Outreach is about building relationships, not self-promotion.
What does that mean?
Imagine you were trying to begin a new friendship online. Which of these email outreach options do you think is a better way to build a friendship:
a) “Hi, I’m a composer! Here’s my showreel. Would love to hear from you!”
or
b) “Hey Kate! I stumbled across your movie online and loved it! The way you developed the “Harry” character was amazing. How long have you been making films for?”
I hope the answer is obvious (it’s b).
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll be bored of this quotation by now, but here we go again:
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends And Influence People
Friendships aren’t built on trying to get people to listen to your music. They’re built on you taking a genuine interest in people.
Rule #1: stop sending people stuff (unless they’ve asked for it)
Now, what about reaching out to people in person?
People get themselves tied up in knots when they think about trying to introduce themselves to someone in person.
So I’m going to reveal to you now the biggest networking secret.
This revolutionary tactic that can transform how you meet people.
The mind blowing formula that all the professional networkers are doing.
The one thing that will take you from networking amateur to high-society mingler.
ARE YOU READY?!
It’s a two-step formula.
Brace yourself, here it comes (I really hope you’re prepared to have your mind blown)…
Step 1: walk up to somebody
Step 2: say “hi, how’s it going?”
That’s it.
(Sorry)
But seriously, one of the things that holds so many people back is the “search for the answer” – constantly trying to find the one thing that will find them more projects / make them a better networker / improve their mix / give them the extra “edge”
When in reality, all you have to do is take action.
And simply saying “hi, how are you doing?” is literally the number #1 way to start a conversation with someone.
Rule #2: stop waiting for the “one thing” (there’s no “secret”)
Sure, there are other tactics to hold better conversations too, but you’ll push your career leagues ahead if you can remember:
- Be genuinely interested in people
- Take action, and just say “hi”