The other day someone asked me if I could give them the email address of another person I am connected to. Not an intro — just the email address.
I don’t think this is a great request — first of all: I am not an address book. ;) Secondly: It’s weird for my contact to receive an email a la “Hey — You don’t know me but Pascal gave me your email address”. And lastly: If you want to cold contact someone (which is totally fine), hustle!
Here’s how: First of all — you will be surprised how easy it is to simply google the email address of another person (especially when they live a somewhat public life). In the case above my contact’s email address is right on his homepage (which makes it even worse that the person asked me for the email — it just shows that he’s lazy).
And if you can’t find it — chances are that the email address is in one of the typical formats, such as first [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc. Simply try them out.
And then send the person a nice, short email — tell them why you contact them (make it about them — they need to understand why you reached out them) and make a small, easy ask (don’t ask for an hour-long consultation but a 10 min phone call or the answer to one, well-formulated and precise question).
A while ago I wrote this little how-to guide for better interactions with me — take it as a guideline for all your interactions and you’re on your way.
And if you ask yourself: Have you ever done this yourself Pascal? Yes. I do. Constantly. And trust me — the people I met, the advice I got, the insights I gained by doing so are priceless.