Ben Settle

Behold…

Got this email from new “Email Players” subscriber Jamel Gibbs — who’s in the real estate niche. This is a great example of what happens when someone subscribes to “Email Players” and takes ACTION, instead of sitting on the information and constantly chasing new hyped up products.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:

It won’t do you a lick of good if you don’t apply it.

In fact, I prefer naysayers and lazy people not subscribe at all.

(Waste of both my time and theirs.)

Anyway, checky:

Hey Ben,

I’ve been in the real estate business for 10 years now and I’ve been teaching in the real estate niche online for 4 years now (going on 5 years).  My online business started off slow, but has been doing well for the past 1.5 to 2 years.  

With that said, the email part of my business has always been subpar.  

I could never get consistent sales everyday.

I signed up for Email Players on the 26th of December and received my package by the 29th I believe. I’ve been using Email Players (and the Playbook) for 7 days now exact.

I actually sent my first email on January 1st.

It’s unbelievable!  

My open rate is going up on my emails and so are my sales.  

The 30 day outline is really helping me in understanding and knowing what to send out everyday of the week. This was by far the best $97 I’ve ever spent.  

Thanks for this great product and I am now a fan 🙂

He also added since applying what he’s learned, he’s been making at least $350 per day selling the same product he always had, and had made some $4,500 over the past few days alone.

Not too shabby, is it?

Now look.

I’m not saying everyone will get these results. So for any goo-roo fanboys reading this starting to salivate, eeeease up, partner. My system takes discipline, persistence and dedication.

It ain’t no sippin’ tea.

And, it ain’t for the timid neither.

Nor is it for the cheap minded.

It’s for value shoppers, not price shoppers.

In other words…

It’s an investment, not a purchase.

If you don’t know the difference, you ain’t ready.

Alright enough.

If you got the right stuff, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Personally, I liked working for the university! They gave us money and facilities. We didn’t have to produce anything. You’ve never been out of college. You don’t know what it’s like out there! I’ve worked in the private sector… they expect results!”

-Dr Ray Stantz
“Ghostbusters”

Dear Spelling Nazis,

You suck.

Nobody likes you.

And, in fact, I doubt you even like yourselves.

How could you?

Especially when your only bragging right is a worthless college degree in literature and the ability to read an email and point out every misplaced jot and tittle… yet can’t write anything that makes money to save your own life?

It’s actually kinda sad.

I SHOULD feel sorry for you.

But I don’t.

In fact, I take great pleasure in mocking you.

Frankly, I sometimes think it MUST be an act.

It’s like these Hollywood actors who spout off inane political nonsense — they can’t possibly be THAT stoopid, so maybe they’re just trying to impress their peers to get another acting gig.

But who are you trying to impress, spelling Nazi?

You’re certainly not impressing customers.

They couldn’t care less about a misspelling or botched attempt at grammar.

Most of the time, they don’t notice it.

(Unless they’re a pathetic spelling Nazi, too.)

If the ad/email is written the right way (i.e. by someone who knows how to SELL and not just SPELL) the customer is too caught up in the adventure to care.

It’s no different than high grossing movies.

Take “The Avengers”, for example.

Easily the highest grossing movie of 2012.

And, in fact, one of the highest grossing flicks of all time.

But guess what, spelling Nazi?

It has more MISTAKES than any other movie this year.

Some anal retentive fanboys (the comic book movie equivalent of you spelling Nazis) actually wasted time putting a long list together of all its continuity mistakes, flaws and problems. Yet, despite them all… Avengers has made more money than these critics, their friends and all their ancestors to the 10th generation have earned combined.

I think I get it, though.

Why you’re such spiteful pathetic little trolls.

You simply hate selling.

You hate “pitching.”

And, when you see people making money with (GASP!) crappy grammar and language-butchering words… it knocks you off your safe, ivory-tower pedestal where you don’t actually have to produce anything in order to get golf claps from your peers.

You can’t be a spectator and a player.

It’s one or the other.

A player… plays.

And, ultimately WINS.

A spectator watches.

And, ultimately complains.

In many ways, spelling Nazi, you’re like the stinky slob in the stands dribbling hotdog mustard on his shirt while yelling at the all-star shortstop with the .300 batting average about how he needs to keep his head up when swinging the bat (even though the slob spectator couldn’t get a single base hit as a kid in little league).

That’s a spelling Nazi.

Annoying.

Obnoxious.

And, yes, pathetic.

Anyway, that’s the bad newz.

The good newz is it’s not too late for you to change your wicked ways.

To get your head out of your butt.

And, to actually make some salez.

Here’s how:

1. Join “Email Players” today:

www.EmailPlayers.com

The first thing you’ll get when you subscribe is a book with my email methodology “spelled” out (holy shnikes I’m witty!) for you.

2. Follow my system

3. Start making $$ from writing you consider “bad”

It’s easier than you think.

And, who knows?

You may even thaw out and have some fun…

Ben Settle

Gotta love them spelling nazis.

They’re so amusingly relentless and dogmatic in their zeal to ruthlessly eliminate ANY and EVERY misspelling… just because it exists.

Case in point:

A while back I wrote an email mocking spelling nazis.

And someone posted a link to an article proving me wrong.

The title was:

“Spelling mistakes
‘cost millions’
in lost online sales”

Wow!

Guess that’s an open-n-shut case, right?

Bzzt!

Not even close.

The article basically analyzed one website (that had a TON of problems) and cited a few ex-spurts and that was that.

A pathetically weak argument.

(To say the least.)

So here’s what I told him:

That link/study doesn’t confirm or prove anything.

Except, for course, the sales data for the 1 site they studied when they removed some typos (not even all of them, there must have been a lot). Plus, if you’ve seen their copy it’s lame, dry and boring. If it was written by real copywriters who know how to sell (and not just “writers” who don’t even know how to write very well) I doubt it’d matter nearly as much. Oh, and it still has some typos and problems (spacing, formatting, etc) even after “fixing” them. I can only imagine what it looked like before fixing it up when the study was done.

So that makes it kind of a straw man example.

(IMH – but always accurate – O).

In fact, here’s what’s on the first page as of today:

“This Seasons Hottest Trend”

Unless they do it differently across the pond, that should be “Season’s” not “Seasons”. So obviously, they have a lot of problems, and yeah, they need to clean up their act. That’s why my piece said it’d be stoopid to riddle your ads or emails with typos, but just don’t obsess over one or two that slip by the goalie. Because if you know how to write copy that sells, it won’t matter nearly as much as you think.

More:

How do you know a typo is “losing” you sales?

You don’t unless you split test it.

And few will bother doing that.

These things are often found out on complete accident.

For example:

Since writing that spelling nazis blog post at least 2 people have showed me examples how removing blatant “cringe worthy” typos (one which was in the headline!) hurt their response. So that’s further proof the study above is irrelevant to anyone else except the site being analyzed — which was a straw man example anyway, considering how many blatant problems there were with it.

Finally:

My post was about emails (mostly).

Not eCommerce catalog type sites.

It was about informal emails designed to sell.

If a business owner writes daily, personality-driven emails, customers will know, like and trust them and not think ‘oh scammer!’ because of a typo any more than they’d think their favorite radio talk show host is a scammer because he mispronounces a word. It’s only an issue to spelling nazis who either never buy or are complete pain-in-the-gluteus-assimus customers, anyway.

I’ve dealt with many of them over the years.

(Due to so many writers buying my products).

And you know what?

In my experience, they’re too busy looking for that one typo on page 346 than applying the info inside to fix whatever problem they bought the product to solve in the first place.

Kind of pathetic.

And, kind of of a shame, too.

After all… most of the truly great writers, editors and, yes, proof readers earn peanuts compared to even above-average salesmen and marketers who can’t spell to save their lives.

There’s a reason for that…

Anyway, never a dull moment, eh?

And here’s the good news:

If you happen to be a spelling nazi reading this… please don’t worry your anal retentive little head off.

It’s NOT too late to change your wicked ways.

Spelling nazism IS a curable disease.

And your lord and master Ben Settle is more than happy to roto-rooter out all those dumb ideas from your head and get you on the right track to email prosperity — where you make more of the green stuff writing out an imperfect email in 10 minutes than you are writing typo and grammar error-free emails in 10 hours now.

Don’t be afraid.

I promise it’ll only hurt a little.

And then after that…

You’ll wonder why you wasted so many years of your life obsessing over a little typo or two, and slap yourself silly for all the money you’ve been missing out on.

For immediate help, go to my hotline at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Remember yesterday’s “typos” email?

The one about how typos can help your sales?

If you saw some of the inane, emotionally-charged responses I got from the spelling nazis to that email, you’d think I blasphemed a major religion!

(Hey, maybe I did…)

It was quite amusing, too.

So let’s see if I can’t piss ’em off again today…

It’s been my observation that people who pound their chests hardest over typos or refuse to buy anything from an ad or email with bad grammar are almost always anal retentive writers, editors or loser intellectuals who can’t sell their way out of a paper bag, so they make up for it by becoming overly obnoxious spelling nazis.

And it’s funny, too.

Because most customers really don’t care.

They don’t even think about it.

Fact is, the majority of the population reads at a 5th grade level and wouldn’t know the difference between “their” and “there” or “who” or “whom” or even “goo-roo” and “guru” anyway.

It’s just not an issue for them.

It’s only an issue to the spelling nazis.

More:

Many years ago I remember world class copywriter John Carlton (who’s also one of the best “writers” I’ve ever seen — he can practically turn water into wine with his keyboard) talking about this.

This may not be exactly how he put it.

So don’t quote me on this.

(It was in a forum waaay back in like 2004.)

But he basically said in all his years of writing ads (for probably hundreds — if not thousands — of different markets and products) he’s never lost a known sale due to bad grammar or typos.

Instead, it was just the opposite.

He’s had ads missing entire PAGES mail without losing response.

How is that possible?

What’s going on?

Because if you know your market and how to write a decent ad, you have the reader in an almost trance-like state, where they don’t even notice they’re “reading” at all. They’re blowing through your ad/sales letter/email (whatever it is) and unconsciously filling in missing words, correcting spelling, typos, etc.

They’re not sitting there reading it word-for-word.

They’re skimming and skipping, etc.

In other words, they ain’t spelling nazis.

They’re regular people (who have lives).

And those who DO complain about a typo?

They’re NOT your customers.

First, those types rarely ever buy.

And secondly, I have noticed even if they do buy, they’re almost always the kind of nightmare customers who suck up your time and resources, and complain about dumb things (like the color of the packaging, a typo in the middle of the book, etc — instead of USING the product to solve whatever problem they bought it for in the first place).

Spelling nazis are a very needy bunch, after all.

Typically not very pleasant.

And prone to emotional meltdowns about little things.

(Like when they see a typo…)

That’s why their shtick is always:

“Well, if you don’t take the time to spellcheck or proofread, what else didn’t you take the time to do…”

That’s the main argument in their playbook.

To which I retort:

“If you’re whining about a typo in an informal email, then what else are you going to whine about when you buy the product… The color of the packaging? The thickness of the tape to seal the box? The book binding? The font? The copyright date?”

OK, one more thing.

The spelling nazis will NEVER admit this.

Probably, they don’t even realize it.

But the vast majority of people on planet Earth are FAR more comfortable buying from those who are “un-okay.” In other words: Real human beings, with flaws and who make the occasional mistake (and — GASP! — typo). At the same time, these same earthlings are very suspicious of (and uncomfortable buying from) people who are too perfect — especially anal retentive grammar storm troopers who can’t sell to save their lives, but (by cracky!) they sure cleaned up them typos…

This is one reason why ugly often out-sells pretty.

Why sloppy often out-sells clean.

And why a few accidental (or deliberate) typos in ads have been shown to out-sell perfectly “written” ads that follow all the rules of grammar, syntax and spelling to the letter.

Am I saying to riddle your emails with typos?

No.

That’d be stoopid.

Just don’t obsess over them.

And if a spelling nazi haunts you about it?

Tell ’em to bugger off.

After all…

Email is about being a best selling writer.

Not a best spelling writer.

For more email training, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A reader slaps the spelling cuffs on me and BLINDS me with pepper spray:

Your site looks great, but you have put there, instead of their in your first paragraph and it creates a poor impression. Just thought you’d like to know 🙂

I must be losing my touch if you only saw one.

You see, not all typos are bad.

In some cases, they serve a valuable purpose.

Here’s what I mean:

First, if someone decided not to buy something from me or hire me (actually, I’m not for hire, but still…) because of a misspelling or whatever then I’m delighted — that person would almost certainly be a big pain in the gluteus assimus to deal with.

(If I sold proof-reading services, that’d be the exception…)

Secondly:

I rarely care about spelling or grammar.

At least, in emails.

In fact, I often purposely leave misspelled words intact.

Why?

Because as Dan Kennedy and email Grand Puba Matt Furey say: “Money is attracted to speed” — and fixing little grammer/spelling erros (hehe I misspelled those words on purpose) is a waste of time when 99.9% of people simply won’t care or notice anyway.

More:

This’ll REALLY freak ye olde spelling police out.

But in another market (weight loss) I’d send first drafts.

By that I mean…

I cranked the email out (usually in about 4-5 minutes) and then let ‘er rip. No editing (unless the URL is wrong) or even thinking about it.

Just sit, pound, send.

And it didn’t hurt sales at all.

I’ve noticed it even HELPS sales sometimes.

That’s probably why old school copywriters used to purposely misspell things in their ads

It made their letters look genuine.

Like personal letters.

And not “sales pitches.”

OK, enough.

For more contrarian email training, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Every freelancer should have a litmus test for clients.

You don’t wanna just take any ol’ client.

You gotta *qualify* them, first.

Kind of like how I qualify women I’m dating.

You see, one of my litmus tests is what piece she chooses when playing Monopoly. If she chooses the IRON, there’s a good chance she’s a keeper.

Another litmus test is her reaction when I tell her:

“Hey! That sammich ain’t gonna make itself!”

Obedience is important.

But obedience with a smile is mandatory.

Heh.

Anyway, back to clients…

One of the interesting things about the way Daniel Levis taught about getting clients on the webinar we did last Thursday (the webinar replay page comes down today – see the URL below) was you realize getting the clients isn’t that hard when you know what you’re doing.

It’s actually the easy part.

The hard part is qualifying them.

Making sure they’re people you want to work with.

That they have a pleasant personality.

And, that you enjoy dealing with them.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

Again, that free webinar replay disappears today.

Here’s your last chance to listen to it:

See you on the other side…

Ben Settle

I get pitched by freelancers a lot these days.

And they always have flashing red “tells” that gives away they’re either (1) complete newbies or (2) if not newbies, have no idea how to sell themselves.

Such as:

1. Offering to rewrite your ad free or for chump change

2. Giving you their (unsolicited) opinion of your current ad and its (perceived) flaws, etc (I don’t know who’s teaching freelancers to do this, but I hope they aren’t paying for this silly advice)

3. Asking for a free copy of the product

(Shocking, eh?)

Here’s an example, fresh off the turnip truck:

I clicked the link to your “Copywriter’s Grab Bag.”

I’m a copywriter and I thought I would be interested.

How has this landing page worked for you?

I found it confusing and tiring to read – a whole bunch of benefits bullet-listed at random – no logic behind the whole thing.

Let me know.

BTW I’d like to write you a landing page for your Copywriter’s Grab Bag. And I’d like to do it free of charge just for your opinion. If you think it’s good you can use it. If (and only if) it performs well, you can reward me with a bonus of say, $500.

But I’ll need a copy of your Copywriter’s Grab Bag to know what I’ll be writing about.

Indeed you do sound like you need a copy…

Hey, nothing against this dude.

I’m sure he’s a good egg.

And since we’re doling out the unsolicited advice here, here’s a tip that’ll serve him well the rest of his days (if he OBEYS and doesn’t SPURN it, at least):

Learn how to SELL instead of pitching.

You’ll get more clients.

Make more $$.

And, not look like a noob.

That’s free advice.

And speaking of free advice:

If you’re a freelancer or coach or consultant, today is the last day to listen to the webinar replay (no opt in necessary, either) Daniel Levis and I did last Thursday. Dude was dishing out all kinds of awesome tips for getting clients without resorting to ambulance chasing pitches that smack of desperation, and that attract high quality, high paying clients to your doorstep, instead.

Here’s where to get your freelance lovin’:

However, it disappears tomorrow.

So get your lovin’ today.

While it’s hot…

Ben Settle

A reaction to Monday’s “Burn Notice” email…

“Ben I was intrigued by your ‘Michael Westin’ business model. Would love to be a freelance copywriter while marketing my own products too but I don’t know where to begin getting clients. Thoughts?”

It’s a good question.

No, freelancing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

But in a screwy economy it can put food on the table if everything else goes to hell in your business.

As for thoughts on getting clients?

Yeah.

Take Earl Nightingale’s advice:

“Look around at whatever everyone else is doing and do the exact opposite…”

No joke.

Most freelancers haven’t clue what they’re doing.

They don’t know how to sell.

And they struggle BIG time.

That’s why this week I decided to focus on helping people get clients (whether freelance copywriters or any other kind of service provider) and start 2013 off right with Daniel Levis’s free webinar last night for coaches, consultants and freelancers.

Wait a minute…

What????

You missed it???

Worry ye not.

It’ll be up for the next couple days at:

(My affiliate link)

But you can’t dawdle.

This sucker comes down in a couple days.

After that?

Well, you will have missed out.

Ben Settle

P.S. Remember, if you buy from my affiliate link I’ll send you those two MP3 trainings on how to get booked solid with clients. (And virtually ALL of it applies to coaches & consultants, too.)

Tips include:

• How to get paid top fees for your services — even if you’re brand spanking new.

• How to get 100% of your fees upfront. (World class copywriter Peter Stone uses this “trick” all the time. Now you can, too.)

• How to get clients even if you have no experience.

• Why copywriting is the least important skill you need in order to get booked solid with clients.

• How to get started if don’t know a soul in business now.

• Where to find clients who are already looking for YOU.

• A secret way to use your local library to find dozens of high paying clients in a single afternoon.

• How to “position” yourself as an expert, high-value copywriter, even if you just hung up your shingle yesterday.

• Why having a portfolio of your strongest samples can actually HURT your chances of getting freelance assignments.

• How to collect testimonials if you haven’t done any “real” copywriting jobs yet.

• Why you must NEVER “optimize” a website selling your copywriting services.

• The two best (and easiest) ways to get paying clients almost overnight.

• Bob Bly’s “big secret” to getting booked solid with paying copywriting clients.

• How to instanly position yourself as an “expert” — even if you’re just starting out, with no name recognition, contacts or track record.

• How to know what clients are willing to pay BEFORE talking to them.

• How to make money even from clients who don’t hire you.

• And a whole lot more…

Again, here’s how to get these bonuses:

1. Listen to the webinar replay at:

(that’s my affiliate link)

2. If you buy the product Daniel sells, I’ll send you the goodies above.

Word out…

Yes, it’s true.

Rattling off all those “mouth watering” benefits can hurt your chances of landing new clients (and this goes for ANY kind of client — coaching, consulting, freelancing, yada yada yada). I know this goes against established goo-roo orthodoxy, but I speaketh the truth about this.

Prove it, you say?

OK, take my early misadventures for example.

Back when I was first trying to get copywriting clients, I would come out “swinging” with would-be clients on the phone trying to sell my services.

I’d pour them benefits on THICK.

I’d trumpet my guarantees.

Make big claims.

And ooooooze benefits all over the place.

The result?

I’d rarely ever get the gig.

“Uhm, we’ll get back to you, thanks…”

Ouch.

But I don’t blame them at all.

Pitching those benefits was stoopid.

All they did was create MORE objections.

Then one day, I changed my tune and started asking questions, instead of pitching benefits. Instead of saying, “My copywriting can increase your sales by 50%!” I asked things like, “how are you guys doing with sales, getting good response?” or “What makes you think I’m the right guy for this job?”

And then I just let them talk.

The difference in results was night and day.

And it was just basic salesmanship.

No fancy “ninja” marketing tricks.

No psychological joint manipulations or “choke holds” necessary.

And guess what?

This is the type of information Daniel Levis is teaching tonight on the webinar I’m hosting for him.

It’s called:

“The 7 Hell-Fire Commandments
of Internet Riches — And the Systems That
Support Them”

It’s 100% free to attend.

And it should be a wild ride (to say the least).

Plus, if you register with my affiliate link at:

… and if you buy the product Daniel is offering at the end… I’ll give you two advanced MP3 trainings about how to get booked solid with paying freelancing or coaching clients (this info works for most any kind of service) in the next 30 days or less.

It’s not as complicated as it may seem.

And these secrets work even if you’re brand new.

Here’s where to register:

(This is my affiliate link)

Be there or be nowhere…

Ben Settle