The Robert Collier Letter Book

Secret, occult, or classified — which one wins?

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Yesterday, after I sent out an email with the subject line “201 good reasons to get on Daniel Throssell’s list today,” I got the following reply from a long-time reader:

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I know all you top level people charge big bucks for critiques.

I’m not sure why but today I decided to rewrite this email with my take on it.

If it can be useful to you, use it however you wish.

All I want from it is your critique and words of wisdom. Not some long breakdown critique. Just a couple minutes of your time and perhaps a couple lines of advice.

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What followed was a rewrite of my email from yesterday. It was really a re-write – basically every idea I had in the original email was there, just said using other words. Example:

[my original]
“Daniel’s offers are how he beat out a dozen other top email marketers during the infamous 2021 Black Friday campaign. It’s how he made the classified ads he ran this spring (mine among them) a big success for everyone involved. It’s why I ended up providing a unique and sizeable discount on Copy Riddles only to people on Daniel’s list.”

[my reader’s re-write]
“Daniel’s Offers. This is his Midas touch. It’s how he raced ahead of the pack during the buzzworthy 2021 Black Friday showdown. It’s the force behind his game-changing classified ads earlier this year. And guess what? It’s why there’s a unique, too-good-to-miss discount on Copy Riddles for Daniel’s elite.”

So.

​​​Is this re-write, this new choice of words, better than what I had originally?

Or is it worse?

Think about that for a hot minute. And then I will tell you the correct answer, which is, who cares?

The best and most insightful copywriting book I have ever read is the Robert Collier Letter Book. And as Collier says in that book, “it’s not the copy so much as the scheme back of it.”

Yes, individual words have power. But they don’t have nearly the power of sound psychology.

There are lots of ways to tell people that you have secret knowledge. Whether you use the word secret, select, elite, insider, little-known, occult, forbidden, classified — that doesn’t really matter very much.

It’s the opportunity, the scarcity behind all those words that really gets peoples eyes going wide and their mouths hanging open.

Get the psychology down first. Then fiddle with the words. ​Or don’t, because if you got the psychology behind your words right, you will still make money.

​​That’s how and why the top copywriters make a lot of money.

So how do you get the psychology down?

Back to my email from yesterday. It was about how I’ve brought back my Copy Riddles course, and how I agreed with Daniel Throssell to offer an exclusive $200 discount to buyers who come via Daniel’s list.

In my email yesterday, I was letting my readers know about that, so they sign up to Daniel’s list in case they want that same discount.

The fact is, you have various options if you want to master the psychology behind the words, the scheme back of the copy. A particularly effective option is my Copy Riddles course.

​​As marketing consultant Khaled Maziad, who went through Copy Riddles a while back, wrote me about Copy Riddles:

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I loved that you didn’t include bullet templates but went deep into the psychology behind each bullet. This course is not just about the “how-to” of writing bullets but understanding the artistry and the deep psychology behind them… Plus, when and where to use them.

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I’m honestly not sure how long Daniel is planning to promote Copy Riddles — we didn’t agree on it, and maybe he is going to decide in real time based on the sales he sees.

I am sure that the only way to get that $200 discount on Copy Riddles is to be on Daniel’s list when he sends out the discount code.

Maybe it’s too late for that already. Or maybe it’s not.

Maybe, if you get on Daniel’s list right now, you will still have a chance at a $200 savings. If you’d like to at least have that option, which is yours if you want it, then here’s the link:

https://persuasivepage.com/

The most powerful appeal for making the sale, according to the great Robert Collier

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I did my best to be snarky last night. I announced that Copy Riddles is now open again, and I invited criticism and trollish responses to the many promotional emails I would be sending.

What I got instead was a bunch of messages like the following, from reader and past Copy Riddles alum Nathan Eshman:

Love this course John!!! I literally use what I learned in it every day.

Is it still open for those who’ve done it in the past to join in again?

If so, can you put me on the receiving list please?

Sigh. This is not the thoughtless trolling or nasty criticism I was expecting. But you gotta work with what you got.

The background is this:

Nathan first signed up for Copy Riddles last year. He’s now taking advantage of the fact that if you join Copy Riddles once, you get lifetime membership. In other words, you can rejoin Copy Riddles for any future run for free.

This offer is open to anybody who has gone through Copy Riddles before. If that’s you, and you’d like to join for this run, just hit reply, let me know, and I will add you.

And if that’s not you, and you haven’t been through Copy Riddles yet, then I can tell you a valuable direct response lesson I first learned from the great Robert Collier, author of the Robert Collier Letter Book and that New Thought mishmash, the Secret of the Ages.

In analyzing a bunch of sales letters he had sent out, Collier found out that the most powerful appeal for making the sale is to say, “The price is going up.”

That’s also a reason to sign up for Copy Riddles now, rather than later.

Because each time I have run Copy Riddles, I’ve increased the price significantly.

It’s very possible I will do so again the next time I run this program.

But if you join now, then like Nathan, you don’t have to worry about any future higher price. You get into future runs for free, free, free.

Of course, I don’t want you to make up your mind about joining Copy Riddles based only on price.

Read the sales letter. See if this training makes sense for you. Decide if you will do what it takes to get value from it.

And if you conclude that the answer is yes, then do the simple math of comparing less with more, and use that to guide you. Here’s where to get started:

https://copyriddles.com/

A favorite resource for persuasion secrets that make men swallow gallons of nasty, unpalatable nostrums

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Today I’d like to tell you about a book that’s one of my favorite resources for persuasion secrets.

It has nothing to do with copywriting, but it came as a recommendation from an A-list copywriter. “If you understand that on a deep level,” this A-lister said about this book, “you will be able to influence people in ways you’d never dreamed possible.”

Now let me admit that when I got going with copywriting, I really didn’t get what the fuss was about these A-list copywriters.

I looked at their copy. Simple words, simple sentences, simple arguments.

“Pff,” I said. “I can do the same.”

In time, feedback from the market beat some humility into me. So when I heard that recommendation from the A-lister, I decided to follow it.

I started reading the recommended book, expecting only information. And I got that. The book talks about the hidden psychology behind the irrational, self-defeating things many of us do, often without being aware of them.

The first few chapters were interesting. Insightful. Maybe useful for work. A few times, I even felt like they were personally relevant.

But then, I started a new chapter.

Right on the first page, my skin started to crawl.

I turned the page. I cringed.

I read a bit more. My forehead began burning.

I won’t tell you exactly what was on those pages. But I will tell you in general:

Those pages were describing symptoms. Beliefs, feelings, behaviors. At work. With family. With friends. With lovers. With strangers. In private. Things you avoid. Things you do to cope.

Cope with what?

Well, that’s what the chapter was about. And I won’t tell you exactly what that was, because it was exactly describing me, and I’m secretive like that.

But I will tell you that the spot-on description of symptoms sold me on the diagnosis in the book. And the diagnosis sold me on the cure, which came a few pages later. Because as Robert Collier once wrote:

“What is it that sells patent medicines by the millions every year? What is it that makes men swallow gallons of nasty, unpalatable nostrums, pounds of seaweed, and yeast cakes put up in all manner of forms? Proof! A man describes your symptoms with such exactitude that you think he must have taken a look down your epiglottis, then assures you that one dose or a dozen pills or cakes or yeast relieved him of every trace of your ailment.”

So if you are a marketer or a copywriter, that’s my tip for you for today. Describe your market’s secret symptoms to a T… and you can sell them as many gallons of seaweed and pounds of yeast cake you like.

Of course, a part of how you do this is the usual research. Talking to your customers and leads… digging around in forums… studying successful copy from your competitors.

All that’s important. But you can go deeper. At least, A-list copywriters, like the guy I mentioned above, go deeper.

And that’s the value of this book. It spells out the symptoms for the main categories of everyday crazy. And whether you can believe me or not — almost all of us are crazy, at least here and there, about some aspect of our selves and our lives. And if somebody can convince us he knows exactly what’s ailing us… well, we become very open to influence.

So here’s my offer to you:

Sign up for my email newsletter here. That’s where I share copywriting and marketing tips in an email every day.

And once you sign up for my newsletter, send me an email at john@bejakovic.com.

I’ll tell you the name of this book, so you can get it and devour it and influence people in ways you’d never dreamed possible.

But in exchange, I’d like something from you. I’d like to know about you.

Nothing too deep.

Just send me an email, and let me know who you are… and what you’re working on right now.

And if you’re wondering why I want this sensitive information, it’s simply to inform my newsletter. I want to make it as insightful, attractive, and provocative as I can.

But for that, I need some feedback from you.

So in case I don’t know you yet… or even if I do…

And in case you want to know the name of this valuable resource… or even if you think you know it already…

Sign up for my newsletter, and then write me an email and let me know a bit about yourself. And as soon as I get your email, I’ll reply, with the name of this secret psychology book.

How to diffuse a witch hunt and nothing else

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Do you want an ultra-powerful persuasion tool?

Well, you’ve already got it. But you might not be using it to the full. Let me show you why, with an example from The Crucible.

The Crucible is a play about the Salem witch trials. A bunch of girls in Salem turn hysterical and start accusing people around town of being witches.

The local reverend, Samuel Parris, is all for the witch hunt.

John Proctor, a farmer and humanist, is all against it.

Proctor knows the girls are lying. He’s even got one of them to confess in private. And now he’s trying to reason with Parris. How could the best people in town, who have been respected and trusted their whole lives, suddenly be in league with the devil? But the Reverend cuts Proctor off:

PARRIS: Do you read the Gospel, Mr. Proctor?

PROCTOR: I read the Gospel.

PARRIS: I think not, or you should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel.

When I read this line, I thought Proctor’s goose was gandered. How do you respond to that? For one thing, it sounds like solid logic. For another, arguing against it means you’re arguing against the Bible. And not respecting the Bible is a sure sign of being a witch… along with weighing the same as a duck.

But then in the very next line, I was shocked and awed. Because Proctor does respond, and in a way that gets him out of the mess he was in.

PROCTOR: Aye, God tells us that. But who tells us Rebecca Nurse murdered seven babies by sending out her spirit on them? It is the children only, and this one will swear she lied to you.

I thought this was brilliant. In fact, I thought I had hit upon something like the reverse philosopher’s stone. A way to turn gold back into lead. A way to diffuse analogies in general.

My greed glands started working. I could use the Proctor technique both to dismiss other persuader’s analogies… and to make my own persuasion stronger. I’d be rich!

Aye, but no. I tried to generalize what Proctor did above. And after thinking about it a lot, the best I came up with is, “Look close at the analogy and figure out where it breaks down.”

Bah. That’s about as useful as telling a kid to lick faster because the ice cream in his hand is melting. It’s too little, too late.

Because most of us aren’t as quick on our feet as John Proctor. And if you try to engage your System 2 brain in diffusing an analogy, well, good luck. The analogy is already in your head, and it’s done its work.

At least that’s my claim. An analogy is an ultra-powerful persuasion tool that’s almost impossible to resist when used right. It lights up your prospect’s brain from the inside. And it’s above critical judgment.

Perhaps you don’t agree with me. Fine.

So look at what Proctor did above. And figure out how you could do the same in general. And then take your new system… and let me know how well it diffuses the following related idea:

“Most people are like automobiles. They can be pushed or pulled along, or they can be moved to action by starting their own motive power within.”

Have I got your own motive power going? Then steer your automobile towards my email newsletter, because I have many more powerful persuasion ideas to share there.

Growth, infinity, destiny (plus an early-bird sale)

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I once wrote a list of 10+ ways to inspire people. Each way came from a piece of copy that made my heart beat faster and my breathing quicker.

On occasion, I still come across a new way to inspire, one I haven’t noticed before. For example, take a look at this section of an old sales letter:

No man can read Wells’ without realizing that the whole purpose of existence is growth — that life is dynamic, not static. That it is ever moving forward — not standing still. That electricity, magnetism, gravitation, light, are all but different manifestations of the same infinite and eternal energy in which we ourselves live and move and have our being.

Wells gives you an understanding of your own potentialities. You learn from it how to work with and take advantage of the infinite energy all about you. The terror of the man at the crossways, not knowing which road to take, is no terror to the reader of Wells. His future is of his own making. For the only law of infinite energy is the law of supply. The ‘life-principle’ that formed the dinosaur to meet one set of needs and the butterfly to meet another is not going to fail in your case. You have but to understand it — to work in harmony with it — to get from it what you need.

This copy was selling a book called The Outline of History. The Outline of History! How boring can you get?

And yet, the copy above is inspiring. At least to me. So I asked myself why.

My best answer is that it talks about growth, infinity, destiny. About massive and awesome forces, and how they are inside us and all around us.

These aren’t ideas I see discussed in sales copy a lot today. (The sales letter above was from 100 years ago.)

Still, growth and infinity and destiny might be worth keeping in your inspiration quiver… and pulling out on occasion when you have a tough and woolly beast to bring down.

For example:

Have you thought recently about the pulsing, never-stopping growth of the entire world of commerce? How the interconnected mesh of billions of human beings, doing deals, all across the globe, is constantly expanding? And how money — the trillions of dollars and euros and yuan out there — is just a measure of the action and reaction you can motivate in other people?

I’ve thought about it.

And that’s one of the reasons I’ve decided to work as a copywriter. So I can learn to motivate action in other people… and to do it at an almost unlimited scale.

And in that vein, I have an offer for you today.

Starting next week, I will be promoting my Copy Riddles program, because a new run of this program will kick off on September 20.

As you might know, Copy Riddles gives you the fundamental and unavoidable rules of how to motivate action and reaction in other people.

How to get them bothered and unsettled with desire…

How to get them to lie awake at night, puzzling over the paradox and intrigue you’ve put in their heads…

How to quiet the critical devil on their shoulder, which is whispering in their ear that your offer can’t possibly be as good as it sounds.

So if you like, you can join Copy Riddles next week to find out all that stuff. As I said, I will be promoting Copy Riddles all week long, at full price.

Or you can choose to join Copy Riddles right now. For a 29.1% discount off the official price. Just head to the page below, and apply the coupon code GROWTH&INFINITY at checkout. The price will adjust automatically.

This offer is only good until tomorrow at 9pm CET. You can think of it as my way of saying thank you for your reading this post now, all the way to the end.

So if you’re ready to start working in harmony with the great pulsing law of human desire… and to get from it what you need, from here till eternity, at a 29.1% discount… then here’s where to go:

https://copyriddles.com/

The copywriting knack that so many lack

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“Thousands of sales have been lost, millions of dollars worth of business have failed to materialize, solely because so few letter-writers have that knack of visualizing a proposition — of painting it in words so the reader can see it as they see it.”
— Robert Collier, The Robert Collier Letter Book

This entire week, I’ve been promoting my “Win Your First Copywriting Job” workshop, which kicks off tomorrow. This is the last email I will send to promote it before I close the cart down tomorrow at 6pm CET.

So rather than letting a single possible sale fly out the window like a loose dollar bill in a gust of wind, let me paint a few pictures in your mind:

First, the picture of you nodding with understanding as I explain how I regularly won 4- and 5-figure copywriting jobs… with a 3-sentence application… and a few targeted samples of my work.

Then the picture of you sitting at your laptop… crafting your own targeted samples… having a lightbulb moment… and working it into your copy.

Then me looking over your shoulder in virtual space, and saying, “I like this part a lot, and here’s how to make this part even better.”

Then you nervously clicking “Send” to email your application and samples to this amazing-sounding copywriting opportunity, which seems out of reach, but you never know…

And finally, your heart beating as you read a reply that says, “Hey thanks for applying to my job. I loved the samples you sent in. It seems like you could be the perfect fit. Do you have time to get on a call tomorrow to talk in more detail?”

That is, imagine all of this IF you choose to take me up on my workshop offer.

Or of course, you can choose to do nothing at all.

In that case, the word paintings will be different.

So imagine walking the streets alone, trying to keep warm while cold wind blows inside your jacket to your ribs and then it starts to rain… scrounging around for loose change in your pockets so you can maybe collect enough for a single coffee… and wondering to yourself, “Had I only taken up John’s workshop offer that one Friday, would I have a well-paying copywriting job right now, instead of being cold, lonely, and without the change for a coffee?”

Ok, maybe that’s a little melodramatic. But dollars are at stake for me… and a momentous life-changing proposition is at stake for you.

So if you want warmth and a jumpstart to your copywriting success… rather than loneliness and cold, empty streets… then have the knack of acting in time, before this offer disappears out the window:

https://bejakovic.com/win-your-first-copywriting-job/