I have a confession: I used to hate sales.

Selling is often perceived as “slimy” because a lot of people use sales tactics in a dishonest way to make a quick buck.

For those of us on the receiving end, we feel manipulated.

And because of that, we shy away from doing any selling in our own emails (or we do very little of it).

The Mistake: Not pitching in your emails (or doing it badly)

But this leads to missed opportunities to increase revenue on autopilot.

When you don’t use proper sale tactics in your emails, you’ll also face other problems:

1. Lower awareness of your offers

Even when you’ve mentioned your offers somewhere in your social bio or posts, it’s not enough.

It’s not because people have shorter attention spans, it’s because they are busy and are constantly being bombarded by technological distractions like:

• Other notifications
• Other free content
• Other offers

You need to strategically (and repeatedly) let your audience know how they can work with you to achieve their dream outcome.

2. Increased marketing cost

On average, email marketing returns $36 for every dollar spent. While this makes it the highest ROI marketing channel, it can also quickly backfire.

Email Service Providers (ESP) like ConvertKit, BeeHiv, Mailchimp, etc. will charge based on email list size. The more you grow your email list, the more expensive it becomes.

So if you don’t integrate proper sales tactics into your emails, you’re going to lose more money as your email list grows.

3. Inconsistent revenue streams

It’s common for revenue to fluctuate in a business. But without regular, well-crafted pitches in your emails, the fluctuation can swing to unhealthy extremes.

The Reason This Happens

The no.1 reason product coaches don’t sell in their emails: Fear of being salesy.

You don’t want to be compared to the typical car salesman who haggles and pressures people into buying something they don’t want or need. You’re afraid of ruining the good relationship you’ve built with your audience by asking for money. You also don’t want to manipulate others.

I get it, I used to be like you too.

Until I learned what real-good-non-scammy sales look like.

Don’t worry, I’ll share this with you later.

Overcoming these fears and understanding how to pitch effectively is critical for email marketing success.

Here are other reasons why product coaches avoid or mishandle pitching in their emails:

1. Pitching too soon / not giving enough free value

You need to deliver so much free value that it taps into the psychological effect of reciprocity (people feel the need to repay what was given to them).

“But Adam! I already give away so much free content on social”.

Maybe you have. But perception is everything. People need to BELIEVE that you gave more than you asked.

Timing is also key. Asking someone to buy right after they join your email list is the classic mistake of pitching too soon.

2. Not framing the offer to be irresistible

Assuming you’ve given enough free value, the next obstacle is to present an “irresistible offer”.

Even if the offer is obviously (and logically) beneficial to the reader, you still need to show them that the price is justified, and the value outweighs the cost.

3. Lack of urgency and/or scarcity

“This is totally worth the price, but maybe I’ll buy it later” - if this is what your audience think after seeing your offer, that means you’ve failed them.

I hate being pushy too, but failing to get your audience to act now leads to them procrastinating.

Procrastination = prolonged pain = opportunity cost.

Sometimes you need to show some “tough love”, just like you would with your close friends or family members.

4. Overpromise

When salespeople are desperate to close a sale, they start to “yes” to everything the prospect/client wants.

You see this everywhere with certain influencers overpromising:

• “Get rich quick, work zero hours a day, travel the world anytime”
• “Lose all that fat without doing anything and eating everything”
• “My marriage is perfect, so follow my advice”

Sure they might get away with high amount of sales early on.

But a good business is about playing long game.

And when businesses fail to deliver on their promises → they erode their brand reputation and trust with their audience → less sales in the future.

Overpromise = lying = scam.

How to Fix It

The biggest reframe that completely changed my perception of sales: “Sales isn’t about pitching, it’s about educating”.

Specifically, selling is about educating your audience on:

• What problems they have
• Why they should solve them
• How your solution can help them

But here’s a plot twist: slimy salespeople do this too.

So what can you do to separate yourself from them?

• Honesty: Be transparent of what you can and can’t do. Be clear about what you will and won’t do too. When expectations are aligned, you signal to others that you’re trustworthy.
• Servitude: It doesn’t matter if your audience buys from you. Just because they don’t/can’t buy from you now, doesn’t mean they won’t buy later. Serve your audience first and you’ll be free from the pressure of closing the sale.

With that said, here are some ways to sell without being salesy using email:

1. Provide a high perceived value lead magnet

Gary Vee famously introduced the concept: “jab, jab, jab right hook”, which can be translated to “give, give, give, then ask”.

But value can be subjective, which is why it is your job to package value in a way that is clearly beneficial to your audience.

An Educational Email Course (EEC) is a good example of a high perceived value lead magnet:

• Targets a specific topic
• There’s a tangible outcome
• It’s a quick, but meaningful win

If you feel uncomfortable giving away so much value for free, that’s usually a good sign.

2. Create a follow up FOMO sales sequence

When it comes to pitching, timing is key.

After giving so much free value via an EEC, your audience will be more inclined (and sometimes excited) to take the next step with you to solve their problem.

This is the perfect time to send a FOMO (fear of missing out) sales sequence, a series of emails that gradually increase the intensity of your sales pitch:

• Day 1: Recap everything they just learned from the EEC and educate them on “the next step.” Then, give them a way to buy the solution to that next step (product or service).
• Day 2: Hard sell on the benefits of what you’re selling and share a story of how you (or your previous client) overcame those obstacles. Include testimonials if you have them.
• Day 3: Some sort of FOMO pitch (”Last chance!” or “My calendar is filling up quick!”).

Whenever I build an EEC for my clients, I would also craft a FOMO sequence as part of the package to maximize their ROI (that’s how valuable it is!).

FOMO sales sequence can be automated (just like EEC)s and can be dripped across several days.

3. Use urgency and/or scarcity

Urgency and scarcity tap into the psychological trigger of loss aversion. People are more likely to buy something when it’s not easily available.

When used correctly, you can help people who are on the fence to make a decision. However, using them too often will make them less effective (and annoy people until they unsubscribe). You need to maintain a healthy ratio of soft and hard pitches.

Implementing these can be tricky since you don’t want to create “artificial urgency/scarcity” (unlike selling physical goods where you have limited supply).

Here are a few examples to help you implement genuine urgency/scarcity:

• Deadlines for bonuses: Product launches make the most of the sales on the first and last day of the marketing campaign. But since most digital products and services can be bought anytime, you can introduce limited-time bonuses to reward fast action behaviours instead (e.g. Get my free product management templates for those who buy in the next 48 days).
• Deadlines for price: I’m not a big fan of discounts since they devalue our offers. However, if you’re taking an iterative approach to your product/service you can increase your prices over time to show the value increase too. It’s a subtle but powerful difference in value perception (e.g. I’m raising the price for the next cohort, so enroll now).
• Limited slots: For coaching/training services, you can highlight the limited slots since you can’t serve too many clients at once (e.g. Only 10 slots available for Q1).
• Use a waitlist: For those who missed the initial slots, you can add them to a waitlist and reach out to them when your slots are opened again. It’s easier to convince people who already show interest (e.g. Sorry I’m fully booked for Q1, but you can join my waitlist for Q2).

These are just some examples that I discuss with my clients to increase urgency/scarcity when pitching their product/services.

4. Strategically pitch in the P.S.

This is a huge missed opportunity for a lot of product coaches.

The P.S. section at the bottom of your email is prime real estate for 2 reasons:

• It’s hard to miss despite being at the bottom
• People who scroll to the bottom have most likely read (or skim) your email and have unlocked some value, making them more likely to click

Adding a pitch at the P.S. in an EEC for example, gives 5 exposures to your pitch even before the FOMO sale sequence kicks in.

Wrap up

Understanding and implementing effective sales strategies in your emails doesn’t have to be slimy or pushy.

It’s about:

• Providing value
• Educating your audience
• Helping them make informed decisions

By overcoming the fear of being salesy and using thoughtful tactics like high-value lead magnets, FOMO sequences, and genuine urgency, you can transform your email marketing into a powerful revenue generator without compromising your integrity.

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help:

I can build a well-packaged, high-value Educational Email Course (like this one) for your business that will:

• Boost your email opt-in rate by 30-50% (and accelerating email list growth)
• Educate leads on their problems before any sale calls (to warm them up)
• Build trust with leads in days instead of months
• Promote your products/services on autopilot

Interested? Book a free call with me.

See you 😁

P.S. In case you missed it, check this out - Email automation secrets for product coaches​