Ben Settle

Sometimes people ask how FAST email really works.

Does it take a lot of time?

Or can you see fairly quick results?

Well, let’s put it this way:

Yesterday Email Players subscriber Jerry L. was saying how he recently needed some extra cash to buy a ticket to Washington DC for a martial arts seminar.

So he asked himself:

“How can I make the money?”

That’s when a light went off in his head.

(Your brain is groovy like that — ask it a question, and often an answer will come…)

He has an email list and some DVD’s he sells.

So he sent off 4 emails over the weekend.

By Monday morning he had raked in $1,500 smackeroos.

Not bad for 4 emails.

Best part?

He said the sales came in while he was watching TV.

It’s amazing to think about, isn’t it?

I’m not making you any specific promises.

(I cannot — and will not — do that.)

But one of my friends and I were talking about this recently as he was saying how his sales are now consistently coming in at around 5 or so per day since doing daily emails the “Settle way.” And he did the math and was saying how, if you sell a $29 eBook and sell just 5 per day, you make way more $$ (with way less effort) than the average Joe who clocks in at a job slaving away 8+ hours per day and 40+ hours per week.

(And that’s not even counting back end sales…)

Again, can’t make you any specific promises.

And you still need a good list.

(It’s not ALL email…)

But it’s interesting to think about.

To learn how it’s done, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

So I’ve talked about “The Game” before.

That’s the blockbuster book written by Neil Strauss about the underground “pick up artist” (PUA) community. A fascinating book one of my clients had me read a couple years ago (he was toying around with helping a famous PUA sell his course, and wanted me to write the copy…)

Anyway, the whole game concept is fascinating.

And for some guys, much needed these days.

(However, that’s a topic for another time…)

But here’s why I bring it up:

One of the things PUA’s use is a tactic known as “bouncing” — where the guy takes the girl he’s gaming to multiple different places in one night, which leaves her feeling very COMFY with him, like she’s known the dude a lot longer than she really has.

And you know what?

This works like gangbusters with email.

This isn’t a “technique” I’ve consciously used.

I just always knew daily emails worked.

But the effect is the same:

When you send daily emails the right way, people feel they’ve known you forever even if they’ve only been on your list for a few days. It’s no wonder I sometimes get emails (even voicemails!) from brand new subscribers wanting to hang out or saying, “we’re like long lost friends, I feel I’ve known you forever…”

It used to kinda creep me out.

But now I get it.

That’s just what happens when you do email the right way.

The key is “the right way.”

Just lobbing emails every day won’t cut it.

You have to know HOW to do it.

And in the next Email Players issue I’m teaching how to write a special kind of email that can help your readers bond to you like super glue the very FIRST time they hear from you (with that bond deepening more each email after that…)

It’s a VERY profitable method.

And Email Players are gonna profit handsomely from it.

But there’s no time for dilly-dally.

This baby goes to the printer next week.

To get in on time, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Since it’s Halloween time, how ’bout a horror story?

Recently, I was talking to Doberman Dan about merchant accounts. Dan has been selling health supplements for over a decade, has an impeccable “money trail” record to look at as being ethical and transparent. And basically runs a business as honest as the day is long.

But, that didn’t stop ’em from shutting him down!

Talk about a horror story…

Imagine having your business running like normal, then one day waking up to dozens (maybe hundreds) of “declined” orders.

With no warning.

And no “heads up” whatsoever.

Someone at the bank decides your business is suddenly “high risk” (even though you have zero charge backs or complaints on file) and your business is effectively shut down… in the blink of a bureaucrat’s eye.

Yikes.

That’s scary.

(Don’t worry about Dan though, he’s a smart cookie, and in the next Email Players issue I’m including a bonus audio CD showing how he escaped that situation, and how you can, too.)

Anyway, where was I?

Oh, yeah, now, you may be thinking:

“But Ben! I don’t sell supplements. I sell an eBook — information — with nothing controversial about it…”

You think that makes you safe?

Forget regular merchant accounts for a second.

Even 3rd party payment processors that have been selling info products for years are following suit.

Take yours truly, for example.

I’m gearing up to promote a high ticket product with affiliates.

It’s a physical product.

And I don’t want to mess with paying affiliates myself.

So I thought I’d use 2Checkout.

They been around a while and are reputable.

Plus, I have even been an affiliate for info publishers who have used them to sell products very similar in content and price as my product.

But Saturday, I get an email that says:

(And I quote…)

“Unfortunately, we can no longer support sales from any website that would be classified as a direct marketing website by Visa and MasterCard regulations. This is a policy that has been passed down to us from our merchant provider.”

Application denied!

(Notice, their merchant account made the decision, not them.)

Again, you may be thinking:

“Yeah, but I use clickbank and paypal…”

So?

Who’s to say clickbank won’t do this?

Or even PayPal?

What makes you SO sure they won’t decide to ban selling products from “direct marketing” sites?

Fortunately, there IS a solution to this.

A very simple one, too.

And it is explained (in minute detail — I left no stone unturned) in the bonus audio CD that comes with the November “Email Players” newsletter issue.

It goes to the printer next week.

To get in on time, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Recently, I got some amusing hate mail.

The woman who sent it sounded REALLY peeved.

Amongst her inane babblings (such as I’m a “huckster” blah blah blah) she ranted on about how I never send any content.

Am just full of hype.

And never share anything of substance.

(She even nagged my use of slang haha).

Anyway, she sounded plumb grumpy.

So for S&G’s, today I thought it’d be fun to put these “no content/substance” claims to the test by pulling out the subject lines of the last 10 emails I wrote (prior to the one that set her off) — along with the valuable tip(s) contained in each of those emails.

Ready?

OK, here they are…

• Why I’m such a fart about endorsing auto-responders
  (The tip: How to pick the right auto-responder)

• Zombie bureaucrats who want to eat your business
  (The tip: Awareness of people who want you to fail)

• 3 “plug ‘n play” email templates for your bad self
  (The tip: a link to 3 proven email templates)

• Exotic Chinese email secrets
  (The tip: create an exotic personae to be more persuasive)

• Re: my “bogus” double your income with email claim
  (The tip: True, this one was a pure pitch, but no serious marketer would begrudge me showing off how an Email Players subscriber doubled her income in a few weeks using my methods)

• Why nobody likes you no more
  (The tip: How to sell to skeptics)

• Might as well just set fire to your bank account now
  (The tip: A kick in the butt to stop procrastinating)

• The no-headache guide to selling physical products
  (The tip: What printer to use for physical products)

• How to get people physically addicted to your emails
  (The tip: Send more emails the right way, and peoples’ brains might literally “feen” for more)

• Why stoopid emails make more sales
  (The tip: Writing “escapist” emails can make you more sales)

Hmm.

Smells like content to me.

But here’s what was really amusing:

As one of my friends (we enjoy reading each other’s “hate mail”) pointed out, in the time it took to write her complaint, she could have written an email that sold her product.

Now there’s a marketing lesson.

Hey, what can I say?

I have that effect on the ladies…

Ben Settle

P.S. She was also bothered by how I am always promoting my “Email Players” newsletter. So at the risk of pissing her off even more… here’s the link to get inside my inner sanctum of email marketers:

www.EmailPlayers.com

I love reading me a good email.

But I have to admit, much of my inspiration these days for writing emails comes NOT from being on goo-roos’ lists (actually, I’m not even on any) or anyone else’s email lists. Instead, I get most of my inspiration from certain (mostly controversial) blogs, Internet forums and, believe it or not… direct mail.

Direct mail is coming back in a BIG way.

Maybe it’s because the post office is treating it better.

Or maybe it’s because some goo-roos are starting to teach it like it’s “new” (I always get a kick out of that).

But I dig reading direct mail.

That’s all email really is, anyway:

A single piece of white paper delivered digitally.

And it makes awesome email fodder.

For example:

In a certain mens health niche I sell in, I started getting on a lot of different health lists for men to see what the sales letters were appealing to. But instead of using them as inspiration for sales letters… I found myself combing through the pitches, highlighting certain emotional hot buttons they were targeting, and then creating emails around those.

And I mean LOTS of emails!

I think there’s 94 emails in the sequence.

And most are from reading direct mail.

That auto-responder converts, too.

Last I checked, that baby converts at around 19% (over time).

Not too shabby.

Hey, want email ideas?

Raid thy snail mail box.

Remember what it looks like?

Ben Settle

P.S. Another offline source I get a LOT of email ideas (and persuasion tips) from, is telephone sales people.

Weird, eh?

Using phone selling ideas to sell in email?

Maybe so.

But if you do it right, it can make your emails almost impossible for prospects NOT to read. In fact, the next “Email Players” issue contains a secret I learned from the world’s greatest telephone sales coach (sales masters Tom Hopkins and Zig Ziglar use this guy’s training materials when selling seats to their own seminars).

This puppy goes to the printer soon.

To subscribe in time, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

So I had me a nergasm Sunday.

The cause?

The premiere of “The Walking Dead” (season 2) — about a police officer who leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by flesh-eating zombies. My favorite scene in the show is last season when the main character covers his body with zombie guts, blood and entrails so he can mask his “living” smell from the zombies surrounding him.

Fun for the whole family…

Anyway, here’s why I bring it up:

Sunday’s show got me to thinking about business.

You know, there aren’t all that many entrepreneurs.

I believe we’re only about 3% of the population.

And in some ways, we’re kind of like the small group of survivors in “The Walking Dead” — alive, running through the day trying to survive the constant attacks by various “zombies” lurching around trying to either eat us alive or, at the very least, bite us and turn us into one of them.

These zombies take all kinds of forms.

Like corrupt government bureaucrats.

Anti-business Politicians.

(Oops, sorry to be redundant…)

Even your own friends and family who are jealous of what you do (or are trying to do) discouraging or belittling you.

Sadly these “walking dead” are all around you.

Lurching to and fro.

And jonesing to eat the productive or, if nothing else, bite you and turn you into one of them — dead inside.

Misery loves company, after all.

Anyway, just food for thought.

More tomorrow…

Ben Settle

P.S. Another zombie on the hunt is the merchant account industry. Merchant accounts are being shut down left and right without warning all over the Internet.

Yes, even if you use PayPal.

Your money is “food” for certain banking bureaucrats.

And they will shut you down and freeze ALL your money for months (or even indefinitely) for no reason.

Happens so much now it’s truly scary.

But guess what?

Daddy has a solution for you:

One of the bonuses in the November “Email Players” issue next month shows you EXACTLY how to protect your money during the impending merchant account “apocalypse” upon us now.

(Whether you realize it’s here or not.)

Subscribe over yonder at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

This’ll be a quickie:

Last Friday Copyblogger.com posted an article I wrote containing 3 “plug ‘n play” email templates I’ve used several times in multiple niches to nab more sales.

They’re mostly fill-in-the-blank.

And pretty easy to adapt.

Anyway, they’re waiting patiently for you at:

www.CopyBlogger.com/email-marketing-templates

Ben Settle

P.S. If you want more templates than you can eat, then check out the “Email Players” newsletter. I’m always showing examples of emails I’ve used that have made lots of sales — and often with “psycho analysis” of WHY they worked.

Details at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

I love me a good Seinfeld episode.

And recently I saw the episode (“The Chinese Woman”) where George Costanza’s mom got to talking to Jerry’s girlfriend over the phone about why she’s getting a divorce. Because her name was Donna Chang, she thought Jerry’s girlfriend was Chinese and therefore possessed wisdom she did not.

And so, at Donna’s advice, Mrs. Costanza decides not to divorce.

Until… she realizes Donna’s not really Chinese.

“I thought I was getting advice from a Chinese woman! Well, then that changes everything!”

And suddenly the divorce is back on!

Anyway, it’s one of my favorite episodes.

And there’s a HUGE lesson inside:

Most people really do place value on things that are exotic and different. It could be Chinese medicine, American movies, French food, whatever.

Exotic sells, mi amigo.

Want to make more sales?

Create an exotic persona.

And let it ooze all over your emails.

It’ll make you more persuasive.

Just ask George’s mom…

Ben Settle

P.S. Got this from Email Players subscriber Etienne Juneau:

“I used to average 2 sales a week before applying your Email Players style of emails and now I’m at 5 sales a week, on average. Same traffic, same sales video, same everything, different email strategy. Thanks Ben!”

Not too shabby, eh?

That’s a more than DOUBLE his sales.

Just sending emails the “Settle way.”

To see if you qualify for “Email Players”, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

I don’t find hype very groovy.

Never have.

And, God help me, never will.

So when I say on the “Email Players” sales letter you can (literally) double your income using JUST email, I ain’t just whistlin’ dixie!

Proof?

Check out this note from Email Player Naomi Kuttner:

Here´s an interesting story you might like.

I´m in Buenos Aires now (taking a holiday – I´m from New Zealand.)

One week after I arrived my laptop broke, so while it was getting fixed I could only work in internet cafes on these old 1995 computers. So all I could do really, was email my house list. So I subscribed to your Email Players newsletter and have been writing emails (almost) every day.

And….these have been the 3 most profitable weeks ever in my business.

Seriously, I´ve literally doubled my income over the last three weeks.

Thanks heaps!

Best Regards
Naomi

’nuff said…

Hey, some say I indulge in a pit of… puffery… when I claim you can as much as double your income (and make a nice, comfy living) writing a short, fun email each day from anywhere in the world.

But, as you can see, I kid ye not.

This is the real deal, baby.

And you can do it, too, at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle