Artful Email Introductions
Posted on September 05, 2014 by Lisa Shell Allan, One of Thousands of Relationship Coaches on Noomii.
Making connections, albeit professional or social is an art. How are your skills? Are you ready to paint your canvas while connecting others?
Here are some very simple steps to email introductions…it’s the canvas, you are the paint. The artistic part comes through with, whom you are to each of the people you’re introducing and how well you can make each of these strangers feel comfortable enough to reach out and “connect”.
Subject Line: Susan meet Laura, Laura meet Susan.
Write the way you would speak if these two people were standing in front of you. With all of our busy schedules, it is possible to miss an email that looks generic like “introductions”. However when we see our own name in the subject line, it is sure to get our attention.
Body: Two Sections, Key Elements
(Section 1)
Whomever you addressed first in the subject line is who you should address first in the body. Make it personal, reference a recent interaction that you may have had with the first person, acknowledge where they work or their field and somehow reference how the two of you know each other. This gives person 2 some insight to whom they are being introduced which should enhance their confidence, level of comfort and over-all ability to have an informed response. If you really want to strive for a great “introduction”, then you could reference your positive opinion about the first person. Be sure to include…just as if you were present with both parties; “Person 1, it is my pleasure to introduce you to person 2″. This sentence can be at the beginning of this paragraph or at the end.
(Section 2)
Address the second person using the same format as above; personal, recent interaction, person two’s work or industry and how the two of you know each other. Go above and beyond and mention positive attributes about person 2.
Now it’s time to bring the two together on common ground. Talk about why you felt this introduction was important. There could be a very specific reason and potentially this introduction is at the request of one party or the other, or reference why “you” think the two parties would equally benefit from knowing each other.
Finally, it is just common courtesy to list each person’s contact information for easy access, especially if you know that one person has a preferred method of communicating.
Now this last part, you will just have to lead by example. The proper thing to do when you are either person 1 or person 2 is to CC the one who made the introduction on your first/initial response. It would be over the top nice for the reply to include you as well, however it’s not critical.
Below is an example of what I would consider an “over the top” Artful Introduction:
Subject line: Susan meet Laura, Laura meet Susan
Susan, It is my pleasure to introduce you to Laura Jones. Laura is on the board of ________ and is the one responsible for ___________ within her organization. Laura and I met while working together on XYZ project during my tenure at _________. How wonderful it was to have Laura on our team as her ability to achieve excellence via attention to detail always made the entire department shine.
Laura, Susan is the Director of __________ and has been involved with __________ Company for over 2 decades. Under Susan’s direction ________Company not only went from start-up to profitability, she was instrumental in seeing them through the IPO process. Susan’s ability to lead and maintain work life balance has always set her apart from her peers. It has been a pleasure to work with she and __________ Company on multiple projects. It is my understanding that the two of you will be strategic in the formation of yet a new professional organization which will encompass both of your personal skills and professional attributes. I know the result of the two of you meeting will be more than mutually beneficial, it will be beneficial to all members going forward.
Susan White
555-555-1234
susanwhite@xyz.com
Laura Jones
555-555-9876
laurajones@abc.com
I am looking forward to all of the great things that will come as result of the two of you aligning in the same professional organization.
Sincerely,
Lisa Shell Allan
512-557-0584
lsa@allandelle.com
www.allandelle.com
