Learn from a Spammer

Have you ever noticed how you go to your email inbox and you see almost 1000 messages. You may think, I know I have, wow I am popular today. When you open up the inbox you discover that over 99.99% of the messages are spam. In some cases most of the spam emails are from the same person/entity. Talk about aggressive and being in your face.

We may not like spam, I am not a fan of it. But, can we learn from it? Are there any techniques we can copy or are there techniques we should avoid? I have done this exercise many times in my life with different situations and different role models.

Growing up I had a lot of friends that came from single parent households, typically the father was not present. When my friends and I got older and some became parents themselves. They would often complain that they did not know how to be a father, because they did not have one, or they did not have a good example of a father to look up too. I would often ask them, if they had to pick one thing about their dad what would it be, some would have a hard time with this, others would not answer. I would move on and ask what you not liked about your dad. Most would go on and on about what they didn’t like. The fact that they didn’t call, they never came over, they were mean to their mom, they would lie, etc. I would say ok, now you do have an example of a dad, one that you do not want to be. Every negative example you came up with, I am sure you can see what the opposite would be. For example, if you didn’t like the fact that they would never call you, then call you kids, speak to them. If they would lie, then keep your promises.

I tell the abbreviated story above to help illustrate that we use negative examples to help shape a positive action on our part. If there is something someone does or did, then do the opposite.

Getting back to my Spam email example we can see what spammers do and see what do we like and what do we dislike. For me I see the persistence, they keep going, and never stop. You can block them, but because they are tenacious, they will find another way into your in box. They will not quit. This type of attitude is powerful, especially if you are in a position where you have to listen or take rejection after rejection.

I love Million Dollar Listing of New York, there is one episode where Luis Ortiz is training a new agent, his advice, and get use to rejections. He took this agent out to the park and told him to say hi to everyone that passed him. The purpose was to help thicken the skin and get use to rejection, in real estate, the agents go through a lot of rejection. But you have to keep going, you get rejected, brush it off, and go on to the next. Almost like spam emails.

Now looking at Spam emails for the negative approach, people hate them because, in my opinion, they keep coming nonstop. So, if you want to be the opposite, and you want to be received, read, and acted upon, you will need to change your approach. Perhaps you only email once a week, month, spread out the frequency. A good rule is to test your theory and see what works best for you. In the end of the day, if you are trying to acquire something from your audience, you need to be seen, heard, and wanted. If you are over bearing and pushy, you may push your way out of the radar of your prospects.