I was speaking on the phone yesterday with a prospective client.

He was very excited about what an E-Newsletter could do for him: Generate leads; increase sales; open up a two way dialogue with customers; position his company as an industry thought leader; provide him with a low cost, instantaneous means for sending messages. I get goose bumps just talking about it.

But he had a concern:

“Everybody’s email boxes are already jammed with useless stuff. There’s no way this can make a difference.”

I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise to you, but I didn’t agree with him. Here’s what I said:

“It’s precisely because everybody’s email boxes are jammed with useless stuff, that it does make a difference.”

People aren’t tired of receiving useful, relevant, interesting information that can help them in their business and personal lives. They’re tired of receiving the self promoting, “act now while supplies last,” in your face junk that characterizes most of what passes for E-Newsletters today.

And although the Internet (to name just one source) has given us access to more facts than ever before, we’re as confused as ever when it comes to understanding the industries we interact with every day. For example:

• Do you have the slightest idea how to differentiate among the various life insurance options out there? (Insurance professionals, put your hands down.)

• Do you have a clue as to which features really matter in purchasing a laptop computer?

• Do you know what your doctor is looking for when she takes half your bodily fluids and peeks into all the available openings in your body?

• Do you understand your phone bill? Your cable bill? Your cell phone bill? Your mutual fund statements?

Here’s my point. Regardless of what field you’re in, your clients and customers are confused. They’re barraged with data, but desperate for knowledge.

As a result, the opportunity for you to differentiate yourself from your competition (which spends most of its time and money drowning prospects and customers with promotion after promotion) by explaining your area of specialty, has never been greater.

When you create an E-Newsletter that simplifies the ins and outs of your industry for the outside world, it (and your company) will stand out. Not only will you be different, you’ll be satisfying a need that few of your competitors seem to recognize.

Your E-Newsletter will be anticipated, opened, read and passed along, all of which allows the good stuff we talked about at the top of the page to happen (uh oh, goose bumps again).

So stand back and let the other guys climb all over each other to see whose email messages will be deleted the fastest. Focus on providing information that your audience of customers and prospects wants to know, and it will most certainly make a difference.