful People to Listen

I have spent a lot of time pitching more successful and well known entrepreneurs and journalists about my business and my ideas. These individuals had absolutely NO reason to listen to me. After all, I was the one who was contacting them with ideas and looking for them to help me. Yet a lot of them did. They took the time to read what I was sending, respond, and even help me out.

Why?

I have sent messages that were completely ignored and messages which got me exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to take some time to write about the elements of these successful pitches and how they differed from those which were instantly ignored.

I think one of the most important things I did with the successful pitches was keep them short and sweet. They were simple and straight to the point. I only shared the essential details, so that people would get a sense of what I was trying to say without having to read an essay. People are busy and if you make their lives easier, they appreciate it. If they are interested they will respond and then you can share all the details.

I also tried to help the people I was pitching as much as possible. No matter how big someone gets, they still will always need help from the little guys. Hence, if you think you can help them out in some way, let them know what you can do. They will be more likely to read your message and respond if they know they have something to gain.

The headline of the message you send is also very important. Generic message headlines like “Message from Insert Name Here” will get you no where. You need to be specific and succinct in your headline. Let them know what your message is about and do it in a few words or less.

Even using all these tactics, I still send messages that get ignored all the time. However, you would be surprised to see how much more effective messages these are in eliciting responses from well-known individuals then the generic longwinded message asking for a favor.