Ben Settle

Just got off an extremely profitable “master mind” call with Ryan Healy, John Angel, Ray Edwards and Daniel Levis.

And while the stuff we talk about is mostly proprietary… I can reveal one hum-dinger of a resource we discussed anyone in business can use.

Go to:

(You have to opt-in)

Then go directly to the interview about negotiating (you’ll see it in the list).

It’s an interview with a truly great negotiator named Jim Camp.

I’ve listened to this interview multiple times over the past few weeks… and it’s one of the best teachings I’ve ever heard on the subject of selling, negotiating and sales psychology.

Perhaps (like me) you cut your teeth in sales reading books and listening to seminars by Zig Ziglar and other big name sales trainers.

Which is totally fine.

And I’d be the last person to “poo-poo” their teachings.

But as you’ll see in Jim Camp’s interview, none of the sales “parlor tricks” those guys tend to push are necessary.

In fact, in some cases (such as when you are dealing with people in the upper levels of the business world) their advice can backfire on you… and make you look like a dork.

Anyway, this interview has had such a profound effect on the way I negotiate, persuade and write copy, I had to tell you about it.

Here’s the link again:

Go to the interview that says “Negotiating For Beginners.”

The following may sound like marketing “heresy.”

But I swear it’s true.

And, if you are nervous about not having a ton of testimonials for your product or service, I think you will find it quite helpful.

Anyway, here’s a question I just got and my answer:

QUESTION: “Ben, I am just entering my market and my product is brand new. I have a great product but I only have a few customers and no testimonials so far. Should I wait until I get more testimonials before launching my first big online promotion?

BEN: That’s a great question.

First, I’ll give you the good news.

Then, I’ll give you some MORE good news : )

First things first…

This will sound like copywriting “sacrilege” but testimonials aren’t always as “life-or-death” important as some people say.

In fact, if you take a look around, you’ll notice many of the online Agora ads have NO testimonials.

Neither did a lot of Gary Halbert ads, for that matter.

Heck, I have written successful ads for new products without any testimonials… and once even had a case where testimonials HURT response.

So don’t worry about the testimonials thing.

If you have them, then definitely use them.

But don’t let a lack of testimonials stop you from going forward.

So that’s the first piece of good news.

Here’s the second piece:

There is something you can do that, in many cases, is MORE powerful than testimonials, anyway.

Something simple and easy… that almost NOBODY is doing.

And that is to “borrow” the credibility of newspapers, radio stations and television shows for your ads and products by using a press release to get free publicity.

Specifically, offline publicity — REAL newspapers, radio stations, tv stations, magazines, etc.

Not only can you say you were written up about in XYZ newspaper or radio station, but you can USE copies of your media interviews (whether text, audio or video) right on your sales pages.

It’s probably the best way to get “instant credibility” ever invented.

Your competition cannot easily duplicate it.

It makes it MUCH easier for people to trust you.

And you automatically get a special kind of prestige and credibility no “sales letter” can possibly give.

But here’s the thing:

There’s a LOT of misinformation about getting publicity circulating around the Internet.

Some of the stuff I see on the subject can actually get you blacklisted by the media people — where they tell each other to avoid you like the plague.

For a detailed audio lesson on how to write press release, check out the CD that comes with my Copywriting Grab Bag book, at:

In this CD I break down writing a press release line-by-line, and show you how to properly USE it.

Ben

Do you read “Inc. Magazine”?

If so then, over the past few issues you may have noticed a full page ad (perfect your swipe file) with a couple really intriguing elements to it.

I don’t know exactly how well it’s pulling (although it has been running for a least two or three months, plus I’m seeing it pop up on some Internet sites exactly “as is.”)

But it’s got an extremely cool headline with some killer “before and after” pictures.

Won’t say much for the design of the ad or the copy (although it does mention the media outlets it’s been featured on).

But the headline and photos alone are powerful.

Anyway, enough babbling, here it is if you’d like to see it:

Ben

P.S. For more info on how to use your swipe file (the right way — and without breaking the law), check out the interview I did with John “Angel” Anghelache at:

Got a great question from a guy using audio in his marketing.

He put together an awesome little piece selling his service in his local community, but he wasn’t getting any action, and he couldn’t figure out why.

He knows audio works (it’s used by everyone from Ken McCarthy to sell his $2,000+ System Seminar each year… to Dan Kennedy selling his “flagship” Magnetic Marketing system… to affiliate marketers who just want to beef up their sales and stick out from the crowd).

Even so… it just wasn’t happening for this guy.

So he let me listen and, while it’s truly a great audio piece, it’s still missing one huge, critical element.

An element I suspect will turn it from a selling “dud” to a selling “stud” as soon as he implements it.

What is it missing?

Making an OFFER at the end.

Not just plugging his service (although that is a “must.”)

But giving someone a reason to act/buy/order NOW.

Fact is, these audio sales letters are exactly like text sales letters — just in different “clothes” (so to speak).

And, just like with a regular sales letter, it’s extremely important to include a reason to buy now — and not put it off until later.

It can be any “excuse” to act you want — exclusive bonuses, scarcity, time-limited discount, etc

The important thing is you give them a reason to order right NOW.

Otherwise, your listeners probably won’t do anything.

Ben

P.S. If you’re interested in audio marketing (and I think everyone should be doing it, personally), Michael Senoff and I put together an 80-minute lesson we give away free at:

It’s mostly about using audio to create info products. But there’s some extremely good advice in there about selling with audio, too.

Especially on using audio to make your sales letters a LOT faster and easier to write.

Recently, Matt Gillogly had Ryan Healy and me on his Christian entrepreneur radio show.

We talked about things like copywriting, how to sell by mail, how to get inside your prospect’s “head”, using psychological triggers in your ads, and more.

We also touched upon why the usual copywriting tricks and “choke holds” don’t always work, and can actually backfire on you.

Anyway, while the show is obviously geared toward Christians, I think you will benefit enormously from the content no matter what your beliefs.

To grab the MP3, go to:

P.S. Speaking of Matt Gillogly…

Since hearing his story on my site a couple months ago, some people have been wondering what he does now that his $150 million business went “belly up.”

Answer:

Coaching.

Matt’s a wiz at getting clients and starting coaching businesses.

And he has created a short (21 page) eBook about how anyone — no matter who you are or how little you think you know — can become a high paid coach extremely fast (while spending little or no money at all).

If you’re interested, you can download the eBook (it’s free) at:

If you would rather not get it through my affiliate link, you can get it directly at:

And don’t worry — this is NOT a thinly disguised sales pitch.

Yes, there WILL be something for sale down the line.

But this eBook is pure content and, even if you wanted to buy something from it, you can’t.

A few weeks ago I had a long chat with one of my copywriting “heroes”:

Daniel Levis.

Besides writing a weekly column for Clayton Makepeace’s website (one of the most visited copywriting sites on the entire Internet), he also happens to be one of the Internet’s top copywriting superstars, and is near-legendary for getting his clients as much as 10% conversion rates (no, that was NOT a “typo”).

As you know, a 10% conversion is usually pretty rare in this game.

And what’s even more remarkable is he’s able to do this even when selling high-ticket products and services.

So he definitely knows his stuff.

And it’s one of the reasons I’ve been dying to get an interview with him.

But when I asked if he would do an interview about his copywriting secrets, he shot me down 🙁

No… it was nothing personal.

But like any smart copywriter, he knows as much as 80% of the success of an ad is NOT in the “writing.”

It’s in the LIST.

That, he said, is his “big secret” of copywriting.

Sure, he can hold his own against pretty much any copywriter in the game when it comes to writing.

But his real “secret” (for both his and his clients’ sites) is the lists he sells to are both big and responsive.

And so, while he rejected my request for a “copywriting” interview, he DID agree to do one on list building.

Specifically, his own personal “method” for growing your list up to 7 times faster without needing any new traffic. (In other words, if you average one new subscriber per day now, you would average 7 per day — or 210 per MONTH. All without messing around driving more traffic to your site.)

Now, unlike the other interviews I’ve done, this one will be LIVE.

So you will have to register and listen in “real time.” (That’s the way Daniel prefers it.)

And if you would like to be on this call, and learn how to start building your list up to 7 times faster without screwing around getting more traffic, here are the details:

P.S. By the way… I’m not going to lie to you — there WILL be something for sale in this interview.

But don’t worry.

At least 95% of the call will be “meat” — and valuable enough that we might even package and sell it later on. So you’ll definitely get a ton of value whether you buy anything or not.

You can register now at:

Okay, this is probably a tad controversial.

So let me begin by saying I am against spam.

I hate it as much as anyone.

And it sucks how spammers ruin it for us legitimate emailers.

In fact, because of these idiot spammers I may have to change my email address.

BUT…

… at the same time, it can’t hurt to observe how spammers get their trash emails through while our legitimate emails are often banished into the Internet “nether-world.”

Which is why, despite numerous pleas from my sanity and conscience, I’ve started doing the unthinkable:

Actually reading my spam email.

And although most of it is bizarre (and creepy), I did notice something useful for us legitimate marketers:

Sometimes obvious “red flag” words get through because the spammers are taking the offending word and joining it with the next word.

So instead of saying:

“Make Money With Copywriting”

They say:

“MakeMoney With Copywriting”

Or, instead of:

“Click Here Now!” (A HUGE spam filter red flag)

They might say:

“ClickHere Now”

Now, to be honest, I haven’t done a whole lot of testing with this other than to run some of these phrases through spam assassin.

And usually it doesn’t recognize them. (At least not yet. These things are always changing.)

So it may be worth testing in your own (legitimate) email campaigns if your email delivery rates are poor because of overzealous spam filters.

P.S. Speaking of beating the spam filters…

One of the interviews in “The Affiliate Trump Card” is with email copywriter Jay White — who writes email copy for a bunch of top Internet marketers like Alex Mandossian, Stephen Pierce, Rich Schefren, and Jeff Walker.

One of the things Jay talks about is how he gets his big money clients’ emails past those pesky spam filters.

You can check it out at:

Couple days ago I threw up a rather sloppy ad held together by “spit and bale wire.”

You can read it at:

I put less than 20 minutes into writing this ad (if that much).

And (as you can see) there is no “killer” headline, body copy or overall theme.

In fact, the only copywriting “technique” (although I don’t consider it a “technique” — just honest marketing) I consciously included is “candor.”

The result?

According to Google Optimizer it’s converting at over 19% response so far.

Now, here’s the question:

Is the (blatantly crappy) “copy” giving it a 19% conversion?

Or is it something else?

For example:

• It’s only been seen by people on my own list (a warm market, who have been thoroughly prepared for it for the last couple months — and many were actually looking FORWARD to its release).

• The $10 price is extremely attractive — especially to many non-US customers whose money is much stronger than our dollar right now.

• And, as icing on the cake, it’s sold via ClickBank, which means you can refund it very easily, and still keep the product anyway since it’s digital.

My point?

I seriously doubt the “copy” was responsible for most (if any) of the sales.

And while copy is important… it is not “king.”

Just like you can read in any decent marketing book, it’s FAR more important to sell a product people already want, to people who are already willing to pay for it, with an offer that’s hard to refuse.

P.S. Speaking of “The Affiliate Trump Card”…

Here are a couple customer comments so far…

“Shameless” Shamus Brown posted a video on his blog I believe everyone in direct marketing should see.

It’s short, it’s funny, and it’s a great example of how a lot of marketers “think.”

(It’s a How “Not” To Lesson)

You can check it out at:

And while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up on his list.

As I’ve said before, Shameless Shamus’s teachings are tops — whether you’re copywriting or (as he calls it) “full contact” selling.

Always thought provoking, always fun and… of course… always shameless.

And speaking of “shameless”…

I’ve got a couple links I’d like to shamelessly plug:

1. My “Affiliate Trump Card” product is ready.

Eventually I will write a “for real” ad for it (the ad up now is sloppy and way incomplete).

And when I do, the price will shoot up dramatically (probably $97 or more).

But for now, I’m basically giving it away.

Details at:

2. Ryan Healy and John Angel opened their freelance copywriting coaching program today.

If you want in before the doors close (sounds like they have a line already), go to:

(They actually give away two cool strategies for finding clients right in the ad. So even if you don’t want to buy, it’s well worth checking out anyway).

OK, that’s it for now.

Next time:

Something else…