Your reader already knows they’re being sold to.
The moment they open your email, they’re scanning for a reason to close it.
So what makes some sales emails book 120+ calls while most get archived in seconds?
Almost one century ago, a copywriter named Robert Collier answered that question with one sentence:
“Always enter the conversation already occurring in the prospect’s mind.”
That’s what I want to cover in today’s edition of Profit from Email.
For the past editions, I’ve broken down some of our best sales emails frameworks:
They all worked because we wrote copy that speaks to something the reader already wants. Something they were already curious about, frustrated by, or a little afraid of missing out on.
To do that, you need to enter into your reader’s mind, which is exactly what the Collier Principle does.
Anyway, here's the email we want to break down in today’s edition:
We're not allowed to share our clients' real emails due to NDA.
So we wrote this one for Cole Gordon instead, purely as an example. To be clear, he's not a client of ours.
In the above email, we do it by naming the exact silence sitting between the small yes someone already gave you and the bigger one they're still deciding on.
Someone who signs up for a freebie or downloads a resource is often already thinking about the paid version, they're just stuck in that in-between phase of inaction where they haven't said no, they've just gone quiet.
This email joins the conversation happening in that silence instead of starting over with a new pitch.
Now, you probably have 3 questions:
1/ “Great that this worked for your clients, but will it work for me?”
For context -
They run a high-ticket coaching programme for people who want to start and scale an AI business.
The programme is $6,000.
Every booked call is a direct $6,000 opportunity.
120 calls booked = $720,000 in potential revenue from one email.
So, if you're selling expensive products or services (anything above $1,000) - this is for you.
2/ "Okay, but how do I apply this principle to my emails?"
We have a prompt later in this email but here are 3 tips from Collier himself:
study your reader before your product - Study your reader. Find out what interests him. Then study your proposition to see how it can be made to tie in with that interest." Most founders do this backwards.
know your customer specifically, not broadly - If your honest answer to "who buys from you" is "we get all sorts," that's the problem. You can't speak to a mind you haven't defined.
use how they arrived as a clue - Nobody lands on your resource by accident. Whatever brought them there is a direct clue to what's on their mind.
3/ “How often can we send these kind of sales emails"?
We’ve covered this in one of our previous editions too, we follow a framework called “Earn the ask”
The idea is simple:
Most founders treat their email list like a vending machine.
Insert email, receive leads.
But that's not how trust works. Every email you send is either a deposit or a withdrawal.
Send three deposits before you make one ask.
When you've earned it, the ask doesn't feel like selling. It feels like an invitation.
For this client, we run 12 editions a month:
4 value emails
2 personal stories
4 YouTube teasers
2 hard CTA
We don't follow the above cadence rigidly for every client.
The right cadence depends on list size, niche, and how much trust has already been built. (also their budget)
But the principle never changes - you can only withdraw trust that you've already deposited.
3/ "Just out of curiosity Nils, why does this email work so well?"
1/ it names the silence before the offer
The first line points directly at the thing the reader has been quietly avoiding, not a new pitch. That's Collier's rule in practice: You're not opening a topic, you're walking into the one already running.
2/ the stat makes the reader picture themselves as the outlier
A specific percentage of people who convert quickly does more than build trust in the business. It puts the reader in a category they don't want to be in.
3/ permission to leave works as a filter
Telling the reader they can archive the email if they're no longer interested forces them to answer a question about their own identity before the offer even shows up.
Whoever keeps reading has just recommitted to themselves.
4/ the proof lands right after the self-identification
Once the reader chooses not to archive the email, they've already told themselves "yeah, I want this."
The very next objection is "will this actually work for me." Sarah's story answers that objection at the exact moment it shows up, right after the reader has committed.
5/ the PS works as a mini pitch on its own
Even people who skip the entire body still read the PS.
So it should carry a complete pitch by itself: the proof, the result, and the CTA, all doing their job even if nothing above it got read.
Anyway -
You now have everything you need to understand why this email works.
Writing it for your business is the easy part. Plug in your details in the below prompt and you’ll have the sales email ready in 30 mins.
/Nils
P.S. If you're a B2B founder doing anywhere between $5M and $20M and want help implementing this email for your business - hit reply. We'll select 1 founder to work with directly.