Know When to Steal, Sell, and Defend

Friday, as part of my day job, I wrote a basic email for a company list... of it went the next day.

Nothing particularly revolutionary.

In fact, it was probably one of the shortest emails I've ever written.

Here's an edited version for you to copy, paste, and send out to your own database:

Hey %FIRSTNAME%,

If you have questions, I have answers.

I've been answering mortgage questions for a while now, and I enjoy it, a lot!

-> Book a Call HERE (hyperlink your booking link)

That's it.

Apparently, it had some pop.

Based on the response rate, I'm gonna say you should steal it.

Maybe edit it a bit.

Hit send.

Odds are you book some calls.

Steal the email.

But...

Never sell-out your database.

And always defend its integrity.

Because here's the thing about your database:

The client owns the client.

Not you.

Not your brokerage.

Not the lender.

The client.

They decide who they work with.

They decide who they want to hear from.

And they decide when they're done hearing from you.

Your job is to earn, and maintain, permission to stay in their world.

If someone asks to hear from you on a specific topic, email them.

If they don't want to hear from you anymore, make leaving easy.

And if someone asks you why they're receiving your email, ideally you should be able to answer that question.

Not:

"I think you were on a spreadsheet we imported six years ago."

But:

"You signed up here, for this, on this date."

That's database integrity.

And it's worth protecting.

Because an email list isn't simply an asset measured by how many names are on it.

An email list is an asset measured by how many people actually asked to be there.

I'd rather have 100 people who chose to hear from me over 10,000 wondering how the hell I got their email address.

Every time.

So here's my bonus thought for this week:

Do you need to audit your email list?

Ask yourself:

Where did these names come from?

What did these people actually agree to?

Can I prove it?

Am I still using their information as they reasonably expected when they gave it to me?

And perhaps most importantly:

Would I be comfortable explaining all of that to the person receiving the email?

If the answer is yes, hit send.

If the answer is no...

Maybe don't.

Integrity matters.

The integrity of your database.

And your own.

DW