In 1736, Benjamin Franklin was appointed Clerk of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. During the second year, a member of the Assembly gave a speech in opposition to Benjamin Franklin’s reappointment. Mr. Franklin writes about the steps in took in dissolving the man’s enmity and gaining his favour.

I did not, however, aim at gaining his favour by paying any servile respect to him, but, after some time, took this other method. Having heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my desire of perusing that book, and requesting he would do me the favour of lending it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately, and I return’d it in about a week with another note, expressing strongly my sense of the favour. When we next met in the House, he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and with great civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death. This is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.” And it shows how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent, return and continue inimical proceedings.

Benjamin Franklin implies with this story that making a request 1) gains favour and 2) increases the chance that the next request will be accepted. I think that too many requests, even for specialized and prided work, invoke a feeling of annoyance. The factors that determined whether or not I accepted did not include the act of being requested the favour itself, but the person’s gender, tone, introduction and method of request.

I cannot speak to the practicality of this technique. I attempted to practice it but I was met with no success. People often denied me, and even if they accepted, often would not follow through. I wonder if Benjamin Franklin was not mistaken about the reason for which he earned this man’s favour. In “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie wrote that one should find something that the other takes pride in and sincerely admire it. I think that is what Benjamin Franklin inadvertently did.

From this anecdote I gathered that the best favours to ask are those that only the requested can fulfill – and that he or she can do so without too much effort. The point is that you make them feel appreciated for who they are as a person by admiring the special talents and interests they have.