RIP to the old copywriting master
Published: Wed, 04/01/20
I distinctly remember Michael Senoff sending me a link to Clayton’s new “Makepeace Total Pacakge” website. Since I was doing a lot of copywriting work with Michael at the time — splitting all the sales 50/50 — and was gearing up to quit my job and move to another state, I was intensely interested in learning every little way possible to goose up sales and response.
Reading Clayton’s articles was like being a kid in Candyland.
Every word he wrote was solid gold.
I took notes like a madman, and rapidly implemented everything he said, and it made a big impact on my sales.
Clayton was churning out info for free that was so valuable nobody would have minded paying through the nose for it. I have a huge binder here in my office of his articles I printed out. His bit on his daily routine was especially valuable to me (I still refer to it a couple times per year, and just did a few months ago, in fact). As were his teachings on how he did market research and the importance of starting with the dominant resident emotion of your market — which I consciously think about every single time I sit down to write an email, sales letter, or other piece of copy to this day. I also got a ton of hard nosed copywriting wisdom from the interviews he did with various A-list copywriters. Like, for example, the great Gary Bencivenga (where they defiled the mythology behind having a single USP for sales copy), Parris Lampropoulos (his origin story in that interview is an extremely valuable “cautionary tale” for anyone wanting
to get into info publishing), Carline-Anglade Cole (the undisputed Queen of Headlines, in my opinion, with her market research routine she talked about being especially valuable), and the list goes on.
Just pure red “meat” info you can chew on over and over.
It did not take long until I realized there was another reason I liked Clayton so much:
His unabashed, unapologetic political views.
He did not try to sugar coat or pander to anyone. You got what you saw with Clayton. But he wasn’t just a ranting & raving lunatic, he was extremely adept at articulating his thoughts & ideas on matters of politics, economics, and the culture wars in a way that made him a sort of talk radio host on glass (computer screen).
He didn’t seem to worry about if anyone “liked” him or not.
Nor did he throw bombs at people he disagreed with, even if they tossed bombs at him.
The result was, even people I know who bitterly disagreed with his politics always respected him.
As the late, great Jim Camp used to say, it’s much better to be respected than liked. And to say observing Clayton practice this “in action” was an influence on how I write emails would be an enormous understatement.
Fun fact for any of Clayton’s political haters reading this:
He told me shortly after a talk I gave to his mastermind that I helped inspire him to be even MORE outspoken on Facebook about such things. So if you have ever found yourself shaking in anger at something he wrote on FB, you are SO welcome!
Really, it was my pleasure…
Speaking of Facebook:
Approximately 10 years after being introduced to this great man’s work (late 2015), he posted something on Facebook asking who the best “email guy” was. I don’t remember all the names bandied about at the time. I just remember mine was not mentioned nearly as much as some others were. But Clayton’s friend Rich Schefren privately told him I was the best email guy to talk to (thanks Rich!)
And that led to me teaching my Email Players methodology to Clayton’s private mastermind.
At the end of that, I remember he asked if I was for hire.
Although I don't do client work, that flattered the hades out of me, to say the least.
I was also invited to speak because of that training at AWAI’s Copywriting Intensive a few months later in Austin, TX where I finally got to meet Clayton & his lovely wife Wendy (AKA “The Redhead”) in person. That event also lead directly to being asked to create what later became my "10 Minute Workday" program AWAI sells. And During the conference, Clayton's talk perfectly set up my talk that day, with one of the “big lessons” he taught being about the importance of doing all your selling before they even see the sales letter (which email lets you play like a fiddle, of course). What was interesting about that though, is even though the sale was all but made before the prospect even sees the sales letter, Clayton still spent the weeks/months writing a 60+ page sales promotion.
There’s a lifetime of experience in that for the discerning marketer...
Later that year, I got to meet & hang out with Clayton again at the 2016 AWAI Bootcamp.
During that event, I was invited to a private dinner party arranged by “Email Players” subscriber and A-list copywriter Marcella Allison. Listening to Clayton talk business at the table was quite the education in and of itself. The whole “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason” thang isn't just a bunch of poppycock (SIDE NOTE: One of my favorite Clayton Makepeace headlines simply said, "Poppycock!")
Finally:
The last time I got to hang out with Clayton was the AWAI Bootcamp in late 2018. And like the other times I had the privilege of doing so, he was nothing but a class act, great guy, and full of lessons “between the lines” - even when not specifically talking about business or marketing.
Anyway, I did not know him very well, and had only met with him a few times.
But he made a lasting impact on my copywriting I'll always be grateful for. Not to mention all the doors he opened for me, which had an equally lasting impact on my business.
I recommend listening to any audio of Clayton you can find, watching any video of him you can find, and reading every scrap of text he’s written you can find. As I write this, his Makepeace Total Package site is still up, and that alone is like a $10k copywriting education, all free:
http://www.MakePeaceTotalPackage.com
So RIP Mr. Makepeace.
You left us an astonishing legacy.
Here’s to your next journey…
Ben Settle