A copywriting tale from the ghost of Gary's past

One of my favorite copywriting stories: Many years ago, I had the opportunity to interview the late, great copywriter Scott Haines. Scott was one of Gary Halbert’s star students, extremely good at the craft, and I highly enjoyed hanging out with him the couple times I was able to. During the interview he got to talking about a lesson Halbert taught him. And it’s an extremely valuable lesson if you implement it in all your copy henceforth. Here’s what happened: Gary Halbert once asked Scott this question… “What’s the #1 reason why most people buy something from an advertisement?” Scott thought about it and replied: “Sure, self-interest.” Then Gary told him something he said he never forgot: “That’s not it… the #1 reason most people buy something is because of curiosity.” Gary then went on to say, “Sure, self-interest is very important, but curiosity trumps it.” And that, at the very least, curiosity needs to be a strong element in headlines and especially in bullets. Another Gary Halbert story: Back in 2004 (give or take) Michel Fortin interviewed Gary. And during the interview Gary was asked about bullets. And he said something that has not only served my business well, and made my ads a lot of sales over the years… but also helped me make a lot more sales for many of my clients back when I did client work. And what Gary said was, for him, the goal was to get to the bullets in an ad as fast as possible. The sooner the better. Because it’s the bullets that are most likely to “flip” someone into buying. Thus, a lot of his ads were basically just a headline, bullets, CTA. A good “structure” to use depending on what you’re selling and to who. The only caveat is they have to be good bullets. Most bullets are dull and boring. Like shooting blanks. Just a “how to” followed by a benefit. That’s certainly better than nothing. But there are certain “formulas” I have seen, observed, used, and, in some cases, even invented… that can give bullets a helluva lot of “pop.” Enter my “Copy Salesliloquies: Vol 1” book. It’s on sale until tonight. And it has a few page-by-page, paragraph-by-paragraph breakdowns of my ads, most of which are probably 90% bullets. They are broken down, with lots of psychology and strategy explained, and all in a way that (I hope) is simple to follow and easy to learn. These are not really templates though. Let the goo-roo fanboy always fapping to his AI sex robot take note. And they aren’t really all that “swipe-able.” They are very much written in a way where you extract the psychology behind them so you can apply to your own bullets, sales copy, headlines, etc like Email Players subscriber Debra Hilton once described my teachings: === It’s one of my favourite things about Email players and the rest of your training: * Here's what I do and why I do that * Your version will be different - own that. Very freeing. === More: This book includes the June 2020, February 2021, June 2021, & May 2022 Email Players issues which were all about copywriting. Plus, it also includes the transcripts of a couple intense line-by-line sales letter analyses (for my Subscription Biz & Social Lair book offers) I did for our $499/month Profit Pirates coaching clients. Lots of stuff I either couldn’t fit into my Copy Slacker book (already 800+ pages). Or stuff I learned since writing Copy Slacker. And before you even ask: No, you do NOT need Copy Slacker to learn from the info in this book. If anything, it serves as a nifty “prequel” (or sequel if you already possess it) to my Copy Slacker book you can learn from regardless of your experience, knowledge, or skill level now. It’s also on sale for a $100 off the listed price (so it’s $500 instead of the listed $600) until tonight, Sunday September 15 at midnight, EDT. That doesn't leave you much time. In fact, depending on when you see this, it could already be too late, Pokey. Simply do this: 1. Go to the URL below 2. Read the letter carefully to make an informed purchase 3. Use code WILLIS at the checkout (Make sure you see the price change before entering your info) [( Ben Settle This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2024 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA