The night I failed by trying to sell immediately to someone who signed up.

I am Akira Sato, an expert in 'AI x Content Attraction' for people in their 40s. By combining 14 years of blog attraction know-how with AI, I deliver tips that have been verified in the field and are effective for turning the businesses of my generation into 'assets'.

Good evening.

Tuesday night. Today, I have been talking about 'relationship building' after someone signs up for your email newsletter. In the morning, I talked about how 'not feeding a fish you've already caught is a no-go,' and in the afternoon, I shared about 'designing to deepen trust in the first three emails.'

Why am I so particular about communication 'immediately after registration'? Because I have experienced a major failure in the past where I completely misjudged this distance.

The 'worst first email' born from impatience

This is a story from when I first created my own service (consulting) and had just started my email newsletter. At the time, my head was full of impatience, thinking, 'I have to generate sales as quickly as possible.'

I remember being so happy I could jump when I placed a free bonus PDF that I had spent days creating on my blog, and finally received the first email newsletter registration notification. 'Yes! This person is interested in my know-how! They will surely buy my service too!'

And then, in the very first email immediately after they registered, I sent this message along with the link to the bonus PDF:

'Thank you for registering! Here is your bonus. By the way, if you want to get serious results right now, taking my consulting is the shortest path. For now, at a special price...'

The horror of 'hard selling' that freezes a reader's heart

What was the result? I never received a reply from that reader. In fact, they unsubscribed from my newsletter the very next day.

At the time, I was depressed, thinking, 'Why? I proposed a good product.' However, I understand now. What I did back then was
the same as suddenly approaching someone I just met and demanding, 'Please marry me!'

The reader was only interested in the 'free PDF.' They didn't know me deeply, nor did they trust me. Yet, I tried to sell them a high-priced product seconds after meeting them, so they became wary, thinking, 'Wow, this person is pushy. That's scary,' and they ran away.

There is an 'order' to building trust

We sole proprietors in our 40s have our livelihoods at stake, so we tend to rush for results (sales). The impatience of 'I have to sell quickly' makes us misjudge the distance with our readers.

However, in business, you cannot skip 'trust' and only get 'sales.' No matter how wonderful the product is, if there is no foundation (relationship) of
'this person understands my worries' or 'I can trust this person,' people will not open their wallets.

That night of failure, I reflected deeply. 'An email newsletter is not a tool for selling. It is a place to convey my own experiences and thoughts, and to spend time having a 'correspondence' with my readers.'

Don't rush, nurture the relationship slowly

Since then, I stopped trying to sell my services immediately after someone registers for my newsletter. Instead, I started to share my failures and my current situation of struggling in a down-to-earth way, without dressing it up.

Then, little by little, warm replies started arriving from readers saying, "I understand how you feel."
I felt far greater joy and relief when I received those replies than I ever did when I was trying to sell to them immediately.

Tuesday night.
If you are currently feeling impatient, wanting to see results quickly,
please, do not rush to close the distance with your readers.
Trust is something that must be nurtured slowly, following the right order, just like growing a plant.

That quiet accumulation will eventually become the greatest strength supporting your business.
Let go of your impatience tonight and get a good night's sleep.

Great work to both of us today!

Thank you for reading until the end.
Let go of the impatience to sell, and first build trust with the readers right in front of you. That "haste makes waste" approach will ultimately make your business stronger.
If you are a fellow traveler who has decided to "nurture relationships without rushing!", please feel free to hit the like button and let me know.

If you'd like, would you connect with me? I look forward to your follow. I, too, want to actively connect with you, a peer of my generation who is working just as hard in the trenches.