If you don’t like it – UNSUBSCRIBE!

I logged into my Aweber account to send out an announcement about a wonderful new FREE resource for my blog readers & email subscribers.

Wow! I saw the ugly yellow highlight that let’s me know that I have had some complaint about my emails – for two of the email that I sent out in the last two weeks. What? How could anybody complain about my emails?  I work so hard to create value that coaches can implement – not always free – but absolute tried & true value, always!

So I just decided to invite the readers of my emails for Building Your Coaching Business to unsubscribe if it bothered them that I asked for the business in my emails.

Here’s the letter I sent:

The last two emails that I sent out seemed to have bothered a few people on my list, so I wanted to ask you personally to give me some feedback.

I am going to talk about two things in this email:

Complaints from subscribers who are offended when I offer products or services in this email
My f.ree & paid teleclass series that starts this Friday
First, when you signed up I promised to send you an ecourse that would give you an overview of the tools that I use on line to build not only my business, but I also use them in my work with other coaches of all different types – law of attraction coach, weight loss coach, baby boomer coach, parenting coach, time & life balance coach.

I use and recommend both free and paid services to run my business, and these are the same ones I recommend to my clients and to you.

My last email talked about what four things you need to focus on for success for online business and offered my services if you wanted a private consultation for 1 month or 4 sessions and I got some pretty negative feedback. When you signed up for my information maybe you didn’t understand that I am a coach – which means I will offer my services for a coaching fee in my emails to you. Does this offend you?

In my blog and in this email I will send out helpful information – in fact I have done a free weekly call for 3 months over at http://CoachesCommunity.ning.com (a free coach community for sharing and networking where the focus is building business).

In our session two weeks ago – I invited one of the coaches that was on the call to ask me any question about something she was facing in her business. We continued the call for about 40 minutes and I shared about 30 tips that she could implement to monetize a free speaking event where she was scheduled to speak in front of a live audience of 200 people. Her testimonial is in the forum and you can connect with her there to talk with her about the value that I provided – all for fr.ee.

So, here’s the deal – I am in business. I offer coaching for a fee and I also offer other products and services that I know first hand will make your business more successful. If that offends you PLEASE do not label my emails as “spam” – which is unsolicited, uninvited business contact via email. You subscribed and confirmed.

If you are offended by me doing business along with providing helpful information, let me invite you to unsubscribe. I will be sorry to see you go because I love to help coaches just like you succeed. But I don’t want to offend you.

Okay, so if I haven’t offended you by offering products & services that will truely help you in your business (I know because I use them for myself and individuals that I coach)…Then here’s the information on my upcoming fre.e & paid teleclass series that starts this Friday, June 19,2009 at 1 pm Pacific & 4 pm Eastern.

You can get more details on the calls at http://CoachesCommunity.ning.com – the dial in access code is there in the group.

All live sessions are fre.e. If you miss the live session, or for some reason that time of day is not good for you, then you can subscribe to have a cd of the full audio and the notes, tools & resources mailed to your home for only $9.97 per week – with a trial bonus of only $4.97 per week during the first month. I challenge you to put these strategies to work and see if it doesn’t increase your exposure and credibility as a coach and increase your bottom line.

I will be adding an option for the purchase of a single week’s episode for those who don’t need the entires series of classes.

Each session is at least one hour long and will answer the most asked questions on the individual topics of online marketing strategies for launching & successfully operating your coaching business.

The coaches within http://CoachesCommunity.ning.com are at different stages of building their business on line and provide me with real world questions – and those are the questions that I will be answering. Feel free to add yours to the discussion.

Hey, Therese, if I offended you I am really sorry. We are both in business and to stay in business you cannot do everything for free – you have to ask for the business. Those that need it will say “yes” and those that don’t will say “no, thank you” or “not now” – that’s okay.

I would love your feedback and I hope you can join me on Friday’s live call.

Melody Campbell

Building Your Coaches Business

So far I have a 3:1 ratio response (3 still love me and one is calling it quits)- at least I know this email is getting read! Ha!

Let me share with you a couple of responses. The first one is my favorite.

Hey Melody,

I wanted to send you some support!

Your stuff is great and as you know, ‘pissing’ people off occasionally is actually a sign that your marketing is working.

You may want to read my latest blog post about this one as someone came onto my Facebook wall and slammed me for my marketing efforts.

You can read it here:
http://acceleratingyoursuccess.com/happyinbusiness/blogfree-articles/

And good for you for leaning in and addressing it!

Keep playing big.

Therese Skelly

I loved Therese’s post about her Facebook “friend” that told her she was so self absorbed. Geez! Go read it and come back and leave me a comment – tell me what you thought about it.

Here’s another – loved the last line! This one is a smart coach!

I am not at all offended. You clearly work hard and are dedicated to what you do.

I have picked up some ideas, or at a minimum, have thought about things, in another way.

I would not expect you to be a charity. Frankly, I am more impressed if you are financially successful.

Yah think?

I read other marketing coaches blogs and emails so I can say “Ah, I want to ask for the business like that!” or “Eww, I would hate to come across like that.” So learn from me. Maybe you would do it differently but -are you asking for the business often enough.

Therese’s post reminded me that if I was afraid of offending someone because they are clearly not my ideal prospect then I’d never have any business. It’s okay if one of my readers speaks up and says, “Not for me!” and moves on.

But, hey, don’t complain to my email account that I spamed you – you opted in to the email – if you don’t benefit it’s because either

• we’re not a good fit
• or, now is not the time

Let me say this again, asking for business is NOT SPAM.

I love my readers, both of the blog and the email that I send out. Sometimes I get feedback or questions that bring tears of gratitude

to my eyes. I get enthusiastic feedback on my coaching calls that makes me glad I am a coach.

So, what say you? It’s your turn to chime in. Ever had this happen with your email subscribers?

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