Barry Marshall, James Allison, and Kati Kariko looked at the world differently than their colleagues. Their upstream observations led them to profoundly different downstream conclusions.
That same power is available to each and every one of us.
When we recognize that the overwhelming majority of people who choose to enter our world are unlikely to become customers quickly, an entirely new realm of possibility opens.
Instead of rushing to make a sale that’s unlikely to happen (and almost certainly undermining future sales along the way), we can focus on relationships before transactions.
The seemingly simple decision changes EVERYTHING that follows.
Emphasizing relationships with our audience instead of transactions frees up our time and energy to:
- Focus on — and speak to — the needs and desires of our audience.
- Establish genuine empathy, credibility, authority, trust, and rapport.
- Lead with value with no expectation of immediate financial reward.
- Treat everyone like a customer regardless if money has changed hands.
These actions lead to three profound effects.
First, it’s a LOT more fun and energizing to engage with audiences following the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.”
In the Art of Email we call this principle “people, not metrics,” recognizing that every name on your list is a real person with real problems to solve and desires to fulfill.
People just like you and us.
Second, you’ll turbo-charge your short-term sales (probably a lot). Yes, that’s counter-intuitive, but something magical happens when you genuinely treat people exceptionally well. (You may find people reaching out saying “Dudes, Take My Money.”)
Third, when you focus on building and improving relationships (and other principles taught in the Art of Email), you’ll quickly learn that it’s much easier (and far more powerful) when transactions emerge organically vs. trying to engineer sales deliberately.
But … the Art of Email is not for everyone. Full disclosure: it’s probably not for most people.
AoE requires mindset and behavioral shifts most marketers are unwilling to make.
If that’s you, no worries. We get it — conventional wisdom is powerful (and it’s a helluva lot easier than choosing to zig when the rest of the world zags). We’re all friends here and we have lots of free resources you may find useful.
No hard feelings — we promise.
If, however, you’re like us … a little (OK, a lot) weird, and willing to try something different to get far better results, then welcome to the tribe.
We’ve been waiting for you…
The Art of Email Course Outline
- Module 1 (Foreword, Introduction, Strategic Upstream Decisions, Strategy + 10,000′ View, How to Think About Writing, and the Nine Dot Puzzle)
- Module 2: Principles of Serialized Narratives
- Module 3: Soap Opera Series
- Module 4: Relationship Building Series
- Module 5: Value Newsletter
- Module 6: Bridge Emails
- Module 7: Story-Powered Promotions
- Module 8: Product Launch Series
- Module 9: Customer Onboarding Series
- Module 10: Putting It All Together
- Module 11: Advanced Ideas
