Tis the season for Olympics and elections, so many examples come from these fertile grounds of competition and attempts to sell to the American people. Thus, today’s post is in relation to an email campaign I have had the misfortune of being involved with.

**Note: this post is not necessarily indicative of the author’s political leanings***

Dateline: Day 13 of the unsubscribe from the DNC email list saga continues…

On the 21st of August I innocently received an email from the Democratic party discussing John McCain’s housing gaff. I reviewed it, put it aside and thought nothing of it. Two days later I received another email touting a new car magnet with the Democratic team emblazoned across it. At this point I was ready to end the small nuisance.

I found the unsubscribe link at the bottom and clicked it. Once clicked, I assumed it would take me to a thank you / confirmation page. It took me to a page that my subconscious mind processed as I was clicking it closed. It happened to be a confirm unsubscribe page with a box to input a “special” code that would be emailed to me “shortly”.

This would be a page I would become intimately familiar with over the next week. I clicked back to my email, expecting a new email giving me my code. It never came. It wouldn’t have mattered, however, since I had already closed my “confirm” browser window, negating my unsubscribe request.

An introduction from Joe Biden came the next day. I thought I would be smarter this time. I unsubscribed, knowing the process would be long. I left the confirm browser window open and protected it all day long, making sure not to accidentally close it. And finally…it came!

My unsubscribe code popped into my email inbox! I quickly opened it , got my 4 digit code, and found my hidden unsubscribe browser tab. I put the code in and…. wrong code. I was informed that the code I input was the wrong one. It happened to be the code that was needed several days prior! This would become a pattern–unsubscribe and receive a code much later.

I was now caught in the middle of a barrage of new emails from the likes of Michelle Obama touting what her husband was planning, Barack Obama telling me how wonderful his wife spoke, Howard Dean asking me for money, and the rapid response team, keeping me apprised of any momentary developments bubbling up from the middle of the convention.

All the while I was receiving a random 4 digit code every other day or so, and feverishly trying to match it with the correct open browser (failing each time-much like I would on slot machines in Vegas).

So where do we stand and what do we learn? I am still under email fire from the DNC. I am still randomly attempting to unsubscribe but slowly acquiescing to the inevitable–I will not get out of this matrix, because the matrix won’t allow it.

But what I do know–and this is the lesson to learn from a sales perspective–the way you exit from a potential client is as important as the way you enter. It can make as much, if not more, of an impression on how you “burn the bridge” on whether you will ever get the client back.