Graham Cochrane (00:02.456)
There are seven words you can say before making an offer that make people want to buy more and they sound like the opposite of a pitch. Say them and their guard drops. They lean in and you're no longer convincing anyone of anything. Now I'm gonna give you the words. I'm gonna show you what they do in your buyer's head and tell you the one way that they can actually backfire. So first, we need to see why everything you've been taught about pitching is working against you.
Graham Cochrane (00:54.2)
There are seven words you can say before making an offer that make people want to buy more. And they sound like the opposite of a pitch.
Graham Cochrane (01:13.004)
I'll give you the words, show you what they do in your buyer's head and tell you the one way that they backfire. But first, you need to see why everything you've been learned but first you need to see why everything you've been taught about pitching is working against you.
Graham Cochrane (01:52.014)
So the problem with most offers is that they come with this unspoken message of you should want this. You should buy this, or I'm hoping that you buy this. And so when people feel that pushiness, that awkwardness, that arm twisting, that convincing, it turns into this negotiation and it's not a relationship that goes anywhere helpful.
Saying no to someone that's trying to push an offer on them feels socially awkward. So most people say, I have to think about it, which is a usually a no. Because they want to be nice and polite. People don't like pressure. I mean, think about it. Do you like pressure? No. So why are we using pressure in our sales environments? Why are we using pressure on sales calls? Pressure doesn't create buyers, it creates objections.
It shuts people down. It puts a divide or a wall between you and the prospect. I've been on sales calls where I'm open to spending money. I am. I invest like people who invest are the ones that grow. So I have no problem investing in myself. But if I'm on a sales call, I'm genuinely trying to understand if the offer is a fit for me. And I'm trying to get my questions answered. And I have been on sales calls where
It just feels like they're waiting for me to shut up so they can just sell their thing. And then when I say, Okay, I'm gonna have to think about this because I don't know if this is for me, they start to then push me. Well, why not? Well what questions do you have? Or what and the tone changes and the energy changes. And then I feel like I'm on my heels and I'm defending myself against this person. Like, bro, you don't know me. I don't know you. I don't owe you anything. Right? Like I took time out of my day to jump on the scroll. Have ever felt that? Right? That's like
Not an environment that's going to lead to a sale, at least not with me. So you don't want to be that person. Do you even you probably don't want to be that person intuitively, right? You don't like having to push people or strong arm them. And so maybe that's why you're listening to this, watching this right now, is you're like, I want to know how to get them to buy, but what do you what do you mean you talk them out of it? Like, what does that even mean? Is that is that is that even a strategy? Yes.
Graham Cochrane (04:13.998)
Because if the answer isn't just a better pitch, because it's not it's not about say these words and it'll convince them to buy. That's not what we're saying here. That's never worked because you can never convince someone to do anything. People only do things for one reason because they feel like it. And the same is true for buying your thing. But if the answer isn't a better pitch, what about taking all the pressure out entirely? What could that do for your sales conversations? Okay.
I'm gonna give you the seven words right now. These consider these magic words, seven words that I have found to just take all the pressure out of a sales conversation. And then we're gonna unpack them because there's a lot of psychology in here. And then I'm gonna give you some practical tools of how to use these seven words. Here he goes. This is a phrase you want to lean into. You want to is it a writer downer? This might not be for you, but dot dot dot. This might not be for you.
But
Graham Cochrane (05:17.474)
Simple as that. There's a variation of this that I like also. This might not be a good fit for you, but
This might not be a good fit for you, but
Why does this work? Why does this work? Three things are happening in this one sentence. This might not be for you, but three powerful psychological things. Number one, honor. You are honoring the person. Number two, you're giving them an out. Very, very important. And number three, you're creating curiosity about your offer.
Let me just give you two cold examples so you can hear the difference. And then we'll unpack the psychology. Here's version A. Here's how a typical person would make a pitch. Okay, we're on a sales call. You're talking about what you want to do, your problems. Let's say you're on one of my sales calls and I'm trying to make you an offer and you want to grow your business. Typical pitch, version A would be: hey, let me show you what I call the effortless business accelerator. I think it's gonna be perfect for you. Here's what you're gonna get. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Okay, that's typical pitch. I'm excited. I want to show you my thing. Here's what it's gonna do for you. Here's what you're gonna get. Okay. I'm not saying that's bad. I'm saying that's typical. Here's version B. After they've explained there's challenges in business where they're getting stuck. You tell me all that stuff. Let's imagine it's you and me. You tell me where you're stuck in your business. Graham, I'm stuck at 10 K or I'm stuck at five K or twenty K and I'm working around the clock and it's not what I thought it'd be. And I really wanna have more income because I'm not hitting my income goals and I
Graham Cochrane (06:54.765)
Want to have more time for my family. I'm listening to all this. And and and then when I listen to that and you're like, that's where I'm at. That's why I'm on this call. And I say to you, thank you for sharing that. This might not be for you, but if you want to create 50 to 100K a month and work 20 hours a week or less, here's what you should do.
Graham Cochrane (07:22.721)
This might not be for you, but if you want to create fifty to a hundred K months working twenty hours a week or less, then here's what we do in our program. D hear the difference?
Which one of those made you lean in? I mean, honestly, which one made you lean in a little bit more? Probably the second one, right? And and it's it's by design, we go back to the three reasons this works psychologically. Number one, it honors them. When you say this might not be for you, you're respecting them as a human because there's no way that you can assume that your offer is for everybody. It's just not. So by telling them, hey, I respect you enough.
To admit this might not be for you. I don't know if it's for you. How could I how rude of me to assume that my offer is exactly what you need. No matter how good it is, no matter how great the results are that we get in our program. And I get great results in my program from my clients. You know what I'm saying? So it honors them. And it feels good to be respected and honored by somebody. So when you honor them, you're not assuming that they owe you a yes. That would be rude.
So you're treating them like the capable adult that they are. They can make their own decisions and they should make their own decisions. people should decide for themselves. People want to decide for themselves. People don't mind buying stuff. People like buying stuff all the time. You're buying stuff all the time. You just don't like being sold to. You don't like being pressured into buying something. You just want to be able to make a decision. I want this, I don't want this, right? So
Honor your people by saying, Hey, this might not be for you. It also signals that you care more about fit than the sale. And you really should, by the way. We'll get into that in a second, but you care more about fit than the sale. Almost no one who's selling says this. So you stand out. Every sales call you go on, they're going to say, this is perfect for you. This is perfect for you. This is perfect for you. Maybe, but there's no way it can be perfect for everybody. So from if you're saying from the very beginning,
Graham Cochrane (09:33.23)
Hey, this might not be for you. It shows like a whole level of like, wow, this person's different. This person is not assuming that I'm going to buy their thing or even want their thing. So you will stand out. It honors them. Number two, this move is so powerful. It gives them an out. It gives them an exit. You are literally telling them from the very beginning of this pitch, even if the pitch is three minutes long, you are telling them, hey, you can say no.
You can totally say no.
There is a psychological situation and there's like a chain of events. When there's pressure, pressure creates resistance. So if you pressure somebody, their walls go up to protect themselves. when you remove that pressure, when you say, hey, this might not be for you, you could say no to this, the walls come down. Which posture do you think is going to make your prospect more able and likely to say yes to your offer? When their walls are up,
Or when the walls are down. When they're down, right? So by saying, hey, this might not be for you, you're saying, you can say no to this. You have done them a great favor by preempting the awkward moment where they have to say no thanks. Right? Because they're allowed to say no thanks. But if you've given them an out, they can say no thanks and they don't feel like they have to defend themselves. Because you already told them this might not be for you.
So if they say, hey, thanks, but no thanks, you're you're like cool with it. And that's a that's a service to them. That's a way to just love on them, right? when their walls are down, because now they're not like, I'm gonna have to defend myself, guess what happens? They can actually evaluate the offer for themselves. Because now their head's not like, okay, I'm gonna have to say no and he's going to.
Graham Cochrane (11:29.567)
Ask me why I'm saying no, or what questions do I have, or he's gonna try to obliterate my objections. When they realize you just said, hey, this might not be for you, then their walls go down. Now their brain space is free to actually listen to your offer and decide, wow, what a concept. Maybe this is for me or not. They can actually evaluate. Isn't this insane how like obvious this is when you think about it? this is really, really cool. this is
Research from I I'm gonna butcher the name, but Gogin and Pascal, where they found that the reminding people, this is get this, reminding people that they're free to refuse tends to increase compliance. Now, this is wild. people, and you know this if you're a parent, you kind of know this. If you tell your kids to do something, they don't want to do it. But if if you have something that seems optional to them, like, hey, just giving you an option, like
When you have teenagers, especially when you're trying to help them make a good decision and you think, for example, like if if you think your kids should your teenager should go see a counselor to work through some issues, if you're like, I think you should see a counselor, you should see a counselor, what are they gonna do? They're gonna be like, No, I don't wanna do that stupid thing. I don't wanna talk to counselor. But if you have a conversation, say, hey, you totally don't have to do this. But I think there might be some benefit to you seeing a counselor. And here's why I think there might be some benefit, but it's up to you. Just let me know if you want to do If you want to do you don't have to do
But if you want to do it, you can do it. When given the freedom to say no, I don't want to do it, they actually evaluate it. And they will tend to, if they trust you, say yes to them. Yeah, I think I want to do it. Because you gave them an option. Now, obviously, this doesn't work with all this is not a child rearing parenting tip. you don't give kids options when they're three and they want to run into the street where there's cars or touch a hot stove. You know what I'm saying? But we're talking about adults here. So
There is something powerful about giving people the freedom to walk away. Makes them lean in a little more. So you've you've honored them, you've given them an out.
Graham Cochrane (13:37.015)
But then this is what cr like blows my mind. There is something powerful about the word but.
I don't know what it is, but in the human language, you hear something, but well, I want to hear what's on the other side of the butt. Right? Like they say drinking red wine is bad for you, but well, I want to know what's on the other side of that butt. Right? They say donuts are bad for you, but.
Tell me what's on, please. this is literally me. Please tell me what's on the other side of that butt. I don't know if there is a a health benefit to donuts. I'm I'm gonna find one. And if you have one, please comment below with a study that shows that donuts are healthy for you. Whatever it is, we have to know what's on the other side of the butt. It's just human nature. So by structuring the sentence and saying, hey, this might not be for you, but what's happening? They immediately lean in.
They actually pay attention more. They they want to know what's on the other side. How crazy is this? Everything before but is the setup. You've honored them, you've given them an out, but we instinctively listen for what comes after after it. So the brain asks, but what, but what, what, what, what, Graham? This is classic marketing. This is open loop. This is an open loop technique where you open a loop that they must close. You open a loop that they must close. Right?
The title of this episode is the one phrase that makes people want to buy. Right? That's an open loop. What is the one? I just I want to at least close the loop. I need to know what that phrase is. And now you know. This might not be for you, but so human nature wants to close the loop with the butt. So if you say, hey, thanks for sharing all that, that makes a lot of sense. You know, this might not be for you, but my program, the effortless but not.
Graham Cochrane (15:40.577)
Now they are so relaxed and leaned into your offer so they actually can hear it with clear ears. Are you getting something out of this today? So when you stack it together, they feel honored. So what happens when they feel honored? They like you and they trust you. When someone likes you and trusts you, they're more likely to buy from you. So that's great. Two, you've given them an out. So their guard drops. Now they're not in defensive mode.
They're actually able to listen. And then with the word butt, they're actually curious. So they not only are not defensive, they are leaned in, which is the opposite. They've moved from typical people on a sales call to arms down, leaning in.
A defensive listener
Graham Cochrane (16:46.988)
A defensive listener hears features and how much it's gonna cost. But a relaxed, curious listener hears possibilities. They hear about their future transformation because you have changed their emotional state and you've done all of that before the offer is even started. How cool is that? This might not be for you, but now what comes after the butt matters.
So that phrase opens the door. You still have to have a good offer. And so this is something that I'm helping people with all the time. I run a challenge called the 10K offer challenge. you should come if you haven't come yet. doing one more before the year is up. so it's a live event, and all we do over five days on Zoom is just live coaching with me on Zoom is to help you craft a premium irresistible high ticket offer. An offer that's so good people can't say no to it. So you have to have a good offer, right? And I'm gonna give you a little hint of what.
goes into making a good offer. It's for a very specific person and it has a very specific payoff.
So your offer has to be delicious. It has to be attractive. And people don't buy programs, they don't buy coaching, they don't buy calls, they buy outcomes, they buy payoffs. And so you have to do the work of knowing what payoff can you deliver that is attractive to your ideal person. And if you feel like you're on a sales call or in a room with your ideal people,
Then you lean in with a hey, this might not be for you, but I have a program that helps you get helps this type of person get this type of payoff. They are all in, bro. They wanna hear more.
Graham Cochrane (18:33.176)
So another way to like take this down a level is if if this this might not be for you, but if you are this type of person, so the if is just another softener. If you're this kind of person, it's not assuming they are. Now, if you in a one-on-one call, you might have a lot more certainty and say it sounds like you're this type of person. But if you're doing a one-to-many presentation on a webinar or a challenge or a masterclass or at a live event, then the if language softens it. Again, it doesn't assume that you know exactly.
Who they are. If you're this type of person or if you're in this specific situation, here's what we do in this program: clear outcome. Clear payoff. The if clause self-selects the right buyer and it repels the wrong one. And it's another out for the wrong buyer, but it's another invitation, a soft invitation for the right buyer. You're leading with the payoff, not the features. You never leave with the features. People don't buy features. So for example, you could say,
This might not be for you, but if you're an entrepreneur who wants to make multiple six figures without a big team or 60 hour work weeks, here's exactly how the accelerator works. That's like a version of how I would say my program, right? The phrase you say this, these aren't magical words. Like the phrase cannot rescue a weak offer. That's why the offer is the most important thing. That's why I run a five day coaching experience around designing the offer that will make you a millionaire, because the offer is everything.
Not the funnel, not how big your audience is, not whether you're on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube. It's the offer. And so you have to have a good offer. I'm gonna link to the 10K offer challenge below or just go to 10K offer challenge. Look at the dates for our next one. It is coming up soon, but it's the last one we're doing for the year. But the phrase and the phraseology can amplify a juicy promise, but also exposes a vague one. So if you have a vague offer, this magic phrase will do nothing for you. This makes sense.
Okay, so where do you use this phrase? Because you don't have to use it just on sales calls. Yes, you can do it on a sales call. They they talk about the problem they're having. They talk about what they want to change. And once you've listened to them, you say, Hey, would it be okay if I shared what it might look like to work together? And they say, sure. And you say, like, cool, this might not be a fit for you, but let me tell you what our program does. And you tell me if it's a fit. How honoring is that, right? So you could do it on a sales call, but you can do this one to many.
Graham Cochrane (20:58.54)
So you let's say you present on a webinar or at a challenge or in a live event or keynote, and you transition, you say, Hey, has this been helpful? People are like, Yeah, it's been amazing. Would it be k okay with you if I shared a potential way we could take you could take the next step and really get amazing results? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. This might not be for you, but I have a program that helps this type of person get this type of result. And then you go into the offer presentation. Such a
Beautiful transition line, right? You don't have to do this even live. You can do this in an email. You write an email, it's your latest YouTube video or your latest newsletter, and then you get to the end of it or in the PS or somewhere you transition, you say, Hey, by the way, this might not be for you, but if you're struggling to get X, Y, and Z, I'm running a cohort of program coming up on whatever, whatever, whatever to do whatever.
See how smooth that can be? That can even be in a PS in all of your emails. This might not be for you, but if you want X, or if you're that this type of person who wants Y, you should join X. You can do it in a video like this or a podcast like this. You can literally say, Hey, if you've enjoyed this video, I have something I want to share with you. This might not be for you, but if you want X, Y, and Z, right?
Like this might not be for you. Here's an example. This might not be for you, but if you want to craft $10,000 offers or more that sell easier than your $500 offer or your $100 offer, you should come to the 10K offer challenge. If this might not be for you, but if you want to double your revenue while working half as much, you might want to come to the 10K offer challenge where I'm going to teach you how to do exactly that. So you could do it like from your content. You could do it from your Instagram reels. You can use this.
Anywhere. This might not be for you, but
Graham Cochrane (22:59.468)
Okay. This phrase is magic, but it can backfire. It can backfire.
If you don't actually believe it, it will backfire. If you say these words, but you secretly are going to pressure them anyway, it becomes a manipulation tactic. And people can feel the difference. First of all, it's wrong to manipulate people. So don't do it. Second of all, why even try? People know. People know they're being manipulated. So don't be manipulative, be honest.
Right. So the let me explain something to you. When I when I'm making an offer to people, it's generally people that have worked with me in some capacity, or they've come to an event of mine, or they've read my book, or they're watching videos. And I know two things. I know one, that they need my help way more than I need their money. A hundred percent. Like I don't need their money. I don't need your money, but you likely need my help.
There's a reason why you're in my event or watching this video or listening to this podcast or reading my book, right? And I don't say that with arrogance. I just say that as a from a place of I don't need you. But the chances are very high that you need my help. But that doesn't mean you're gonna want my help. So I don't feel any pressure to get you to buy. Number two, I know that my job is to simply just filter.
I I'm trying to filter to make sure you're the right person and invite you into an offer that I think will likely bring transformation to you. But you have to make that decision. You have to cross the bridge. Something I teach my clients is this belief bridge, and it's how I think about selling. And you can't force someone to cross over this great divide. There is a bridge that you can build based off of five to seven buyer beliefs that you must establish, that they must believe. And every buyer belief that they start to believe, they can take one step.
Graham Cochrane (25:05.633)
Further across the bridge. Okay. You're not pulling someone across. You're not for you're not forcing them to go across. It's an invitation. Offers and selling is always an invitation. You're not yelling at them, you gotta get over here. No, you just build a bridge so they they can take the steps and walk. So you have to understand that you're never manipulating people. People can sense it. So they should be able to sense your confidence and your ability to help them.
But they should also sense that you're you're holding the outcomes loosely because you truly believe that your job is to make sure that there is a fit. That there's a fit. And it goes both ways. It's not just is my program a fit for you? It's are you a fit for my program? I don't let everybody into my coaching programs. Because I don't want crazy. Right? There are some crazy people in this world. So when I get on a sales call from a higher
And offers. Like, I'm not doing that to convince them to buy. I'm doing I already know in the application if they're a good fit, nine times out of ten. I'm doing that to make sure I actually want them in my program. So I'm interviewing them as much as they're interviewing me. And that that's the place you need to come from of like, I'm not, I'm not hoping everybody buys. That becomes weird and desperate. And weird and desperate isn't a strategy for business growth. Right. So
It honors them with this phrase, but you just need to realize you have to actually believe it. You can't just say it. And I'm trusting that you understand that. So this isn't about you, you know, saying this phrase and then you still throw in a hard close or fake scarcity. No. You just you just say, look, if you feel like this is a good fit, we should you should we should do this. If it's not, if it's a no, it's fine too.
You're not tricking, right? This isn't this isn't deep psychological, you know, brainwashing. This is just a posture that's different and refreshing. It's just a posture that treats people like real people, honors them, respects them, gives them an out. But what happens is powerful because you are literally giving them an o opportunity to become able to say yes to your offer.
Graham Cochrane (27:25.122)
This is and this is what my brain is all about. An effortless business is all about.
People saying yes to you and choosing you and chasing you down, not you chasing them down. I don't chase clients. They chase after me. And that's what I want you to be able to do. And this is one part of it. Hopefully this is helpful for you today. Okay, so let's land the plane. The magic phrase, this might not be for you, but it honors them, it gives them an out, it creates curiosity, and then you just make a juicy offer. So here's my challenge for you today. I want you to use this phrase.
In the next seven days, somewhere, at least once. And notice how the conversation changes. You could do it on a one on one call, you can do it on a text, you can DM somebody, hey, this might not be for you, but
Graham Cochrane (28:16.098)
And then if you want help crafting your offer, you should come to the 10K offer challenge. Because that is the difference maker between a million dollar business and a hundred thousand dollar year business, is the offer. So that's why we spend five days live. This is live on Zoom. This is not a recording. This is not a course. I only do this, you know, every five, six weeks. And so we got one coming up for the rest of the year. Details are below, dates are below. So get a ticket, get a VIP ticket, those sell out. So get a VIP ticket.
And spend an extra time with me. I can coach you in real time, answer your questions. and then you can design that offer. And then you'll be able to use that phrase and close sales.
Graham Cochrane (28:55.928)
This might not be for you, but if it is, you just learned the easiest way to sell. I hope this blessed you. We'll see you in another episode real soon.
