Three days ago just before my evening gaming session I stumbled upon a piece of South African history on the TV.
A documentary was being broadcast showing the treatment prisoners received at Ruben’s Island prison during the days or Apartheid. Yes, the same prison Nelson Mandela was held at.
For those of you who don’t know what apartheid is…before the 90s it was illegal for people of different races to be in the same social situation or even marry in South Africa. Black neighborhoods, white neighborhoods and even Indian ( the country ) neighborhoods existed.
It was a punishable offense to be in a neighborhood you where not supposed to be in.
This was racism cranked up to 11.
A group of fighters grouped together and fought to have this inhuman law removed. They eventually succeeded in the early 90s but at what cost?
Many of these brave men where imprisoned.
Some killed.
And this documentary I found was about a small group of them who were sent to jail. They all got arrested for being part of the rebellion and they all met behind the prison bars.
Now, two decades later they appeared on TV to share their experiences on the legendary island prison.
And each of them told their experiences.
Times where tough but the one thing that kept them all going was the shared love for football ( or soccer as Americans call it for some reason ). These gentlemen would roll up their prison uniforms into balls and kick them around their large share cells when the guards weren’t around.
Unfortunately the guards didn’t like this and always disbanded the games.
So what did the prisoners do?
They wanted to play football without pissing the guards off and getting a baton shoved up their asses. So:
They banded together and sent a formal request to the warden for the right to play soccer on weekends… and better food.
The food request was given the thumbs up, but the soccer request was shot down.
However you cannot keep a determined people down.
Each and every week they sent a different person with a handwritten letter requesting the right to play football. And each time the warden ( who is admittedly a giant douche ) would say no.
Over time the warden’s drawer filled up with these letters and the issue got out of hand.
Eventually he took the issue to his superiors who FORCED him to accept the prisoner’s request. On the condition the prison authorities remain in charge of the proceedings. End result?
The prisoners where happy they could play soccer during the weekends. And the guards had some entertainment when the prisoners played.
Moral of this mini history lesson?
Just like how the prisoners where relentless in their attempts to get the warded to accept their requests… you should be relentless in your emails.
Send.
Send often.
Send regularly.
And send me a bag of leprechaun gold if you want 5 years of good luck…just kidding, almost had you there huh? Huh? 😉
Anyways, the sale is rarely made on the first contact. Usually it takes a strong followup game to ping the prospect until he’ ready to buy.
That is all.
Enjoy the weekend.
And if you want kickass emails which make your list whip out their wallets, go apply for your complementary 30 minute consultation call with me here:
And I’ll get back to you on Monday.
Till the next wave of madness… Vae Victis
Jay