Ben Settle

Here’s something to ponder:

My pal (and sometimes business partner) Ryan Levesque has formulated a brilliant way of using surveys to draw information out of a market.

I have never really seen anything quite like it before.

And, it’s some of the most valuable info you can have.

(I’ve seen some of the magic he’s done with it, it’s quite brilliant.)

One of the terms he uses is doing a “deep dive” survey which lets you get deep into your market’s psychology and hot buttons (amongst other things) to pull out what they really want and what kind of offers to sell them without guessing.

I highly recommend learning this.

And, he deserves major props for even making his methods public.

But…

(There’s always a “but”, isn’t there?)

That said, there is also a time to do what I would call a “shallow dive” survey. This is pretty much what a lot of old school direct mail companies who built the entire direct response marketing industry do and have done for the last 100 years of direct response.

It’s also 100% elBenbo-proof.

i.e. anyone can do it.

I’ve used this to figure out what to sell people for the last 14 years and have (mostly) never sold a product to my lists they didn’t already want me to sell them — all from asking a couple questions in one of these “shallow dive” surveys. This, of course, makes selling products as easy as falling off a log with emails (and, really, any other method you want to use).

All you do is jot down this question, push send, and await the replies.

You’ll know with near certainty what to sell your list.

And guess ye what?

I share this tidy little idea in the October “Email Players” issue.

She goes to the printer in a couple days.

Subscribe in time to get it here while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

New “Email Players” subscriber, one of the top video marketing guys in his industry, and a “for real” business owner (i.e. he has offline businesses as well as online businesses) Tyson Zahner writes:

Alright bro … I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to start implementing the Settle style of writing emails. I’ve been following you for years and it wasn’t until we met in Arizona that I finally decided to grab email players and start using your methods.

Last night I was reading the email player’s playbook and E-mail Secret #7 (on page 34) prompted me to write an email commenting on a current event. The current event had absolutely NOTHING to do with my market, but I figured if Ben can find ways to tie weird sh*t into his business, then so can I.

So I sent out this email with the subject line “Ryan Lochte Attacked on LIVE T.V.”

Anyway, it’s only been 4 hours and I’ve already made 4 sales from just that one email. CRAZY!

So moral of the story … This hard headed doofus has finally seen the light. I am now a believer.

The beauty of it all?

As Tyson will no doubt be finding out (if he hasn’t already), my wily ways work not just for writing emails, but for doing videos, too. People who ask which is “better” – video or email – are missing the point. In fact, “Email Players” subscriber Drew Morisey — who sells products showing people how to rap, and markets to millennials (the group who hates email…) — uses my methods to do YouTube videos more than he does for emails.

So many uses for my system.

So many ways to make sales.

So many ways to do it in a way that’s fun.

(For both you to write, and others to buy from.)

The October issue goes to the printer in a few days.

As I keep droning on about — it’s one of the single most important issues I’ve ever written. It shows you how to turn the things you know about your market into a steady stream of emails that make lots of sales for the rest of your existence.

You have but a little time left to get your grubby hands on it.

Subscribe here before it’s too late:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A few months ago one of my “Email Players” subscribers came to my table with a problem that plagues a lot of emailers.

He sells a loyalty app to for online stores.

And, his problem was:

He was struggling with how to write about his market’s pains, frustrations, etc. For example, one of their pains is falling short as a dad, or overextending themselves, or death, or employee regulations and laws, and so on and so forth.

How does one turn *these* into emails for a friggin’ customer loyalty app?

’twas a good question.

My answer?

“Never fear — your pal elBenbo’s got this.”

And what I did was, I went through ALL of his customer research, point by point, and turned each pain, fear, desire, insecurity, etc — no matter how obscure or off-the-wall or disconnected with his product — into an email theme he could easily bang out.

And guess what?

I put it all in the October “Email Players” issue.

Again, this is the whole essence of my methods.

It’s not really about the “writing” or the “persuasion” or the “copy” — it’s about sound, principled thought and the laws of human behavior applied to daily emails.

This training is the most important I’ve ever done.

It can help anyone regardless of your product or market.

And, newer people will especially benefit from it.

(i.e. people who have not yet been indoctrinated with the usual goo-roo nonsense thinking you have to manipulate and put people in persuasion “choke holds” or whatever to make a sale — screw that, I’ll take the Pepsi Challenge against those tactics any time.)

All right, enough.

The hour draws late.

The deadline looms.

Subscriber here today to get this issue before it goes to the printer:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

While back reader Josh Steimle responded to an email I wrote about fast writing being best:

“So good. I’ve written over 200 articles for Forbes, Entrepreneur, Mashable, TechCrunch, Time, etc. Guess which articles have been the most popular? The ones that took me 45 minutes to write. The ones that took me 8-10 hours to write because of all the interviews, sources, data, research, revisions, editing? Not so much.”

Once again elBenbo’s wicked ways are vindicated.

Not by opinion.

Not by a flakebook meme.

Not even by my own bloated ego.

But by hard results from someone else.

I don’t get these blokes who spend hours and days (and even weeks!) carefully crafting emails. You are far better off banging out a C-level email in 5 minutes than you are an A-level email in 5 days.

Don’t believe me?

The proof is in the doing.

Next time you write an email or any content write FAST.

You are allowed one edit, that’s it.

Then push send and call Dr. elBenbo in the morning.

If you want methods for writing fast, getting ideas fast, and making sales fast with email make sure you dig in to the “Email Players” newsletter and the book that comes with your subscription.

Soon, you’ll be like speedy Gonzalez at this.

And, you’ll wonder how you ever did it any other way.

Subscription info over yonder:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

This is for people who want to join Email Players but can’t afford it.

The solution for probably 90% of them:

Cancel your cable/satellite service and use that to pay for it.

Only broke people complaining about finances pay for cable over bettering themselves. Which is why, if you’re like most struggling to “afford” the $3.23 per month (ooh), your rationalization hamster is probably hard at work spinning out reasons why you *need* cable (for the kids, to watch the football, whatever).

What?

You’re now telling me:

“But Ben I don’t have cable! I can’t even afford that!”

Then get a part time job, Pumpkin.

You have too much dignity for that?

Okay, how about mowing lawns?

I made way more than $3.23 per day as a teenager doing that. Or, if you’re a moderately attractive woman with most of your teeth and no visible open sores, work them street corners, babycakes. (I’m joking — it’s much better if you have *zero* open sores if you want to be a hooker…)

Anyway, here’s the point:

If you want it bad enough, you’ll prioritize for it.

If you don’t, you won’t.

I don’t really concern myself with the second group.

(They really shouldn’t subscribe, opposite mindset of what I require in my customers.)

But if you’re in the first group?

You’ll cancel your cable.

Or stop eating out so much.

Or, figure it out somehow.

And if not?

Then that merely means you don’t want it bad enough.

For everyone else, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

For some reason (no idea why, random…) I started thinking about the TV show “Lost” recently. Despite its idiotic series finale ending, it started out with some of the best storytelling I’ve ever seen.

I distinctly remember the first season.

I liked the first two episodes well enough.

Nothing too earth-shattering, but good.

Then, the third episode “hooked” my righteous gluteus assimus to the point where I watched the entire 6 seasons (despite the ridiculous plot holes, insults to the viewer, and other JJ Abrams BS he injects in his movies/shows) all the way, hoping that one day… *some* day… the show would give me the kind of entertainment and vibe that 3rd episode of season 1 about John Locke and his being rejected for the Australian walkabout and miraculous healing from the island did.

(Fans of the show will no doubt remember this)

That episode — and “don’t tell me what I can’t do” scene in particular — was my dopamine drip. I kept watching and watching and watching — for 6 years — hoping the show would eventually do this again or better, to get my fix.

Never happened, unfortunately.

It had its moments, but nothing like that kind of storytelling.

Anyway, there’s an email lesson here.

You may be banging out emails and wondering if people are going to stick around for more of what you have to say. I would say yes, if you give them one great dopamine drip, they will come back for more. And, even forgive the occasional boring email or rambling nattering on email (like most people write).

Keep striving to get better.

Keep writing.

Keep sending ‘em out.

It only takes ONE email to get people hooked on you.

And that brings us to the October “Email Players” issue.

It has a detailed (and, I daresay *intensive*) teaching about how to turn your market’s worst fears, enemies, problems, and angsts into emails that pay you over and over and over for years… keeping people addicted to you and your emails, not being able to to *not* read them.

In fact, I show you a real life business asking about this.

And, the ideas I give him based on his market.

(So you can easily replicate it all.)

In some ways this is the most valuable “Email Players” issue to date.

That is, if you have a nose to smell, and fingers to touch.

She goes to the printer soon though.

Get it here while you can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Jason Moffatt has to change his pants after hearing the email autopsy Kevin Rogers and I did to promote our upcoming Email Addiction event:

Have you ever seen an “E-Mail Autopsy”? (Gosh, I ? that name).

What I’m about to share with you is freaking amazing. I hate using that word amazing because it is so often used when something isn’t even close to amazing. But this lives up to the hype and then some.

I’m going to share a video with you that was created by 2 guys I really respect as copywriters, and teachers. I respect them as good dudes even more.

In this video, Ben Settle and Kevin Rogers do an autopsy on 2 of their best emails as of late. Ben’s is one of the best emails I’ve ever read.

It’s an hour long training that you can watch completely for free. There is also a pitch underneath that video, but I don’t really care if you take it. I don’t get paid if you do. In fact, the few remaining spots probably aren’t even available anymore, and I’m not even sure how much longer this video will be up.

He is correct, of course.

It’s been getting a ton of rave reviews.

And, is it really any surprise?

In this day and age of people spending every waking hour on flakebook falling for the same old idiotic “be authentic!” life coach nonsense (if you need to pay someone to learn how to be authentic, get a job at Burger King, there’s no excuse for not being yourself, paying some yahoo $150 an hour to tell you how is just stoopid, even a child understands how to do it), it’s rare to find such a raw, uncircumcised email or ad where all the dark, dirty, and, yes, naughty, stuff that no respectable marketer would dare mention (much less write about because they simply don’t think that deeply). I daresay NO other marketer would have the balls to write the email I wrote/analyzed in this video.

Certainly not in the affiliate launch it competed in.

Yet, it got lots of sales and clicks.

And, the psychology behind it is easily adapted to any offer.

Anyway, this video is still up for a little bit longer.

Watch it here tonight, while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com/addiction

Ben Settle

Reader Kate S. puts in an application for an email topic:

“Ben, your personality and sense of humor come through so strongly in your email. I love reading them! But I wonder what you were like as a kid… Did you have any great adventures? Play pranks? Did you always know you wanted to write? I would love to hear some of your stories. I think they’d make great promotional email subjects, especially with your unique voice. Anyone else agree?”

I have written such emails in the past.

Like the time in 8th grade when Child elBenbo farted in study hall.

(The sound on the wooden seat echoed through the chamber, everyone started laughing and looking my way — so I looked at the guy behind me as if *he* did the deed…)

Or the time my mom broke a wooden spoon on my butt while I laughed at her.

Or the time I kept honking my my mom’s car horn to get her to hurry.

(Thus, breaking the horn… embarrassing the hellz out of her.)

Want another?

One for people paralyzed by fear of getting started?

All right, here goes:

When I was around five or six years old I sucked at swimming. I hated it. I was afraid of the water and thought I’d drown. So my mom made me take swimming lessons. At first I resisted. I’d pretend to be sick. I’d hide. When it came time to jump off the diving board, I even scaled the fence and ran away… my swimming teacher caught me, dragged me to the diving board, and threw me in.

And guess what?

I didn’t drown, didn’t flounder, and didn’t sink.

I *enjoyed* it.

So it is writing emails and selling.

Are you putting off writing emails?

Sac up and start writing.

Dive in, babycakes.

The water is just write.

(Yes, I typed “write” instead of “right” on purpose, Grammar Nazi.)

Don’t do what Child elBenbo did and hide from it, run from it, or scale the fence to escape it. Embrace it. Start writing. Today. Write an email designed to sell your product, load it up in your email broadcasting service, and let the hounds out.

Otherwise, you’re just being a poosy like I was with swimming.

If you want guidance, check out my “Email Players” newsletter.

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

So here’s the thing:

Long term readers of my rants and raves know I’m not a big fan of “moving the free line” — where you continually give away more and more free stuff in your emails so that people miraculously think, “if this is the stuff he’s giving away free, the paid stuff must be truly astonishing!”

Yeah, I kind of don’t think so.

In fact, it makes you kind of a chump.

And, someone people may even despise.

At the very least, it’s far less profitable than learning how to sell.

But don’t take my word for it, Fonzy.

Good, old fashioned psychology backs elBenbo up on this. Specifically, some research from Psychology Today a few years back where they analyzed why nice guys who give and Give and GIVE (and never demand anything in return) so often get dumped, friend zoned, cheated on by their woman, etc.

It’s not a malicious thing anyone is doing purposely.

It’s simply human nature.

The person who does all the work, invests most, and does all the favors falls in love (the marketer working like a mule to give away freebies), while the person who does nothing, invests nothing, gives nothing back, often feels no love for the giver at all (the person who sees all your free stuff, nods, then goes and buys from elBenbo giving me their lovin’ instead…)

What?

You don’t believe it?

It can’t be?

Well, you can believe whatever you want.

But, this is why so many emails with lots of free stuff go unread, un-acted on, and un-bought from, while emails that give little or no value (if done correctly, something few people understand) get lots of sales, generate loads of happy customers, and keep people coming back for more.

Yes, it’s counterintuitive.

But, it is what it is, so whaddyagonnado?

Anyway, this is a deep subject.

Way too deep to go into here.

But never fear:

I go into way more detail about it on pages 6 and 7 in the upcoming October “Email Players” issue. There’s a reason blokes like me (and this spans lots of different markets and products) make out like bandits with email, while people preaching “give lots of stuff away free in emails!” are more likely to be worried about how to keep the lights on and meet payroll.

It’s all about the psychology (not writing “tricks”), babycakes.

More in the October issue.

Here’s where to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle