Ben Settle

Following is arguably the single best “tactical” method of persuasion ever invented.

Frankly I have never seen it not work.

But then again, I have not seen that many marketers or copywriters do it, either.

They’re too scared probably.

Whatever the case, here goes:

My late dog Zoe’s breed was part corgi and basenji. And the basenji part was especially strong with her. And, because of that, she had an instinct to chase things (basenjis are African hunting dogs). Which is why when I first adopted her from the dog shelter they said if she got away the last thing I should do is chase her.

Why?

Because that’d only guarantee she’d run away — flee — from me.

And no amount of yelling, calling, or even outright bribing with treats or food would have changed that. That meant, if she ran away, instead of chasing her, I was advised to do the opposite — and run the other way from her. That way, her instinct to chase would kick in, and she’d want to chase me instead.

That little tidbit of info saved me quite a bit of anxiety over the years.

None of this is “new” to anyone paying attention.

It’s just pure law of the jungle.

i.e., we pursue that which flees from us, and we flee from that which pursues us.

This instinct is embedded in probably every animal on the planet.

Yes, including humans.

And most humans in business go about violating it on a near daily basis while wondering why nobody wants to do business with them, flees from them, takes all their ideas and hires someone else to help implement them.

It happens so often it’s practically a trope:

* Person becomes a coach or freelancer.

* Person starts buying into the wrong training and chases instead of being the chased.

* Person sees it is not working.

* Person then gets desperate.

* Person then gets needy.

* Person then starts chasing even harder, becoming more repellant.

* Person then gets mad at elBenbo for (obnoxiously) saying “I told you so”…

This happens with info marketers, and pretty much anyone else who sells anything I have noticed. But real life works the exact opposite. If you want to get customers & clients chasing and pursuing you, don’t try to attract them.

Try to REPEL them.

I’m not talking about being a jerk.

Although, admittedly, that can work for certain people and in certain markets.

(Usually either damaged people or those used to having their butts smooched)

But it works magnificently.

In some cases it can potentially help get certain customers & clients nearly desperate to pay you.

Call that hyperbole if you want.

But I’ve seen and experienced it many times.

No, I won’t say any of it’s easy.

Probably a lot of marketers will find it hard.

Especially if you are a people pleaser (not a condition I am afflicted with, admittedly.)

But it’s all very simple.

Try it in your emails and see what happens.

Then, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

KUA stands for:

“Keeping up appearances”

Examples:

Back in WW2 the Allies made inflatable decoy tanks to make the Germans think they had a bigger arsenal and more firepower, manpower, etc than they really had. George Washington did the exact same sort of thing during the Revolutionary War (not with tanks obviously) to make the Brits think the Colonial army had more soldiers, firepower, ability to attack & win battles.

It’s all purely psychological – to demoralize.

KUA is a powerful way of doing business.

If you’re doing it right, and you’re on hard times, hurting, in pain, on the brink of quitting… everything going to hell in a hand basket around you with business, family, marriage, kids, current events, whatever it is… nobody should ever know, or even so much as suspect.

That is, if you’re KUA.

At the very least, even if you do lose, you get to keep your dignity & self respect.

Without those two attributes it’ll be rough to rebuild.

And no, it ain’t easy.

In fact, the worse off things are, the harder it is to pull KUA off.

But if/when you do, you’ll almost certainly be stronger for it.

Email lets you play KUA like a fiddle.

Just showing up every day, selling, not backing down, doing your thing in day in, and day out, can help move mountains not just in sales, but in screwing with your haters’ heads, etc.

More on Email Players here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of my customers observed that I never chase reviews for any of my books, never try to coax people into reviewing my books, or never even so much as ask people to review my books.

And he wanted to know why.

Almost as if I have secret algorithmic Amazon insights they should know.

No, the answer is not nearly that sexy. It’s just that I see 2-star reviews like this one for my “Persuasion Secrets of the World’s Most Charismatic & Influential Villains” and realize I have better things to do than chase low IQ reviewers:

misunderstood title

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2023

Here I was looking for an interesting, new book on writing villains. Bought the book, which like an extended article blocked out for book form, paid $13 something plus tax, get the book, and it turns out that it is about how you can be a badass villain in your life. It has some good villain comparisons, but all aimed at “stealing from their playbooks” for your personal life. I misunderstood what it was about, $13 worth of misunderstanding. So if you are looking for a writing book on villains, save your money. On the other hand, if you want to be a badass villain, spend away.

It’s like a guy saying:

“I bought this book on engineering only to realize half way through it wasn’t about trains”

People don’t even read the descriptions anymore.

I will never forget a review for my first novel Zombie Cop where some wannabe literary critic bought it and wrote a long negative review about a plot hole that didn’t exist, where the real problem was he didn’t read the book carefully.

It’s even worse inside the software business.

The vast majority of negative reviews are user-related.

With nothing at-all to do with the software itself.

We saw this to the extreme in my recent Bargain Bin of Bonuses Vol 3 sale.

So many end-user errors because people refused to read even the most basic of instructions on how to do something, but then blame the software, the team, the helpdesk, Troy, me… everyone but themselves.

That’s just how it goes though.

Doesn’t stop me from selling my books or software.

But it does make me wonder how many people go through their days drunk or high.

And, thus, chasing reviews is the last thing on my mind.

Those who take the time to leave legitimate reviews are great.

And they are always appreciated.

But my opinion of these people who can’t even be bothered to read a description before buying & then leaving a negative review because of their own stupidity is the same opinion I have of voters who have the right to vote but clearly shouldn’t.

So no, I don’t chase reviews.

I chase excellence in what I create and in how I sell it.

After that?

Que sera sera.

For more on my Email Players methodology, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A real life, “chair squirming” copywriting lesson:

A few years back, when I was still on the book of Faces, I was reading the day-by-day adventures of a chick I knew from selling in the MLM market who was passing a kidney stone. It sounded excruciating too.

I don’t remember how many days it took her to lay that egg and get it over with.

But it sounded horrifying.

It was also “world class” copywriting in action.

Even though she wasn’t selling anything.

And even though that was not her intent.

How so?

I know for a fact (others I know were also getting the play-by-play) I was not the only person watching, being filled with horror, and hoping to God Almighty that didn’t happen to us. Just as I know I was not the only one reading about her agony who found myself Googling’ the subject, spending money on specific kinds of supplements, making sure I’m getting enough water, checking to see my family history of kidney stones, looking up symptoms, causes, remedies, etc.

Again, she wasn’t even selling anything.

Yet, she definitely sold many of us, if’n you catch my drift.

That’s copywriting at its finest, in my opinion:

A vision of a problem, but that also offers to sell you a solution you’d crawl through a football field of broken glass to get your hands on, regardless of price, inconvenience, or difficulty.

Not every market & product lends itself to this.

Often the more clearly-defined & horrifying the pain (physical or otherwise), the more it applies.

But that is the gist of it.

And if you use this knowledge in conjunction with my Email Players methodology, I daresay it can amp up your sales in ways you can’t even fathom now.

To see why go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A while back, I got to ranting & raving to Stefania about Tolkien’s races (hobbits, dwarves, elves, orcs, etc) and their respective copywriting styles, after re-watching the Hobbit movies.

My opinion:

1. Guys like Dan Kennedy & Gene Schwartz have a “dwarf” copywriting style:

Not much subtlety (pure sales pitch).

And completely, un-apologetically in-your-face headlines (with the whole offer right in the headline sometimes) & offers, bulling their way through price resistance and skepticism with brute force, with almost Berserker-like intensity.

2. Guys like the late copywriters Jim Rutz & Gary Halbert have an “elf” copywriting style:

Almost the exact opposite as dwarves.

Very little brute force.

Lots of nimbleness.

Not so much using brute force as re-directing force of skepticism & price resistance back at the customer, using it to such an extent that I’ve heard both of them (in interviews) say they’ve run ads where they forgot to even include a call to action. The reader was just so caught up in the story, sucked in, not even realizing they are being sold, some would hunt the client down to buy anyway.

3. Then there are “hybrids” of elves & dwarves (dwelves?) who do both brilliantly.

Like, for example, guys like John Carlton.

And especially Email Players subscriber Gary Bencivenga.

4. There are also Hobbit-style ads.

I think of ads that look “otherworldly” and that may be complete nonsense — but come off as innocent, fun, and even if you know they are a bit exaggerated (or outright fantasy) you don’t care.

i.e., the Sea-Monkeys ads of yore in old comicbooks.

Or the Charles Atlas “How An Insult Made a Man Out of Mac” ad.

5. Then there are orc-style ads.

Those are the ads that may pull like crazy but are hot, steaming piles of bull shyt, filled with lots of hype, lies, & deceit, preying on the public’s sense of trust or low information. The whole coordinated jab push by big government & big pharma & big media fan fiction (dancing ShtickTok nurses at supposedly overrun ICUs or, my favorite, “I’m on my death bed, if only I’d gotten the jab!” big pharma exec fan fiction) being probably the most successful orc copywriting.

Frankly, Fauxci even kinda looks like an orc…

Not to mention the legions of ads selling fake cures for diseases.

Or prosperity preacher advertising.

Or surgeons pushing elective surgeries that cause pain & agony.

Or even garden variety classified ads from the old timey days selling x-ray glasses, books on how to grow taller, mortgage scams, fly-by-night investment schemes, and the list goes on and on and on.

Anyway, as far as legit copywriters:

Some are dwarves.

Others are elves.

And some are a bit of both, with hardly any hobbits anymore.

For a framework for using email that can be used any of the copywriting races, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A true story for the history books:

The first time I ever spoke with the “founding father” of online marketing (even according to Time Magazine, and whose discovery Google & Facebook built their business models on…), email marketing (he also had to tell the CEO of AOL to use his email list…), and even online video (was talking about streaming video, webinar-type solutions back in 1994 when it took 2 hours to download a 10 mb video clip)… Ken McCarthy, he told me two things I have never forgotten.

The first:

Approach selling every offer as if it cost $25,000.

Whether you’re selling a $5 eBook or a $5,000 course.

What would you say in your copy if it cost $25k?

I gave this advice to those who bought classified ads from me last January, and it helped simplify things according to what they told me.

The second thing:

(paraphrased)

“I get them on my list and email them forever”

For a real life example of this:

Whenever someone buys from me, they have the option to answer a question on the cart that asks where they heard about me from. I’d say probably 30% – 40% of people fill that in, give or take. And it’s endlessly useful info.

One recent customer answer that question with:

“8 years worth of emails, lol”

Think about that.

8 years until pulling the trigger.

I’ve had people show me their Gmail inbox revealing it took them 2,000+ emails.

And that’s just how it is.

At the risk of using a tired cliche:

This really is a marathon not a sprint.

To learn my email methodology go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I don’t know how many this email will help.

But after being asked recently about why I follow so few people on Twitter — including being asked this by good friends, in some cases, whose stuff I like reading — I figure I might as well explain my low down, filthy, shameless Twitter parasitical ways.

First, my entire existence is about curation.

If there is one all-encompassing business goal I chase in life curation is it.

I curate everything, everyone, and every idea, customer, opportunity, person, whatever.

I cannot curate enough.

And I am always looking to break and throw out, not accept and keep.

It goes in complete accordance with what I wrote in the 10th anniversary issue of Email Players back in 2021 — the more I try to break things (ideas, thoughts, assumptions, people, propaganda, opportunities, whatever it is), the more I try to look for reasons to reject… the more I relentlessly filter… the better my business, the more my peace of mind, the greater my joy in business, work, all of life.

Second, I am also a big fan of leverage.

And one thing I like to leverage is algorithms.

In Twitter’s case:

Yes, I follow only a handful of people “on paper.”

But the reality is, I follow hundreds of people.

And the way I do it is by being a low-down parasite off those I do follow.

Example:

My pal Shane Hunter.

He’s a discerning guy with as little tolerance for stupidity or nonsense as I do. He also has a lot of the same attitudes, business philosophies, marketing approaches, etc that I do. And he follows 200+ people. And many of them are people I do not follow. But because I know he has good discernment game, I will often see (on my timeline) the stuff he engages with most, the people he’s interested in and dealing with and following most… without me having to follow any of those people myself.

Same with, for example, the great Tom Woods.

He follows over 4,000 people.

And I know his discernment game is especially keen too.

So I will see the important stuff he engages with, without having to follow 4k people.

Same goes with my pal and Enoch Wars publisher Greg Perry who follows over 6k people.

I see the stuff he engages with, the posts he interacts with, etc.

All the most engaging stuff from others bubbles up in my timeline.

And so it goes with other discerning, like-minded boys & ghouls on there I follow.

So the reality is, there are hundreds of people I “follow”, but they don’t even know it, wouldn’t know it, have no idea about it. Yet I am indeed following them indirectly, since I am regularly seeing the stuff when they engage with people I am following directly, without the NPC stuff (lots of that on there) that gets ignored I know I would not be able to care less about.

This may prompt a few reply guys telling me “that’s not ACTUALLY how it works…”

And that’s good.

Because all they’ll be doing is helping me curate them out..

Whatever the case:

I run strict parasite Twitter game.

And that’s just the way it is right now.

So for those wanting me to follow them, etc, just be engaging with the people I do follow and I can almost guarantee I am “following” you in a lot of ways. I am well aware that this may or may not be a good way to create a large following on there. But gaining followers is not the metric I care about. I am far more interested in quality than quantity – which is part of the whole curation approach to begin with.

Way I see it, following me or anyone else hoping for a follow back is silly.

There are a lot of accounts I follow who have zero idea who I am.

And who will never buy or do jack for my business directly.

Nor do I care if they do one way or another.

Because, in a lot of cases, I’m not “following” them as much as parasitizing them.

All right so hopefully the message is clear:

I’m all about curation and parasitization.

And I encourage you to be, too.

Even if that means, curating me out…

Or, if you so desire, parasitizing off me.

All right enough about social media.

Social is a great way to network, built an email list, etc. But for direct selling it pales in comparison to good, old fashioned, “retro” email.

For more on my email methodology go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Last month on Twitter, a fellow named Alex Tsel observed about me:

I don’t how and why but you might be one of the most misunderstood people in our space… Unless it’s on purpose ?

If that’s true (and that is for others to decide, not me), then it’s not as if it ain’t my own fault. I’m a walking contradiction in a lot of ways. Which is why everything I say, do, teach, say should always be taken with a big, fat block of salt.

For example, I have:

• written 9 novels, yet don’t read fiction
• penned 10k+ pages of books/8k+ emails so far, yet still can’t spell to save my life
• hosted 237 podcasts, have done hundreds of hours of audio work, yet suck at pronunciation, and constantly butcher the language
• spoken at many events, masterminds, etc… yet I shun people
• sell a single video course for $2500, but absolutely loathe video, and will not rest until the internet to goes back to plain text
• have a coaching program, but have never hired a coach in my life in the business, marketing, copywriting, email, sales arena
• love being around my child, don’t like being around anyone else’s children

And that’s just a few contradictions.

Which should give anyone hope that whatever they want to do, they can…

Here are some more:

• Despise MLM, yet I enjoy teaching lessons I learned from people I respect in that industry
• Own a SaaS company, yet couldn’t write line of code if my life depended on it
• Hate seafood, yet live across street from ocean in fishing town
• Invested half a million in a mobile app platform based on audio/video/pdf content, but still prefer writing print books & newsletters

And the list goes on.

On and on and on it goes.

One contradiction after another.

And this “contradiction effect” is probably something that also happens (not on purpose, if it does, or you see it happening) throughout the content inside my Email Players newsletter in a lot of cases.

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of my all-time favorite writers to study is Chuck “The Legend” Dixon.

He was the co-creator of Bane from the Batman comics & movies. And he has also written stories for pretty much all the most well-known characters at both Marvel & DC & other major comicbook publishers — including The Punisher & Batman… GI Joe & Conan the Barbarian… Spawn, Green Arrow, The Lone Ranger, The Simpsons, SpongeBob Square Pants, and even Raggedy Ann & Andy. Not to mention dozens and dozens of other beloved and well-known characters over the past 30+ years of his career. He is also the only person who has ever been allowed to adapt “The Hobbit” into a graphic novel, which the Tolkien estate did not allow lightly.

One of the more powerful writing tips I learned from studying his stuff:

“The Slob Hero”

The slob hero is the guy who is far from perfect, often kind of a slob (thus why Chuck calls them that), flawed, but still likable, who you can identify with because of his imperfections… and somehow gets the job done anyway, with all odds stacked against him.

Think almost any 80’s or 90’s Bruce Willis action movie.

(Die Hard, The Last Boy Scout, etc)

The slob hero is the epitome of being “un-okay.”

And un-okay is the epitome of high-level selling, even though a lot of marketers try to pretend to be perfect with their filtered selfies, perfect production value videos/audios, and perfect spelling & grammar in their sales copy & emails.

But the slob hero?

Doesn’t care about perfection.

Couldn’t be perfect even if he tried.

And so, instead, leans into it, uses it to accomplish his goals, win the day.

This has, in many ways, been my email game for 21-years.

My copywriting game, too.

And if you are paying attention you’ll see the exact same phenomenon playing out with many successful copywriters, email marketers, salesmen spanning all kinds of markets, niches, industries, and product & service categories.

Perfect is boring.

It’s also a bald-face lie.

Nobody and nothing is “perfect.”

So to try to pretend to be perfect is the exact opposite of honesty, transparency, and, yes, authenticity — which people have somehow lost the ability to be, where there are literally courses, books, seminars, and trainings (yes, trainings — with an “s” — for the uptight boys & ghouls who get upset by a letter…) teaching how to do it.

But you don’t learn it.

You “are” it.

Because unless you’re God, you ain’t perfect anyway.

Anyway, the slob hero phenomenon is embedded all throughout every single offer, book, course, teaching, brain fart, post, and even customer service reply I create.

And this is especially the case with my Email Players newsletter.

You can read more about that here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle