Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is how to ask for help in a way
Speaker 1: that people are more likely to say. Yes. We all
Speaker 1: need people to help us out from time to time.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want a neighbor to water your plants while
Speaker 1: you're on vacation, or you'd like a colleague to make
Speaker 1: an introduction. Every time I have a book come out,
Speaker 1: I hope that the various other authors and influencers I
Speaker 1: know will share my work with their audiences. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: I get requests from other authors to share news of
Speaker 1: their books too, and over time I started to notice something.
Speaker 1: Some of these requests were far more effective than others.
Speaker 1: Some people clearly sent the same email to everyone, and
Speaker 1: sometimes this mass emailing would even be acknowledged as such
Speaker 1: in the first sentence, Sorry, I don't have time to
Speaker 1: write you all individually, but would you do this for me? Now?
Speaker 1: I generally try to still be a good citizen of
Speaker 1: the author world and help out, but I know that
Speaker 1: part of my brain would always be thinking, well, if
Speaker 1: you don't have time to write me individually, why should
Speaker 1: I make time individually to do what you're asking. And
Speaker 1: if I'm thinking this, then probably other recipients of the
Speaker 1: mass email are thinking the same thing, and maybe they're
Speaker 1: just deleting the email. So sure, the sender theoretically saved time,
Speaker 1: but he or she didn't get the wanted results either.
Speaker 1: But when somebody I've met writes me individually and asks
Speaker 1: for help, the bias is always to say yes. I've
Speaker 1: since come across research finding that this is how most
Speaker 1: people react to such requests. When you are asked individually,
Speaker 1: the responsibility is on you. You know, it isn't shared.
Speaker 1: In the interest of preserving the relationship, You'll feel like
Speaker 1: you need a good reason to say no, and so
Speaker 1: the easiest course is, in fact, to say yes. The
Speaker 1: asker could make it even easier to say yes by
Speaker 1: being very specific about what he or she wants. Here's
Speaker 1: a Facebook post you can share with about my project,
Speaker 1: or could you post something on Twitter? Here's a tweet
Speaker 1: you could use if you wanted. These requests are even
Speaker 1: more effective if the person has thought through what you
Speaker 1: specifically could do, Like here's an idea for a before
Speaker 1: breakfast episode and it fits with the theme of the podcast.
Speaker 1: Now I know this, and so I always ask for
Speaker 1: help individually. When my most recent book, Juliet School of
Speaker 1: Possibilities came out last March, I emailed hundreds of people
Speaker 1: with personal requests. The vast majority of these people responded positively. Now, yes,
Speaker 1: this took a lot of time, but so what it
Speaker 1: was a good use of time, and not just for
Speaker 1: sharing the news of the book. I was able to
Speaker 1: reconnect with several people who then kept me in mind
Speaker 1: for few projects too. Technology makes it very easy to
Speaker 1: communicate with lots of people at once, and sometimes that's fine,
Speaker 1: But if you want people to use their precious time
Speaker 1: to help you, you're generally better off investing the time
Speaker 1: and asking for help personally and specifically, and then of
Speaker 1: course thanking people, because when you do that, everyone's more
Speaker 1: inclined to help in the future. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four than breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at heartmedia dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters,
Speaker 1: thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
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