Sell Like A Pro: Decoding The Ultimate Formula

What if I told you there's physics involved in doing business? Just like

gravity has laws, business has laws too. There are four invisible forces

too. There are four invisible forces that govern customer psychology and can 10x your sales. These forces are like the physics of customer behavior. Once

you understand them, you can predict what customers will buy before they even know it themselves. Meet Steve, a founder of a virtual reality platform that helps architects turn their 2D

sketches into rich, immersive walkthroughs for their clients. He used

this framework and his sales accuracy jumped from 10% to 89%. In this video I'll show you exactly how to use these forces to design offers customers cannot

refuse. And so, a few years ago, I'm

refuse. And so, a few years ago, I'm pitching my product to a potential customer. They say they love our

customer. They say they love our product, say it's exactly what they need, and we are both excited. 3 weeks

later, I get an email from them. Thanks

but we have decided to stick with our current process. This happened to me 17

current process. This happened to me 17 times before I realized I was missing something fundamental. I was focused on

something fundamental. I was focused on wielding just one force, pull during my demos, but I learned that there are three other forces that I wasn't using

and leveraging. Our virtual reality

and leveraging. Our virtual reality founder friend Steve from past videos also had the same blindness. His VR

demos were incredible. Everyone was

wowed by them, but no one was buying.

Like me, he usually got the polite no treatment, something along the lines of we need to think about it, or the timing isn't just right. It's easy to throw up our arms in the air when this happens

and dismiss this as just the way it is.

But then that's when it hit me. Customer

decisions aren't rational or irrational.

They are driven by basic laws of physics. Just like Newton's laws of

physics. Just like Newton's laws of motion, customers too are subject to forces. And until the forces pushing

forces. And until the forces pushing them away from their current solution exceed the forces pulling them back they won't move. No matter how good you think your product is, here's exactly

how the customer forces work. The first

force that kicks everything else off is push. This force is triggered by an

push. This force is triggered by an external event often caused by a frustration with the status quo, a pain that is getting worse, problems that

start costing time or money, or some other external pressure like a regulatory change that causes the prospect to want to switch to something else. Most founders never take the time

else. Most founders never take the time to really understand this force of push which is the underlying motivation for change. They instead focus only on the

change. They instead focus only on the number two force pull where they try to attract the prospect towards their new capabilities and promise them better outcomes through emotional appeal and

rational benefits. But unless the

rational benefits. But unless the prospect is already primed for change they will often downplay or completely ignore these benefits in their mind because the other two forces, inertia

and friction, play an even bigger role.

Force number three is inertia. And this

represents our resistance to change. All

objects at rest prefer to stay at rest.

This is the first part of Newton's first law of motion. These are the stories playing out in the prospect's mind.

We've always done it this way. Or our

current solution isn't all that bad.

Change is hard or good enough is just good enough. And the other detracting

good enough. And the other detracting force that keeps them from buying is force number four, friction. This is the fear or anxiety of trying something new.

Things like what if it doesn't work?

What if we waste time and money? What if

it's harder than promised? Or what if we look stupid at the end? These are the stories that keep people from using a new solution and keep them stuck on their in their mind safer current

solution. A purchase decision then comes

solution. A purchase decision then comes down to basic physics. A prospect will buy if the forces of push plus pull is greater than inertia or friction. Now

unfortunately, it's a little bit worse than this because of the principle of loss aversion. Humans don't typically

loss aversion. Humans don't typically behave like rational objects. The

principle of loss aversion is the behavioral economics principle pioneered by Daniel Cannaman and Amos Traverski where they found that people tend to feel losses or negative forces more

intensely, sometimes two to three times more intensely than equivalent gains or positive forces. What this means for us

positive forces. What this means for us is that prospects will tend to exaggerate their inertia and friction or fear of trying something new and downplay your claims when making a

decision. This is precisely why just

decision. This is precisely why just focusing on the pull or benefits of your product isn't enough. Your pitch needs to work on all four forces. So, let's go

back to Steve. Once he understood these forces, he completely redesigned his entire sales pitch. Before he was solely focused on pulling. He led with an amazing demo, emphasized cool

technology, focused on features and benefits, and had a 10% close rate.

After he reworked his pitch to tackle all four forces, and he started with push to trigger the motivation for change. In his case, he teased the

change. In his case, he teased the promised land by showcasing how other architects were already using a new way virtual reality, in their client

discovery calls to close more deals faster. This created instant FOMO in the

faster. This created instant FOMO in the minds of his prospects. He then

amplified their pain to mitigate their inertia or resistance to change by describing how their current solution was incapable of competing with this new

approach. I call this step breaking the

approach. I call this step breaking the old way in the mind of the prospect.

This setup created the opening he needed to then contextualize the pull of his product with an impressive but focused demo that delivered exactly on this

promise. And the final and most fun step

promise. And the final and most fun step was reducing friction by offering, in his case, a mafia offer with a risk-free pilot period where he would actually

help close their next deal with his solution. Who would say no to that? Once

solution. Who would say no to that? Once

he started using this new approach, his close rate went from 10% to 89% and most architects bought on the spot. That's

what happens when you wield not just one, but all four forces in your pitch.

In the next section, I'll walk you through a step-by-step process for mapping your customer forces. Step

number one is the customer forces interview. Now, sure, it's possible to

interview. Now, sure, it's possible to take a guess at these forces, but the nature of new products is that at the outset, we often don't know what we don't know, unless you're a mind

readader. The best and easiest way I

readader. The best and easiest way I find to uncover these forces is through carefully scripted customer forces interviews. You don't need to interview

interviews. You don't need to interview hundreds of prospects to figure this out. Somewhere between 10 and 20 is all

out. Somewhere between 10 and 20 is all the information you need to unpack these forces. And that gets you to step number

forces. And that gets you to step number two, mapping the customer forces. This

is where you segment your customers to identify real and ideal early adopters primed for change and rank the most influential forces to emphasize in your

pitch and in your MVP. Then you move on to step number three, assembling a mafia offer. You use what you learned, not

offer. You use what you learned, not guessed, to craft a carefully scripted product pitch that hits on all four cylinders or all four forces. One, it

pushes them to act, pulls them towards your solution, overcomes their inertia and finally closes the deal by eliminating all friction. Then the fun begins. Step number four is where you

begins. Step number four is where you deliver and optimize your mafia offer.

When you switch from a demo focused pitch to a storydriven pitch, you lead your prospects down a more predictable path where you can measure their reactions along the way, set them up to

buy or tell you why they're not buying.

Both of which will help you continuously improve and optimize your offer. And

like Steve, move from hoping they will buy to knowing that they will. Now, if

you want to map your customer forces you can download the customer forces canvas we use in my demand validation course. I'm also working on a new AI

course. I'm also working on a new AI powered tool that helps automate and greatly speed up many of the steps above. Downloading the canvas will put

above. Downloading the canvas will put you on our launch list and you'll be notified when that's ready. If you're

new to customer interviewing, you should watch this video next where I make a case for why talking to customers the right way is one of the most important skills all founders need to master and I

show you how to get started. Thanks for

watching and until next time, take