One of the quickest ways to get exposure, promote a book, gain an introduction, find a mentor, generate traffic, launch a product is to gain the endorsement of someone who already has all of those things.

Here’s a little often forgotten tip. Famous authors or other celebrities in your industry started out as people. Okay, some are still people and that’s the point. Approach them as such and you may find that your project or organization can gain some very favorable support.

If you read a book that you loved, write the author and tell them so (Almost all authors have blogs these days too)
If you like a product, write someone in the organization and offer your testimonial
If you find a particularly well written article in a magazine, write the author and comment on the topic

You can build a very powerful hi profile network of mentors, contacts and champions if you approach it in the right fashion.

First off, give before you ask. You know, prove that aren’t just some stalker looking for an author’s private email address and you will get much farther. Buy their book, link to their blog, send them an article or resource that pertains to their work. Build a relationship or at least get on the radar screen, don’t just send off an email asking them to endorse your product. (You may not be the first person that day to do so.)

A couple more tips. Be bold, but be realistic and polite.

You may have to hear, “I’m sorry, Mr/Ms Big can’t talk to you right now, call back when your somebody important,” a time or two before you hit paydirt.

One of my favorite responses was from someone I won’ t name. I asked this author to do an interview on a radio show I hosted at the time. I promised that we could tape the interview whenever it was convenient. The response was simple and to the point. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ll ever be available.”

If you have a plan and you are personal and sincere, you just might catch Mr/Ms Big when they are in a good mood and remember when they were in your shoes.

Above all be creative. Propose something very specific and try like heck to propose something that will benefit your prospective big fish.

Okay, an example. I’m no big fish but a young guy contacts me the other day (young means he is only 3 years older than my oldest daughter.) and says he wants to buy a service I offer, implement it track his progress and then blog about it. Now, as you can imagine, he got my attention. I love the idea and I took him up on it by offering him some additional help and feedback. It just may be the start of partnership that could grow into other possibilities.

Some days, I can be as grumpy and arrogant as the next person but, the point is, in this case, he took a shot and I was receptive.

Make up your target list of people you would love to have in your network and devise a plan to make contact. What’s the worst that can happen?