At the recent Email Marketing Summit held in Boulder, Colorado, I really learned first hand the value of direct email.

  Notice how I say Direct Email, not bulk email, spam, or any other negative term for marketing to your customers. When direct mail was born earlier in this century, there was a similar uproar.

  Mailing letters used to be free. Then businesses took advantage of this to send commercial messages via the mail. Soon a charge was put on it, and eventually as more people sent letters, we all had to buy stamps.

  Now direct email is expensive. Direct email will be too. Or should I say "Push Media". Whatever it becomes, there is no time like now to take advantage of it.

  Direct email means names at 20-50 cents a pop. That is my estimate. Right now those names are free, but really they aren't. It takes your time. This is not about stripping addresses, but building value.

  Here's the five lessons that have changed my approach to business:

1. Target marketing means thinking like your customer, and thinking like a computer.

  Most people nod their heads about target marketing. They indicate a niche, like salespeople, and call it a target market. A target market is a group of people who meet and share in an interest in a specific subject.

  To direct email, you need to pinpoint who you want. Learn the tricks of the leading search engines; read their explanations of how to search. Put in your two keywords, then look for the related results that come up. What words repeat on those pages? How can you further narrow your search down so all related businesses come up?

  Or visit Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) and see how they have done it. They are a directory organized by keywords and interests. Search engines are a tough place to find what you are looking for as a consumer. As a business, they are a tool.

  This is where you have to think like a computer. Computers are very logical; if you are looking through a search engine, it is organized around keywords. Read the rules of each search engine. Some will search the page, others will just count words.

  The first time you try this, it will be tough. The second, it will become easier. If you can define your target niche in 8-10 words, you will find those Web Sites, and customers.

  If you enter in a few words and give up, you lose.

2. Think in terms of hundreds or thousands interested eyes, not millions of customers.

  Direct email is not built on 25 million addresses. Your job is not to send out as many messages as possible just because you can.

  Think in terms of hundreds or thousands of interested eyes. The kind that will likely be interested by your message and not bugged. If you bug them, you will not sell. Direct email is more a marathon than a sprint. To find those interested eyes, you have to spend your time focusing on your customer.

  This is where most businesses waste their time; they create new products to sell instead of testing their sales process.

  If you contact a customer who is interested, it does not waste your time or theirs. Bank on this.

3. Sell one or two products very well.

  Most people take the free nature o f the Internet as a rationale to sell anything they can. A customer entering their virtual store starts clicking around through so many ideas, they lose focus.

  They lose focus, you lose the sale.

  If you have many products or services to sell, focus on one or two a month. Set up a special section just for that individual item you are selling. Bring people into that section and do not even let them link to your home page.

  Give them one purchase decision, enhance it with credibility enhancers and testimonials, and close it with one decision; to buy or not to buy.

  Test out this approach. After they buy, you can always invite them to your home page.

4. Get multiple Web addresses; mirror like crazy.

  With all the free and cheap Web space available, it is insane not to take advantage of it. Spread your word out through Web Sites. Submit these to the search engines. Drive people to the different Web address and make the ultimate visit to your site a treat.

  Build up the excitement for what you are selling. Give your marketing Web Pages to agents who are selling your product.

  Arm them with ways to sell and they can sell. Anywhere, anytime. You cannot sell all the time, everywhere, unless you spread your message, and opportunity to sell.

  Give your salespeople the best incentives. In many major corporations, the salespeople make more than the CEO. There's a reason for that. Encourage it.

5. Make your close so compelling that it is an "Offer You Can't Refuse!".

  I had my house painted last year. The first painter came on recommendation. She spent two days spilling paint and changing the paint color I had chosen. She never asked me if I agreed with her change.

  The next candidate came in, with the house in a mess. This painter looked me in the eye and said, you pay us when we finish. That's our guarantee. You don't like it for any reason, you don't pay.

  It took all of 5 seconds to make that decision. That's how compelling your offer should be. If you really believe in what you are selling, you have to show it. Stand behind it. Back it up with iron clad guarantees. Do your best to deliver what you promise.

  And get that promise signed. As Samuel Goldwyn said, a verbal contract is worth the material it is written on. Verbal contracts are written on air; no one can read the air.

  Get them to commit by adding bonuses and do not be afraid to take a risk. Just make sure it's one you can live with. The painter risked two days of labor, but his work was so good, it was no risk.

  You need to be that good. The first person who has to believe that is you. If you do not believe you are the expert hired for the solution, your target customer will not.

  The biggest barrier isn't convincing your customer to buy, but convincing yourself to sell.