I just received the following email this morning – it has been cut and pasted with nothing added or removed.

He (or she) forgot to set up the form email so it would auto populate the fields. Maybe they are just getting lazy – or maybe this is done on purpose because unfortunately, I’m sure someone somewhere will still reply to them.

No one online knows your business exists...

What do I mean by that?

I did a quick Google search for [Name] in [City] and I noticed your business is not in the Google 3-pack.

The "3-pack" is the place on Google that shows 3 businesses in a specific area at the TOP of the search results.

If you aren't in the 3-pack that means your competitors ARE.

54% of your customers will do a Google search at least once per month to find a local business - although it's likely more.

Most business owners have no idea how to get into the 3-pack, but I've mastered the art of ranking there and I can help you...

If you'd like to know how it's done and maybe even have me just do it for you -- simply reply to this email.

I can only help 3 businesses per city since the Google 3-pack only lists 3 businesses...

I sent this same email to your competitors and I work on a first come first serve basis. Don't miss this opportunity!

Don't let your competition outsmart and outrank you.

Check out << Link >> or Call me now at 555-555-5555 or reply to this email and I look forward to helping you get more clients in the door.

Best,
NAME
NUMBER
COMPANY (optional)

Well Mr. Coe, and that’s probably not your real name to begin with, I think what you need to worry about is your fellow email spam competitors outsmarting you.

You would never hire a plumber or auto mechanic that contacted you out of the blue, so when you get an email like this – just delete it!

Life would be so much better if we didn’t wake up every morning to a mailbox full of spam.

Usually when I get unsolicited emails from companies that do not include an opt-out I will reply to the email and ask them nicely to remove me from their list. I normally give them a link to the FTC site and try to educate them about the CAN-SPAM Act. 9 times out of 10 they are grateful because some people still do not understand that there are rules to sending emails.

Occasionally I get someone who will just not listen. For example – over the last 6 months I’ve received emails from a person named Adam J McLean who has what he refers to as a referral website called the Jofi Dream Team (JDT) and he keeps asking me to join for $50 a month. 3 different times I’ve politely told him I am not interested and asked him to remove me from his list. The last time I gave him a link to the FTC website and suggested he read about the CAN-SPAM Act, and this was his reply:

“You are ridiculous. How tough is it to delete an email? It took you more time to send me an email. I get a million emails. Click and delete. That easy!

Have a great week!

Adam”