I've always felt funny about writing "I" so much in these kinds of requests and never put 2+2 together to realize I should focus more on "you"; thanks for the tip!
Great tips for position ideas in a way that builds consensus and trust. This goes along with a piece you published last month “https://newsletter.weskao.com/p/work-requests-are-not-favors”. People are at work to do a job, they want to feel like they are making an impact with their actions and decisions. So your proposal/request/whatever, should they choose to engage with it, must contribute to their impact to personal or shared/company objectives. Highlighting what those impacts are instead of lazily asking “for a favor” carries much greater weight for most people and doesn’t disingenuously carry with it the implication we are putting them out with the request.
Great visual way to see how much your writing is about your audience.
I used a similar method for writing cold-emails in college. I focused on making it an easy "yes or no" decision for them. Did my research on the professor, company, and employee. Made sure the questions I asked weren't "Google-able".
The method improved my response rates & I was able to job-shadow people and get past recruiters by having an employee to vouch for me.
I've always felt funny about writing "I" so much in these kinds of requests and never put 2+2 together to realize I should focus more on "you"; thanks for the tip!
Great tips for position ideas in a way that builds consensus and trust. This goes along with a piece you published last month “https://newsletter.weskao.com/p/work-requests-are-not-favors”. People are at work to do a job, they want to feel like they are making an impact with their actions and decisions. So your proposal/request/whatever, should they choose to engage with it, must contribute to their impact to personal or shared/company objectives. Highlighting what those impacts are instead of lazily asking “for a favor” carries much greater weight for most people and doesn’t disingenuously carry with it the implication we are putting them out with the request.
Yes! Focus on the audience and lead with Why Should You Care.
What's In It For You
- Jerry Weissman in "Presenting To Win"
Lead With Why
- Simon Sinek
Super important in any communication from Powerpoint presentations to sales pitches to team messages.
Love the highlighting tip Wes!
Great visual way to see how much your writing is about your audience.
I used a similar method for writing cold-emails in college. I focused on making it an easy "yes or no" decision for them. Did my research on the professor, company, and employee. Made sure the questions I asked weren't "Google-able".
The method improved my response rates & I was able to job-shadow people and get past recruiters by having an employee to vouch for me.