Ben Settle

“I torture all my friends. It’s how I show love.”

— Crowley
King of Hell/King of the Crossroads

Today is the deadline to get the November “Email Players” issue.

Here’s what awaits you inside my email torture chamber:

• The world’s most-feared negotiator’s secret to virtually eliminating objections to buying from you in your email copy.
• 2 secret way to write email copy for clients that (1) practically guarantees any changes they ask for are minimal at worst and (2) can make your copy so many sales you’ll be like a hero to them.
• The “french fry secret” Wal-Mart and other monster retailers do at their checkout counters to make so many new sales you’ll be slapping yourself silly for not doing this earlier. (Like I did when I first started experimenting with this.)
• A secret way of using Google to make even mind-numbingly boring topics and ideas exciting and secksy in your copy.
• A quickie game plan for people on the ropes financially for making quick cash almost on demand. (NOTE: Only works if you already have a list an offer — if you’re brand new, with no list or offer, this probably won’t do you much good.)
• A “lost” document (I dug up on an old Internet forum) that shows a real-life example of how to “embed” sales pitches into your paid content, emails, books, or any other informational product. (This was written by the world’s greatest direct response historian over 17 years ago — and yet probably less than 300 people on the planet have ever seen it.)
• And a whole lot more…

Today’s the deadline to get this issue.

If you want it, subscriber here, while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

True story:

To help promote AWAI’s 2016 Copywriting Job Fair & Bootcamp last year, the great Brian Kurtz gave a testimonial about me.

And, part of it said:

“In a world of self-promoters and people who constantly tell you how good they are at whatever they seem to be good at, Ben is the antitheses of that…he mostly stays home and simply produces e-mail that consistently delivers as both content and promotion…and frankly, he’s so skilled at it, you rarely know which he is doing since he is always doing both.”

Now, full disclosure:

I am far from being a natural at this.

Or, even close to being the best at it.

In fact, the person who I learned a lot about how to do this (combining content with promotion — a staple of my email methodology) from, is the great Dan Kennedy. I have always, since the first time I heard his Peter Lowe talk, been in awe at how he seamlessly interweaves content with promotion in everything he does.

(Books, speeches, newsletters, informational products, etc.)

More:

I have spent many, many (many) hours over the last 15+ years mindlessly trying my level best to de-construct & mimic how he does it for my own content, emails, copy, etc the best I can.

(And he still takes me to school every time I listen to one of his trainings).

But, here’s the thing:

Turn the clock back 17 years to something I read in a secret forum I somehow found when I first started as a copywriter, that was full of A-list marketers and copywriters and multi-million dollar business owners. (I have pages of their stuff printed out, it formed the foundation of my learning.)

I have no idea how I snuck under the rope and got in.

But, I will never forget a post a brilliant guy named Phil Alexander where he deconstructed one of Dan Kennedy’s books and methodically showed (page by page) where Dan inserted “disguised” sales pitches within it.

I cannot put a price tag on how much it’s been worth to me.

In many ways, that document paved a foundation for how I do emails.

And guess what?

I tracked Phil down recently.

And, I asked if I could share it with my “Email Players” subscribers, which I am inserting in the November issue.

It goes to the printer tomorrow.

After that, you’ll miss out.

Here’s where to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“I thought that, when I got the corner office, it was all gonna be rainbows and two-headed puppies. But if I’m honest, it’s been Hell.”

— Crowley
King of Hell/King of the Crossroads

A question perfect for Crowley Month…

One of my Email Players subscribers (who will remain anonymous) asks:

Hoping for some advice from you, sir.

(Not sure if this type of question is covered under the “you can ask for help” benefit of being an EP subscriber, but here goes…)

My niche is ______. I have a list of about 20k people. The majority—65% or so—are customers who bought my flagship product (a guide to using ____). I first released the product in 2010 and thanks to some fortuitous promotion near the beginning, it’s done quite well.

I’ve released a handful of other products in the intervening years, all < $30. These sell decently, but they’re inexpensive.

As for emailing daily—since I assume you’ll ask—I’m about 80% there. Most weeks I email 3–4 times, sometimes 5, and the feedback I get is positive.

(Forgive the lengthy introduction; just wanted to provide some context)

Bottom line is this: I’m running pretty low on money. Due to a hefty spousal/child support payment and other non-negotiable expenses, my minimum monthly nut is about $13k).

I email the list and make a few sales, but the cost of most of my products doesn’t amount to what I need to make each month. I promote my most expensive product (the ____ thing) and the response is pretty poor since most folks already own it.

Here’s how I see my options:

• Raise the prices of my products (?)
• Make a new, more expensive product (currently in the works)
• Find something to promote as an affiliate

I guess I’m wondering what you’d do with a warm, fairly engaged list of 20k that has (mostly) bought things in the past—and you’re low on cash.

Sorry again for the non-pithy question. Please tell me to piss off if this is out of bounds, but any advice you could offer would be much appreciated, sir.

There will be no telling my “Email Players” subscribers to piss off.

(“Off you fugk”, though, is always on the table…)

Anyway, here’s the thing:

This is a common problem that can happen to anyone.

And, the answer I gave him (one of the perks of being an “Email Players” subscribers is getting to ask me questions I’m qualified to answer via email) is tucked safely way on pages 14 & 15 of the November “Email Players” newsletter.

I’m sending it to the printer tomorrow.

If you want it, best hit the jump below now while there’s still time:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Email Players” subscriber Cédric Beau has me *slightly* softening my mockery of the law of reciprocity in this one instance:

Hi Ben. A quick thank you. I tried your way during a couple of weeks, and my sales went up like crazy (and they were already great before that, so it was just… amazing) After that I subscribed to email players. It was like a “thank you subscription”, I really didn’t expect anything from it. It was just for me a way to give you a com on my sales haha.

Then I read the email playbook. And god, that’s a goldmine. I loved it. I find the monthly newsletter too short, but I’ll stay subscribed. Coz even a short newsletter like that contains so much goodness, and the ROI of them are so great, that I don’t mind the 97usd. It’s worth it. Good job. You deserve your success.

Heads up:

The next issue is in the bullpen, warming up to go to the printer.

It’s packed full of insights that have made Yours Unruly a lot of sales. And, I daresay the information inside can do the same for you, if you implement it and take action.

(If you don’t take action, nothing I say will do you a lick of good.)

She goes to the printer in less than 3 days.

Subscriber here to get the next issue, before the deadline:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of the best persuasion lessons I ever done heard was 10 or so years ago, when Michael Senoff was interviewing the late, great negotiator Jim Camp.

Sometime during the interview, they did a bit of roll-playing.

(As if Jim was selling Michael gasoline)

And, to make a point, Jim Camp said to Michael:

“My name is Jim Camp and I work with Phillips Petroleum, and we offer high grade gasoline at $3.70 a gallon. And you will find our additives to be of the highest quality. So don’t you want to buy Phillips gasoline?”

To which Michael obviously declined.

Why?

Because all Jim was doing was making claims.

And, all those claims did was create objections.

(Like a lot of today’s email and other sales copy do, not-so-coincidentally)

So, he switched it up.

Instead of pitching the gasoline, Jim asked Michael about his car’s engine, asking how many miles he could afford to take off its life, asking if he’d ever experimented with a higher octane and, if not, what held him back, and so on and so forth, and constantly bringing it back to Michael’s car and not his gasoline.

It was a great example of the difference between pitching and selling.

And, pretty much the opposite of how the marketing proles write email copy.

Well, guess what?

In the November “Email Players” issue I go into how to apply this concept of not creating objections in emails (or any other kind of copy) in depth, and in a way none of your lazy, flakebook addicted competitors listening to the nonsense on social media about selling are doing, or would even know how to do.

I’m sending this puppy to the printer in 3 days.

If you want to get it, subscribe here in time, while you can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A few years ago, Agora Financial flew me in to teach some of their copywriters and editors some of my diabolical ways.

And, recently, I asked Agora copy chief Joseph Schriefer how things were going.

His answer?

“Things are great dude. The business is so big now. Prob 4x the revenue since when we first met… and had you in! Claim credit, as it did correlate!”

Claim credit?

Well okay then, don’t mind if I do…

Anyway, one of the things I taught the laddy and lassie bucks that day was some of the info secretly tucked away in the pages of my “Email Players Playbook” — which comes with a subscription to my monthly “Email Players” newsletter. It’s the same methodology I use in my own business (I don’t just teach it and not do it) each and every day, and have used in multiple markets selling multiple different kinds of products, not to mention teaching it to multiple other kinds of business owners (not just online business owners or info marketers) in a myriad of different markets.

The November issue goes to the printer in just a few days.

If you want in on this bad-boy, go here while you can still get it:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“You two are lucky you have your looks.”

— Crowley
King of Hell/King of the Crossroads

Here’s a sweet Crowley Month topic for you:

Once upon a time, I was browsing through Flakebook to see if I could find some fodder to play with (Facebook is a great place for email and content fodder if you approach it as such, and not a place to waste time and argue politics). And, lo and behold… I ran across the following question from a copywriter:

“Does anyone have experience with speech writing, who can make a medical talk on thyroid issues not boring?”

I thought this was a great question.

And, yes, I had a great answer.

But, the answer was too Valuable to share freely in a Flakebook group where nobody would properly Value it precisely because it is free. Plus, my answer applies to email or any other medium you sell with. In fact, it is even more applicable to email if, for no other reason, you don’t have a captive audience like you would at a speech.

People can simply delete your unruly self in email.

(While a lot of people sit through boring speeches to be polite or to be unnoticed.)

Anyway, on to the answer:

I dedicate quite a bit of attention to this topic in the November “Email Players” issue next month — including walking you through exactly how to write a piece of copy (email or otherwise) for a topic people might find dry & boring, and especially if you are writing to a snooty audience that wants “nothing but the facts!” and strict professionalism.

It’s all the same if you know what you’re doing.

She goes to the printer in 4 short days.

If you want on this train before it leaves the station, high tail it over here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

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