Here are some fascinating financial facts:
The average monthly mortgage payment for a house in the US is $2,329. (If you’re not fascinated yet, hold on.)
Add in property taxes and insurance, you get up to around $3,000. (Getting intrigued?)
In high-cost states such as California and Massachusetts, the average monthly cost to pay for a house is as high as $3,600. (I bet you’re fascinated now, or at least feeling some tingles.)
At the same time, if you choose not to own, but to rent, like I do, then on average you are paying only about $1,800/month for a house, looking at all rentals around the U.S. (Ta-da!)
I’m fascinating you with all these facts because yesterday I reopened my Skool group, Daily Email House.
One new thing is that I started letting in people from my list into the group (previously the group was only for subscribers of my Daily Email Habit paid service).
I also made another change. While the group was previously just a kind of aimless social club, I decided to start having a “mission” for it.
Since I wanted to get this boat off the dock as quick as possible, and since most decisions in life are alterable, I set the mission to the first thing that came to mind, “Use your email list to pay for a house,” playing on the old name of the group.
Well, it seems like that off-the-cuff mission statement has resonated. For example, Steve Raju, of the on-and-off-but-wonderful “License to Quill” newsletter, joined the group and wrote:
“John, I think you should give away a house, every day, possibly forever, only via email.”
An old House member, copywriter GC Tsalamagkakis, also commented:
“And the fact that you can say ‘using daily emails to pay for a house;’ as a challenge for some people in a group and it actually makes sense is still mind-blowing to me.”
Most interestingly, a number of folks who applied to join the group, like this new member, listed as their #1 current goal some version of:
“Literally use my email list to pay for a house.”
Now let’s get back to those fascinating facts up top.
The average house in the US will cost you something like $3,600 a month.
That’s not a negligible amount if you have to pay it. On the other hand, it’s also not a sexy amount if you’re promising it as an bizopp inducement:
“Use your email list to make $3,600 per month!”
I doubt many people would have tripped over themselves running to take me up on that promise.
I can imagine I would even get some emails from all the copywriting experts on my list, reminding me of the importance of making a BIG promise in your marketing. And things would be even worse if I were to promise just the $1,800/month that’s needed to pay the average rent.
My point for you being that everybody promises money. That is lazy and ineffective. It only happens so much because money is easy to promise for the promiser, if that’s a word.
There’s a translation step that still needs to happen in your prospect’s head whenever you promise money.
Your prospect hears “money,” but then imagines a house, or a watch, or a vacation that money can buy. And when that translation happens, your prospect feels the warm glow of security, or improved social standing, or fun and freedom, feelings that “money” alone cannot generate.
So why not skip the translation step? Why not take the direct route to the result you want? I once heard copywriting coach David Garfinkel say:
“Either you do the work and get paid, or your prospect does the work and gets paid.”
Meaning, either you put in the work to translate your offer into terms that your prospect cares about on a bare-metal level… or your prospect has to do it, and more often than not, “gets paid” by not doing it and not handing you any of his or her money as a result.
That’s a little sales tip, in order to help you pay for a house using your email list. And if you’d like more support and help on that journey, here’s where to go: