Ben Settle

Sad announcement:

Copywriter John Ritz passed away.

I barely knew him (we’d exchanged a few emails over the years, always wanted to JV with him, but never did). He also once interviewed David Garfinkel several years ago and I got it as a free bonus for buying one of John’s products.

That interview changed the way I write copy.

And, it had a HUGE impact on my response.

How?

It got me thinking about the market, and not the “writing.”

It’s ALL about the market, babycakes.

Writing is secondary at best.

And the interview pounded that into my skull.

Hey, that may seem small.

Maybe even disappointing.

(Not a “ninja” copywriting trick…)

But it will radically change your response.

And now, I pass that info on to you.

Use it and profit from it.

John would probably have it no other way…

Ben Settle

No, no, no…

I’m not talking about THAT.

(Get your mind out of the gutter…)

Listen:

One of the best success quotes I’ve ever heard is from pro quarterback (and NFL Hall-Of-Famer) Steve Young when he said:

“The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before.”

Oh yeah, baby!

That quote is solid gold.

When you compete against yourself… ignore what everyone else is doing… and instead keep trying to only beat your own “records”… how can you possibly lose?

You can’t.

It’s impossible.

You can ONLY get better and more successful.

I’ve been applying this daily for 10 years and I can tell you, there is NO better way to master and excel at what you do than by striving to always do better than your last best accomplishment.

To play the game better than you did before.

And to strive to do even BETTER the next time.

The philosophy works, mi amigo.

But, you know what?

As good as this works…

There’s also a time to do the exact polar OPPOSITE — and play the game against others.

Look, none of my colleagues knows this.

(Guess they will now…)

But I’ve spent the past few years “competing” (silently, in my mind) with many of them.

Not in a “I hope they lose!” kinda way.

But in a “how can I outdo what they just did?” way.

For example:

I’d see a sales letter someone in one of my mastermind groups wrote, and think, “that’s fraggin’ brilliant — I gotta step up my game!”

And it’d motivate me.

Push me to work harder.

Dig deeper into my market and product.

And result in nothing by my BEST effort.

(Even if I could “get away” with dogging it…)

It doesn’t take long of doing that to get good (really good!) at what you do and start sticking out from the bleating herd of wannabes.

Anyway, something to think about.

Have yourself a great weekend.

And don’t forget to check out:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Hey, so this won’t apply to everyone.

Just a select few.

And even for them, it may be a stretch.

We’ll see.

Anyway, here’s the scoop:

Over the past year I’ve gotten a spattering of questions about whether or not I do “corporate” email training — i.e. do I ever train other companies (who have big and solid lists but, small and saggy response) and their employees how to write emails the “Settle Way”, up close and personal.

Either “in house” training, or done virtually.

I’ve gotten this question enough where I can’t ignore it.

(Including once by a $100+ million per year business…)

At first, I found these requests flattering.

But, I just didn’t have any interest.

Just having too much fun working on my own projects.

Hey, what can I say?

Ben likey’s his freedom.

But lately, I’ve been having second thoughts.

The idea of increasing some underachieving business’s sales by tens of thousands (even hundreds of thousands if their list and product are right) of smackeroos in sales kinda excites me.

(The bragging rights alone would be worth it…)

So I’m really digging the idea.

But first, I want to see if anyone of my readers are interested.

Do you have a list of at least 50k?

Are you struggling to convert them?

Do you want me to PERSONALLY teach you and/or your employees how to hammer out emails that pull in as much as double (or more) the sales you’re doing now, every time you push that beautiful, shiny, “candy like” send button?

Then let me know.

For now, I’m just gauging interest.

So no need to ask about price or fees.

In fact, if you have to ask, it’s too expensive — like everything I sell, this ain’t for price shoppers, it’s for profit shoppers.

So yes, it will be expensive.

(Though not NEARLY as expensive as all those lost sales…)

Anyway, if you’re interested, email me through this link:

www.BenSettle.com/blog/contact

If this gets enough interest, I’ll run with it.

Next time:

Something else…

Ben Settle

Everyone’s so paranoid about selling.

“Oh I don’t want to come off as just a ‘sales man'”

And yet hordes of frustrated Internet marketers spend their days giving away all kinds of great free information to their lists only to discover either nobody buys, or (worse!) people are taking their free information but then buying from their competition.

So much for “moving the free line”, eh?

Why does this happen?

Lots of reasons!

The biggest being nobody values “free.”

Sure, getting free stuff is nice and all.

But when you want brain surgery, are you gonna opt for Dr. Snaggletooth at the free hippie clinic… or find the BEST and (dare I say it?) most expensive surgeon you can find?

More:

There’s a moral reason to start selling.

A reason nobody ever thinks about:

People are going to buy eventually.

That’s what people do.

They spend money.

Most people piss their money away into a black hole and cannot tell you where that money went.

But spend their money they will.

And the only question is this:

Will they spend it on YOUR product?

Or your competitor’s?

If you KNOW your product is high quality… and if KNOW it’ll really help someone suffering from whatever problem it is your product solves… isn’t it your MORAL & ETHICAL duty to make sure they get their hot little hands on your product?

OK, ’nuff said.

So quit with this moving the free line bid’niz.

Sac up and learn to sell.

Your bank account will thank you.

(Your customers will, too!)

And speaking of which…

The March “Email Players” issue shows you how to write emails that look and FEEL like free information, but are really selling.

This is the essence of great email.

And hardly anyone does it right.

But you will.

Well, that is, if you subscribe in time.

It goes to the printer Thursday.

Here’s where to join:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Hey, so this should rile up the goo-roo fanboys…

Check this out:

I’m going to do an unusual test on my capture pages this week I anticipate will drive up my opt-ins quite a bit over time.

What makes it unusual?

Because this test involves LEAVING the losing pages up!

Yes, mi amigo, you read that right.

I learned it from my computer scientist pal.

(The one I’ve been telling you about lately.)

He LAUGHS at traditional split testing.

In fact, here’s how he put it:

“A lot of gurus who talk about their split tests, it is parroting in the first place because someone else told them they ought to be split testing. They don’t really split test. They run one test once and then they go, ‘We tested…and this big yellow frickin’ button is the best-performing button out of all the buttons we tested.’ The reality is they don’t even understand the basic thing about the way they’re measuring the split test. They don’t understand the statistics behind it. They don’t have any proper grasp of the scientific rigor that would go into an actual real scientific experiment, the procedure you go through to make sure that when you come to a conclusion, this really is correct, not just some radical guesswork that you justify.”

Amusing, isn’t it?

But don’t let his science talk scare you.

The method he DOES use is actually easier in many ways than the split testing everyone else does.

Perfect for newbies and luddites alike.

And it’s great for both squeeze and sales pages.

Want to learn it?

Then get ye bootyus on the “Email Players” list.

The above is an excerpt from the March issue’s bonus interview transcript with that computer scientist, and he goes into detail about how to do a proper online test.

(And it ain’t hard at all.)

But time is short, mi amigo.

No dawdling allowed.

This bad-boy goes to the printer in a couple days.

If you want it in time, hurry.

Subscribe at this link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I reject the “guru” label.

Whenever someone refers to me as a guru or whatever — I quickly correct them.

I never have been one.

And never will be one.

Just ain’t my bag, baby.

But, that’s not to say “Guru Ben” never existed.

He did at one time (briefly).

There actually was once a Guru Ben and a regular Ben.

Luckily, regular Ben (the person you hear from every day) shot Guru Ben a LONG time ago. So theres’s no chance of Guru Ben doing something dumb like selling information he’s never actually used… making BS claims that have no basis in reality… or trying to “sucker” people into buying with manipulation tricks and hokum.

Regular Ben don’t play that.

And regular Ben knew he and Guru Ben could never co-exist.

Only ONE Ben can occupy the same space.

Thus, only ONE Ben could survive.

A Ben divided against itself CANNOT stand!

And so Guru Ben had to go.

Since then it’s just regular Ben — an ordinary guy who happens to kick ass at writing emails and sales letters, and who shares his methods in “Email Players” over at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Anyway, so what’s the point?

The big lesson here?

Actually, I’m not sure there is one.

But have a great weekend all the same…

Ben Settle

I throw the word “goo-roo” around a lot.

And sometimes people wonder if I’m referring to someone specifically or (and I find this especially amusing) if I’m referring to them!

The answer is “no” in both cases.

I speaketh of a “type.”

But, just to be safe…

Here are some clues you might be a goo-roo:

(In my best Jeff Foxworthy voice)

• If you send out a broadcast email and write “sent from my iPhone” at the bottom to trick people into thinking it’s a personal email… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you admit behind closed doors you can’t get your “push button riches” program to work for yourself but sell it anyway… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you claim to get 100% conversion from a sales letter that sold a total of one person… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you sell a “how to get website traffic” course and get all your traffic via joint ventures… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you sell an email course but hardly ever write any emails yourself… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you insist on everyone testing their ads but have never actually tested anything yourself… YEW might be a goo-roo…

And the list goes on.

Maybe I’ll continue this list again some day.

(There’s lots of goo-roo types out there).

In the meantime…

I you want to join my inner sanctum of email marketers who are tearing it up out there in the market place check out the “Email Players” newsletter at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

And don’t worry.

There’s nary a goo-roo in sight inside.

Ben Settle

Q&A time…

“Since emailing my subscribers ‘the settle way’ I’ve noticed a few things. Unsubscribe rates have increased, and so have spam complaints lol… but guess what? Sales have also increased! Is this normally the case? Also, I’m wondering, once your subscribers have bought the products you’re promoting in your emails, like your newsletter, do you market to that buyer’s list everyday too?”

Veddy good questions.

Let’s hit ’em one at a time…

Yes, unsubscribe rates are gonna go up.

Might as well accept it.

But, as you saw, sales go up, too.

(And which is better – lower unsubscribes or higher sales…)

Spam complaints?

It depends on your list.

But I suspect your spam complaints will go way down with time, especially if you tell people exactly how often you mail at the sign-up/opt-in stage.

Do I market daily to buyers?

For this site, no.

My back end marketing is done via my print newsletter.

For another site I run, I have no back end product, but when I did (I used to backend sell a supplement) I took the same email I sent to prospects, altered it slightly to reflect the back end product and sent to the buyers list.

Took about 2 minutes each day.

For another business, we have multiple buyer lists.

They each have their own auto-responders.

The point?

There’s no magic all powerful way of doing this.

You simply do what works for you.

Each business is unique, after all.

And it’s okay if you don’t get it figured out right away.

Just get started.

That’s step numero uno.

(And the step most never do…)

For guidance on getting started, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Remember yesterday’s email about ex-spurts?

And how you can identify them?

Well, another way you can pick an email ex-spurt out in a crowd is they’re always more worried about unsubscribe rates than making sales. In fact, I’ve seen entire articles written about the evils of high unsubscribe rates, how to keep your unsubscribe rates down, and how to make it so less people want to unsubscribe… yada yada yada.

It’s nutzo.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

For one thing, unsubscribes are not the devil.

They’re GOOD for you.

(They can save and make you money.)

But that’s not even the real problem.

The real problem is this attitude people have where they’re always playing NOT to lose, instead of playing to win.

Why do people have that attitude?

I have no idea.

But it’s killing people in business and in all of life. After all, you don’t see championship winning pro sports teams playing not to lose. They play to WIN, baby.

Hey, it’s no different selling online.

Don’t worry about unsubscribe rates.

Focus instead on building your list.

Emailing them every day (correctly).

And yes, making sales.

The rest will take care of itself.

And when you’re ready to take the training wheels off and play with the big boys in email, check out The Email Players Newsletter.

Next issue is chock full of goodies.

Especially for list building.

Specifically, it includes a secret way of creating capture pages that’s exponentially increasing my opt-in rates (and of the few other people who know about it).

Anyway, it was discovered by a computer scientist.

And works like gangbusters.

Go here to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle