Whether you are trying to get the word out about your new product, form a business partnership with a company, or reach potential supporters of your Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or other type of crowdfunding campaign, “lack of email response” is commonly cited as a one of the biggest pain points for CrowdCrux readers.
Right now, I am reading the bestselling book, The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss (yes I have only just gotten around to reading it) and have found his section on emails to be incredibly helpful.
While lecturing at Princeton University, Ferriss decided to conduct a social experiment. He offered a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world to anyone who could complete an undefined challenge. He told anyone that was interested to meet him after class for the details.
20 out of 60 ended up meeting him after class. The idea behind the experiment was to test the comfort zones of his students. The challenge was to contact three impossible-to-reach individuals and get at least one to reply to three questions. Examples included Bill Clinton, J.D. Salinger, or the CEO of google.
In this first attempt, none of the students completed the challenge. Some of the excuses given included:
– “It’s not easy to do.”
– “I have too many other things to do.”
– “There’s no way I’d be able to do that.”
Main objection: It was a difficult challenge and the other students would outdo them. Since every student overestimated the competition they would face from other students, no one even showed up.
The following year, Ferriss issued the challenge again, with one difference. He first talked about the failed attempts of the students who participated in the previous year and highlighted that “doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic.”
Amazingly, 6 out of 17 finished the challenge in less than 48 hours.
Their technique to get responses from celebrities
(excerpts taken from ‘Fail better’ by Adam Gottesfeld)
Prior to his e-mail, Marrinan (student in Ferriss’ class) had never contacted Komisar (partner at VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers). He had met Google CEO Eric Schmidt, at Princeton University trustee, only briefly at an academic affairs meeting of the trustees in November. A self-described “naturally shy kind,” Marrinan said he would never have dared to randomly e-mail two of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley if it weren’t for Tim Ferriss ’00, who offered a guest lecture in Professor Ed Zschau ’61’s ELE 491 “High-Tech Entrepreneurship” class.
Ferriss challenged Marrinan and his fellow seniors in the class to contact high-profile celebrities and CEOs and get their answers to questions they have always wanted to ask. For extra incentive, Ferriss promised the student who could contact the most hard-to-reach name and ask the most intriguing question a round-trip plane ticket anywhere in the world.
“I believe that success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have. I felt that if I could help students overcome the fear rejection with cold-calling and cold e-mail, it would serve them forever,” Ferriss said. “It’s easy to sell yourself short, but when you see classmates getting responses from people like [former president] George Bush, the CEOs of Disney, Comcast, Google, and HP, and dozens of other impossible-to-reach people, it forces you to reconsider your self-set limitations.”
“I participate in this contest every day,” said Ferriss. “I do what I always do: find a personal e-mail if possible, often through their little-known personal blogs, send a two- to three-paragraph e-mail which explains that you are familiar with their work, and ask one simple-to-answer but thought-provoking question in that e-mail related to their work or life philosophies. The goal is to start a dialogue so they take the time to answer future e-mails – not to ask for help. That comes after at least three or four e-mail exchanges.”
With “textbook execution of the Tim Ferriss Technique,” as he put it, Marrinan was able to strike up a bond with Komisar. In his initial e-mail, he talked about reading one of Komisar’s Harvard Business Review articles and feeling inspired to ask him, “When were you happiest in your life?” After Komisar replied with references to Tibetan Buddhism, Marrinan responded, “Just as words are inadequate to explain true happiness, so too are words inadequate to express my thanks.” His e-mail included his personal translation of a French poem by Taisen Deshimaru, the former European head of Soto Zen. An e-mail relationship was formed, and Komisar even e-mailed Marrinan a few days later with a link to a New York Times article on happiness.
Contacting Schmidt proved more challenging. For Marrinan, the toughest part was getting Schmidt’s personal e-mail address. He e-mailed a Princeton dean asking for it. No response. Two weeks later, he e-mailed the same dean again, defending his request by reminding her that he had previously met Schmidt. The dean said no, but Marrinan refused to give up. He e-mailed her a third time. “Have you ever made an exception?” he asked. The dean finally gave in, he said, and provided him with Schmidt’s e-mail.
“I know some of my classmates pursued the alternative scattershot technique with some success, but that’s not my bag,” Marrinan said, explaining his perseverance. “I deal with rejection by persisting, not by taking my business elsewhere. My maxim comes from Samuel Beckett, a personal hero of mine: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ You won’t believe what you can accomplish by attempting the impossible with the courage to repeatedly fail better.”
Nathan Kaplan ’07, another participant in the contest. was most proud of the way that he was able to contact former Newark mayor Sharpe James. Because James had made a campaign contribution to Al Sharpton, the website www.fundrace.org listed James’ homes address. Kaplan then input James’ address into an online search-by-address phone directory, through which he received the former mayor’s phone number. Kaplan left a message for James, and a few days later finally got to ask him about childhood education.
Ferriss is proud of the effort students have put into his contest. “Most people can do absolutely awe-inspiring things,” he said. “Sometimes they just need a little nudge.”
What does all this mean?
In my opinion, the greatest barrier to reaching through to potential high-profile contacts is one’s tolerance for repeated rejection and one’s willingness to persist over an extended duration with a long-term goal in mind.
Most people want to put in the least effort required to see a result in the shortest span of time. This rarely works in generating quality results in any area of life. The students above didn’t start with asking something of these high-profile individuals. They started by building a relationship. They asked intriguing questions.
In the one case, this technique led to the well-known VC Komisar e-mailing Marrinan (student) back later without being prompted. He emailed Marrinan an article related to their newly formed relationship!
Takeaway: Select a few individuals that you want to build a relationship with and adopt a long-term view. Put in the work. Keep at it and be persistent if you face rejection. For more information, be sure to check out How to get bloggers to blog about your Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Pozible campaign or What blogs should you reach out to regarding your Indiegogo or Kickstarter campaign?
Still have doubts?
Let me know what your doubts are below via comment. I usually check comments twice a week and am more likely to respond to a comment than an email with a question.
