I josh-eth you not:

Last month, a man decided to leave the protection of my Email Players sanctuary, and said he was going to write me an email telling me why. When I told him it wasn’t necessary and that “I couldn’t care less” why, his wife sent me a long email telling me how that reply cut deep, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back (it sounds like the guy is having some serious problems right now) and that I should be less flippant and more caring in my replies to people, etc.

All of which I found ironic.

Why?

Because many times, people on their way out tend to fall into one of two extremes:

1. They think I am mad at them

2. They think I have no heart or soul because of my complete indifference to them leaving

Apparently, if I don’t hold a candlelight vigil when they leave, I must be some kind of sociopath at best or monster who curses them with death and destruction at worst.

The truth is neither, of course.

My policy is very simple:

I silently eject those who quit – without any comment from me – upon request, as they are always, without exception, replaced by newer and better customers anyway.

In other words, they do us both a favor.

Thus, no emotional-dripping explanation from them needed.

The only people I bother responding to are the join & quit muppets who say “I will be back!” in their request, who I tell my no-coming-back policy to, so they don’t waste theirs or my time in the future. People like that who flit from one offer to another demonstrably have no financial, time, or educational discipline. And, thus, no place amongst my customers.

More:

Piggybacking off yesterday’s “escape th US” email, we really do live in interesting times. And the shyt storm that’s coming on the political, social, and economic front, in America especially, is not going to be pleasant for those types of businesses who are (1) non forward thinking (2) rely solely on social media as a platform to sell on and (3) don’t have the discipline to pick a skill that can help them produce, and then learn it, hone it, master it, and, of course, use it.

Far as #3 above, if you want to do that with email, I’m your guy.

Or not.

It all depends on you, your tolerance for me, and your willingness to work.

But, I can say this:

The September “Email Players” issue is going to horrify the weak, undisciplined, and small thinking join & quit types. But of all the skills I’ve ever learned, honed, and sharpened, this is #1.

It’s not a mechanical skill, though.

By that I mean, it’s not copywriting, or email, or selling, or infotainment, or anything I have taught before.

It’s about a way to use marketing skills you have or gain in the future (for whatever media you use) in such a way that brings you top-of-mind status in your market — and fairly quickly. And this is especially true if you are wise enough to focus on email over and above social media.

I’ll yap more about this soon.

In the meantime, to subscribe go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben “ol’ heartless” Settle

P.S. Speaking of the join & quit types:

Heed ye the warning of this rare and pleasantly intellectually honest one who wishes he could do it all over again, after being barred re-entry into my gnarly gates:

Fair enough…

Although that was some time ago, when I was admittedly a raw, wriggling BSO buyer with very little way of putting your teachings into practice.

I’m now a full-time copywriter working for an 8-figure health company and have written emails and other short copy for some Agora affiliates.

Having said that, I respect your decision and don’t expect you to change your mind.

(I would, however, like to clip that younger, dumber version of me ’round the earhole for being such a doofus.)

i.e. Actions have consequences.

And my customer curation methodology demands a sacrifice of the fattest and most valuable would-be customer offerings sometimes…