There was a time when salesmen sat in a busy office building making cold calls all day, reading off of scripts, and getting beaten down by the person on the other end. It was a time of fast-talking and verbal trickery, where people used any means they had to make the sale.

  Luckily, business has changed a lot, and all of us work differently these days. Using email, we are now able to keep in touch with a lot more people, in a way that is much less intrusive and abrasive, and without applying psychological pressure on people just to get them to do busines with us. It's true, many people do not like getting emails trying to sell them things. Even worse is SPAM, the unsolicited junk that we all get dozens of times a day. But, the simple truth is that it is the least offensive of all advertising means, requires almost no effort to avoid, and it goes away when we delete it, unlike the intentionally loud commercials on TV and radio or the offensive billboard that you have to see every single time you look outside your office window.

Email is a fantastic way to talk to customers for a number of reasons, but implementing it successfully, without driving people away, can be a difficult trick to master. Here are a few tips from my own experience:

Don't Annoy
Avoid the urge to fill your emails with flashing lights and starbursts that say "Act Now." No matter what you are actually doing, it makes your email feel like you're selling used cars.

Keep in Touch
Not every email message needs to be a sales message. It's a good idea to send people useful information, or relevant news. Many of the top companies in the US send weekly updates to their lists, with only occasional mentions of new products and services.

Give Something Away
If people are allowing you into their inbox, it only makes sense that you should give them something back. No matter what line you are in, there is always something valuable that you can afford to give away for free. If you are a photographer, give your customers a change to get a free print or promotional piece. If you are a designer, consider making wallpapers for download. But, whatever you give away, make sure it is something good. Never give away something that you could never sell.

Let them Leave
Every one of your contacts deserves the right to leave your mailing list. Make it easy and be polite when someone wants to stop receiving your mail. Handle your unsubscriptions religiously. It's bad to lose a contact, but it's even worse to lose a customer and then badger them anyway.

Licensed Email Lists
Have a message, but no one to send it to? We can help you find databases that can give you the contacts you need to succeed. There are lists available right now for people in almost any imaginable industry.

Email Design
We can help you design and prepare emails to send, and we can even help you work on printed products that will complement the work you are doing online.

Need Help with Mail?
If sending mail is difficult or problematic for you, we can help you correctly format your layouts and designs so that they work in the email format. If you are looking for someone to help you with a campaign, we can suggest a number of organizations that do just that..