Nobody was willing to build skyscrapers back in the 1800s.
Building them wasn’t actually a problem…
Everyone was just scared shitless of elevators.
Can you even blame them?
One snapped cable meant almost certain death.
But then came an American engineer on the scene – Elisha Otis. He invented a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails.
(i.e. a safety brake.)
It was a truly revolutionary product – an engineering marvel…
Yet sales were dead in the water?!?
Meeting after meeting after meeting with elevator execs ended with a ‘Look it’s great, it’s just not for us right now.’
Otis was befuddled:
Not only would his product literally SAVE people’s lives… improve society’s QoL by removing the barrier for building skyscrapers…
…but his asking price was also very reasonable due to modest manufacturing costs.
So fuelled by desperation, frustration, and perhaps a touch of madness…
Otis decided to do something “insane”:
He built an open elevator platform at the World’s Fair… hoisted himself up several stories high (in front of a massive crowd)… and pulled out an axe.
And then?
The audience watched in horror as he proceeded to CUT THE ELEVATOR CABLES!
A collective gasp tore through the crowd as the platform plunged…
They were about to witness a man fall to his gruesome death…
But it didn’t happen.
Otis’ elevator brakes immediately kicked in and stopped it from falling.
He stood there… calmly, completely unharmed, while the crowd erupted.
He strolled into office the next day to find that…
The company exploded overnight.
And today, even 165 years after his death?
THOUSANDS of elevators worldwide still use Otis’s system.
(It’s why there’s often an “OTIS” engraved into most elevators.)
Here’s why Otis matters for you & your emails:
(Albeit this goes beyond just email…)
When Otis tried to sell his product by appealing to logic, facts, stats – i.e., how it’s a revolutionary product that will save lives, foster skyscrapper construction, while being reasonably priced…
He kept running into walls.
Why?
Because humans make decisions – that includes BUYING decisions – on emotions…
…which they then justify with logic.
He was doing the latter without the former.
More:
Scientists once tested a group of people who were missing their amygdala – part of the brain responsible for their emotions…
They were presented with a series of decisions to make – what to eat, what to wear, which appointment to book first…
They could list the pros and cons of every option perfectly…
But they couldn’t make the final call.
They just froze – they just couldn’t actually choose.
So the reason why Otis’ “insane” approach worked…
Is because he invoked people’s emotions with a dramatic demonstration of his product – he barely had to pitch them afterwards, logically, on why they should buy the product.
Now, after spending almost a decade in the supplement space…
I can confidently say most are committing the same error Otis did.
Most emails that land in my inbox have Subject Lines like this:
===
Your Entire Stack = 20% off ⚡⚡
===
🚨FLASH SALE🚨 15% off until tomorrow!
===
HUGE Protein Sale 💰
===
Spend $75 and get FREE Creatine 🚀
===
This is all pure logic:
“Hey you should buy my protein powder because it’s 15% OFF currently, you can save some money. Saving money is good for you!”
The worst part?
Not only is this wildly inefficient…
(Although you’ll still get some sales because “Hyper-buyers” exist in this world…)
But your competition is also doing it!
So you have two headwinds going against you:
(1) Not standing out from the crowd…
(2) Even if you somehow do get through, your sales pitch has a low chance of converting.
So what’s the sharper knife in the drawer?
Well…
NOT doing any of the above for starters…
That’s putting it succinctly – since this email is already 630+ words long…
…and I don’t want to drag it out further.
But if you’re hungry for more, then consult my book – Blind Spot #5 specifically.
And once you do?
Check out some of the Email Storyselling-esque email examples I have in the Appendix section.
When I was building out my email method – i.e. Email Storyselling – I took great care to avoid the two headwinds above.
It wasn’t easy, heck-
It STILL isn’t easy crafting those kinds of emails…
But what was anything worthwile ever easy?
[Part of this email’s content has been removed from this Email Echoes version of it.]
Get the Next Issue of My Newsletter Delivered Straight to Your Inbox
I send an email (like the one you just read) every day on just some of the strategies & systems needed to give the subscribers on your email newsletter an experience SO GOOD… they’ll simply refuse to buy supplements from anyone else afterwards (the sheer thought of doing so triggers guilt). And when you hop onto my newsletter you’ll also get my Book: “Emails Without Bite: The 7 Email Marketing Blind Spots Your Sports Nutrition Brand May Be Heftily Paying For“ as a welcome gift for hopping on board.