Ben Settle

Recently, I’ve started buying from Omaha Steaks.

At first, it was to send “thank you” gifts to people (nothing says “you rock!” like a box of juicy steaks). And later, when the Nerd Girl and I saw some of their deals, we partook of their meaty fruit for our own enjoyment, too.

But then, the inevitable happened:

We started getting HAMMERED by email ads from them.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I love reading email pitches (including spam, sometimes). Heck, some of my best ideas come from other peoples’ junk mail. But there are some things Omaha Steaks does that just irritates the living you-know-what out of me.

We’re talking “nails on chalkboard” irritation here.

The biggest irritation?

They POUND you with offers day after day after day…

Hey, I’m not saying that can’t work.

Frankly, it DOES work if you have the right list, product and traffic generating systems in place, and are only targeting the 5% of “low hanging fruit” (a BIG mistake, IMHBAO).

But I suspect they could do better.

Maybe even a LOT better.

In fact, methinks doing JUST these 5 things below could potentially double their sales in the next 30 days:

1.) Quit pounding people with JUST straight offers

2.) Talk up the benefits of buying food by mail

3.) Give helpful tips about cooking steaks and other meals, nutritional facts, show how protein melts away flab, recipe eBooks, etc (all related to Omaha Steaks’ products, of course…)

4.) Have a personality “writing” the emails

5.) Don’t make everything look so commercial (test using plain text or HTML that looks like plain text — i.e. Gary Halbert’s “A pile/B pile” theory applied to email)

Look, I know Omaha Steaks ain’t listening to this.

And who knows?

Maybe they tested this stuff already.

I don’t much care, either way.

What I care about is you.

And these are just a few of the things I teach in Street-Smart Email that I’d bet someone else’s money would increase any business’s sales lickety split.

Yep, including YOURS.

Ben Settle

P.S. To be notified when Street-Smart Email will be available to the public again, sally ye forth over to:

Got a couple questions about yesterday’s email.

Specifically, about #’s 5 & 6 of the “financial blunders” list — giving up too soon and clinging to bad ideas.

One was how to discern between the two?

And the other was about whether they’re in conflict?

Let’s tackle the discernment one first.

Check out these grapes:

When I was in MLM, I HATED every second of it. But I was drinking the company kool-aid (see #4 on yesterday’s list), thought there was nothing else to do, and stuck with it through sheer force of will. Eventually, after a prayer while sleeping on the floor of an office I lived in (ugh!), it dawned on me what I SHOULD do (direct marketing and copywriting) and I never looked back.

The point?

I KNEW something was rotten in Denmark.

But I stubbornly clung to MLM anyway, despite the obvious signs I should have bailed long before.

So my advice?

When you just know something’s wrong, let it go.

Walk away.

And don’t even think about it.

Now, for the second question:

Are #5 and #6 in conflict?

Well, let’s take the example above. I never would have been truly successful in MLM because, even if I had a bunch of money fall in my lap, I still hated doing the business.

Not so with copywriting, though.

No, I didn’t see quick success with that, either.

But I LOVED doing it.

I enjoyed every second while learning it (yes, even while tediously copying out sales letters, ads, and, in one case, an entire book, by hand).

And it just felt “right.”

But you know what?

I almost quit that about 4 years ago, too, after a particularly bad year where NOTHING went right.

It’s like I was cursed!

And I still don’t know how we made it that year.

But then something strange happened.

Literally a week or two later a project I’d slaved over on pure commission that I thought was a dead deal sprang to life (I’d had a falling out with the client). I also did a profitable JV around that time, and even landed a big client, too.

All within 45 days of wanting to quit!

I was millimeters from success and didn’t know it.

Anyway, that’s all I know today.

For more marketing ideas, check out:

Ben Settle

Let’s change things up a bit today.

Let’s rap about finances.

However, before going any further, a disclaimer:

Here at Casa de Settle we’re FAR from being “rich” and nowhere NEAR our financial goals. And so the only reason I feel even somewhat qualified to discuss this at all is because the Nerd Girl and I have made so MANY dumb financial mistakes, we could fill an entire 500 page book.

Below are 10 “doozy” mistakes we made.

If you’re doing them, then as the proverbial Monopoly game says…

STOP.

Do not pass “go.”

And do not collect $200 (you’ll probably just blow it).

Frankly, just by NOT doing these 10 things, you can often reverse even the most dire of financial situations over time.

At least, that was the case for us.

Ready?

OK then, here. we. go…

1. Purposely staying in debt

2. Blaming others for your problems

3. Falling for hype

4. Drinking biz opp “kool-aid”

5. Giving up too soon (most people are just INCHES away from success, and don’t even realize it)

6. Clinging to bad ideas

7. Not being open to new opportunities

8. Listening to naysayers

9. Letting your emotions control you

10. Carrying buckets instead of building “pipelines.”

OK, I think the first 9 are self explanatory, but number 10 probably needs a bit of ‘splaining.

Especially if you haven’t read much Robert Kiyosaki.

Basically, it breaks down like this:

Imagine you’re on an island village and have been hired to bring that village water. Most people would go to the lake, fill as many buckets as they can carry, and bring them back. But not so the savvy person. Instead of laboriously filling and carrying water buckets, he’d instead take the time and energy to build a pipeline to bring the water to the village — greatly freeing up his time, energy and resources.

This is a BIG game-changer when applied to finances.

And is definitely worth some serious study.

(Just Google “Kiyosaki pipeline”)

Anyway, again, I’m no financial guru (or even a goo-roo!)

But I’ve made a TON of mistakes.

Mistakes you can now easily avoid.

Ben Settle

P.S. Another big financial mistake (for entrepreneurs) is not keeping up on proven marketing strategies. You can easily avoid this hum-dinger by going here:

Remember my email about phones the other day?

The one where I said the phone is the devil and it doesn’t jibe very well with my introverted ways?

Well, let’s rap about that for a sec.

One HUGE myth is introverts are bad at sales.

Maybe it’s because we don’t seek out attention. Tend to be men and women of few words. Or sometimes shun human contact. (For example, when walking on the beach with my dog, I will walk a half mile out of the way just to avoid an oncoming pedestrian… get outta here!)

So I see why people think we suck at selling.

Many times we DO come off as arrogant.

Aloof.

And maybe even downright rude!

But you know what?

I have noticed over the years that many of the best sales people (and marketers) are complete, unrepentant introverts who sell circles around their extroverted competition.

And it makes sense if you think about it.

For one thing, selling is NOT about who talks the most.

Frankly, talking is the WORST thing you can do.

Instead, we’re great listeners.

And in the game of selling, the best listener wipes the floor with the best talker. If you don’t believe me, then study the truly great persuaders and see how they worked their magic.

I’m talking about guys like Fred Herman.

Jim Camp (the world’s toughest negotiator).

Or, in direct marketing, Eugene Schwartz (who said listening was one of the big secrets of his copywriting success).

So anyway, just something to think about.

Yes, we introverts are a minority.

About 25% of the population, I think.

But as a wise man once said, we’re a minority in the regular population… but a majority in the GIFTED population.

But hey, at least we’re not arrogant, right?

Word up.

Ben Settle

P.S. You can learn more about how history’s most persuasive men and women sold (hint: they usually shut the [bleep!] up) over at:

OK, so I’m not much of a traffic guy.

Sure, I do fine and dandy with conversion.

But traffic?

Not so much.

It’s just never been my bag, I guess.

In fact, traffic has always been my “achilles heel.”

My kryptonite, if you will.

So recently, I asked my mastermind pals (Ray Edwards, Daniel Levis, Ryan Healy and John Anghelache) what they’re doing for traffic. And just for kicks, we decided to turn what was originally intended to be a private mastermind call about traffic into a recording called:

It covers well over a dozen highly effective ways to get traffic.

Most are extremely simple to implement.

Some are a bit more advanced.

And one of them is even kinda “hair-raising” that can potentially bring thousands of new visitors and opt-ins to your site in a single weekend (pretty much anyone can do it, too — but it’s definitely NOT for the timid or “thin skinned”…)

Anyway, it’s about 52 minutes long.

And it’s designed for both Internet newbies and veterans alike.

Now, there are two ways you can download it:

1. You can grab it for $27 (by instant digital download) at:

Or…

2. You can join “The Crypto Marketing Newsletter” and it’s an unadvertised bonuse that comes with your subscription:

(NOTE: If you’re already a subscriber, you get it free — it’s on the page with the bonuses you got when you subscribed where it says “Unadvertised Bonuses”)

Anywhere, that’s it for today.

Something different mañana…

Ben Settle

Oh how I loathe the phone.

Maybe it’s my introverted personality. Or my awareness level of how much time gets wasted on the horn. Or that it kinda drains the energy out of me (on the rare occasions where I agree to do hour phone consults, I sometimes get bad headaches and drop off into a deep, coma–like sleep afterwards).

There’s nothing I’d rather NOT do than sit on the phone.

There are exceptions to this, of course.

Like if I’m interviewing someone, or someone is interviewing me.

That’s usually pretty fun.

But generally, phones suck.

I want nothing to do with them.

And to paraphrase the great Weird Al Yankovic, I’d rather jump naked on a huge pile of thumbtacks than spend one more minute on the phone!

Anyway, why should you care?

Probably, you shouldn’t care.

Unless, of course, you’re one of these strangers who I have never met before, who likes leaving voice mails with no details about who they are or what they want (instead of emailing the details of their request like a normal introvert would).

I’m talking about voice mails like:

“Hey Ben, my name is so-and-so, give me a call back…”

No context.

No “reason why.”

Right.

I don’t want sound like a jerk, but that just ain’t happening.

Not know-how.

Not no-way.

It’s not just because of the reasons I cited above about my hatred of the phone, either. The other (more important) reason is because TIME is the one commodity I guard most aggressively. Heck, I barely have time to call my parents each week, much less a goo-roo fanboy looking to do a JV or for free advice. And I’d get nothing done if I called back everyone who asks to “chat just for a few minutes.”

And you know what?

I HIGHLY suggest you do the same.

Guard your time like a dragon hoarding treasure.

Be stingy with it.

Cling to it.

Breathe fire on anyone who would take it from you.

And never, ever give it away lightly.

Ben Settle

P.S. For another lesson about “time vampires“ (and how to make sure they never sink their sharp fangs into your soft neck) check out this email at:

Today’s email doesn’t apply to everyone.

In fact, most people can safely delete it.

It’s for the “uninitiated” only.

And it is basically an unorthodox “FAQ” for the influx of newer subscribers I’ve gotten over the past few months, answering common questions I’ve already addressed in the past. Like, for example, why I don’t sell eBooks, which copywriting products I recommend, my opinion of NLP, do I ever have sales, which marketing gurus do I trust (and which ones do I avoid), and so on, and so forth.

So there’s no real “tip” today.

Just links to prior emails that are now on my blog.

And a way we go…

• Why I don’t sell digital products
• Underrated marketing books I recommend
• Why I don’t (usually) hold sales
• Marketing gurus I like
• Marketing gurus I avoid
• Top 10 copywriting courses
• My lexicon of terms and words
• Why I don’t (usually) sell products via affiliates
• Movies I recommend for marketers
• Top 10 swipe file ads
• My uncensored opinion of NLP
• Why I send full emails instead of teasers to a blog

Anyway, that’s all for now.

Have a GREAT weekend, my friend.

Ben Settle

Uh-oh…

Methinks my dog is getting a bit “portly.”

We’re not fabulously wealthy here at Casa de Settle, but we do well enough to buy the best dog food (thank God) so we can keep her healthy (and, unfortunately, a tad plumper than she should be) for many years to come.

But it wasn’t always that way.

There was a time when we could barely afford to eat at all!

And if we’d had our dog at the time, she probably would have been raised on the crap food found in grocery stores (which is mostly the equivalent of fast food).

Things were pretty dark back then.

I had no natural copywriting or marketing talent.

And I couldn’t sell my way out of a paper bag.

So the only thing I could think to do was something one of my high school coaches drilled into my head: “outwork the other guy.” And so I did. When I got a book or course, I tore through it 5, 10, 15 times.

I’d write other successful ads out long ad while at my job.

And EVERY car trip had marketing training playing.

Did it pay off?

I dare say it did.

I’m nowhere NEAR to my ultimate goals. But I’m dang glad I took my licks back then, and got into the habit of outworking everyone I compete against, and being more meticulous than they are.

For example:

• Going through books, courses and training 15+ times (I’m on my 22nd time through Gary Bencivenga’s course right now)

• Researching products I sell for weeks on end

• Refining my ads by reading them out loud 10 times

• Knowing products I sell better than even the authors do

And so on, and so forth.

It pays to be meticulous like this.

Luckily, it takes no particular brains or talent, just the desire to succeed and the faith to know it works.

Very simple, my friend.

Maybe not easy.

But definitely simple.

Ben Settle

P.S. Another thing I’m super meticulous about is writing bullets in my ads. The more bullets I fire off, the higher the response. I’ll show you all my best bullet writing tricks in the next Crypto Marketing Newsletter which goes to print Monday.

Here’s where to subscribe:

It’s funny how life works sometimes.

Back in college around 1995-1996 I was an avid subscriber to Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health and other similar magazines.

And I got a LOT of cool direct mail.

A couple promotions were especially good.

So good that, not only did I buy the products they were selling… but I ended up KEEPING the ads — including dragging them with me the 7 or 8 times I moved after graduating college.

(Incidentally, I later found they were Gary Bencivenga ads.)

Question is… what made me want to KEEP them?

Even after I bought the products they sold?

The answer?

The bullets on the covers.

Oh yeah!

Those bullets were absolutely irresistable.

I just HAD to keep them because whenever I looked at the covers of those ads (they were technically “bookalogues”), I’d see these teasers and think, “I may want to look that up some day…”

They were that masterfully written.

And it’s a perfect example of how taking your time and writing truly irresistible bullets (and not rushing through them) can add YEARS to your ad’s life.

Even if they don’t buy now… maybe they will later?

Hey, it only takes one bullet to close the deal.

So anyway, the message is clear:

Nobody spends enough time on their bullets.

And if you want to become a human bullet machine, then head ye over to “The Crypto Marketing Newsletter”:

The next issue is soup to nuts about bullets.

Including a few “sneaky” things few people know about.

But it goes out next week.

So grab it while the grabbin’s good…

Ben Settle