Today’s my birthday, and so I’m going to write about one of my favorite topics.
Here’s something posted in elBenbo’s Lair last week:
Is is just me or does the whole separate email funnels/lists for “Indoctrination Series”, “Ascension Series”, “Engagement Series” not provide any better sales than strictly pushing subscribers onto the already moving train right into the fire? All this stroking and petting, “Here’s who I am, I love you, you are worth it, here’s all the free stuff you can expect from me” emails only seems to put my subscribers into the wrong frame of mind. Yet 99.9% of IM’ers (even the so called famous ones) seem to scream “build a relationship with your list and nurture it, provide and build value first then ask for the sale later”….”you wouldn’t ask some stranger to commit to marrying you that you just met on the street….so why are you asking for the sale right away..these people don’t know you..”…LOL
That marriage analogy some marketers use amuses me.
It makes zero sense.
After all, I’m not asking them to only buy from me for the rest of their lives.
(Not on the first sale, at least…)
With my methods (can’t speak for the email ascension and indoctrination masters above) it’s far more analogous to telling a girl about a fun and exciting place I’m already at, and inviting her to come by — not really caring if she shows up either way, since I’m enjoying the party with or without her, and know there will be plenty of other girls there anyway. (That is what my email method’s are all about — not begging people to to buy, but giving them the *opportunity* to buy.)
Anyway, if the list incubation and freebie masturbation techniques above work for you, great.
Have at ’em, Tiger.
I know some people who swear by such things.
But, it’s all just fear of selling and projecting your feelz onto your market.
Or, even worse, just being clever (i.e. over complicating things) for the sake of it.
It’s also selfish, too.
How so?
Because it’s not about the customer at all — it’s about the marketer’s emotions. It’s like these so-called “good will” emails. It’s the marketer projecting their own biases onto their market. Customers have pains and problems needing to be solved. That’s why they are on your list. Screwing around spending days or weeks trying to pretend you don’t have something that can benefit their lives while they are suffering seems incredibly selfish to me. Far more selfish than being honest and upfront and telling them there is something for sale that can help them. I am not saying you have to bowl them over with blatant pitches each day. But it makes no sense (in my way of thinking) to not at least let them know your solution exists. Otherwise, it’s like if you have a splitting headache and go to the store to get pain killers and are told, “we aren’t selling pain killers, today, it’s a good will day, in the meantime here is a free pamphlet about pain…”
Anyway, I got lots more to say about this.
And, I will (in a future email — worry ye not).
But for now, here’s the bottom line:
If you want to build a rock-solid relationship with your list via email you can do away with all these “sell without selling” rationalization hamster tactics like incubating new leads before (gasp!) letting them know you have a solution to their problems… so-called nurture sequences… engagement series’, constantly moving free lines, etc.
They simply aren’t needed if you know what you’re doing.
All you need do is sell, give value, and build a relationship at the same time.
Frankly, I don’t know why people find it so hard to grasp.
Mail order and space ad people have been doing it for 100+ years.
(There is nothing new under the sun, fancy new names for old school techniques notwithstanding.)
Hey, want to give elBenbo a birthday gift you will benefit from instead of me? Then all I want is for you to draft an email right now. Include an offer your list wants. Put a clear call to action at the end. And then send it to your list immediately after.
We’re talking 15-20 minutes of your time.
Maybe you will make sales and maybe you don’t.
But, at least you’re playing in the game.
(Instead of sheepishly pretending to not be playing while still trying to play.)
Of course, if you want help with the *how* to’s of writing emails, go here:
Ben Settle
