The art of email connections (according to Chris)
In my time in the civic tech ecosystem, I’ve benefitted immensely from colleagues, friends, and mentors offering to connect me to people in their networks and increasingly I find myself in the position where I can pay their generosity forward. Many such emails later—in both directions—I’ve developed some fairly strong opinions on the art of email connections.
A lot of this derives from Tom Kalil’s whiteboard from his time at the White House, especially “if you want people to do something, make it easy.” My two top email opinions are:
Email intros should be opt-in for both parties. Just because you have someone’s email address does not mean you should connect someone to them without asking first.
If you are asking to be connected with someone, give the connector some information to work with—why you’re hoping to be connected, etc. Even better if you do the below to combine #1 and #2.
What this can look like in practice
Say you’re looking to get connected with someone—maybe David Ortiz. Send the connector a clean (new) email that establishes who you are, what your particular interest is, and ask if they can connect you with him. If it’s job related, attach your resume and/or make sure your LinkedIn is linked in your signature. This email can and should be short—no more than a few sentences.
From there, it makes it easy for the connector to forward the email with a quick “Hey, see below. Mind if I put you in touch?” on top of your email instead of having to write an email from scratch, trying to paraphrase why you might want to speak with someone, and asking for permission. And when David Ortiz (or whoever) says “yes,” it saves yet another email because the connector can just add you to the original chain.
This may save a only a few minutes but it significantly lowers the cognitive burden on the connector—which will make them that much more likely to help!
Bonus points: once you’re connected to someone, the ball is in your court (as the person who asked for the introduction) to follow up first. If you’re trying to plan a meeting or coffee chat, you should also offer times you’re available to meet. And in most cases, please move the connector to bcc!
Subject: Connecting with David Ortiz?
Hi Chris,
I hope you’re well. I see that you’re connected with David Ortiz. I’m a big Red Sox fan and am really interested in XYZ (“approach to clutch hitting in the playoffs”)… Would you be open to connecting us? My resume is attached below for reference.
Thanks,
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