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I'm not gonna lie ...

Below is the "Inbound Prospecting Matrix" -- the framework a company used to close a $50,000 deal. I'll explain details in a second. 

I have this little problem.

I’m subscribed to a LOT of newsletters — but many are inconsistent. Sometimes they write incredible content. Sometimes they suck.

Tony Hsieh has a weird method for organizing his inbox.

This is Mohamed El Erian’s mansion in Laguna Beach, California:

He was the CEO at PIMCO — a global investment firm worth $2 trillion — where he was known as a fearless leader making global impact in the financial sector. 

When I discovered these two facts, I was shocked.

1. 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up.
2. 80% of sales require five follow-ups.

Copying and pasting the same email response over and over is a nightmare.

Even if you don't have dedicated sales automation software, you can still save time by using Gmail templates (also known as “canned responses”) instead. They can be completely set up in about 60 seconds. 

A few months ago, I was feeling overwhelmed, tense, and frustrated.

I felt like no matter how hard I worked, no matter how many hours I put in, no matter how many things I crossed off my to-do list ... I just couldn't get ahead.

As if my never ending to-do list wasn't enough, I'd be getting NEW distractions over email, chat messages, text messages, and in person. Next thing I know, it's Friday at 5pm and I'm still not done with my biggest project of the week.  

What a nightmare. So at this point, I said screw it. I need a new system. 

When this happens, I want to slap my laptop in its metaphorical face:

In 2014, Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, was recognized among the top 10 CEOs at U.S. tech companies.

He manages over 4,300 employees in 26 cities around the world at LinkedIn. Before that, he managed 3,000 employees at Yahoo! from 2001 to 2008.

In other words, he’s been getting a lot of emails for a very long time. And he’s developed a system for handling his inbox, which we call the Seven Laws of Email.

No one wants to procrastinate. No one wants feel stressed. No one wants face distractions every day. 

But we do. Myself included.

But what about the most successful people in the world?

There's a lot of crap on the internet. 

Clickbait headlines that over promise and under deliver. Writers with horrible advice. Or worse ... writers with nothing unique to say. 

Eight weeks ago, we polled Sidekick content readers to ask them about their biggest email pet peeves.

Over 4,000 responses later … the tribe has spoken. Here we reveal the data behind it all, including:

If you’re anything like me, sometimes I’m working into the wee hours of the night.

After dinner, I flip open my laptop and sure enough ... I get blinded by what looks like an L.A.P.D. flashlight beaming directly into my retinas.  

Squinting into the blinding light of the sun my laptop, I slap the brightness button to reduce it from oh-my-god-I-cannot-see … to phew-this-is-a-little-better-I-think.

What lessons have highly-effective CEOs, entrepreneurs, and innovators learned throughout their lives?

After countless hours of research and digging for unconventional nuggets of wisdom, that's the exact question we set out to discover. 

Download free summaries of the best sales books here for even more sales inspiration.

As a result, we compiled a MASSIVE list of extraordinary advice, coming from entrepreneurs from all walks of life. Examples include:

Imagine opening your email and seeing HUNDREDS of new unread emails ... every single day. 

Some of us don't have to imagine much, because this constantly flooding inbox is what we've become accustomed to. The real problem we face is taming the email beast. 

Fortunately Eric Schmidt, Google’s Executive Chairman and former CEO, has found a way to stay sane while receiving hundreds of emails coming in from all directions.

He’s developed a system that keeps his email from ever getting out of hand. It works in three steps.

Imagine this scenario:

Your mother just passed away, you’re in the midst of a nasty divorce, the relationship with your father is practically non-existent, and to top it all off … you’ve lost your job.

You’re heartbroken. And scrambling to figure out how to feed your 6-month-old baby, supported only by biweekly welfare checks.

There’s an epidemic in America that’s hurting 99% of businesses.

Companies are offering "benefits" (if we can call them that) that give employees a maximum amount of vacation days per year. Yet businesses that don't restrict vacation days (1% of all businesses) are experiencing tremendous growth.

This article explores why this is happening. And why 99% of the business who aren't adopting this are hurting. 

Bzzzz. Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzzz.

It's midnight. I'm sleeping when I hear my iPhone ding next to my pillow. It's an email from my boss ... 

Our meeting is moved to Friday. 

I eagerly swipe open my phone, squinting into the white light beaming into my eyes through the darkness. I find the email and immediately reply, knowing he'll be SO IMPRESSED at my prompt response. 

If I said “we should give more than we receive,” I wouldn’t exactly be delivering groundbreaking advice.

Yet asking for something before providing value is the #1 complaint from successful people like these: 

Who is someone you admire?

Think about it.

Who is someone that really inspires you? Or pushes you. Or always put others first. Or someone who always teaches you something new. 

Now if you could make that person overjoyed, smiling from ear-to-ear, would you?

Well, with a 10-minute exercise, you can elevate their happiness and strengthen your relationship.

Three weeks ago my manager introduced me to a well-known marketer.

And needless to say, I was excited. But I had this little problem — I didn’t know the proper email etiquette on how to handle the introduction.

• Should I reply only to the respected marketer?
• Or should I reply all?

Well, it turns out I should have done neither of those.

You know what’s the worst feeling?

When we click the send button in Outlook then realize OH CRAP … I made a huge mistake in that email. I shouldn’t have sent that. And that could be for an array of reasons, such as:

OH $%&#!!!

That’s precisely what I scream after sending an email with an error. You know, stupid email mistakes such as:

Email is awkward.

Primarily because we’re all so dang different. Some people use smiley faces, exclamation marks, and crack jokes ... while others are traditional and formal. 

This post originally appeared on HubSpot's Marketing blog. For more content like this, subscribe to Marketing.

Did you know the average person sends 41 emails per day at work?

Email sucks.

Let’s just throw that out there. Everyone hates it. It’s distracting, burdensome, and occasionally feels like a fly buzzing around our heads.

Imagine the following conversation at a party:

In 1842, a young Abraham Lincoln learned a valuable lesson that changed his life forever.

What if I told you it's possible to write emails at 8x the speed? 

Well, believe it or not, it is. Yet 99% of people haven't realized how to do it. And that makes me sad  :'(  ... because it takes only 60 seconds to set up. 

What if you could navigate Google Chrome at lightning speed?

Last week my manager emailed me this subject line (without anything else):

Yes, you read that correctly. I eat Reese's Pieces to manage my to-do list.  

One year ago, I invested about two minutes into learning shortcuts for Gmail.

Since then, it's saved me about one second per email action (ex. deleting, reply, composing, etc), which equals roughly 15 minutes per day. 

A popular story in Greek mythology is the tale of Sisyphus. He was a deceitful king, punished by rolling a giant boulder up a mountain, only to let it tumble down after reaching the peak. He was then forced to start all over again, repeating this cycle forever.

Want to gain fat, increase depression, get sick more frequently, and lose attentiveness?

When I discovered I could double my productivity, I felt like I struck gold.

And no, that's not an exaggeration ...  I actually wrote this article in half the time it'd usually take. All because of this simple experiment I ran: 

Nothing in life motivated Steve Jobs more than death.

You know what's impossible?  

It's 7 pm. I'm getting ready to leave the office, look down at my to-do list, and realize ... YIKES ... I still haven't finished what I intended to. 

The same task that has been on my list for three days continues to linger. At moments like these, I want nothing more than to rip my hair out. How could I let this happen after 9+ hours of work?!?

When I first heard about a “gratitude journal,” I laughed.

A gratitude journal was some fluffy, self-help tactic for people who are unhappy; who aren’t focused; who lack direction. It was a waste of time. I am busy. I have more productive things to do.

An amateur comedian attended a Jerry Seinfeld show, where he caught Jerry offstage. Thrilled at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he asked Seinfeld a question: 

According to the leading behavioral psychologist at Stanford University, BJ Fogg, the easiest way to accomplish goals is to build "tiny habits."

These are small, easy-to-do actions which trigger long-term behavior change. However, for new habits to stick, the following elements must be present:  

No, you don’t have to read this.

After 5 minutes on stage, Louis C.K. had the audience at The Beacon Theatre erupting in laughter. 

To no surprise, Warren Buffett has a personal pilot. One cloudy afternoon, Mr. Buffett handed his pilot an exercise.

He asked him to write down 25 goals he wants to accomplish in his career. 

Did you know the average worker switches tasks every three minutes?

I have a confession to make. 

I used be AWESOME at setting goals ... and terrible at actually accomplishing them. 

After setting multiple goals, I'd feel so excited to start improving myself in so many areas. Then a few months pass, I'd look back at my goals and realized I've barely made any progress.