How have you gone about messaging someone first? What're some important points you first discuss? How did you manage to persuade them even if you did not possess their wanted skills?
6 answers:
I'm not looking to join a team however I am building a team for my start-up Herbal Express. If I were in your shoes I would simply just express interest in the company. You can even go as far as detailing ways you could be considered an asset to them. You may not have the skills they are currently looking for but as companies grow they will always look for new talent. Not the most profound advice but from my experience, I have run into people who have expressed interest in my start-up but at my current state, I do not have use for them. As we grow the people that I have previously spoken to about my company will be highly considered when I can bring them in. Building relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs can never be a bad thing.
Get straight to the point. When I get messages, I want to know in the first sentence why you are contacting me and I don't like messages like "how are you doing?" etc. from people I don't know. When I contact people, I usually write something like - "David, I'm contacting you for....", just out of respect for their time and I have a pretty good response rate with this.
I think niceties have their place in time and space. I would never trust someone who was a 100% professional. We are humans after all not robots. How busy can someone be, it's not like we are playing being Barack are we! Even he is a nice guy and makes time for niceties so what's someone else's deal here I dont understand!
I agree with Gaurang, how about people who were educated by their parents since childhood to say hello, how are you , thank you, and so on, so when they write emails they couldn't help to add these things. so I think they should be given some slack.
@Sominder, in most countries in Europe, this would sound extremely rude to the vast majority of people (especially in the UK and Western Europe). A minimum "I hope all is well" is typically expected. A standard greeting in the end is also expected, e.g. "I look forward to hearing from you". In my culture it is not even expected to keep saying "thank you" or "sorry" for minor things (it can actually been seen as mocking the other person), but that's how it typically is in the English language (and most Western European languages).
Like it or not, it is just the norm and it's better to mention this, just to be on the safe side.
Start with sincerity! Why do you want to reach out to the person in the first place? What's so impressive or interesting to you? What specifically do you want to find out? Being curious is always a good guide in any conversation.
If you don't have the required skills, then let me ask you 2 questions, right here!
- Can you acquire those skills effectively? Can you learn and put those skills into practice in the short term?
- What are you willing to sacrifice so that you can effectively learn and practice those skills?
EVEN if you can persuade people for whatever reason to buy into you when you don't have the relevant skills to get the necessary things done, you'll end up struggling throughout the process!