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  • Carlos Burges Ruiz de Gopegui manages content on LinkedIn Learning.
  • He posted a course giving just five simple steps to get people to respond
  •  to your emails.
  • His course is now one of the most viewed on LinkedIn Learning.

In the world of work it's essential to establish contacts. But today time is
 more precious than ever: it's harder to come by people willing to give it
 freely to a stranger. Perhaps that's why the course "How to contact 
people and get a response" is one of the most viewed pieces of content in 
the LinkedIn Learning section - as it highlights how best to reach out to
 new contacts, and crucially, get a response. 
Content Manager for LinkedIn Learning Spain Carlos Burges Ruiz de 
Gopegui told Business Insider: "The feedback has been incredible since
 the course was published. People write to me about it every day and, 
funnily enough, they use all those techniques and strategies covered in
 my course." 
He says the strategies listed are aimed at everyone, despite their strong 
commercial tone. "Everyone can benefit from this information to improve
 their techniques and above all, communication tactics, as that's what the
 course is about: strategies tht produce results and acknowledging that 
every scenario in communication is different." 
Burges offers these five tips for contacting people and responding to all 
those who are tired of unidirectional or unproductive communication
 through
social networks, email, forums and telephone. 

Know who you're writing to and tailor 

emails to them 

"It may seem obvious stating that every email needs to be tailored to the
 recipient with a personalised and holistic approach, yet we still believe
 in and rely on standardised templates that just don't work." 

Use an appropriate level of formality 

"Once you know who you're writing to, you can figure out the level of
 formality needed to really resonate with that person. You need to choose
 your words carefully and encapsulate this in the first two sentences of the
 email — if you don't achieve this effectively, the recipient will immediately
 stop reading." 

Be empathic 

"Particularly when you're the one initiating contact, you need to make the
 person you're addressing feel as though you're working hand-in-hand 
with them — not like you're trying to get something out of them. People
 aren't dim and the moment they catch a whiff of you being 'after'
 something, they'll switch off and close the window." 

Respond quickly 

"Does time make a difference in online communication? Absolutely —
 the time that elapses between a message and its response can determine
 how much the recipient considers the message — or even the sender — 
to be a priority. It's also indicative of our character and how much effort
 we're willing to make to communicate effectively. 

Write correctly and concisely 

"The last tip should probably have been the first one but I left it until the
 end as it's something we can all control: write correctly, be rigorous
 with your grammar and stringent with spelling mistakes, and above all,
 be as concise as possible. The number of times I've had to apologise at
 the start of an email for not having had the time to cut it down!"