Asking a business to host you · Candidate chair
Making the ask
Most places say no because they do not know what yes involves.
The most common reason a business declines is not reluctance. It is that nobody told them what hosting actually costs them in hours. Answer that before they have to ask.
Operations manager: “We have never done anything like this. What would it involve?”
You answered the question underneath the question. 'I do not need to be entertained' is the sentence that changes minds.
Generous, and it leaves them to design the whole thing. Flexibility only helps after there is a shape to be flexible about.
Now you are a form to be processed. True, but it removes every reason for them to be interested in you.
Operations manager: “What do you want to get out of it?”
Honest, specific, and it makes them useful rather than generous. People like being useful.
Fine, and entirely about you. Nothing here tells them what the visit is for.
They cannot build a placement out of this, so they will build the easiest one, which is usually filing.
Now you, out loud
One way it can sound
“”
Say it to the mirror, a friend, or the wall. Nothing here records, transmits, or stores anything. That is a promise built into how this site works.
Keep these
- Name the time cost before they have to ask.
- "I do not need to be entertained" is the whole pitch.
- Give them something specific to say yes to.