My Best Sales Tactic (to Make a TON of Money)

Summary

• I learned a powerful sales tactic by accident which resulted in a 100% sales closing rate; I call this approach using "ghost products".
• The key point is to gain trust quickly from a potential customer by acting in their self-interest rather than my own.
• I discovered that by telling customers they didn't need to purchase certain products from me, and instead pointing them to cheaper alternatives elsewhere, trust was built, leading them to buy what I recommended.
• Not only were customers more receptive to the products I did recommend, but I also stopped carrying low-margin items altogether and used them as trust-builders instead.
• For the most effective results, I suggest showcasing high-margin products and directing customers to purchase lower-margin ones elsewhere. This balancing act maximizes profit while maintaining credibility with your clients.
• It's crucial to help customers visualize the benefits of your products in their lives by explaining exactly how to use them, associating the new product with an existing daily habit.
• If clients express budget concerns, prioritize your products' importance and be transparent about their options.
• Tying the value of your products to their old habits can help customers see the cost-benefit more clearly, such as how much they'll save from lifestyle changes.
• The most growth I experienced in selling was through conducting many low-ticket transactions, which better prepared me for larger sales later.
• Suggesting external resources or cheaper options can foster trust, especially when done discreetly, making the salesperson seem aligned with the customer's interests.
• Ultimately, the goal is to metaphorically move from across the table to standing side by side with the client, working together to make the best decision based on shared information.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest starting with being honest about products and services. If there's something they can get cheaper elsewhere, tell them. It builds trust. Plus, it makes the things you actually want to sell, the high-margin stuff, more appealing. Don't carry the low-margin items if you don’t have to; use them as "ghost products."

Explain how to use your products by linking them to daily habits they already have. If they brush their teeth every morning, tell them to put the product by their toothbrush with a note to take it. This makes using your product easier because they won't have to remember a new habit.

If someone's worried about money, help them prioritize what they need. You could ask, "Are you on a budget?" Then, you could offer to list the products by importance and see what fits their budget. If you remove something, link it to something they do and show how changing behavior can save them money. This helps them see the value again.

Get as much practice as you can. You could try to work with a business that does lots of small sales. Selling car washes or working in a salon could give you lots of practice. Small sales help you learn and will make bigger, more expensive sales feel easy later.

Remember to seem like you’re on their side. Maybe suggest good options for stuff you don't sell. If you're sneaky and the boss lets you, you could act like you're giving them a secret tip. This makes you seem even more trustworthy.

The goal is to look at the problem with them, not against them. Stand by their side, not across them, in their mind. This helps you sell better and help your customers more.

Quotes by Alex Hormozi

"The difference between manipulation and help is intention"

– Alex Hormozi

"If you believe in the stuff that you sell, you can create an environment where someone will trust you faster by giving them a reason to trust you"

– Alex Hormozi

"Getting someone to make a new habit is incredibly difficult; getting someone to break a habit is incredibly difficult"

– Alex Hormozi

"It will teach you more about the skill of selling and dealing with people than any course ever will"

– Alex Hormozi

"The goal as a salesperson is to move to their side of the table"

– Alex Hormozi

Full Transcript

powerful sales tactic that I have learned I never learned it from a book I actually learned it by accident and it will be included in the 100 million dollar sales book when it comes out and so you heard it here first but it's a concept that you can do as a salesperson to gain trust and I stumbled into this I ended up selling a hundred percent of people after I made this one switch and how I sold and I was able to teach it to people who'd never sold before and they were able to close 80 90 of people who are coming in the door mind you this is a retail environment selling physical products so rewind the clock I was selling supplements at my gym and the way that we would sell supplements is that we'd sell some sort of service package and then we'd do a nutrition orientation the camp the nutrition orientation we'd actually you know set them up with their meal plans and then we'd make recommendations for products now normally I would sell pretty well but still I always wanted to sell more and get better we'd killed this launch for like a new challenge or something and we had a hundred new customers there come in and I ran out one of the key uh products I had ladies come in the first half of the day and able to get the products and then some of their friends who signed up with them came in the second half of the day and were like hey my friend Sandy told me that I need X X Y and Z and I was like oh we don't have Z anymore and it was like really awkward and I was like a lady came in and so rather than me try and skirt around this clear item that was on the list that I didn't have I said hey by the way you can get this one for cheaper down the street at Costco so like you don't need to get this one from me like this one's a little better but I think it'll get the job done you can get this one after you've done the program and they're like oh thanks like that was cool after I made that one crossout I was like but you do want this and this from us and they're like okay cool as soon as I made that switch from saying hey you don't need to buy this one you can get that from over there everyone bought what I recommended afterwards and I was like whoa and so then I leaned into that and was like I wonder if I could do more of that so I could sell even more on the back side so then I had two products that I was like hey you can get this and this over here get this brand it should be at this price you can go get it it'll save you 10 or 20 bucks and they were like wow even better and then I remember I looked at my list and there was you know a lady that it was like a mass Gator and she obviously wasn't trying to gain mass and so I was like you're not trying to gain Mass art and she's like no I was like you can just cross that out go ahead you don't worry about that and so I gave her recommendation two things that she could get for cheaper and then I said you don't need to worry about this and then when I said hey like I need you to take two of these in the morning next to this take three of these take them next to this put this in your car so you always have it with you I closed everyone what that gave birth to was something that I used to call sacrificial Lambs but now call ghost products because it sounds better but I ended up over time not even carrying the products that I had on there that I was recommending out because they were so powerful as a sales tool for me to gain trust from the other person this is an incredibly incredibly powerful tactic and like all persuasion the difference between manipulation and help is intention and so if you want to help someone you are manipulating them but you're just doing it in a positive intent now and if you change someone's behavior and you have negative intent you are manipulating them if you believe in the stuff that you sell you can create an environment where someone will trust you faster by giving them a reason to trust you and so that means that you acted in their self-interest rather than your own so that they can feel like you're not trying to take advantage of them now if you know that they need this stuff but they don't yet know that they need the stuff then you can make a concession using a ghost product or using a sacrificial lamb so that you can gain the trust faster and so if you feel uncomfortable about not having the product on your menu then you feel free to carry a product and never sell it if you feel like it but I realized quickly that I was never selling it and I was always giving those ones away and so if you're going to use this tactic my recommendation is to make the products that you send across the street to be the ones that are the lowest margin product gain the trust by giving away the low margin stuff and then keep the high marching stuff for yourself so that people trust you and then they buy that stuff and so if you're in an environment where you sell multiple products this has been the most effective way that I've learned to sell what you want to do is give someone a vision of what their life's going to be like when they're experiencing the benefits and so you want to explain to them exactly how to take it before you make the ass what we would do is say hey a this one is going to help you do benefit benefit the way that I need you to take it need you to take it is that you're going to take two of these in the morning then I ask a question and I'm like what do you do every day no matter what in the morning do you wake up and smoke a cigarette do you drink a cup of coffee do you take a shower like brush your teeth like what's something you do every morning and then they say well I brush my teeth every morning I'm like cool so I don't want you to put this in your cupboard because you'll forget about it I want you to put it next to your toothbrush so we don't have to make a new habit they're like oh and what I want you to do piece of tape put a two on it I want you to take two of them we're gonna put an extra toothbrush got it that's number one I would go through that with each of the products that I have and I would say okay you can have all these you're good to go did you just want to use the cards you have on file now they don't have to take their wallet out they don't have to make another purchase decision they just have to say yes it's a one-click upsell that is a combination of a prescriptive clothes and having ghost products to set up trust you're also being a good coach by showing them how they're going to make this happen in the rower now this is obviously a consumption based product any product that you want someone to use they have to use it at a certain point and and so we want to figure out ways to associate the usage of the act of the product with something they're already doing getting someone to make a new habits incredibly difficult getting someone to break a habit is incredibly difficult and so we just want to piggyback on habits they already have and so that makes you both a better salesperson and better Coach like overall if you're trying to help someone and so that kind of selling process that set close getting the trust make the prescription Works unbelievably well and then if for some reason the point person's like well how much does this cost blah blah blah then you can say well are you on a budget and if they're like I'm on a budget that's like okay then would you like me to order these in order of importance and the things that I think you absolutely need to have versus things that'll just get you more benefits faster what I would then do is take off one and say this would be the lowest one I'd remove does this work for you and if they're like I can't do that I'd be like really getting into the Bare Bones here I'd be like I could take this one out but like this is what I want you to add to your diet to replace this thing you don't want to show that what you took out isn't important because then it looks like you're selling stuff doesn't matter so like these are ingredients but you're gonna have to eat a shitload of broccoli now all right so you okay that you know what I'll just get the thing okay cool now it's back in hopefully when you're selling something you're trying to solve a problem if they don't buy the thing then you reintroduce the problem that you were solving so it's like hey I don't want you have to eat a pound of broccoli which is why I had this they're trusting me to make the prescription because that's why they're paying you for expertise and then you can pause and say well are there things that are your old identity that you're going to stop doing as a result of doing this program are you going to go out less you're going to drink less or you're going to smoke less or you're going to whatever last I'm like cool well how much of that do you do cool we just found some money don't worry about it let's associate with these new activities new identity if this sounds really smooth I've done this a lot of times you'll get used to it and I think one of the best gifts you can have is trying to tack yourself into an existing sales process of a big business so if you work at a business that sells lots of low ticket stuff like think car washes massage think Nails think hair stuff where they just see lots of people every day at low tickets see if you can work with a business owner and incorporate some sort of inject yourself into their sales process so that you can get rep after rep after rep after rep and it will teach you more about the skill of selling and dealing with people than any course ever will and it will equip you for whatever you want to sell for the rest of your life it's one of the best things I ever did was do tons and tons of transactions at low tickets so that when I got to selling higher ticket more expensive stuff I was like oh my God this is a breeze if you sold Services let's say you sold Web Design Services and you had like a laundry list of stuff you could say hey we this is like we can do this but it's not necessarily our core capability and it would probably cost you more if we did it because we'd have to allocate more resources so there's guys in the Philippines that will do it for you I've got a connection I can I can talk to you to about after this call and if you really want to be sneaky about it if you're the owner it's harder if you're a salesperson owners tell your sales people this you can have it seem like they're leaning on their side of the table to be like hey man like you don't need to worry about this like just I'll hook you up with a number of a guy and then the sales person becomes incredibly trusted it becomes like they're on that side of the table but what the person doesn't know is that they're trying to sell the other stuff at the end of the day the goal as a salesperson is to move to their side of the table if you start the conversation across the table the goal to end shoulder to shoulder so that you're both looking at the decision together with the same information to make the best decision for the person and so if you can walk yourself around the table psychologically this is one of the fastest ways to do it