List Management - Could it be YOUR missing ingredient?

The end of a year is a natural time to reflect on where we are now, and where we intend to be going in the future. Thing is, where you want to be, might not be as far away as you might think!

For me, next year is going to be really exciting. I have just bought a new house in a new area of the country. It's a beautiful 'Arts and Crafts' house by the sea. I can't wait to begin that new life which will be characterised by long walks with the dog while I turn over, in my mind, my new projects.

It has taken me 6 years to get to this stage where my online income is large enough, and reliable enough, for me to make this change. It has been a time of learning and it has been a great journey so far. But, there is no question about it, in my own mind, I could have got to this stage much quicker if I had worked out what I was doing sooner. So I wanted to offer a little advice for those who are still a little way behind me.

Here's what I want to say: the difference for me has been learning that this business is not really about building a big list. I know some people here might not believe me, but I have deleted around 20,000 subscribers from my main prospect list over the past year; and I still have a list of around 20,000 left.

Why did I do that? Because I have finally come to realise that not all subscribers are created equal. If people cannot get themselves off my prospect list and onto one of my buyers lists within 1 year, then I simply delete them; at least, that's what I did when I got rid of 20,000 email addresses.

Just this last year, I made quite a transition in the way I am doing business. That transition has been away from constantly finding new prospects and then selling something to them - nothing wrong with that of course, I still do it - to providing my buyers with what they want based upon their buying habits.

The thing that has made the difference, for me, has been what I would like to call 'List Management' which is the process of sifting that main list into niched buyer lists. Just one of those much smaller lists is worth far more than my enormous prospect list.

If you are using Aweber - you can probably do the same with most autoresponders - you can get the autoresponder to unsubscribe people from your prospect list when they become buyers. This enables you to target different lists based upon their buying decisions. This is a very powerful principle and it could make a big difference to your results if you are not already doing it.

So there you are. I hope this post has inspired a few people here to think about their List-Building in a different manner and I wish all Warriors a happy and prosperous 2011.