Ben Settle

“You think a man named Buzz gets to go into space without making a deal?”

— Crowley

King of Hell/King of the Crossroads

Some Crowley Month marketing inspiration:

A few months ago I did one of my monthly secret podcasts/Q&A’s for 10-Minute Workday customers with AWAI.

I don’t remember what the question was.

Or, how we got on the subject.

But, I started talking about the 6 words that can put probably more sales in your hot, sweaty, squealing little piggy bank than pretty much anything else you can do — in just the next few minutes, in some cases, without adding any new people to your list, running any extra traffic, or tweaking any of your existing copy.

I’ve heard these 6 words probably my whole life.

But, was really turned on by them when I realized how I can integrate them with how Wal-Mart and other monster retailers sell so many products, so effortlessly, in the billion dollar retail industry.

And, you know what?

I foolishly did not do any of it (even though I “knew” it) in my own business until very late in the marketing game.

(A few years ago.)

Yet, since doing this, it’s added tens of thousands (maybe more, I dunno) of simple, easy, don’t-have-to-sell-or-pitch-or-do-anything-else-but-exist-and-breathe dollars to my bottom line. I am not exaggerating when I say I don’t have to do anything extra, and it has significantly increased my bottom line.

Anyway, what are these 6 words?

And, how do you apply them to your marketing?

What, you think I’m running a charity?

To find out, you’ll have to pick up the November “Email Players” newsletter.

But, before you do:

There are probably some people who already know and have heard of these 6 words that make such powerfully profitable marketing. But, the question I have for them will be:

“Are you applying them to your business?”

Or, like in my case before, are you just “planning” to apply them?

If not, and if this issue does nothing but inspire someone to use these 6 words, I daresay it can easily pay for several years of their “Email Players” subscription — such is the power of these 6 words.

This puppy goes to the printer in just 5 days.

After that?

Too late…

Subscribe here today to get it, while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Email Players” subscriber Samuel Partida talks about how he uses my anti-professional email ways to sell to professionals:

I market a premium podcast to Illinois criminal law attorneys. Admittedly, I understood from the beginning that this was a super niche, extremely small market. I report on the criminal case law for attorneys and deliver audio files via podcast. 

Against all advice and counsel I ploughed into this.

I distinctly remember have 34 paying subscribers when I ran out of ideas on how to convert my mailing list. The list itself fluctuated between 1,500 and 2,000 people. I mainly was looking for attorneys, but the list had a good chunk of non-attorneys. The non-attorneys would never be a real customer. I prune them as I run across them.

With the ideas and philosophy from Email Players I was able to get to 103 paying subscribers from a tiny list. I was quite pleased with the results. Obviously, if I can grow the list I’m extremely confident I can make it to my goal of 300 paying subscribers.

This project was never going to be something I retired on. 

I just wanted it to fund itself and maybe provide a little seed money for other ventures. That goal has more than been met. This project was more about proving to myself that I can find a market, cultivate and audience, and serve them. 

Your newsletter has trained and taught me how to think and how to fend for myself. Criminal lawyers are some of the most skeptical-cheap people out there. They have a good feel for how their clients rip other people off. Naturally, they have an inherent resistance to any kind of “online” scheme or program. 

Nonetheless, even in this most inhospitable environment I was able to form relationships with attorneys I never met and was able to demonstrate that they would be better off if they just gave me their credit card number. 

Not an easy feat!

Now, I’m bravely and confidently venturing into other markets with less hostile clientele.

With your newsletter and your wicked ways I am on my way to kissing off all client work in the near future.

Your faithful student,

Samuel Partida, Jr.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about…

For people who think my ways don’t work for “professionals” or B2B, there you go. It’s not about the style, it’s about the system, which you can work your own personality and market peculiarities around.

More:

The November “Email Players” issue goes to the printer shortly.

If you sell to professionals or B2B, the training about writing without creating objections could be one of the most profitable lessons you ever learn.

To subscribe in time to get it, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“I’m bloody Crowley! I’m the King of Hell. I do what I want, when I want, and I don’t take orders from you.”

— Crowley
King of Hell/King of the Crossroads
“Supernatural”

Continuing on with Crowley Month…

“Email Player” subscriber Michael Collins asks:

Hey Ben,

I would love to see an EP issue on writing for clients. Every client has a different business with a different tone…I know you have done email for people in different spaces. I would love to see an issue on if a major company approached you today and for some insane reason you decided to work with them, what your approach would be.

Full disclosure:

Even though I rant and rave about why I don’t like doing client work, and answer to nobody but myself (I despise authority), that doesn’t mean I don’t have some not-so-magical tricks up my unrighteous sleeve for helping freelancers write emails for clients.

Specifically, things I did to:

(1) Make writing copy (emails and sales letters) for clients a hundred times easier on myself

(2) Take way less time to write

(3) Arranged it so there was virtually no chance of them rejecting my work, objecting to my writing, or resisting running my copy — a few facts or changes aside.

Which brings me to the pinch:

In the November “Email Players” issue, I show the secret to being able to almost effortlessly write emails for clients for multiple different markets and industries, with varying personalities and products, like I did above.

Follow my ways and your clients will likely think you’re a hero.

(“How did you capture my personality so perfectly? And write this so fast??”)

And, you should be able to write a lot more copy in a lot less time than you do now.

But this baby goes to the printer soon.

If you want it, best hit the jump below and s subscribe before the deadline:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A few months back, podcast coach Luis Congdon listed your pal elBenbo as part of “a list of the best damn people I’ve paid, worked with, and been privileged to learn from”:

“Ben Settle might not be your cup of tea if you can’t handle a little ego 😉 Ben’s emails, just the free ones, changed me and took me from broke and desperate to making lots more money.”

Two things about this:

(For full disclosure)

1. I don’t like people who drink tea, so I wouldn’t be in the cup

2. Re: ego — is it my fault the only way to talk to someone superior to me is to pray?

Anyhoo, on to bid’niz:

The November “Email Players” issue goes to the printer soon.

If you want to subscribe in time to get it, go ye here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Never underestimate the King of Hell, darling. I know a lot of swell tricks.”

— Crowley
King of Hell/King of the Crossroads
“Supernatural”

Here’s a fat Crowley Month lesson for you… behold one of the most valuable quotes you will ever read, if you have ears to see and eyes to hear:

“The great negotiators don’t create objections, so they don’t have to deal with them.”

That ditty is from the late Jim Camp.

(Called “the world’s most feared negotiator”)

I first heard that quote 10 years ago in an interview Jim Camp gave to Michael Senoff. And, it’s no exaggeration that unpacking and then applying that one-liner has probably been responsible for more sales in my emails and sales copy than any tactic, trick, or writing technique ever has.

Why?

Because objections are obviously a big part of why people don’t buy.

And, if you know how to write your copy (especially email copy) in a way where you don’t create anything to object to, then you automatically get rid of that which prevents them from buying from your emails and sales copy (and other selling endeavors — including face to face, phone, webinars, livestreams, whatever).

Very few copywriters do this in their copy.

(Much less teach it.)

But guess what, my Pet?

In the November “Email Players” issue Yours Unruly explains how this works in detail, including with an example so you can see exactly how it works.

I’m sending it to the printer soon.

If you want it in time, subscribe here today:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“This isn’t Wall Street, this is Hell. We have a little something called integrity.”

— Crowley
King of Hell/King of the Crossroads

An observation:

There seems to be a growing number of people claiming to be “7-figure” earners/copywriters.

Maybe some are, maybe some aren’t.

But, like most Internet claims, the Crowley is in the details.

For example:

Not long ago, “Email Players” subscriber Lauren Hazel asked a question on Facebook about people claiming to be 7-figure copywriters. Do they mean they earned 7-figures per year as a copywriter, or have their ads generated over 7-figures in sales? Or, did they earn 7-figures ONE year but haven’t since?

And, I would add:

How do they know their ad created those 7-figures?

Copy is a sales multiplier, not a sales creator, in my experience. How many of those sales were from the offer/quality of the list/traffic, etc?

Yes, in some instances it can be tracked.

In others, not so much.

Anyway, to the legit ones I say all the power to ’em.

But, it’s amusing to watch the rationalization hamsters spin from those who aren’t, but pretend to be.

All right, on to bid’niz:

I won’t say my “Email Players” newsletter will make you a millionaire.

But, there are quite a few for-real millionaires who subscribe.

I wonder why…

More info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“I am a monster and I’ve done bad. I’ve done things you can’t even imagine. Horrible, evil, messy things. And I’ve loved every damn minute!”

— Crowley
King of the Crossroads/King of Hell
“Supernatural”

I’ve decided to make October:

“Crowley Month”

Crowley being the King of Hell/King of the Crossroads (the #1 crossroads demon salesman who sells people their greatest desires in exchange for collecting their souls in 10 years) from the hit TV show “Supernatural”.

Anyway, I’ll be talking about him a lot this month.

And, he is easily one of my all-time favorite TV characters.

In fact, there are many business lessons he teaches.

For example:

• Master salesmanship — Drawing upon the same persuasion methodology used by the late Bernard Baruch (called “The Most Persuasive Man Of The 20th Century according to the great Gary Bencivenga) — Crowley finds out what people want, and shows them how to get it, and does it in such a way that he bypasses all reason, rationality, and, yes, even price resistance. (i.e. whatever they want in exchange for their souls)
• Branding — Crowley drinks his alcoholic beverage of choice out of a glass with an umbrella and a devil’s pitchfork, and the number 666 and a devil emoticon pops up on the phones of people he calls.
• Ambition — In the span of 300 years… from his mortal death to his soul burning in hell, to it being twisted into a demon, Crowley rose up through the ranks to be the top crossroads demon salesman (and king). Then, later, he seized the title of King of Hell as soon as the position opened. Considering there must be demons with hundreds, if not thousands, of years of more experience being a demon than him, that’s no small feat…
• Diligence — You could say he’s also the King of Gary Halbert’s “Operation Moneysuck” — as he does only the tasks only he can do, while delegating the rest to his minions and, in some cases (without them knowing) his enemies.
• Integrity — His love of loopholes notwithstanding, Crowley is also the King of Consumer Confidence, making sure his crossroads demons hold up their bargains with mortals, and severely torturing those who don’t. After all, if word got out that the crossroads demons were reneging on their deals, why would any humans even entertain the idea of doing business with them?
• Loyalty — Crowley is loyal to a fault to his joint venture business partners (and even his treacherous witch mother who tries to use, manipulate, and eventually kill him), even as their moronic incompetence and bad decisions put his own operations and machinations in peril.
• Visionary — Crowley’s first act as King of Hell was to upgrade hell — including turning it from a torture chamber to an endless waiting line souls never get to the front of for eternity. Although that later gets tossed to the side, the fact he was thinking that far outside the box is impressive, to say the least.

Crowley has many more valuable business attributes.

But, that doesn’t mean he’s without his flaws.

Like, for example, he sometimes shows very little patience.

Especially for a king.

And, frankly, that’s why it’s such a pity our postal workers are such poosies they won’t grant my request to deliver a signed copy of my “Persuasion Secrets Of The World’s Most Charismatic & Influential Villains” book to him in hell, in his throne room.

One of the big lessons inside is about Patience.

How it’s more rare than gold and a million times more valuable.

You, on the other hand, can read it, my little Minion.

Not only is it inexpensive, but it can be read in one sitting, and has gotten rave reviews not only on Amazon, but also from people like the Founding Father of Internet marketing as we know it — Ken McCarthy, who all pretty much say the same thing:

It’s the book they wish someone had handed them in their yutes.

One guy I know (who asked I don’t reveal his name for obvious reasons, but many an Internet marketer knows him) told me it even helped him pick up a hot chick he’d just met.

He simply handed the book to her and said:

“I do everything this guy talks about in here”

(Something like that, but that was the gist)

Again, I’ll be writing a lot more about Crowley this month.

In the meantime, check out my Villains book here:

www.EmailPlayers.com/villains

Ben Settle

Today is the deadline to get your dripping meat hooks on the special October Halloween issue of “Email Players”.

Here’s what’s inside:

• And email-friendly business plan so horrifyingly simple it’ll scare the living hell out of the broke, chest-beating marketers with all their complex funnels, dorky onboarding theories, and pointless nurturing sequences.
• A spine-tinglingly easy way for eCommerce marketers to hang their competition with their own digital intestines!
• How to plunge a sharp stake through the hearts of any merchant account monsters who delight in shutting you down for no reason.
• A frightfully effective subject line template created by a New York Times bestselling author.
• One blood-curdling reason to track opens (nothing to do with sales, but it could potentially prevent a particularly horrible goblin from leaping out of the shadows and killing your sales).
• A bone-chillingly fun way to turn deranged articles and topics into respectable “G-rated” emails people love to buy from.
• And a whole lot more…

Including, this 11-page bonus interview titled:

“How Professional Practices
Can Use My Evil Ways
To Bytch-Slap The Competition
While Still Looking ‘Professional’”

Some of the diabolically evil information inside includes:

• Ghastly examples (you can’t “un-see” in your mind) of how to use vision to make your email copy nearly impossible to ignore.
• My gruesome secret to selling the living dead out of your emails without mentioning any benefits or claims.
• A deliciously gory way to use Facebook to get into the psychology of people you sell to. (And without using any analytics, FB ads, etc.)
• A horrifically violent real-life example of a way to get people on Facebook to write your sales letter headlines for you. (I did this to create the best headline I ever used — and didn’t write a single word of it myself.)
• What a horridly-brilliant A-list copywriter taught me about how to structure a sales letter to eliminate objections.
• A secret way of writing your copy to make even ghoulishly high prices virtually irrelevant.
• What Mel Gibson did in the most profitable movies he directed that can make your emails stand out like a cackling, wart-faced witch in a beauty pageant. (And dwarf whatever sales your emails make you now — in some ways, this is the most powerful email lesson I can teach anyone.)
• How all those social media share buttons haunting your website could be murdering your opt-ins and sales in cold blood.

All right, enough of this cheezy horror flick wannabe email.

I’m sending this issue to the printer today.

To get it in time before it’s too late, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A little while back, I saw a book title by an “Email Players” subscriber and New York Times bestselling author (one of the things that makes best selling books is the ability of the author to write titles that demand attention, and this one has the gift) that makes for a perfect email subject line template.

It’s got everything a great subject line should have:

• Embedded curiosity
• Invalidating enemies (via mockery — one of my favorite ways)
• Uses an emotionally charged word everyone is familiar with (in this case, “Facebook”)
• Perfect for selling against type (which are hard to ignore for most people)
• Crawls right into the psychology of your reader if done right

Anyway, it’s a beauty you can probably only use once per year or so.

(Lest you overuse it)

But, a perfect subject line for when you have to get attention.

A sort of “nuclear option” subject line.

If you’d like to see this template, and examples of how to use it (some of which you can probably just use “as is” depending on what market you’re in), turn to pages 11 and 12 in the October “Email Players” issue which goes to the printer in about 48 hours.

After that, it’ll be too late to get it.

Here’s the link to get your lovin’ while the gettin’s good:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle