Ever sit down at your computer to write an email and end up staring at a blank screen for an hour?

You have an idea of what to write but you can’t get the words from your brain to your fingers and type it.

So you throw a short summary of an idea into Chat-GPT or Claude because you’re frustrated.

What comes out is nothing short of disastrous.

It doesn’t sound like anything that you’d ever write and now you’re frustrated.

So, you don’t send anything to your list of customers who're expecting to hear from you.

You’ve got a business to run.

And now you’ve spent an hour staring at a screen when you could’ve been talking to your customers and making sales.

And this isn’t the first time.

It happens more times that you wanna admit which is why you only send out an email every 3 weeks.

There’s a better way.

A framework you can use when you sit down to write an email (so you’re not enraged while you sit staring at a blank screen).

It’s called PAS.

• Problem
• Agitate
• Solution

Problem:

Introduce the problem your reader is dealing with.

Agitate:

Agitate the pain by painting a picture of the consequences that problem has on their life.

Solution:

Show your reader the solution (your product or service). To solve that problem and remove the pain from their life.

Example…

Problem: You don’t wanna spend a lot of money on food and drink when you have a night out with friends.

Agitate: Every time you do it feels like it’s a financial decision that leads to regret.

Solution: Our Happy Hour is 5 to 7pm Monday through Friday. ½ off apps, $4 domestic drafts and $5 glasses of wine. (sounds like a no-brainer to me!)

Now you have a summary and you can expand on that in your email.

It doesn’t have to be long and complicated.

Shoot for 300 to 400 words to start, then go up from there.

Copy and paste this into your email every time you write…

Problem:

Introduce the problem your reader is dealing with.

Agitate:

Agitate the pain by painting a picture of the consequences that problem has on their life.

Solution: Show your reader the solution (your product or service). To solve that problem and remove the pain from their life.

Start at the top with the problem and work your way down.

Now you have a solution for writer’s block without the agitation (see what I did there).

Mike “the solution” Downs

PS - Here's the framework expanded.

PPS - It’s gonna take time to get used to it. But the more you do it the easier it’ll get.

Here’s a couple tips:

1. When you’re writing the email, pretend you’re having a conversation with your best friend during lunch and leave out the inside jokes.
2. When you finish, read it out loud. If you stumble, so will your reader. Rewrite it.
3. While you’re reading, look for sentences that can be used as your subject line.