When you feel a tingle in your balls, you’re about to get kicked in the nuts
Published: Sat, 07/07/18
I wish I was joking.
For example:
When I was just getting started I used direct mail to contact companies I was already buying things from. And, one of the companies I sent a letter to was a company big into setting up corporations and asset protection. My offer was to write for “free”, I only wanted to be paid on the sales.
Anyway, the founder of the company gave me a call.
He told me he loved my offer.
And, he said he was, an old direct response guy, and my offer was perfect for him.
Yes, your pal elBenbo was excited!
Finally a non-flakey client who actually “got” direct response!
So I started gearing up to do some bid’niz with the guy when I got a weird call out of the blue from someone at his company. Apparently, about 4 or 5 days after we talked, he decided to retire and leave the company to his daughter. The chick who called me from the company broke the news and told me she was on the “sales letter committee” for the seminar I was supposed to write an ad from.
I didn’t know this for what it was at the time.
I was still a raw noob.
But, even then, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
And, every instinct told me to walk away.
It reminds me of something comedian Dante Nero says on his podcast, “if you feel a tingle in your balls, that means you’re about to be kicked in the nuts.” In his case, he’s talking about guys dating girls who get a vibe from those chicks that something is off. But, it applies to dealing with would-be clients, too.
So what happened?
I naively took the gig anyway.
I sat in on their dorky little conference calls.
And, I wrote the ad using the info they gave me, listened to the new owner (the guy’s daughter) brag about how great she and her team were, and did my best to write an ad using the very limited info they gave me.
The result?
I will never know.
They never ran my ad.
The lady and a couple of her clucking hens even snickered and laughed at it, while telling me I needed to learn more about to write “killer” copy, and there was nothing “new” in the ad, and some other babble.
It pissed me off of course.
But, in a way she was right.
There was nothing “new” in it (all the info they told me was the exact same stuff they taught the year before). But, had I known then what I know now about research, I would have knocked out a completely different ad that would have been 100x’s better, even with the limited info she gave me. (And, I would have known now to get way more info out of her, too).
Anyway, humiliation is a powerful coach.
And, I learned my lesson well.
In fact, it wasn’t long after that when I systemized a way of doing product research (with a lot of help from some other smart copywriters observing how they do it).
It’s also something I teach in my Copy Slacker product.
It won't make you a "world class" copywriter.
And, it certainly won't put you into the A-list world.
But, if you struggle with copywriting, aren't getting the results you want, and don't know where to turn... or if you simply hate the feeling of overwhelm when you write ads, and just want to get a converting piece of copy up and running in hours and days instead of weeks and months, this could be what the hospital custodian ordered.
More info here:
http://www.EmailPlayers.com/slacker
Ben Settle