Following is a brief email exchange with a procrastinator who thought – in his infinite snow flake-ish-ness – he should be allowed to get the bonuses offered with the $20 Gene Schwartz offer I did in September after the deadline.

If I banned or blocked you or someone you know from buying, this’ll illustrate why:

PROCRASTINATOR: I sent you an email some hours ago. I wanted to purchase the course but the payment link wasn’t working. Can you please send me the link with the same offer?

elBENBO: The link went down at midnight PDT last night that was the deadline, you had all weekend to buy

PROCRASTINATOR: I sent you an email before the offer would expire. You can check. I tried and it wasn’t working. Could you try again please?

elBENBO: …your email came 2 minutes after the deadline…and the P.S. literally said: “Direct any customer service questions to Michael Senoff, not me.” You done screwed up by first procrastinating and second by not reading instructions

PROCRASTINATOR: Great customer service man! You’re the best

There are many ways this sort of thing makes my business lots of sales.

One of the main reasons is the act of trying to test (i.e., break) people. It always brings the crazy out of the crazies & the truth out of the irresponsible, so I can identify & ban them. (Incidentally, I will be dedicating an entire Email Players issue to this very topic and how to do it some time in 2021.) And by curating out the low class would-be customers & procrastinators who can’t even follow simple instructions like the guy above, I have more time, energy, and “bandwidth” to serve the high class legitimate customers.

And the longer I am in business, the more aggressive I get about it.

Frankly, these days, Yours Crotchety bans people for the slightest of infractions.

Take these schlubs who wanted back in “Email Players” for example:

“Thanks for the reply. i didn’t know about the possibility of not being able to re-subscribe and i only wanted get the first issue before proceeding (no evil intended). Really sorry i cannot re-subscribe. Like my first email, i intended to re-subscribe hopefully at the beginning of the next month(November) so i can be on track for prompt receipt. If you could have a change of mind on the ban, i am always at your door to subscribe. thanks again for your time Ben.”

The result:

BANNED! for lack of faith.

Here’s another:

“I have been a member of the Email Players newsletter for a few months and have learned quite a bit about writing emails. Unfortunately, I have to cancel the membership, at least for a short time. My wife and I got an opportunity to relocate and will be moving this month. We will be without an address for a couple of months. Nomads so to speak while we wait for our new home to close and be updated. I know your policy is to never let anyone back in once they leave, but I am hoping that under the circumstances you may reconsider. If not, I understand. I appreciate your thoughts on this, but either way, I understand.”

The result:

BANNED! for lack of imagination.

One more:

“You’re keeping your word and not letting me back in the email players newsletter. I do appreciate it. Can you please let me back in? PLEASE for the love of god. I’ll pay for the entire year if that makes any difference, and I will never quit again. Can you please please please please. Make an exception? A few of my friends are already subscribers and doing monthly implementations and I want to pay for the newsletter and be in the group. Please?”

The result:

BANNED! for quitting Email Players twice prior (he somehow snuck back in).

And also, for not being as smart as his friends.

And the BANNED marches on.

Anyway, here’s the point:

On the surface it looks like I am losing sales banning all these schlubs wanting back in.

But after some 20 years up in this business, and testing and experimenting and aggressively practicing what I preach & teach about this… I have only seen growth, a business with more high class customers than anyone else I know… and a peace of mind most business’ always catering to & chasing down anyone willing to give them money will never understand.

I talk more about this in the December “Email Players” issue.

Specifically, in the bonus elBenbo’s Lair insert.

I also show some more examples of the BANNED & Banished.

The deadline to get the December issue is coming up quick.

To subscribe in time, go here immediately:

www.EmailPlayers.com

The deadline to get in on time is Nov 30 2020.

Ben Settle

Recently, I’ve been listening to an audio book (KISS: Keep It Simple Salesman) by the late “world’s greatest salesman”:

Fred Herman.

If you don’t know who Fred Herman was and sell in any way, shape, or form for a living than you, my Pet, have been doing your studying in the wrong library.

Fred was easily one of the greatest salesman who ever lived.

And Earl Nightingale knighted Fred the best sales trainer on the planet.

He became especially famous after being on Johnny Carson and selling Johnny his own ash tray in front of 20 million fans.

Anyway, I highly recommend anything by Fred Herman.

And in the book he pulls a lot of sales tips out of the Bible.

My favorite being about customer curation, and selling to the right people in the first place.

Specifically, this quote from scripture:

“Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

Why indeed.

It’s astounding to me how many times an “Email Players” subscriber will take advantage of the opportunity to ask Yours Crotchety questions (a perk for subscribing) by email, and it’s completely obvious they are not selling to buyers, or are targeting leads that only buy on price or have never bought anything from anyone, or don’t have money to buy anything even if they wanted to buy.

Those are dead leads.

Why seek ye them, my Child?

Especially when there are so many living ones to sell to?

Which brings me to the December “Email Players” issue.

The skill it teaches inside its crisp, lily-white pages can make separating the living from the dead on your list not only a very simple task, but a potentially very profitable task, too.

In many ways it’s the single most profitable skill you can ever learn in business.

Far more profitable than even copywriting, marketing, or selling.

The deadline to get in on this action is almost upon you.

To subscribe in time, stretch out thy fingers and click this link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Recently, I almost whole cloth banned France from my shopping cart.

Yes, the entire country, in one destructive swoop of Old Testament-like proportions.

That means, anyone in France not already an “Email Players” subscriber would not have been able to subscribe (I had no wish to reign fire & brimstone on my good customers there). And nobody in France would have been able to buy any of my other books via my shopping cart afterwards.

I don’t have time to go into all the specifics here today.

Let’s just say my patience was stretched to the breaking point.

But I will admit:

I’m glad I stayed my righteous hand and didn’t display my wrath.

And the reason why is… gratitude.

Full-on, balls-to-the-wall, unbridled & unfiltered gratitude to likes I’d never seen before.

Specifically, a customer there who practically sweats gratitude.

Since it’s Thanksgiving here in the good ol’ U.S., this story from new “Email Players” subscriber Remi Connesson just “fits”…

Duuuuuuudeeee,

I love you.

Look, I am broke. But I want to make big in the business of empowering others (and getting paid for it).

What I do, teach Machine Learning and Data Science in French.

In France, there’s two kind of goo-roos:

The growth hacker ones, who are hunting your *** across all existing ads platform with Tai Lopez style video. (thanks to the retargeting gods)

The successful ones, who live by the rules of Daily email (I swear all the big ones are doing daily email in France)

So what do the successful ones told me to do…..? -> DAILY EMAILS.

But guess what? I didn’t believe them…

Well I knew there was something to it but I was not convinced.

Do you know who convinced me?

You guessed it!

YOU

So a big huge thank you.

I promptly subscribed to your Email Players subscription. (After hesitating with paying rent lol, now I am in the street.)

I was anxious while waiting for my fedex package. “Please let it be good, please let it be good, please not another gooroo”

And gosh was I not disappointed.

(1.), the Skhema Playbook is a god send.

(2.), I recently decided to start DMing D&D groups to improve my storytelling skills. (well didn’t started yet, coz you know, covid & lockdown… :'(), SO WHEN I SAW YOU TALKING ABOUT DUNGEONS AND DRAGON —

(3.), Even CRAZIER — Your Sales Letter insert was inspiring, while reading it I had the following realization : “I can bring more to my clients than just technical skills, I can help them elevate their mindset and give them career advice… I can create a full catalogue and HELP THEM SOARRR”

BUT THIS IS NOT FOR ALL THOSE REASONS I’M SAYING THANK YOU

No I am saying thank you because I craved your ELBENBO AWESOME MEGA-BOOK.

And I realized I was broke. I couldn’t afford it. WHY???

Because I was a SERIAL PROCRASTINATOR.

I started this shit a year ago, making the transition from freelancing.
I knew I had mindset problems when looking at my track record of “started-but-not-finished-revolutionary-ideas”.

Before making the jump I hired a coach who during six months, was trying to reign me in on ONE GOAL (I was constantly switching targets: “record a course about X in French, no in English, no about Y…)

And I did it, I published my first course on udemy six months ago.

Then it took me 4 more months to release my second course in September.

But money didn’t rain from the sky like expected.

I was demotivated, and all my bank accounts were in the red.

And here it was. Your sales letter about eLBenboPress.

And it was looking at me.

(thanks discount code)

And I couldn’t afford them.

So it woke me up.

There was two weeks left before the 31st of Octobrer (end of discount).

I started to sell my collection of Magic The Gathering cards to pour cash in my bank account.

But more importantly…

I decided to create and launch a new course in two WEEKS.

Just so I can buy your book. (If this is not a demonstration that you can sell shit, I don’t know what it is)

And it worked…

Your price-tag SLAYED the procrastination demon in me

I f******ng did it, Ben!

(1.) I created a course and published it on Udemy in under a week;
(2.) I started emailing my 25-people-long email list daily
(3.) And when I launched: I MADE 5 SALES (out of a 25 people list)

DUUUUUUDE THANK YOU

I didn’t know I had this in me. This speed…

THANK YOU FOR WAKING THE BEAST WITH YOUR DEVIOUS PRICING STRATEGY.

But there was a shadow on the painting

— (it’s a French saying translated to english, I guess you would say “a fly in the ointment”)

Surprise lockdown in France…

Got hit by mandatory unexpected expenses that burned all the cash I made selling chunks of my card collection (I guess I should also say thank you for that, as I had available cash when surprised fees hitted me)

Udemy hold the cash made selling courses during one month. (to cover the 30 day guarantee)

And the money from my most recent freelancing gig landed in my bank account, on Monday 2nd of November. Two days too late.

So I couldn’t grab the elBenbo Press amazing book in time. Damn.

(Btw, your bullets are amazing gosh, the understand why GoT is unwatchable now really got me I WANT TO KNOW.)

This time I was too late…

But next time —

I wish you the best BEN,

Two things:

1. I don’t recommend subscribing if you have no money or business. But if you do, what he did is exactly how you sac up to get the money you require, build a business, and make things happen.

In his case he did it with hard work and a 25 person list.

What’s your excuse, Chuckles?

2. Even though he got bit by another inane lockdown, notice there was no pleading to make an exception. Notice the taking personal responsibility & not putting anything back on me. Notice the winner’s attitude, and the working for a goal.

He didn’t even ask for anything.

All he did was express gratitude.

It’s a powerful thing this gratitude stuff.

The more one practices it, the more things just seem to eventually fall into place.

On that note:

If you want to partake of the “Email Players” newsletter… assuming you haven’t already been banned (from canceling in the past, being an idiot, whatever reason)… and even if you are in France… then use the link below.

The next issue is especially germane to this topic.

And the reason why is it teaches how to sell in a way where people are grateful they bought.

Not just “oh, thank you for all you do” gratitude.

But all-out “holy shnikes, I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how glad I am to be your customer – I’m going to tell everyone I know about you!” kind of gratitude. And it has nothing to do with your copywriting, marketing, or selling chops. Yes, the better you are at such things, the better the info will mostly likely work. But I believe you could be a raw, wriggling newbie at such things and still use the information in the December issue to bring out the Gratitude Kraken from your customers, clients, and buyers.

The 11/30/20 deadline is almost upon you, however.

So if you want it, I suggest hitting the jump here right away:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. In one of those intriguing juxtapositions an email marketer can’t help but be grateful for due to its “fodder appeal”, here is an example of almost the polar opposite of the Email Players subscriber.

Here’s the story:

Another “Email Players” subscriber who’d been with me for 16 months decided to cancel. But, on her way out, she asked if she could return later.

The answer was no.

To which she said she thought that was only for people difficult to deal with. And that while she respected my decision, she’d hoped I’d “have more compassion on folks during this tough time.”

My response to that:

I ain’t exactly denying a starving man dinner here.

I essentially sell money at a discount.

i.e., You use what I sell, and can make your money back many times over.

The above customer was with me for some 16 months and didn’t problem-solve how to use the info to make the whopping $3.23 per day back. Yet that young, ambitious Frenchman who was literally on the street, without a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out — just a 25 person list, and no product — moved heaven & earth to use the ONE issue he had plus the book all new subscribers get, and make more things happen in 2 weeks than probably 90% of so-called online marketers haunting Facebook groups all day do in a year.

Huge lesson in that.

The most important of which is:

If you replace “can’t” with “won’t” the truth always comes out.

This applies especially to those citing money as a reason on their way out.

Outta here with that.

Even a bum rattling a dirty, coffee-stained paper cup full of sticky change on the side of the street can ‘afford’ the $3.23 per day (although that price is going up as of January 1st 2021) “Email Players” costs. And I suspect all these business people decrying the price find a way to still somehow afford non essential entertainment & vices.

It’s all about priorities.

The All-Seeing Eye of elBenbo knows… because he’s been there.

All right enough of this.

I’ve already said more than I know…

Some of the best advice I ever done got about everything from writers block, to burn out, to sheer boredom with something I am writing or working on:

“when you’re stuck, just move on to something else”

I don’t remember where I first heard that Obvious Adams-like advice.

But it’s been a life saver many times over.

Something else to think about:

When studying the late, great Jim Camp — “world’s most feared negotiator”, who often had multiple billion dollar deals going on at any given time — I remember him talking about how, when you study something in depth, and apply it, and then think about and analyze it… and are in the process of truly mastering it… you literally create new neurological pathways in your brain.

Another thing to think about:

Sifu taught me a few years ago about how, when studying Kung Fu, the same phenomenon occurs.

You are learning fine motor movements constantly.

And apparently, each time you engage your brain with something different like that (doesn’t have to be Kung Fu), new neurological pathways are automatically created.

Still more:

The late brilliant copywriter Gene Schwartz taught something similar.

He said he always had 3 writing projects going on at any given time:

A sales letter, an article, and a book.

And he said it was almost annoying to him how while working on one of the above projects, he’d get a rush of ideas for one or two of the other projects, and had to constantly stop to take notes. This happened even on vacation, where he’d be reading a book, and had to constantly write down new ideas for completely unrelated projects he was working on.

As he put it:

(Paraphrased)

“my ads and books were often written in the margins of other books”

Immoral of the story?

Engage your brain hard.

And, do it often.

Specifically, on radically different projects, tasks, and goals.

It’s not only the best way to get “un-stuck” when writing emails/creating sales copy/building funnels/whatever you’re doing… but it can make you smarter, give you all kinds of creativity, and make life a heckuva lot more interesting to boot.

It’s also one of the best habits you can ever cultivate.

And, if you combine that habit with what I teach in the upcoming December “Email Players” issue — and direct your mind to the skill it teaches in the above way — I believe your business, regardless of what you sell, will have almost no choice but to explode in sales, growth, and new opportunities.

This ain’t hype or exaggeration either.

I am living proof of this.

As are many other businesses who learn & apply what it teaches.

However, there ain’t much time left to subscribe in time to get it – you got til Nov 30, 2020.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I suspect this subject line is a bit too “R-rated” for some.

Almost certainly offensive to others.

And I suppose for a bunch of my hoary & hairy horde of customers & spectators alike, it might even sound completely stupid at best and downright impossible at worst.

But I suspect everyone’ll agree:

If you could somehow make giving your business money a overwhelmingly pleasurable & exciting act for your list, market, customers, and clients… and if you can make it something they not only don’t mind doing but look forward to doing and can’t wait to do… and if you can make it an act where maybe even certain (natural & pleasant) chemical & hormonal reactions occur in their brains & bodies… I daresay you’d never have to worry about the income side of your business ever again.

I also daresay you’ll never have any real competition, either.

And, I further daresay you’ll have turned your business into something quite different than it is now.

A tall order?

We don’t deal in midget orders here in elBenbo’s Lair.

And as certain smart business owners on m list will see, the promise of this is not only possible, it’s something you can start doing almost immediately — even the same day you learn how it’s done.

Something I just happen to teach in great detail in the December “Email Players” issue.

I waited til December to publish this particular issue for a reason.

I want my Email Players of the Horde to end 2020 with a loud, thunderous BANG.

Not the limp, underwhelming whimper all your Facebook friends obsessed with fake 3rd world-style dictatorship elections & overblown virus hysteria can’t even begin to fathom in their small, pea-sized imaginations that have been clogged up with fear, social media addiction, and self-induced cognitive dissonance will end their year with.

Another reason to hop on the EP-train:

I’m raising the price of “Email Players” starting January 1st.

What that means is this:

Anyone in before that date is “grandfathered” in at the current price forever. Unless, of course, they squirt off into the sunset by canceling. By announcing this here, I run the risk of turning on the dopamine-addicted price shoppers — i.e., new product junkies who are addicted to the dopamine drip they get whenever they buy something new, and thus are always looking for excuses to buy, but never commit to anything, consume anything, or do anything.

But those losers never get any real value out of “Email Players.”

And, thus, should stay far away from me, my newsletter, my books, or even my free emails.

A word to the wise is sufficient…

Whatever the case, go here to subscribe in time to get the December issue:

www.EmailPlayers.com

The deadline is Dec 31, 2020.

After that, too late…

Ben Settle

Came a question from an “Email Players” subscriber.

I know you talked about how you don’t pay attention to open rates.

Still…

Even with my tiny-small list I can see, let’s say tendencies, with regard to ORs.

At what point (what list size) can I take those parameters serious?

The short answer:

Almost never.

It’s an almost completely pointless vanity metric, possibly only a little more useful than your last Frogger arcade game score from 1981. There is far more power in the consistency you send emails and in focusing on getting better each day. And while I won’t say open rates have zero value — as there are a few times where it makes sense to track them, like to monitor the overall health of your list for example — don’t fool yourself into thinking they have anything to do with sales or anything but maybe an ego boost or bragging points in a Facebook group full of copywriters who find such vanity metrics worthy of getting excited about.

On that note:

Following are 12 far more important markers than open rates.

1. Sales — the ultimate engagement (see the next one), plus if money is the game, sales is the scoreboard

2. Replies/engagement — ESPs like Gmail & Yahoo tend to give more inbox delivery love (instead of shunting you to the spam or promotions folders) to you when you get replies from your list, since they see you as a person and not a worthless spammer

3. Clicks — which means engagement, and are far more practically useful than opens

4. Opt outs — probably don’t count as “engagement”, but if you aren’t getting lots of opt-outs you ain’t doing it right

5. Complaints/trolls — which, ironically, help your overall delivery since they are engaging with you (i.e., why trolls are your unpaid interns if you let them be)

6. Testimonials — not just for the engagement factor, but the practical factor too

7. Questions — even more engagement, plus can make great fodder for future emails

8. Customer service requests — yet more engagement, plus probably the greatest opportunity for selling there is

9. Interview request reply to an email — not only means engagement, but interviews are great for list-building

10. Forwards — if people are forwarding your emails to their friends, social media, etc, that can lead to referrals & a bigger list

11. JV proposal reply to an email — not only does this mean engagement, but could also mean new business

12. Spam complaints — not a good thing, but does tell you your lead gen & curation is weak, an important thing to know in the grand scheme of things

The goo-roo fanboys won’t like this list much.

But if you care what they think, you got bigger problems than open rates.

All right, on to the business:

My “Email Players” methodology is designed to get you far more of the 12 actions above than you are getting now. The evergreen info is in the “Email Players Skhema Book” I give to new subscribers, with the ongoing stuff in the monthly newsletter.

Speaking of which:

The November issue is all about copywriting.

And, specifically, mastering copywriting.

Not just being good or even great at it — but mastering it.

If that appeals to you, go here before the looming 10/31/20 deadline to get this issue:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Behold an email I got not long ago:

For someone reason, I’m blacklisted from your emails

I’ve tried to opt into your list multiple times and with different emails. Each time I get the welcome email but not your broadcasts (weird I know).

My coach and mentor says I need to get onto your list ASAP to learn from ya.

Hope you can help me out.

My response?

Ignored.

And the reason why is because of the email addresses he was using. For the last several years, I’ve instituted a policy for new website subscribers where whenever someone with an email address containing the word “swipe”, or “swipes” or anything related to that subscribes… I delete ’em on sight.

Why?

Because they’re most likely clueless.

And almost certainly subscribing for the wrong reasons.

Yes, I used to be a big fan of swiping, too.

But when I started doing copywriting assignments in the really competitive markets, I discovered I could only keep relying on swipe files for as long as I could afford to lose. And these One Swipe Suzies who can’t think or problem solve, and who infest the online marketing world are not only doing themselves a disservice, but they make for terrible customers for Yours Unruly, too.

I’m not saying to not have a swipe file.

But, for emails, they are especially overrated.

And, especially stupid.

Here are a few reasons why:

• Ad appeals that worked before for an email (or for someone’s unique personality) may not work for you
• Sometimes ads that “killed it” (supposedly) did so only because the other ads they competed against sucked
• Market “awareness” often changes
• Market sophistication often changes (See Gene Schwartz’s “Breakthrough Advertising” book for more on “awareness” and “sophistication”)
• Possible copyright infringement
• You simply cannot “swipe” a personality — and the best emails are heavily personality-based

Again, I’m not anti-swipe file.

I’m just anti swiping the way a lot of internet marketers and copywriters do it. Swipe files are great for idea generation, inspiration, and templates for headlines, opening paragraphs, bullets, etc.

But the ways most do it?

Stoopid on a stick.

Especially with emails, where it’s the mark of a loser to swipe them.

So that’s that.

A few of these idiots who put the word “swipe” in their emails slip through.

But I catch most of ‘em.

And am always on the lookout for any I missed.

All right, on to the business:

As far as people obsessed with swipe files go, I highly advise against those types being in my World at al. But this goes quadruple for the November “Email Players” issue which is about copywriting mastery, and will go completely over the head of anyone relying upon, looking for, or bragging about their swipe files. If that’s you, realize you are the opposite of the kind of customer this issue is intended for.

It ain’t personal.

It’s simply how it is.

On the other hand, if you want to work hard, and if you are the type to embrace hard work, then I believe this issue’ll probably be right up your alley.

To subscribe in time before I send it to the printer, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

An amusing fact:

Napoleon Hill’s original title for his mega-bestselling book “Think And Grow Rich” was…

“Use Your Noodle To Win More Boodle”

Almost painful to read.

Yet, that book is one of the best-selling books of all time. But, do you think it would have sold as much with that moronic title “Use Your Noodle To Win More Boodle”? Even with the exact same content inside?

Of course not.

Such is the power of titles.

Your title is the “headline” for your product.

If you write a lame title or (even worse) swipe someone else’s title because you’re too lazy to do your own title (making yourself look like a hack at best, and a fraud at worst), your sales won’t be anywhere near where they should and could be.

Anyway, here’s the point:

Over the years, I’ve helped certain people cook up many million dollar titles. Like, for example, my pal Ray Higdon with his bestselling “3-Minute Expert” program that my ego would like to believe (whether accurate or not…), helped it nab at least some of its millions in sales over the years.

In fact, after that, some of his friends asked for my help with titling.

Like Mark Harbert and his “No Fear Video Marketing” product I invented the title for.

And, even to this day, people ask me for help with this.

And because I’m sick of people asking me, and because I can’t be bothered to work for free or work for a consulting fee to help them, I’m going to give away my big “secret” for creating titles right here and now, and simply reference people back to this email.

I freely admit I got this secret from studying the late Stan Lee.

And here it is:

A title just has to SOUND good.

Stan Lee had no idea what a “gamma ray” was that created the Hulk or what a “cosmic ray” was that created the Fantastic Four. But they sure sounded good. In fact, he did such a good job creating the country Latveria (Doctor Doom’s country) that fans used to ask him if it was a real place! Same with the writers of “The Amazing Spider-Man” movie using “decay rate algorithm”, or the writers of the movie “Backdraft” dreaming up “Trychtichlorate”, or the writers of the TV show Fringe making up “Cortexiphan.”

And so on, and so forth.

More:

Sounding good is only half the battle.

You also have to sum up the “essence” of the product in two or three words.

Thus, why a lot of my titles are also a result of nearly two decades of practicing, honing, and digging deep into the art & craft of writing sales copy. And, especially doing the drills I give in the upcoming November “Email Players” issue. These drills are excruciatingly tedious, boring, and mentally taxing. But I did each and every one of them when I was getting started, and were based off what some of my favorite copywriters and also comicbook artists did to excel and master their craft.

This is why I say you cannot “casually” read this issue.

You have to be mentally, emotionally, and psychologically engaged with the material.

Otherwise, there’s no point.

If you still want in on this issue, go here right away before the deadline:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

This last Summer I watched one of the most titillating documentaries on Amazon Prime I’ve ever done seen called:

“Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan”

If you love those old stop-go animated movies like the old Sinbad flicks, etc, you’ll dig it.

As a kid I couldn’t get enough of it.

As an adult I find those movies far more entertaining and fascinating than all the overdone special effects movies Hollywood churns out. And if you want some great idea/copy fodder for your emails, sales letters, and other marketing, I cannot recommend it enough, even if you aren’t in to such movies.

I wrote down a list of ideas and lessons while watching it.

But there were two that stand out like a loud, wet fart in a library if you want to ratchet up your sales, response, and overall brand power.

The first of these notes I wrote down was:

“By just being super intense about what you do & the media you use, you can stand out even if that media is outdated”

Listen up, my fine feathered little Fledgling.

There is a reason why – for nearly the past two decades – I’ve been able to “get away” with, and make lots and lots and lots of sales, by stubbornly refusing to jump on all the various trends and bandwagons of technology and gimmickry other online marketers are always chasing.

Like, for example:

• Using ONLY plain text emails
• Preferring low quality – even hard-to-hear – audio to any kind of video
• Having zero production value to the videos I do shoot (including some in the pitch darkness of my bedroom)
• Writing regular books & not having multi-media products, online membership options, etc
• Using “archaic” software like 1shopping cart – which has gotten me laughed at while attending many-a mastermind…
• Selling exclusively with long scrolling online sales letters with near-zero graphics (and even those usually are just a pic of me with some cheap one-liner), video, or other bells & whistles

And the reason why is it ain’t the media or technology doing the selling.

It’s my passion for what I do, what I use, and what I sell.

That is it.

Period.

End of discussion.

Ray Harryhausen took technology nobody was using anymore or wanted to touch, and was so ultimately good at it… he inspired entire legions of filmmakers (like Peter Jackson, for example) to excel at and be at the top of their game in special effects that had nothing to do with the stop-go animation Ray did.

So it is in marketing and selling.

You don’t have to chase after every trend, innovation, or format you see.

And just because a format supposedly gets a better response or higher levels of engagement for Agora or whoever people reflexively parrot doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same for you. Especially if your natural attributes lend themselves to something else that you happen to do better than most others.

Anyway, on to the pitch:

It talk more about this, including a second powerful insight from this documentary in the bonus elBenbo’s Lair insert stuffed neatly inside the November “Email Players” issue.

If you want it, the deadline to get this issue is 10/31/20.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle