I got cheated when I was born with a name like No—-ah.
People are already thinking NO every time they say my name. #thanksmom
But what about the other things in life that you want.
What I want to share is how to get to the Yes-ah and ultimately get what You want.
——
Have you ever wanted something and not gotten it?
I know I have.
I’ve noticed a HUGE PROBLEM of entitlement with our generation and younger. Ask yourself, “What have I done for them lately?” before asking and demanding! something from someone else.
Gimme, mine, ours, deserve, etc are common words.
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How many times have you emailed someone for something?
I am 94.3% confident you’ve done this recently.
Here’s an email I got recently:
Hi there Noah,
My name is (the dude) and I am a Duke undergrad and co-founder of anotherwebsitedotcom. I have come to admire the effectiveness of AppSumo’s marketing campaigns and would love to ask you for some advice on the subject.
Do you think you might have time for a call sometime this week?
Thanks in advance,
(the dude)
Do I know him? Have I slept with him? Is he my brother? No, on most accounts 🙂
I’m not trying to be harsh to just this guy, I still make this mistake. Here’s an email I sent to my good friend Ramit recently asking for an intro to a book agent:
On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 2:56 PM, Noah Kagan wrote:
Can you pass along or intro me to your agent please?
Good luck on the launch!
Noah
Luckily, Ramit is a good friend and told me to go F myself and send a better email.
Think about it. Ramit has to stop what he’s doing, think about what to write and then write out a worthy introduction. Why am I not making this a no brainer for him?!? There’s a similar lesson to be learned about two girls I dated. One was told me to change the way I dressed, the other convinced me to change by making it easy.
Here’s what I sent back to him:
Hey McAgent,
I wanted to introduce you to Noah Kagan. He’s a friend and got some serious interest from Wiley on a book. He’s not only a great writer, as you may have already seen, but his approach to building/marketing businesses is completely disruptive (Facebook, Mint, AppSumo)
Him and his friend Neville are evaluating a few agents and I definitely think you should talk with them.
I’d encourage you two to setup a call at your convenience.
Best to both of you
Ramit,
This time, I wrote the intro, all he has to do is forward.
(FYI. Longer doesn’t always mean better. No busy person wants to hear your life story)
The point is to make it easy for someone else to say yes.
How can you make it easy for your customer to want to use your product?
How can you make it a no brainer for someone to join your company?
How can you make someone WANT to respond to your cold email?
I can tell you a few things that stand out:
- A hand written note (thanking someone for lunch, telling them you are thinking of them or saying happy birthday vs a cheap FB wall-post, etc…).
- An email with some investment into the recipient from the writer is unique. (investment being 10-30+ minutes researching the other person)
- Sending a magazine subscription relevant to the person’s interest
When you ask selfishly, the other person responds selfishly (or not at all).
I can tell you its that much easier for the other person to help when they see you’ve made a solid investment already — handwriting the note, writing a better email, researching, or just doing their work for them.
When you give first and ask second, you make Yes a no-brainer.
