Easy, Ethical & Profitable Sales Tips For Serious Entrepreneurs

Here’s an interesting question that rolled in:

“Ben, I understand the basics of writing sales letters and ads, but what can I do to KEEP my sales letters running strong and squeeze all the profit I can from them?”

That’s an interesting question.

How DO you increase a sales letter’s “shelf life”?

Luckily, there are lots of ways to skin this cat. Here are a few really easy changes that can often do the trick:

1. Headline

Yeah, I know, “duh.”

But it’s worth repeating even if we’ve all heard it a million times from the copywriting goo-roos.

2. Offer

Another “uh-duh!”

But again… a simple offer (or just a guarantee) change can have mucho impact on sales. Often times even more than changing your headline! (If you don’t believe me try a triple-your-money-back guarantee sometime).

3. Story

Another biggie.

It’s easier said than done, but if your ad starts fatiguing or even outright dying… test telling another story. (You ARE telling stories in your ads, right?)

The story can sometimes carry the sale all by it’s lonesome.

4. Design

This is especially true on ye old Internet.

If you want to do a radical test without changing a word of copy, try a completely different “look” on your site. I’m talking different fonts, background colors, font sizes, order buttons/links, images, videos… the whole shmear.

You might be shocked at the change in response.

5. Market

A true story:

Once upon a time I wrote an ad selling an info product showing people how to buy existing businesses without banks or using your own money. And while there’s an obvious “biz opp” angle there, we noticed something else interesting:

A lot of real estate investors were buying it.

So I simply changed the angle to talk “to” them and their desires, goals, pains, etc (instead of the biz opp crowd’s) and…

Voila!

A whole new market was born for the product.

Anyway, those are a few ways to revive dead (or dying) ads.

Go ye forth and profit from them.

Ben Settle

P.S. For 122+ MORE sales letters tips (used by some of the world’s highest paid copywriters), check out:

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Over the past year I’ve had my blog comments closed.

This baffles a lot of people.

After all, aren’t we in the age of Web 2.0 and social media where interaction and being “social” is the new business panacea? Where web visitors now expect (and in some ways demand) you have a blog so they can socialize and interact with you?

Maybe.

And I probably AM missing out on sales, profits and other long term benefits by turning comments off.

But in this case it’s all about balance.

Specifically, balancing out my time.

Most of my income is from freelance copywriting assignments and a couple other ventures I’ve got my fingers in.

My site is just a small “cog” in the machine.

And unfortunately, there were just too many jackanapes trying to goose in comments sucking up my time.

Some tried plugging their crap on my site.

And others simply had a bad case of “diarrhea of the keyboard” — where they’d start ranting, cussing, tearing down other commenters, etc. One blue flame special — who I call the “seething email” guy — would try posting multi page political rants that made no sense whatsoever (in giant block paragraphs that were impossible to read without going blind), and then whine about how I was “censoring” him because the spam filter zapped his (obviously inappropriate) comments.

Dumb.

Anyhoo, if I had more time, I’d still entertain this stuff.

Because in a lot of ways it IS entertaining.

But the whole moderating thing is just too time consuming.

But, who knows?

Mayhaps one day I’ll fire the comments section back up. In the meantime, if you want to comment on a blog post/email, all you have to do is go to my FaceBook page:

All posts automatically show there by day’s end.

And it’s easy to comment on them if you want.

See?

I’m not a total social media “luddite” after all…

Ben Settle

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Let’s do something fun today.

After writing a couple emails about marketing and movies last month a few people have asked about making a list of movies that might be helpful for their marketing, selling, copywriting, etc.

Below are a few I’ve found helpful.

In fact, in many cases, these flicks have been more practical and helpful than some of the books and high falutin’ marketing courses I’ve bought.

Ready?

OK, let’s roll…

1. Boiler Room

This isn’t so much a “how to” movie, but a “how NOT to do” movie.

I don’t waste my time getting on goo-roo lists, but from what people I know are telling me, this is exactly the kind of high pressure nonsense some of these goo-roos are using to upsell people by phone into big ticket coaching programs.

Still… there is ONE good lesson in it.

And that is, when one of the salesmen is doing his thing, he asks a question (I think for the sale) and then… shuts up.

That was pretty cool.

And good advice when selling in person or phone.

2. The Matrix

I think we covered this movie pretty well here:

3. Sherlock Holmes

Ditto with Sherlock Holmes — you can skim my “review” at:

4. Lethal Weapon

Ah yes… now we’re cookin’.

Once upon a time, marketing and copywriting “legend” Eugene Schwartz said Lethal Weapon was “mandatory” for direct marketers.

Why?

Well, the short version is, there’s a certain “rhythm” to it you will see in a lot of great sales pitches, Check out chapter 3 in “The Copywriting Grab Bag” — www.CopywritingGrabBag.com — for a more detailed analysis on this particular movie.

5. Batman Begins

IMHO, the “sales rhythm” in Batman Begins is even better than the one in Lethal Weapon. In fact, I use it as sort of sales letter “template” when writing my ads these days.

Anyway, there are more than this.

But these 5 movies are like little “mini marketing seminars” if you pay attention to them.

And (especially) if you watch how people react to them.

Ben Settle

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How about some Q&A action today?

This first question is in response to the goo-roos and corrupt government email last week…

QUESTION: This is why I read your emails Ben. What a slick way to tie the ideas together! Is there a formula for how you come up with these ideas? Or does stuff like this just come to you?

BEN: That’s a good question.

And (ironically) I’ll be addressing it in the first issue of my coming print newsletter next month. But the “short answer” is, yes. And I have a neat little system I use that’s laid out in that first issue.

More on that below…

QUESTION: I have a question about what you said regarding how betas cannot become alphas by reading a book or course. Are you saying betas cannot become alphas at all?

BEN: Lots of Mike Dillard subscribers are asking me this.

Apparently he’s involved in a product that shows betas how to be alphas (something like that — I don’t know the details). Whatever the case, the link I posted to goes far beyond just alphas and betas (and leaders and followers) and encompasses the entire male social hierarchy that has nothing to do with business or marketing, necessarily.

But, that doesn’t mean you can’t profit from it.

Couple examples:

I have long put verbiage in my ads to purposely REPEL people I now realize are gammas and omegas (they tend to be pain in the ass customers — pardon my “french”). And knowing there are lots of guys who think they are alphas (but aren’t), or secretly wish they were, has helped my response big time when selling in male dominated markets like golf and self defense.

BTW, I’m no expert on this by any means.

But I find Vox Day’s analysis to be eerily accurate.

You can check out the link again at:

QUESTION: Ben what is this offline newsletter you keep hinting at? How much, when and where?

BEN: I’ll have more info in a week or so. Will launch in 2 or 3 weeks and it’ll probably run about $27 per month.

OK, that’s all for now.

Tomorrow… who knows?

Ben Settle

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Been playing a LOT of “Mario Kart” lately.

What’s Mario Kart?

It’s a Nintendo Wii game where characters from the Mario video games race go-karts around exotic race tracks. So, for example, you can race as Mario, or Donkey Kong (the one I play) or any of the characters from the Mario games.

This stoopid game has me hooked, too.

A couple times I’ve literally dreamt about it.

And even caught myself thinking about ramming into the car next to me on the highway last weekend to pull ahead of him — just like when racing in Mario Kart!

Whoa!

Anyway, why am I actually admitting this?

Because dorky as it is… MK is the ultimate success metaphor.

Whether you’re in 11th place or 1st place, you’re constantly being hit, whacked and attacked by everything from flying debris and flesh eating plants… to fire balls and semi trucks… to the other racers knocking you off the track. (Which can mean getting tossed into water, sinking in molten lava or, on one course, falling into outer space and incinerating in the atmosphere!)

It gets extremely frustrating, too.

You can be seconds from winning… only to finish dead last due to some random attack or prank by another character. (I’ve even caught myself shaking my fist at the screen yelling obscenities at the little $%&!’s who beat me!)

And guess what?

That’s EXACTLY how it is as an entrepreneur.

Nobody wins this “race” without massive frustration, either.

Someone can knock you off your track into the molten lava just before some big sale or landing a new client at the last possible minute (and when you’re not expecting it).

This kind of stuff can frustrate you to the point of quitting, too.

But you gotta hang in there no matter what.

Because just like in Mario Kart, you can be in dead last place, and then run over a “power up” mushroom (or get some other gimmick from the game) that gives you super speed at the last minute to win.

That’s just how this crazy entrepreneur life is.

It’s as weird and hair raising as it is fun and rewarding — but only if you stay long enough to finish the race.

Anyway, that’s all for today.

I think I hear Mario Kart calling…

Ben Settle

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Let’s shake things up a little, shall we?

Couple days ago I babbled about “The Matrix” and breaking rules.

Remember that?

Well, check out THESE apples:

Not long ago a friend told me about an ad selling a “make money online” product (yeah, I know… yaaaaawn). And they tested two versions. One was full of screenshots “proving” their income using their super duper system, with some bullets, and an offer.

The other was just a story, same bullets and same offer.

In other words, no fancy shmancy screen shots. No “proof” of income. And none of the bells & whistles showing bank statements, PayPal accounts, and all that jazz.

Which version won?

Drum roll…

The winner was the “plain Jane” version.

Now, this ad broke a major “rule” (i.e. not using a bunch of proof) and yet it kicked rumpus when tested against the proof letter.

What gives?

Isn’t proof the “end all be all” in advertising?

You bet your underoos it is.

And smart marketers pack their ads with lots of proof and credibility elements (although personally, I rarely ever use the “usual suspect” kinds of proof anymore — like screenshots or testimonials, etc).

But in this case, I guess the proof wasn’t in the pudding.

And, in fact, it got beaten to a pulp.

Question is… why?

Who knows?

Mayhaps all the photoshopped bank statements looked phony. Or maybe people just thought, “anyone can do a photoshop job, this is BS”. Or maybe… just MAYBE… an irresistible story is more persuasive than flashing dry facts and figures?

I guess we’ll never know for sure.

But one thing is certain:

Breaking rules can be very profitable.

And sometimes… the bigger the rule you break, the bigger the winner that breaks the bank.

Giddy-up.

Ben Settle

P.S. If you want to learn how to tell stories that sell, check out the free sales story-telling bonus that comes with “Crackerjack Selling Secrets”:

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