Transcription
If you've ever tried selling, you might find yourself in a situation where nobody takes you seriously. Deep down on the inside, you might feel like you have the best products and services, but nobody listens to what you have to say. And it's probably because you do not understand the psychology of selling.
So, in this video, I'm going to share with you the darkest and most powerful psychological sales hacks that you can use to play tricks on the human mind to get people to buy your stuff. The first thing that you must understand about the human mind is that if there's no pain, there is simply no sale. A lot of people, they try to push their features and benefits, but it just doesn't work. Why is that? It's because the strongest emotion to get someone to take an action is actually pain, and the second strongest emotion to get someone to take an action is going to be pleasure. So you want to mix these concoctions together in order to manipulate somebody's mind in order for them to buy your things.
So how exactly is this going to work? Well, I've drawn a simple diagram for you. On the left side, you're going to see the prospect, the person that you're trying to sell to, and they are in a painful situation. And on the right side, you're going to see their dreams, their aspirations, their desires, what is it that they actually want in life. And obviously, underneath, you're going to see what is some kind of gap, some kind of challenge that prevents this person to get to where they want to go.
So if you ever watch YouTube or you've seen, you know, people create content and they try to make you buy something, right? Typically, what they'll do, they'll make whatever situation you're in as painful as possible. For example, right, if they were selling a business opportunity, like I'm going to teach you how to get rich doing Shopify or Amazon or whatever it is, right? They're going to say, "Are you tired of your 9-to-5? Are you not treated well? Are you not respected? Do you want to find love? And do you want to travel the world and make money online and do all these things?"
So what are they doing? They first paint the picture of where you're currently at, and then from there, they'll contrast it with where you want to go. So these days, most people want, you know, basically the same things. They want to be able to make money, they want to do it online, they want to work with whoever they want, wherever they want, they want to have the ability to travel the world if they chose to do so, and they want to be their own boss, right? So that's two contrasting situations: one where somebody's in pain, the other one is their dream life of what they've imagined.
So when you see this content online where people are flexing, you know, working on the beach or like these really big mansions and these nice cars, what are they doing? They're psychologically influencing you to make you want to be like them, right? And you're going to be like, "Oh my God, why am I still living with my parents? Why do I do this job that I don't even like? I just want to be free, right?" And so when you put those two together, what's going to happen? They're going to think, "Okay, I'm here right now. I'm not having fun with my life. And on this other side, this other guy seems like he's doing really good. How do I get to where he is?"
And then they're going to have these challenges of, "I don't know what business to start. I don't know how to do it myself. I've never sold anything in my life, right?" So all these challenges start to pop up the moment they start thinking about, "What if I could do it?"
If you look at the diagram again, how you actually sell is not by being salesy. It's by positioning yourself as the solution to someone's pain because they already want to go somewhere, right? You kind of have an idea of what dream scenario they want to create for themselves. All you're really doing is positioning yourself to look like the best vehicle to get them to where they want to go.
How you actually dive deeper into this is that you want to turn a small problem into a really big problem. And how do we do that? Well, I drew another diagram for you. There's three steps to this: latent pain, realize pain, and extreme pain. So a latent pain is basically a pain somebody has on the inside, but they don't know they have it. For the most part, people live their everyday lives walking in pain, but they don't know.
For example, if somebody was working at a warehouse, right, and they're just doing the same thing every single day, and one day a robot's going to replace their job, they don't know that this is really a big problem. They just kind of live their life, and they just ended up there because maybe their friend recommended they get a job there. And then down on the inside, when they go home, they're probably thinking like, "Man, this life was not for me. This life sucks, but I don't know what to do, so I'm just going to keep repeating my days over and over."
And then they're going to distract themselves with like video games at night, watching movies, or doing this and that, you know, like smoking weed, right? People fall into the cycle of doing the same thing every single day. They get numb by it. And for them to enjoy their life, they have to like turn to these vices in order to feel something because they dread the days when they have to go to work, right? But they don't know that this is a problem.
Now, from the outside looking in, right, for someone who is successful and they have the freedom to travel and all these things, they're going to say, "Why would you choose to live like that when you could do so much more?" And in their head, they're going to think, "Wait a minute, this guy did it. I'm just as smart as him. I don't see why I can't do it." What I've done is I've taken this little tiny problem, I planted a seed in their head to show them that, "Hey, you can do more. You just don't realize it yet."
And now that problem they had of, "Oh, my job is okay," turns into, "I absolutely hate my job. I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm going to waste my life the next 10 years working at this factory when I could be traveling the world and becoming the best version of myself." So now that latent pain that I told you about, a pain that someone doesn't realize they have, turns into a realized pain. They realize they have some kind of problem, right?
It's not enough to get someone to realize they have a problem because they're going to feel like, "Oh, I have a problem now, but it doesn't mean I'm going to do anything about it." So the next step of the process is to get that realized problem and turn it into an extreme pain. You want to make it hurt so bad that if they do nothing and they don't change their lives, then they're just going to be suffering almost through hell every single day.
When we go back to the first diagram and you look at the left side where it shows pain, this guy is looking on the other side. He's thinking, "How do I do this? You know, the gap is so wide. Like, I got to figure this out." But to get them to make a decision more quickly, you have to up the stakes, right? So for example, on the left side, if you, you know, put a fire there and the whole, you know, left side of this picture was like on fire, or if you put a monster there that's going to eat them, right? They're going to be like, "Oh, I'm just going to jump in the water. I don't even care if I have a boat or anything, right?" They just jump because the pain of staying there is so strong that they'll just even do it by themselves without any help and drown in the water rather than die in the fire.
So all you're really doing is positioning, right? You're creating this scenario in their head of where they are, where they want to go, the challenges that they have, and then you put this really big problem on the left side to make sure that they feel like, "Oh my God, I got to do something or else my life is going to be terrible." And by the way, if you're actually serious about learning all the dark psychology tactics so that you can sell more of your products and services, you definitely want to check out our free group, Founder X. Link is in the description where we're going to have a lot of resources, feedback for you, and really just help you out become a better seller. So link is in the description for the Founder X free school community.
So now we're going to move into the next step, which is the how. It's not enough for you to tell somebody your features and benefits and how you're going to help them. Number one, they need to come to the conclusion about this on their own or feel like they did. And number two, you have to position yourself in a very clear way that shows them you're going to get them to where they already want to go.
How I personally do it when I'm selling is I take all the pains, the problems, the frustration, the hopelessness, you know, whatever negative emotion somebody has, and I reflect them like a mirror. But then I turn all these negatives into positives. So their problems, I got the solutions for this. Their hopelessness, I have the confidence, right? Their dark future of they do nothing and they live life the same way they've always been doing it, I turn it into this bright future of what could be. It's almost like you're selling a dream, right? But the difference between selling a dream and selling something of value is that you need to be able to deliver on whatever it is that you promise. Very important point.
All right, so assuming that we're all ethical here and we are going to actually make a difference in someone's lives in a positive way, we are just reflecting all of their problems and turning it into solutions. When we go back to this graph, I love this graph because it's so simple, but it explains the whole process. This person has a problem, and they're looking at you almost like an advisor, right, a consultant to help them get to where they want to go.
So if they are trying to, let's say, escape their 9-to-5 and make money online, right, then basically you have to show that you're the best method for them to learn the fundamentals of how to make money online. You need to demonstrate that you've done it before, and you need to demonstrate that you've helped other people also make money, and they're going to believe that you can get them to the other side. And you don't have to sell anything because they will come to that conclusion on their own with your social proof of all the people that you helped. And because you framed it in this particular way, it's not like you're just forcing something down your throat. It's not like you're pitching them. You're just saying like, "Hey man, I totally get where you're coming from. I used to have a 9-to-5 job myself, but here's what I did to change my situation and here's how I'm living on the other side of the world here in Vietnam, uh, living my best life. Based on your personality and skill sets, I think I might be able to help you. Would you like to know more?" And of course, they're going to say yes.
So naturally, when you're taking somebody through this process, you're kind of holding their hand through this entire sales process. And throughout the entire time, they're going to have these objections. They're going to think, "Is this going to work for me? Does it work for my particular skill sets? Am I too old for this? Am I too young for this? What if I have a full-time job and I don't have time to work on something on the side, right?" All these objections are going to come. And this will actually be your challenges, right?
So going back to the graph, there's this gap between where they are and where they want to go, and they're going to have all these negative emotions in their head telling them all the reasons why they cannot do something. It's your job as someone who's selling to turn these challenges into opportunities. So if they feel like they don't have enough time and energy to do a 9-to-5 job and also study a new skill set that they can sell into the market, well, you have to ask them like, "Hey, how many hours do you work a day? Eight. How many hours are in a day? 24. So that's only 1/3 of per day. And you're going to sleep another third, so you have 1/3 left. So if you took that 1/3 and you cut it in half, and that's the hours that you spend on your business every single day, that's about 4 hours a day. So could you work on your business at least two to four hours a day, every day for the next 3 months? You probably could. And if you did that, could your life totally change? It absolutely could. Could it also not work? Yeah, you know, if you don't put in the work and the focus and you don't try, absolutely. But it's up to you. It is your life. Nobody can do it for you except yourself. I can only show you the path, but it's you who has to walk it."
That's essentially how you kind of paint this picture in somebody's head for them to believe in you that you can actually help them do whatever it is you want to do. Now, I'm just using an example on top of my head, but if you're selling anything B2B, the same thing applies to any businesses. You know, businesses want to make more money, they struggle with these things, whether it's running an ad, creating content, you know, whatever the case is, and they need your help. And all these pains are always going to be emotional. Like, you cannot say a business is not emotional because businesses are run by people. Businesses are owned by founders, and founders are very emotional, right? So you can always tap into a person's emotions, whether you're selling to a large company or you're selling to an individual person.
Now, I'm going to show you how to close a deal without having to negotiate. I've been trying different strategies. I've read many different books on negotiations, and there's many things that do work. But what's working really well right now, especially when it comes to transactional sales, and transactional just means like things are very simple, like coaching, consulting, and courses, things of that nature, right? Where it's like very straightforward. When somebody pays, they know exactly what they get. Like, if you're going to run someone's cold email campaigns, they pay you a couple thousand dollars, you do the work, right? Very simple.
So here's how you close without negotiating and not lowering your prices. When you're on the sales call, you know, you go through that entire process, you know, you know where they are, you know where they want to go, you get them to the dream scenario, right? They agree to everything, and now it comes to price. They're going to say like, "Okay, well, everything sounds pretty good, Patrick, but, um, now I guess it just comes down to the pricing, like to see if it's worth it or not." So let's say I'm charging $3,000 per month retainer, right? And I say, "Sure, based on everything we talked so far and for your particular plan where we're going to run your cold email campaigns, the price is going to be $3,000 per month."
And what am I doing here? I'm pausing. I just pause. I don't say anything further. I say it with such confidence that when they hear that, they're thinking, "Oh, that was kind of higher than I thought." But subconsciously, they're thinking, "But the way he said it, that's probably what he charges everybody, and people probably pay it." So then they'll just pause and they'll think for a second, and they're going to be like, "Okay, well, it's more than I wanted to spend, but because he understands me, I think he can get the results. And if I make more money from his services, then it's actually free."
So what's going to end up happening is that they're going to logically in their heads try to justify their reasoning. So even though they didn't have the budget for it originally, they may try to afford it now. They may aspire to afford it because they think it's worth it, right? Especially if you're selling something that helps somebody save money or make money, technically you should be free, right? Like if someone's paying you 3K and you're making them 10K, yeah, you're basically free. But they take the risk on you to give you a chance.
So by pausing and just saying your price with confidence and just letting them speak, they just end up not really negotiating. If they can find a way to afford it, right? And so instead of them knocking your price down, they in their heads find a way to afford it. And a lot of times, if you're making somebody money, they will actually get the customer to pay for your fees, you know, because if you're sending cold emails and they got a couple customers from it, maybe they're making a couple thousand from those couple thousand, they're going to pay your $3,000 fee anyway.
So you always want to put yourself in a situation where it always feels like you're free. It always feels like you're providing value, you're helping, you're not an expense, you're a revenue-generating department for them, right?
Now, I'll give you another psychological tip that's going to be extremely powerful for you, and that is telling relatable stories. So a story is one of the most powerful ways to influence someone's decision-making. It's one of the best ways to get someone to remember any facts or details about your program or whatever it is that you're selling, a story, right?
So a lot of times when you're starting out, especially if you are doing any type of service, consulting, courses, things where you're teaching your skills, you're kind of using yourself as your testimonial, as your story in the beginning, right? So let's say, you know, before I had a tech sales job working in Silicon Valley, so when I started on YouTube, I would just teach people all the things I've learned at my job. So when I try to sell them, I would just say, "Hey, these are strategies that worked for me back when I was working in Silicon Valley. So I'm pretty sure if you're working in tech and you're trying to get a job in tech sales and make six figures, I'm pretty confident it's going to work for you because I literally just did it." So that is a story that people remember that's directly relevant to my ideal customer.
So whatever it is that you're selling, whether you're selling your experiences or services, just tell how you did it, and that itself will give them all the confidence. And what would even take it to the next level is if you have some clients who have some results, like let's say you help somebody get their first client, you help them with their lead generation, right? All you have to do is just tell the story of how you did it, where were they at when they started with you, and where are they at now?
And then they're going to see like, what's going to happen is the prospect in their head, they're going to imagine this little picture, right? Obviously, it's not going to look like that, but in their head, metaphorically, it's going to be the same. They're going to think, "Okay, like Patrick helped this guy who was in this problem, who was just like me, and the dream is, let's say, to start my own business selling my skills, which is something I do, right?" And then they're going to be like, "Okay, who's some other people that he helped? Okay, this guy seemed like he got his first client in two weeks. Wow, that that's pretty amazing. So how do I do it myself, right?"
And so those kind of stories are the things that push people forward to get them to want to buy. There's nothing more powerful than a customer success story. That's why you see like, you know, in any program, they'll just put a wall of testimonials, right? Because it is social proof, it's building confidence, it's reducing risk, and when somebody gives you money, they feel confident that they're going to get some kind of result, at least.
Now, the next tip I'm going to show you is a very tactical dark psychology tip, and it really taps into people's egos, people's character, right? So what it is is using somebody's words against them. How does this work? Let's say you're in a deal and you're trying to get someone to close on a quicker timeline. Everything's going pretty well, and you ask them like, "Hey man, so based on everything we talked about so far, like, is there anything else you need to see before moving forward?" "Oh, no, like everything sounds good, Patrick. This is exactly what I wanted." "Okay, cool. So because this is what you wanted, when do you think you can get started?" "Uh, well, I I think I can get started maybe, um, a month from now."
"Okay, uh, pretty interesting because from what you were saying earlier, you said that this is a really good fit, this is exactly what you wanted, and you know, it seems like you want to get started like right away, but now you're kind of saying that you want to get started a month later. So I'm not understanding why you you need to wait a month. And, you know, if you need help or time thinking about it, maybe I can help you think through it since we're on the call right now." Usually, they respond, "Yeah, that that seems pretty fair. That's a pretty good question." "Oh, well, you know, I guess I needed some time to think it over about, just wanted to make sure that the program was right for me, could solve my problems, whatever, right?"
So let's say you handle the objection, and now the objections are clear. And then you do it again. You say, "Okay, well, now that we handle that, and it seems like you don't need to think it over anymore, right? So obviously, we don't have to wait a whole month. Is there anything else you need to see before moving forward?" "Oh, no, that that's pretty much everything. That's that's everything I want to cover." "So there's nothing that's like stopping you from going through with the program?" "No, not at all." "Okay, so could you get started now?" And then you just pause, right? Because they're not expecting this.
They're going to be like, "Oh shoot, like that's, uh, I don't know, like, you know, they're just going to like, all these thoughts are going to flow in their head, and they're going to be like, 'Oh, well, how do you, like, take payment?'" "I'll be like, 'Oh, credit card. I'll send you a link and you can just, uh, get started right away, and we'll onboard you as soon as possible.'" And then they'll think about it and they'll say, "Oh, no, I can't, because, you know, I would prefer to do it next week."
"Okay, well, you said you kind of want to begin, and you have the opportunity to begin. This is something you say you actually want. I'm just not understanding like what's going to happen within that week so that now they have to tell you the truth. You put them in the corner, because you use what they said against them. They said they wanted to get started, this is a perfect fit, they can get started now, then you ask them for payment, they didn't pay. So why not? They said they would. And so you're using their words against them, yes. And they're going to eventually tell you the truth because prospects always lie, whether they realize it or not. And a lot of times when you talk to people, they they sound super excited on the phone, like, 'Oh my God, like this is going to be so good,' but then when it comes down to it to actually pay, a lot of times they just disappear, right? Happens all the time. So you just have to accept that, like take a stoic approach and be like, 'Hey, like I already know they're going to lie, whether they realize it or not, so I'm going to use this against them for them to get to the truth,' and that's how I would do it."
Now, is this manipulative? I wouldn't say so because at the end of the day, your goal is actually to help them, right? Like if you're selling some kind of transformation that's going to like completely change your life for the better, why wouldn't you want them to get started sooner? Otherwise, what if they never get started and they stay down the same path they're always on, and 10 years later they might regret it? So if you truly believe in your products and services that you're selling something that is transformative, that brings value in someone's life, yeah, then I would use all these tactics. I wouldn't, you know, the way I packaged this video, it's like dark psychology and whatever, right? And the lights are all red, but in reality, all it really is, it's just helping people, and it's just convincing them to buy your services. And as long as what you're doing is ethical and you're actually delivering on every promise that you made, then the reality is there's really nothing dark about this for.