It’s all very well building a list of prospects – but it’s a pointless activity unless two things happen:

• Your emails get scanned or read
• Your prospects click through

It’s here where you really can trounce the competition, because most businesses send out the same dull info, in the same dull format, hoping to bore or bludgeon their list in to submission.

Don’t forget, unless EVERY mail has something of real value for prospects, you’re wasting your money and their time.

But there’s a really easy way to stand out from the dull corporate crowd and get your mails opened, read and clicked. Just tell a story.

It works like a charm – but so few do it.

A story brings your emails to life – wrap them around news, curiosity, self interest or an ‘easy way’ and you’ll always have folk opening, reading and clicking.

It’s the clicks that count – they are the life blood of your business. If click throughs don’t happen, nothing else does. No sales. No enquiries. Nothing. You may as well not have mailed.

So here are two great ‘story’ examples. One is an old classic that demonstrates how much a story can grab you, and the other an email sent from Michael Senoff, of hardtofindseminars.com

Michael’s subject headers, short sentences and paragraphs always get me reading. And because he always tells a story, it’s impossible to stop (it’s worth signing up to his list just to see how he does it).

This old Zippo ad plays on curiosity. Once you’ve been suckered in by the headline, it’s no effort at all to read the body copy.

Below is one of Michael Senoff’s emails:

 Subject header: Happy Birthday to Ace The Leopard Gecko. .

 Alastair,

 Ace, our leopard gecko is now two years old.

 I can remember how he came into our life.

 After watching “Wild Recon”, a new reptile show on the learning channel, my 10 year old son decided he wanted a gecko.

 So I agreed that is was time for him to take on more responsibility.

 I told him I would buy the gecko and pay for the glass habitat, heated rock, sand and the first round of food.

 He agreed to sign a gecko care agreement and to clean the poop, change the water, feed it crickets and worms every 3 days.

 So at 10:00 Sunday morning we were at the pet store looking into the class case of 20 baby geckos.

 How would he choose the right one, I thought?

 What gecko would stand apart from the rest?

 They all looked the same.

 The pet store attendant opened the case and all the geckos were in sight.

 And then something happened . .

  One of the geckos crawled away from the pack.

 He nestled himself next to the corner closest to us.

 And that’s the gecko my son took home and called Ace.

 And if you want to stand out from the crowd, you too have to separate yourself from the rest.

 And here’s some great audio interviews on how to do that.

 Go to

 http://www.hardtofindseminars.com/Stand_Apart.htm

 PS. 19 other geckos had the same chance to stand apart.