"If he hasn't called or tried to contact me by June 20th, I should call him to see if there's anything else I don't need from his company."

In meantime, I've been anxiously waiting for you to "touch base" with me.

You see, I really have nothing better to do than to read pointless follow-up email messages from people who have no idea whether or not I really need what they have to offer.

By way, your company overview was fascinating reading. I can't tell you how glad I was to get it. I printed it out and put it up on my bulletin board just in case I ever need to refer to it.

When friends visit my office, I always make sure they see it.

No, I don't have any questions. I'm terribly sorry about that. I tell you what, why don't I take a few hours and think of some for you -- so you can send me more pointless email messages in response.

Once again, thanks so much for wasting my time. I really appreciate it.

Nick

P.S. What's an "Enterprise Solution?" Are you related to Captain Kirk?

Harsh? Maybe. Amusing? Possibly. Instructional? I hope so! Email follow-up is no different than telephone follow-up in that it must be relevant, it must provide some kind of new information, and it must have a strong call to action! This is crucial!

One final rant: Aren't you getting tired of hearing about "enterprise solutions?" The concept is so broadly applied and overused it really has no meaning anymore.

I urge you to review your email messages and other marketing communications and be mercilessly brutal in excising any and all meaningless jargon.

Replace it with customer-focused, benefit-oriented statements, and I'll bet your sales get an immediate bump upward.

- If your email begins with "Thank you for sending information on your money making opportunity, now look at mine…" - TRASH! If I'm a responsible emailer, I KNOW who I sent information to. If I can't remember, I must be a spammer.

- If anywhere in your email, you have a statement that begins with "This email is not spam…" - TRASH! If you have to say it, then it's spam! - If anywhere in your email, you have statement that's similar to "Under Bill s.1618 TITLE III passed by 105th U.S. Congress this letter cannot be considered spam…" - TRASH! Again, if you have to say it, then it's spam! Do your research. The bill never passed. Also, last time I checked, U.S. laws don't apply to other countries.

- If anywhere in your email, you promise that I can lots of money with little or no work - TRASH! Don't insult my intelligence.

There you have it. Eight effective techniques to NOT get your email advertisement read. Use them wisely and best of luck!