Three weeks after I announced a free and customizable e-mailworkshop I created, I received a rather bewildered anddistressed e-mail from someone who signed up to take it.
In her e-mail, she wanted to know in what way was the freee-mail workshop relevant to her business. She wanted to knowwhat good creating an e-mail workshop would do for her andher business. And I could tell from her e-mail she wasgenuinely lost and confused, and needed an immediate response.
I read her e-mail several times, and then I got ready totackle her questions one by one. My answers were lengthy, andI also visited her site so I could give her more realisticexamples of how she can use e-mail workshops in attractingleads or customers for her business.
In my response to her, I didn't try to give her a sales talk.I didn't focus on the benefits she would gain if she bought acopy of the e-book I'd written on the subject. Instead, Ifocused on her questions and answering them as clearly as Icould. The only place I mentioned my e-book was in my signatureline, just below my name. That, and the URL.
A couple of days later, I received another e-mail from her.She thanked me for answering her questions thoroughly andclearly. She was surprised I visited and explored the site soI can give her examples and ideas for possible e-mail workshopsshe can use. And that same day, she bought my e-book -- and Ididn't even try selling it to her!
Two important lessons can be derived from this, and we can allapply these lessons every day when we go about building andpromoting our business on the Internet:
1. Treat every legitimate e-mail inquiry promptly, respectfullyand professionally, even if the e-mail borders on theannoying, antagonistic or silly side. Take the e-mails as achallenge to prove that you know what you are talking about;that you indeed do and live what you teach.
2. Sometimes, it's better not to think of someone who comesto us as a "prospective customer" or someone we can convince tobuy from us. Building, growing and maintaining a business isnot just all about making money or producing large profits.It's also about gaining people's trust and making them believeyou are sincere and honest.
Work on building good relationships with people and theyeventually will want to do business with you.
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