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Rather than make a standard request for something, make an unusual request that leads people to wonder why you are making that particular request (and hence pay attention to you).
Santos, Leve and Pratkanis (1994) got a 'panhandler' beggar to ask passersby for money. In the control conditions, when they asked "Can you spare any change?" 44 percent of passersby complied. When they asked "Can you spare a quarter?" the compliance rate increased to 64 percent. When they asked "Can you spare 17 cents?" or "Can you spare 37 cents?" about 75 percent of people made a contribution.
Source: Changingminds