Ben Settle

On today’s exciting new “Ben Settle Show” podcast:

• An FBI negotiation instructor’s secret for instantly being respected by your peers, market, clients, and anyone else you are in contact with. (Even if they hate you or are outright hostile towards you.)

• The 20th century’s “most persuasive man’s” deathbed confession about how he was able to persuade even people with gigantic egos and pig-stubborn minds to do as he wanted.

• A little-known email lesson that has made me and my clients (when I had clients) more sales than anything else I’ve ever tested.

• A secret way to make a sale to someone before they see your sales pitch or even know your product exists.

• The single best way to get people to feel comfortable buying from you… even if they have no idea who you are.

• How to communicate to your list in such a way where you get sales even from people who don’t like you.

• How to attract the “cream of the crop” best customers in your market to you like flies to honey.

• The best way to build a world class brand people love to follow, tell their friends about, and, yes, buy from.

• The exact “Email Players” issue Producer Jonathan has used to make nearly ALL his sales in the past 3 years from email.

• And lotz mo’…

Download your Ben Settle Show lovin’ here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/itunes

Ben Settle

Might have to frame this comment:

“Ben you come off too abrasive in your emails sometimes. It kind of intimidates me lol you should not be so confrontational and abrasive for those of us who are put off by it Think about it.”

Well aren’t you a delicate little snowflake?

Listen, when I want your opinion I’ll beat it out of you…

Heh.

Anyway, to answer the question:

No.

If anything I’m probably not pushing hard enough. I WANT to scare away people who are easily shocked and offended. My whole thing is to repel people who need hand holding to implement what I teach, permission from their wives to buy what I sell, or to be coddled by ever-extending “free lines” of freebies before *maybe* getting around to doing something to solve their problems.

In other words…

I hunt blood thirsty tigers and bears.

Not timid little bunnies and chipmunks.

The ferocious beasts I hunt have lives to live.

Goals to attain.

And, battles to conquer in life.

The bunnies and chipmunks are the opposite.

They’re scared.

Afraid to make a move.

And, often plagued with analysis paralysis and fear of failure (or of what others will think about them).

Now, I ask you:

Which kind of customers would you prefer?

Those aggressive about solving the problem your product solves? Or those who meekly tip toe around suffering and drama queening never taking action or doing anything to better their lives?

My ways still catch some bunnies and chipmunks.

But, I always throw them back.

(By refusing their purchase or firing them as customers).

I don’t even bother with ’em.

Hey, if you want to waste your time hunting milquetoast bunnies and chipmunks, scraping by licking peoples’ boots (who have zero intention of buying) and working like a mule to please them lest you scare them away… there are plenty of other people to learn from.

But if you want to hunt the snarling wild beasts?

The ones aggressively seeking solutions?

Then I’m your huckleberry.

I can take you into the jungle, show you the tools and techniques for getting your products in your market’s hands (so they can improve their lives) and get paid handsomely for doing it.

Might have to frame this comment:

“Ben you come off too abrasive in your emails sometimes. It kind of intimidates me lol you should not be so confrontational and abrasive for those of us who are put off by it Think about it.”

Well aren’t you a delicate little snowflake?

Listen, when I want your opinion I’ll beat it out of you…

Heh.

Anyway, to answer the question:

No.

If anything I’m probably not pushing hard enough. I WANT to scare away people who are easily shocked and offended. My whole thing is to repel people who need hand holding to implement what I teach, permission from their wives to buy what I sell, or to be coddled by ever-extending “free lines” of freebies before *maybe* getting around to doing something to solve their problems.

In other words…

I hunt blood thirsty tigers and bears.

Not timid little bunnies and chipmunks.

The ferocious beasts I hunt have lives to live.

Goals to attain.

And, battles to conquer in life.

The bunnies and chipmunks are the opposite.

They’re scared.

Afraid to make a move.

And, often plagued with analysis paralysis and fear of failure (or of what others will think about them).

Now, I ask you:

Which kind of customers would you prefer?

Those aggressive about solving the problem your product solves? Or those who meekly tip toe around suffering and drama queening never taking action or doing anything to better their lives?

My ways still catch some bunnies and chipmunks.

But, I always throw them back.

(By refusing their purchase or firing them as customers).

I don’t even bother with ’em.

Hey, if you want to waste your time hunting milquetoast bunnies and chipmunks, scraping by licking peoples’ boots (who have zero intention of buying) and working like a mule to please them lest you scare them away… there are plenty of other people to learn from.

But if you want to hunt the snarling wild beasts?

The ones aggressively seeking solutions?

Then I’m your huckleberry.

I can take you into the jungle, show you the tools and techniques for getting your products in your market’s hands (so they can improve their lives) and get paid handsomely for doing it.

Anyway, here’s the irony of all this:

Approaching business this way actually inspires trust.

Maybe people won’t like you.

But, they’ll trust you.

And, yes, buy from you.

And, in tomorrow’s “Ben Settle Show”, I show you why.

(And how to do it yourself.)

Stay tuned, amigo.

It posts tomorrow, watch for my email.

In the meantime, check out past episodes here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/itunes

Ben Settle

Ben Settle

“I simply read another writer and know I have nothing to worry about”

– Charles Bukowski
Poet & Novelist

I get accused of being a lot of things.

And “arrogant” is at the top of the list.

Of course, people who say it don’t give a reason why they think that — they just fart it out there, afraid to indulge in any kind of deep thinking as if saying it makes it true.

But really, my “arrogance” (real or perceived) ain’t their real issue.

It’s their weakness.

Their insecurity.

And, yes, their fear.

They’re afraid to commit to writing each day… or speaking their mind (and – gasp! – offending someone)… or putting their reputations on the line each day writing publicly — so their only way to not feel like a loser is to bring others down to their level.

(Usually via passive-aggressive comments.)

But, here’s the reality:

Being bold about what you believe doesn’t make you arrogant.

It makes you honest.

It means you have conviction.

And, it means you have a unique voice and point of view.

That’s why if you’re wanting to lead your market and hide behind some kind of lame false modesty shtick it’s only a matter of time before someone takes you down — even if they aren’t as experienced or knowledgeable as you about whatever it is you sell.

Case in point:

I’m prepping to invade a new market.

(Under a pen name and DBA, don’t bother trying to find it.)

At the moment, I’m NOT the most knowledgeable person in the market about the topic I’m writing about.

Not even close.

I get “schooled” constantly on the subject.

But, the attitude I have (that YOU should have — regardless of if you’re brand new or a seasoned pro) is it’s WAR.

It’s a BEAT DOWN.

And my fists are balled UP.

Yeah, it’s gonna get messy.

It’s gonna hurt like hellz at first.

And, bones will be broken.

But over time, as I discover new truths about the market and learn from my tests (and failures), my bones will start to “calcify.”

Kinda like thai boxers.

They continually kick their shins against a banana tree.

Over and over and over…

It’s painful.

It’s brutal.

And it literally creates “micro fractions” in their shins.

But that pain leads to calcification and rock hard bones.

And that’s what happens to your business when you go in with the attitude you may or may not be “the best” yet — but you’re still the better man, and will be the last man standing.

My ace-in-the-hole is email.

It’s why I don’t care who my competitors are.

(And, yes, it’s an overheated market.)

My emails WILL outsell theirs.

And, eventually, I’ll win.

That’s the attitude to have.

But that attitude only comes with confidence.

And that confidence comes from having the skills.

And those skills come from my “Email Players” newsletter.

Subscription info at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Sometimes I have weird dreams.

Not nightmares, necessarily.

But bizarre and vivid dreams that have me thinking about them days later. And usually, after I think about them a while, an interpretation that makes sense emerges.

Except this last one kinda baffles me.

Just too weird.

But… maybe useful to you as a marketer.

Want to hear about it?

OK, well, the dream was about the infamous “Bohemian Grove.”

What’s the Bohemian Grove?

It’s a big campground in the northern California woods.

And, depending on who you ask, it’s also the playground (complete with a giant owl statue) for a bored fraternity of ex-presidents, corporate leaders, media celebrities and bankers… or a nefarious council of the world’s richest and most powerful men, plotting world domination while engaging in satanic and occult rituals, rites, prostitution and even human sacrifice!

Is any of this true?

I have no idea.

Never been there.

Except… in my dream the other night.

But here’s the thing.

Instead of seeing high falutin’ power brokers… I saw goo-roos.

Lots and lots of goo-roos.

And they were dressed in hooded robes (masking their faces), petting the owls and dancing around a bon fire while plotting their next product launch.

Weird, eh?

Yeah, can’t argue with you there.

So why do I bring this up?

Well, I think it’s a perfect example of the attention-getting (and memory-jolting) power of the ultra weird and bizarre. Because of the weirdness of the images, I have not easily forgotten the dream. And, since you’ve read this far, there’s a good chance it “hooked” you in, too.

Frankly, it’s almost impossible to ignore weird stuff.

Why?

Because things out of place stick out.

Kinda like the woman in the red dress scene in “The Matrix.”

And guess what?

I talk more about this in the subject lines section of “The Email Players Playbook” — which is free to “Email Players” subscribers (and teaches my email methodology in detail).

Anyway, that’s that for today.

Subscribe to “Email Players” here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Reader Aaron Crocker sent me an amusing article from mashable with the title:

“Every Email Should Be 5 Sentences or Under. Trust us.”

It’s about (you guessed it) using short emails.

Specifically, under 5 sentences.

And, even though it’s about non-commercial emails, many email marketers take the same attitude by using short “teaser” emails for many of the same reasons cited in the article.

Anyway, Aaron comments:

As of this email date stamp, it has 1.2K shares … just to drive home the point that you should trust them, I’m guessing. 

Strange, isn’t it, that for a Cyber Monday campaign, I wrote a client 5 emails, with the average email filling 5 pages of typewritten text. 

The result? The phone rang 97 times in an 8 hour period, and $29,281 in profit.  

Then, I wrote a Tax Day campaign that consisted of 6 emails, with the average email filing 4 pages of typewritten text. 

The result? A profit of $21,512 for the client. 

So, Ben, I have it on good authority that we’ve been doing it all wrong. 

It’s not mystery why guys like us have so little “competition.”

I wish all my competition used 5-sentence emails.

Or would keep moving the free line.

Or regularly send their email lists to their social media sites (Facebook, youtube, whatever).

Or use teasers instead of a full message.

Or not plug something every day.

Or not dare sell anything for a set number of days after they subscribe (to incubate them or whatever).

True story:

There was a time when one of my favorite email teachers once said he purposely used to do things in his emails that he knew would hurt his sales that day, just so his lazy copycat competitors would do the same and think “that’s what works!!”

Maybe I should start doing that?

Hmm.

(Actually, I have… heh).

Anyway, let’s get down to bid’niz.

The “Email Players” newsletter is full of information that runs contrary to a lot of mainstream email marketing advice.

Not to be controversial.

Not to try to stand out.

And not even to be original.

No, it is the way it is because it works.

For my subscribers.

For me.

And, yes, my little droogie, for you, too.

Give it a shot here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I’ve heard my Internet childrens’ cries…

Many are saying they love learning about email and copywriting and the conversion side of things… but can’t drive traffic to their sites to save their lives. They hear about all these different ways: PPC, Facebook, banner ads, ezine ads, SEO, podcasts, YouTube, social media, offline methods (direct mail, post cards, newspapers, radio, etc), ezine articles, media publicity, and the list goes on.

Which one should they use?

Which gives the most bang for ye olde dinero?

Which works best?

Survey says:

Yes.

Try them all if it suits your fancy.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

But, I will say this:

Recently I’ve been using solo ads after having a talk with “Email Players” subscriber Igor Kheifets, and have been digging the results so far. Igor is one of the world’s top solo ad guys. In fact, he’s one of the guys who’s been taking it mainstream over the past few years, and one of the handful I trust (it’s a lot like the list side of things in direct mail — kind of a swamp if you don’t know what you’re doing or who the sharks are.)

Anyway, I’m extremely impressed with his results.

And, have even been using his advice.

My analysis:

So far, I’m diggin’ it.

A lot.

And, you know what?

Methinks you will dig it, too — depending on what you sell, who you sell to, and what your offer is.

Enter the July “Email Players” issue.

It includes a bonus training with Igor.

(A transcribed talk I had with him.)

If’n this excites you, act before the deadline.

She goes to print in a couple weeks.

Subscribe here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. I’ve been hard at work talking to various traffic and list building guys to include as bonuses in the newsletter. Over the next several months I’ll be including these bonus trainings with certain issues — some of which are with guys who aren’t really even selling anything (I gotta draw something to plug out of them almost.)

They just love traffic and lead gen.

And, want to share the lovin’.

Stay tuned…

Not long ago, I wrote an email about squeezing big profits from small lists.

Because, let’s face it:

Most people don’t have giant lists.

And even have a sort of “complex” about it.

Well, guess what?

Here’s more proof from my friend Jim Yaghi you don’t need a big list… or even a sales letter/video/page/whatever-it-is-you-use to make fat stacks of rupees:

here’s another one for ya bro.

last month, i sent out an email promo for less than a week, using the email launch strategy you taught me with no sales page, just a paypal order LINK in the email body. Sent it to a sub list of around ~100 people and made 3,000 bucks. I intentionally wanted a small class size. Incidentally, it was one of my most useful and fun products to create.

Small list.

No sales page.

Lots of sales.

See?

I ain’t just whistlin’ dixie with this stuff.

Moving on:

Jim mentioned my launch process using just email (it’s based on simplicity — no JV partners, social media, blogs, gimmicks or phony scarcity tactics necessary) I have used in multiple niches and with multiple products, and have never not seen it work like gangbusters. It’s also something I taught a couple years ago in the “Email Players” newsletter (back issues are for sale only to current subscribers).

Wait a minute… what???

You still want a big fat list?

Then you should check out the next issue.

Here’s why:

It includes a bonus training with list building superstar Igor Kheifets — and he talks about solo ads, including what they are, why they work so well, how to profit from them and even if you should (or shouldn’t) be using them at all.

It’s pretty fascinating stuff.

Especially if you’re interested in growing your list.

Go here to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

In today’s “Ben Settle Show” we reveal…

• Why the customer is never right (ever).

• How “moving the free line” insults customers and kills sales.

• An ancient Babylonian secret for tripling the speed at which you build your business in just 1 hour per day. (After doing this, it only took 6 months to be completely client-free, here’s all I did…)

• The easiest way ever invented to get a fast (and potentially huge) short term bump in sales.

• Advice to old school direct mail copywriters struggling online.

• The “mistress management” secret for having an air-tight financially secure business.

• Dan Kennedy’s secret mindset “tweak” for commanding more respect (and bigger fees) from clients.

• How to prevent serial refunders, thieves, copycats and any low class jackass customers from stealing your time, energy and money.

• How one of the world’s top direct mail copywriters shops for cars.

• How Facebook steals guys’ balls.

• Why being selfish makes people around you happy.

• And a ho’ bunch more…

Download it here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/itunes

Ben Settle

Once upon a time Doberman Dan had me on one of his private coaching calls teaching how to break free of freelancing (or working for someone else), and going full time online with your own business.

A merry time was had by all.

But one thing discussed was especially valuable.

Something everyone can do.

And, I daresay, something everyone SHOULD do.

What do I speaketh of?

Paying yourself first.

But wait!

I’m not talking about this from a financial point of view (although I believe that’s also mucho important).

Here’s what I mean:

When I was doing client work I ALWAYS did my stuff first.

In other words, no matter how much work clients threw at me (and when I was on retainer this was crucial) the first hour of every day was MINE to work on my own projects.

No, clients did not always like this.

But tough titty for them.

Hour #1 belonged to me.

Did it make a difference?

Hellz yeah!

And yet, it’s the OPPOSITE of what most freelancers do. Usually people pour all their energy and time into their client’s stuff first, and then hope they have the energy to do their own stuff later (when they’re tired, burned out, etc).

Big mistake.

Big, big, BIG mistake.

I always gave my stuff #1 priority.

Client stuff came second.

I’m not saying to shirk doing a good job.

I’m just saying to pay yourself first.

Hey, this tip may not be “sexy.”

But it’s got TEETH.

Big SHARP teeth.

And the payoff is enormous.

And guess what?

In tomorrow’s Ben Settle Show we discuss this and 6 other equally important “rules” for growing your business and being successful.

And while you’re eagerly awaiting it?

Get caught up on past episodes here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/itunes

Ben Settle