This is Steve Hochman, and today I'm going to teach you something really cool.

I'm going to teach you the art of closing -- not just selling but closing.

And to do that you have to tap into people's emotions.

And to do that -- to do it like a pro -- you have to make them relive an experience.

Let me give you a perfect example.

Let's say there's someone who is 20 pounds overweight, and you're asking them all these questions.

Why is it important to you to lose weight?

Because I don't like the way I feel. Right.

And I don't like the way I look, and I don't like the way my clothes fit.

And I don't like the way this, and I don't like the way that - And da, da, da, da, da.

Well, guess what?

That's all nice, but you're just scratching the surface because you're not making them relive an experience.

The experience and the emotions of that real experience is what's going to sell.

So if someone says, well, I'm 20 pounds overweight, and you ask them, where are those 20 pounds in your body the most?

And they say their hips, their thighs, and let's say the back of their arms.

And you ask them, when was the last time that those parts of your body made you feel uncomfortable?

And I actually had a lady tell me that she went to a party and she wore a sleeveless dress.

And she was so mortified by the fat in the back of her arms that she literally stayed against a wall so no one would walk up behind her and see the back of her arms.

And the way her dress kind of came in, I guess the fat sort of went over the sides. And so she literally stayed against a wall.

And I was asking her, how did you feel when your back was against a wall?

She said how terrible it felt. It was embarrassing.

I go, what happened when you wanted to eat or go to the bathroom?

And she said, literally, it was like it seemed like walking down a hall to the bathroom was like a 10-minute walk.

I felt like everyone was looking at my fat and laughing at me.

And she was basically in tears. And I'm making her relive an experience.

Now, she's ready to be closed.

Was she just talking about fat and talking about this?

There's no connection to it. It's like if a parent -- if you're selling a time management course and you ask a parent, do you spend enough time with your kids?

And they say no.

And you say, well, do you really think that you should? And they say yes.

And then you say, how does that make you feel?

And they say, terrible.

But if you say, well, when was the last time you ditched your kids because you were too busy?

And they say, well, my daughter had a play. She asked me all week to be there. She was so nervous.

I promised and promised and promised her I'd be there, but I got caught up in work.

I had a deadline, and I had to miss her play.

And she felt like I let her down.  She was crying.

She ran off on the stage. She was -- blah, blah, blah, blah, blah; right

Now, you're making them relive an experience.

That emotion from that real experience is what's going to get someone to buy, not just them telling you, oh, I feel bad.

But they have to be in the moment of that experience, and that's how you sell.

Now, speaking of selling, sometimes the hardest thing to sell is something for free.

Recently I did a post on the fundraiser because I had been getting a bunch of people asking me how to sell personal training method where you go to schools, gymnastics centers, cheerleading centers, dance studios and you basically donate $30,000 of your plastic gift cards.

Each plastic gift card is worth $100.

Donate 300 cards, which is $30,000 value, and they could sell those cards for $25, which is like a 75 percent discount.

And they get to keep all the money.

And on top of that, you're going to train their whole staff for free. And then of course you train their staff for free.

Then you get them to sign up later and that you get them to do your Facebook viral method and all that other good stuff.

But you know why people say no to that, why a lot of schools might be saying no to you?

I want you to do this experiment.

Really do this experiment or at least imagine it.

Go down the street and go up to 10 people and say, "Would you like to buy a $10 bill for $1?

I'm selling you a $10 bill for $1. Would you like to buy it?"

Nine out of 10 people will be like, "No. That's cool. No. That's all right." Why?

Because you're giving them something for practically nothing, but they think that there's a catch to it, and they think that there's a catch.

Okay. So they're going to say no.

Now, go to 10 people and say the reason why you're doing it.

People buy when they know the reason why.

So if you go to those 10 people and you say, you know what, "I want to sell you a $10 bill for $1 because I'm doing an experiment in human behavior.

See, I just asked 10 people if they'd like to buy $10 for $1, and they all said no.

And now, I'm doing another 10 people where I explain why I'm doing this and it's for an experiment and I'm seeing if there's a change in human behavior where people know why.

So I'm going to go ahead and sell you this $10 bill for $1. Would you like to buy it?" And now, you'll get probably nine out of 10 people that say yes because they understand the reason why.

 

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