Welcome to the most meta email I’ll send.
It’s an email about direct invitations, with a direct invitation right at top.
Everyone is busy. Everyone is overwhelmed by the “waves hands” we’re in.
People are tired. If they’ve been in the Entrepreneurial Casino, they’ve been burned.
They might also not be sure how to work with you. Until it’s beyond urgent, “working with you” is not on their daily must-do list (which is already too long).
This is why invitations matter.
They activate your network — people who already know you have a reason to engage.
They interrupt the default drift — instead of “I’ll get to this later,” there’s a moment to decide if it’s the right time.
They create a clear next step — not just general awareness, but a specific way to move forward.
I’m talking a direct invitation: “would you like to do this?”
Not just a PS buried at the bottom of an email.
Not a “click to learn more” CTA amongst a bunch of other CTAs.
And not a “let me know if I can ever be helpful” at the bottom of a very long personal email.
But a direct ask. (In the vein of Julia Roberts, I’m just a girl, standing in front of another human, asking if you want to buy this.)
And at the scale of most of us, it’s a personal email, in addition to a broadcast message (like I’m doing here).
If you’re about to tune out of this message because it feels uncomfortable, let me address your fears.
“Isn’t this being salesy?”
If you’re on this list, there’s no chance you can really be salesy.
Salesy is pressure, urgency, and inflated promises — often paired with flattery, manipulation, or leaving out crucial context. If I were being salesy, I might send you multiple texts, 2-3 emails on the final day, and probably do some kind of negging — “If you cared about getting clients, you’d be there.”
But that’s not what we’re doing here. I want to be clear and straightforward about whether this is for you—and repeat it a few times, because I don’t want it to get buried in your inbox if you did want to be there.
“This sounds so transactional.”
What I think is transactional is burying the lead. It’s like getting the Facebook message from someone who’s joined an MLM starting with, “Hey hun!”. And then having personal chit chat for a while until they pivot to the “so, would you like to hear more about this business opportunity?” question.
We’re all on the other end of a LinkedIn pitch slap, where we barely even know who we connected with and we’re hit with a pitch that’s totally unaligned.
But for people who are in your network… especially if they opt-ed in already to hear from you… a direct, upfront invitation is the dream. There’s no guessing about an ulterior motive.
The clear ask is more relational because you’re being respectful of their time, not spamming them, and not putting the ask under layers of pretense.
“I don’t launch, how will making invitations work for me?”
Your buyer might not be whipping out their credit card through launch emails. But we can make other invitations: to events you’re hosting, to a strategy call or “state of your industry” briefing call, or as a past client to talk about what’s next for them.
We’ll cover different invitation styles in the workshop on Wednesday.
“What if they say no or ghost me?”
Awesome! Really, awesome! If they say no, you can both move on! They are not rejecting you as a person. They are simply saying, “now is not the right time for this”, which is something to be grateful for. Having a client that joins under pressure leads to bad experiences, refund requests, and/or a dragged out procurement process where you’ll probably have to do a lot of unpaid work.
And ghosting? Yes, it can feel awkward for people not to respond. You might think you’re bothering people. But seriously? How many emails do you have in your inbox that you haven’t paid attention to or gotten to. It happens, and it’s not personal.
But on the other hand, if you don’t ask, if you don’t make the invitation, you may not get anyone stepping forward.
I personally emailed all 40 people on the Define Your Foundations cohort waitlist. When I announced the cohort registration in a broadcast email? I got 2 signups. When I personally emailed people to join or book a call? I got about a 50% response rate, resulting in more calls and program registrations.
Invitations and Activations are the final layer of the Relational Sales System.
This workshop introduces the components of a relationship-forward marketing and sales system to build your network, establish your authority, expand your reach, and invite people into your world.
If any of these layers have been missing for you, I’d love to share with you an approach that works for myself and my clients.
Can’t make it? Register and get the recording. $30—free for Deeper Foundations Members.