Insider’s Guide #1
Getting Busy Professors to Respond to You Use this simple template to get busy people on and off campus to agree to meeting and interview requests.
Erin Peterson I help you tell your school’s best stories. 763.656.7863 • erin@erinpeterson.com • erinpeterson.com Minneapolis, MN
Better Email, Better Results I understand how tough it is to get professors to respond to interview requests — I’ve worked on alumni magazines since 1998, and I know that professors are swamped with classes, research, committee meetings, office hours, etc. While this was frustrating for me while I was an editor, it got even more frustrating for me when I became a full-time freelancer in 2004. After all, if I didn’t hear back from a professor for a story, it didn’t just mean I would have have an empty hole to fill — it meant I wouldn’t get paid. So I’ve literally spent years coming up with a short, compelling email that gets prompt responses from professors. What follows is the basic format that I use
for all of my interview requests. I’ve footnoted each section with what I’ve learned. I’ve included links to a few of the most useful documents as I’ve refined this process.
I hope this helps! Best, Erin If you have other tips that have worked for you, please email me at erinspeterson@gmail.com. To find out more about my work for colleges and alumni magazines, visit erinpeterson.com.
ERIN PETERSON • 763.656.7863 • ERIN@ERINPETERSON.COM • ERINPETERSON.COM
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The Script Subject: Source for Retiring Faculty Story for Acme Alumni Magazine?1 Dear Professor Smith: I’m working on a story for Acme University’s alumni magazine about retiring faculty, and I’m hoping you can help me out.2 We plan to run short profiles of all the retiring professors in the magazine, and we’d love to include a few quotes from you in the story.3 Would you be available for a 15-minute phone interview this week?4 I’m most available between 8 a.m. and noon on Thursday or Friday (3/28-3/29).5 I’m also happy to work around your schedule if those times or dates aren’t convenient.6 Please let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.7 Best, Erin [Signature]
1.
For emails that require a response, I end the subject lines in a question mark. For alumni magazines, I also include the word “source” and the name of the magazine.
2.
The request for help in the first line helps encourages them to keep reading, rather than file for later.
3.
I include a brief description of the story I’m working on, usually two sentences or fewer.
4.
I bold these two sentences, so that they know that it’s important and that they’ll need to respond to it. (I worried that they might be offended. No one has ever mentioned it.) In the first sentence, I let them know exactly how long I think the interview will take.
5.
I spent most of my time refining this second bold sentence. I tend to make requests for two to three days in the future. I suggest windows of times from two to four hours, and offer options on two consecutive days, to reduce the chance that they’re teaching a class, based on the typical MWF or T-Th schedule.
6.
Because of the specificity I’ve offered in the previous two sentences, I find that even if the times I’ve suggested don’t work, professors are often happy to come up with their own (very specific) time for me to contact them.
7.
The closing line just reinforces that I’d like to hear from them.
ERIN PETERSON • 763.656.7863 • ERIN@ERINPETERSON.COM • ERINPETERSON.COM
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85 Percent I have more than an 85 percent success rate with this initial email format. However, to improve on that rate if I don’t hear back within a day or two, I do a few things: 1. I put a reminder on my calendar two to three days after I’ve sent the email to follow up if I haven’t heard back from them. 2. If, two days after the follow-up, I *still* haven’t heard, I call/leave a message.
Other helpful documents: On my quest to write the perfect email, I’ve come across a few great sources that have helped me make smart changes. I don’t expect that everyone has the same nerdy obsession that I do, but these resources may provide even more insight. 3 Principles for Writing Persuasive Emails | http://bit.ly/emailprinciples 4 Tips for Writing Better Email | http://bit.ly/4emailtips
ERIN PETERSON • 763.656.7863 • ERIN@ERINPETERSON.COM • ERINPETERSON.COM
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