Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - How to Increase the Perceived Value of the Thing You Sell

Episode Date: January 20, 2021

This weekend, I had the chance to witness one of the best sales presentations of my life. Let me show you how it worked, and how you can model it for what you do. Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com ---Transcript--- Hey everybody, this is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the marketing secrets podcast. Today, I want to talk about the secret to increasing the perceived value of whatever it is you're selling. And I'm going to tell you a story about how somebody did this to me this weekend and it was amazing. So, here we go. All right, so I'm going to give you some backstory. Some of you guys know that I'm mildly obsessed with books. Books are the coolest, seriously, come on now. And so my office I'm in now, is swelling with books. We have big bookshelves but there's no room left at all. And so, I decided to start a project. We're going to build a library, a huge library in the lot next to our office, so I can have more books. So I think my office right now has, I think we did the math, has like a little under 10,000 books are in there right now. And the new office will hold, or the new library, will hold up like 60,000 books, which is crazy. And I'm going to have different sections. Like one section that's going to be just about business. One on personal development, one on health, one on religion, just the different topics that I'm passionate about, right? And so, and in there I'll have all the books that matter on all those topics and it's going to be amazing. But then on top of that, I'm kind of a collector of old books, because old books are the coolest thing ever. And so, in section, like for the religion section for example, it'd be a big like white glass bulletproof case that has these old religious books in there. And then same thing with personal development. Like, I'm looking at this, The Laws of Success that Napoleon Hill wrote way back in the day, that's so cool. Anyway, that'd be out on display under these bulletproof glass and a bunch of the cool things. So anyway, there's kind of the frame where I'm at, right? And so anyway, there's this guy who messaged me this week and was like, "Hey, I'm one of the top..." Or, not the one of, "I'm the top rare Mormon book collectors in the world." And he's like, "I'm in Utah right now and I can come and show you some of things I have. And he started telling me all the stuff he has, I'm like, "Heck yeah dude, if you want to drive up here, I'll look at it." Not thinking that I'm going to purchase anything. So anyway, so the guy that drives up and he has these cases and brings them out and he's got all these old insanely cool, amazing books, right? Now, again, I can't tell you all the details because... Anyway, so some things don't make any logical sense, but I'll give you the basic gist. So, so you guys know, I actually bought a first edition book of Mormon back in the day, which is one of my prize possessions. And he had like five first additions. And my mine's like a good one, these are like insane. The highest quality in the world, right? And so when he brought him, I'm like, "I'm going to look at these things but I already have one, I don't need another one. There's no way I'm going to do it." Right? And he tells us ahead of time, he said, "I'm not the best sales person in the world, but as I show you these books, I'm just going to tell you the story behind each of them." And I'm like, "Okay." And so, one at a time, he pulls out the book and you see it. And I was like, "Oh cool, yeah, I have one like that." And then he starts telling you the story behind it. Like, "Let me tell you how I found this. This is where I got it. This is what it looks like. This is why it's so cool. This is..." Like, "Look at this, look at the inscription, look at the thing here, look at the thing..." And started showing you all the pieces about it. Where within like 10 minutes I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I want that so bad." And they shows the first book and he's like, "Here's the second book." And pulls it out and tells the story behind that and how he found it, and why it's so cool and the intricacies and why this one's different, and why it's so important, and why very few people have it and the scarcity of it. Right? The second book is the second edition printing of The Book of Mormon, and it was so cool. And he's like, "Just so you know, there's only 25 of these on planet earth right now that we know of. And this one is the best quality one." And shows that and I'm like, "That's so cool." But still in my head, I'm like, "I'm not here to buy anything." And then he shows the third one and the fourth one and the fifth one. Then he shows this other book and then just going through book after book, all these things. And as he did it, he didn't just like, "Oh, here's the book." Like, show it to me. He told me the story about each one. It was interesting, as he told the story, the story, as you guys know, if you've been following me for any amount of time, the story increases the perceived value of the thing. And so by hearing the story, he went from like, "Oh yeah, that's a book." Like, "There's no book." To like, "Ooh, there's an old book that it's pretty cool." To like, "Oh my gosh, I really want this old book." And by then it's like, "I have to have this at all costs." Like, "This needs to be in my library, otherwise, what's the point of building a library? I should just burn it to the ground, right?" And so, it was just fascinating. And this was one of my interesting takeaways. Because I asked this guy, he finds these things, collects them, and then sells them. And I said, "Is this hard for you to sell these after you find them and you know the stories?" And he told me something interesting. He said, "I've regretted every book I've sold." He's like, "But this is what I do. So I've done it for the last 40 years." And it was interesting because I was noticing myself, as he told the stories, how engrossed I got into the story of each book and how important it became to me. And I remember feeling this other thing where I was like, "If I don't buy this..." How much regret I was going to have, because I'm going to miss out on the story and the thing and all the stuff." So by him telling his story, the same regret that he was having by selling this book, was the same regret I was going to have if I didn't have the book, which was super fascinating, don't you think? And anyway, Oh, and then there's so many sales lessons I could tell you. It's from this guy, he's like, "I'm a horrible salesperson." But then also talking about status, right? As he's showing me these books and he's like, "There's a lot of people have three, but there's no one that has all five of these." He's like, "Maybe one or two people on the planet." He's like, "Instantly you'd be one of the top five rare, Mormon book collectors on the planet, if you had this set." And then this, and then... It was crazy. And I come into this thing, not planning on buying anything just wanting to see what he has to two hours, three hours later, writing one of the biggest checks in my life. But I share it to you because I want you to understand, that is the power of story, right? I always tell you guys, if you're teaching a concept, you have to tell the story about how you learned or you earned it. If you're selling a product or service or a thing, you have to tell the story about how it was created. The story is the thing that increases the perceived value. I literally went from like, "Here's an old book." Like, "Oh, sweet." To like, "Let me tell the story of the book." And then he got deeper in the story and the meaning and all these kinds of things got to the point where like, "Wow, that's really cool." To like, "Ooh, I really want that." To like, "If I don't have that, I'm going to lose something." The fear of missing out, of not having that, became so big and so large that I was willing to do, as a buyer, do something completely irrational, to make sure that we had it, right? Anyway, it's just fascinating. It was such a cool case study to me. To see these things being used on me. In fact, I told him at the end, I was like, "Dude, you told me two hours ago that you're not that good at selling." And I'm like, "All selling is, is telling a story in a way that increases the perceived value of the thing that you're trying to sell." I said, "Based on that definition of selling, you're the greatest salespeople I've ever seen." Right? And so, I want you guys to understand that. A lot of times we think, "Oh, we need to do the newest sales trick. I need this technique or I need da, da, da, da." All these kind of things. It's like, "No, no, no." the best sales people, the thing that they do is, they tell a story that increases the perceived value of the thing that they're trying to get you to desire. And if you desire it, then you're going to want it, right? To the point where if you don't have it, then you're going to feel the same regret that that person has giving it away. Like, "If I don't have this, ugh, like what would like what's to happen tomorrow or the next day? How are we going to feel?" All the other emotions start flooding in as well, right? And so, that was the fascinating thing. So anyway, I want to share with you guys for so many reasons. Number one, I'm excited. I got sold, I love getting sold. It's the greatest thing in the world. Number two, just the lesson. And that is the lesson, how do you tell your story in a way that increases the perceived value of the thing you're selling? That's the big secret. That's the big, ah-ha. It's not becoming a slick at selling or figuring out the masterful funnel or any of those things, right? It's getting good at telling the story about the thing that you're selling in a way that increases the perceived value, so that it goes from an, "Oh, it's cool." To a want, to a desire to, "If I don't have this thing, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life." And that's the magic. So anyway, think of that for your product. Think about next time you're on a Facebook live or doing a podcast or you're trying to sell something or whatever it is. Or you're face-to-face with somebody or whatever, right? What's the story? How did you learn it? How did you earn it? How did you create it? How did you find it? What was the thing? Why is it so important? Why is it valuable? How's that person's status going to be increased if they have it, how's the status going to decrease if they don't have it? How are they going to regret this in the future if they don't have it? Those are all these little things they're tied to the story that make it to the point where it's like, "Oh, I have to have this thing." The better you get at that, the more money you're going to make. Anyway, that's all I got you guys, I hope you enjoyed it. Sunday when this library is done, this will become part of the pilgrimage to internet marketing Mecca. You guys will have to come to Boise, Idaho, and come look at the library and walk through it and see it. It's going to be something magical. There's more things planned inside the library/event center/stuff. But anyway, someday hopefully you have a chance to come see it. I'm sure that as we start building it, you guys will see the footage and the videos and all this stuff. Oh, there's so many cool things that are happening in it. In fact, right now, today, they're out there literally surveying the land, which is exciting. Anyway. So one of those things, one of those dreams that become a reality and I'm really excited for it. My plan is to build out a whole research center and start hiring people to can do research and finding things and searching. And I want to be able to take... I feel like one of my roles here is to sift through tons and tons of information and to find the best things and bring it back to you, right? Like if you look at my books, that's like me going through 10,000 books and 100,000 split tests and things, trying things. And then my books are like, "Here's what I found. Here's what actually works." Right? And I want to do that at a bigger scale, and I want to be able to do that on all the topics I'm excited about in life. And building that research seems to go through and plow through tens of thousands of books, find out the core pieces, bring them back to us so we can test them, we can try them. And then from there be able to give you guys products and courses and books and training or whatever the thing is to help get you guys results in your life. And so, that's kind of next phase in my life that I'm really excited for is that, is building the research center, building the library and then building the team to create those things. So anyway, if any of you guys are interested, if you're a researcher, if you're a writer, if you're obsessed with the things I'm obsessed with, and I don't know, maybe it would be a good fit. Maybe someday I'll put out a job application, see if anyone would love to spend their life living in Russell's library, just reading books and researching and pulling out the gems, so that we can turn it into something that'll change people's lives. Any who, that's all I got for today. I appreciate you guys. Remember, selling is all about learning how to tell your story in a way to increase the perceived value of the thing that you're trying to sell. If you can master that, you'll never have to work another day in your life. All right guys, appreciate you all. We'll talk soon. Bye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Metro links and cross links are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Hey everybody, this is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. Today I want to talk about the secret to increasing the perceived value of whatever it is you're selling. I'm going to tell you guys a story about how somebody did this to me this weekend and it was amazing. So here we go.

So the big question is this. How are entrepreneurs like us, who didn't cheat and take on venture capital, who are spending money from our own pockets, how do we market in a way that lets us get our products and our services and the things that we believe in out to the world and yet still remain profitable? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Russell Brunson and welcome to Marketing Secrets. All right, so I'm gonna give you some backstory. Some of you guys know that I'm mildly obsessed with books. Books are the coolest. Like seriously, come on now. Um, and so, um, my office

I'm in now has, is swelling with books. Like we have big bookshelves, but there's like no room left at all. And so, um, I decided to start a project. We're going to build a library, like a huge library, um, in the lot next to our office so I can have more books. So I think my office right now has, uh, I think we do the math. It was like a little under 10,000 books are in there right now. And the new office will hold, or the new library will hold up to like 60,000 books, which is crazy. And I'm going to have different sections. And like one section that's going to be just about business, one on personal development, one on health, one on religion, like just the different topics that I'm passionate about. Right. And so, and then in there I'll have all the books that matter on all those topics. And it's going to be amazing.

But on top of that, I'm like kind of a collector of old books because old books are the coolest thing ever. Um, and so in any section, like for the religion section, for example, it'd be a big, like white glass bulletproof case, you know, that has these old religious books in there. Um, and then same thing with, um, you know, personal development. Like I'm looking at this, um, laws of success that Napoleon Hill wrote way back in the day. That's so cool. Anyway, that would be on display under this bulletproof glass and a bunch of other cool things.

So anyway, there's kind of the frame where I'm at, right? And so anyway, there's this guy who messaged me this week and was like, hey, I'm one of the top or not one of, I'm the top rare Mormon book collectors in the world. And he's like, I'm in Utah right now, and I can come and show you some of the things I have. He started telling me all the stuff he has. I'm like, heck yeah, dude. If you want to drive up here, I'll look at it. He's not thinking that I'm going to purchase anything. So anyway, so the guy drives up, and he has these cases and brings them out,

and he's got all these old, insanely cool, amazing books, right? Now, again, I can't tell you all the details because, anyway, some things don't make any logical sense, but I'll give you the basic gist. So some of you guys know I actually bought a first edition Book of Mormon back in the day, which is like one of my prized possessions. And he had like five first editions. And mine's like a good one. These are like insane, like the highest quality like in the world, right? And so when he brought

them, I'm like, I'm gonna look at these things, but I already have one. I don't need another one. There's no way I'm gonna do it, right? And he tells us ahead of time, he said, you know, I'm not the best sales person in the world. But as I show you these books, I'm just gonna tell you the story behind each of them. I'm like, okay. And so one at a time, he pulls out the book and you see it and he was like, oh, cool. Yeah, I have one like that. And then he starts telling you the story behind it. Like, let me tell you how I found this. This is where I got it. This is what it looks like. This is why it's so cool. This is like, look at this, look at the inscription, look at the thing here, look at the thing and start showing you all the pieces about it. Where within like 10 minutes,

I'm like, oh my gosh, like I want that so bad. Right. And then he shows the first book and he's like, here's the second book and pulls it out and tells the story behind that and how he found it and how, you know, why it's so cool. And then, and like the intricacies and why this one's different and why it's so important and why very few people have it. And like the scarcity of it, right? Like the second, the second book is the second edition printing of the Book of Mormon. It was so cool. And he's like, just so you know, there's only 25 of these on the planet Earth right now that we know of. And this one is the best quality one. And that shows that. And I'm like, that's so cool. But still in my head, I'm like, I'm not here to buy anything. And then he shows the third one and the fourth one and the

fifth one. And then he shows this other book. And then he's going through book after book, all these things. And as he did it, he didn't just like, oh, here's the book. Show it to me. He told me the story about each one. And what's interesting is as he told the, he didn't just like, oh, here's the book, like show it to me. He told me the story about each one and what's interesting is as he told the story, the story, as you guys know, if you've been following me for any amount of time, the story increases the perceived value of the thing, right? And so by hearing each of the story, he went from like, oh yeah, that's a book, like there's an old book to like, oh, there's an old book that's pretty cool to like, oh my gosh, I really want this old book and like by then it's like, I have to have this at all costs. Like this needs to be in my

library. Otherwise what's the point of building a library? I should just burn it to the ground. Right. Um, and so it was just fascinating. And, um, uh, it was, this was like one of my interesting takeaways. Cause I asked this guy, he collect, he finds these things, collects them and then sells them. I said, is this hard for you to, to sell these after you find them? And you know, the stories, they told me something interesting. He said, uh, he said, I've regretted every book I've sold. He's like, but this is what I do. So I've done for the last 40 years. Um, and it was interesting cause I was noticing myself as he told the stories, how, how, um, how engrossed I got into the story of each book and how important it became to me.

And I remember feeling this other thing where I was like, if I don't buy this, like how much regret I was going to have because I'm going to miss out on the story and the thing and like all the stuff, you know, like, so by him telling his story, the same regret that he was having by, by selling this book was the same regret I was going to have if I didn't have the book, which was super fascinating. Don't you think? And, um, anyway, ah, and then there's so many sales lessons I could tell you from this guy. He's like, I'm a horrible salesperson. Um, but then also talking about the status, right? Like as he's showing me these books and like, he's like, there's a lot of people that have three, but there's no one that has all five of

these. He's like maybe one or two people on this planet. He's like instantly you'd be one of the top five rare Mormon book collectors on the planet if you had this, the set and then this, and then, you know, just like, it's crazy crazy. And, you know, I come into this thing not planning on buying anything, just wanted to see what he has till, you know, two hours, three hours later, writing one of the biggest checks of my life. But I share it to you because I want you to understand, like, that is the power of story, right? I always tell you guys, like, if you're teaching a concept, you have to tell the story about how you learned or you earned it. If you're selling a product or a service or a thing, you have to tell the story about how it was created. The story is the thing that increases the

perceived value. I literally went from like, here's an old book, like, oh, sweet, to like, let me tell you the story of the book. And it got deeper in the story and the meaning and all these kind of things. Got to the point where like, oh, wow, that's really cool. It's like, oh, I really want that. To like, if I don't have that, I'm going to lose something. I'm like the fear of missing out and not having that became so big and so large that I was willing to do, you know, as a buyer, do something completely irrational, um, to make sure that we had it right. Anyway, it's just, it's just fascinating. It was such a cool, such a cool, um, case study to me to see these things being used on me in fact i told at the

end i was like i said dude you you told me you know two hours ago that you're not that good at selling i'm like all selling is is telling a story in a way that increases the perceived value of the thing you're trying to sell i said based on that definition of selling you're one of the greatest sales people i've ever seen right um and so what you guys understand that like a lot of times we think oh like we need to do the the newest trick. I need this technique or I need that. Like that, I don't know all these kinds of things. It's like, no, no, no. Like the best salespeople, the thing that they do is they tell a story that increases the perceived value of the thing that they're trying to get you to desire. And if you desire it, then you're going to want it right

to the point where if you don't have it, then you're going to feel the same regret that that person has giving it away. Right? Like, Oh man, if I don't have this, like, oh, like what would, like what's gonna happen tomorrow or the next day? How are we going to feel like all the other emotions start flooding in as well, right? And so that was the fascinating thing. So anyway, I want to share with you guys for so many reasons. Number one, I'm excited. I got sold. I love getting sold. It's the greatest thing in the world. Number two, just the lesson. And that is the lesson. Like how do you tell your story in a way that increases the perceived value of the thing you're selling? That's the big secret. That's a big aha. It's not becoming slick at selling or figuring out the masterful funnel or any of those things, right?

It's getting good at telling the story about the thing that you're selling in a way that increases the perceived value. So it goes from a, oh, it's cool to a want to a desire to a, if I don't have this thing, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life. And that's the, that's the magic. So anyway, think about that for your product. Think about next time you're on a Facebook live or doing a podcast or you're trying to sell something or whatever it is, or you're face to face with somebody or whatever, right? What's the story? How did you learn it? How did you earn it? How did you create it? How did you find it? What was the thing? Why is it so it so important why is it valuable how's that person's status going to be increased if they have it how's the status going to decrease if they don't have it

right how how are they going to regret this in the future if they don't have it like like those are all these these little things they're tied to the story they make it to the point where it's like i have to have this thing the better you get that you know the more money you're going to make. Anyway, that's all I got, you guys. I hope you enjoyed it. Sunday, when this library is done, this will become part of the pilgrimage to internet marketing mecca. You guys will have to come to Boise, Idaho and come look at the library and walk through it and see it. It's going to be something magical. There's more things planned inside the library slash event center slash stuff. But anyway, someday, hopefully you guys have a chance to come see it. I'm sure that as we start building it, you guys will see the footage and the videos and all this stuff. Oh, there's so

many cool things that are happening in it. In fact, right now today, they're out there literally surveying the land, which is exciting. Anyway, so one of those things, one of those dreams can become a reality and I'm really excited for it. My plan is to build out a whole research center and start hiring people to come do research and finding things and searching. And I want to be able to take, I feel like one of my roles here is to sift through tons and tons of information and to find the best things and bring it back to you, right? Like if you look at my books, it's like me going through 10,000 books and 100,000 split tests and things, trying the things.

And then my books are like, here's what I found. Here's the actual, like here's what actually works, right? And I want to do that at a bigger scale. I want to do that in all the topics I'm excited about in life. And Bill, that research seems to go through and plow through tens of thousands of books, find out the core pieces, can bring it back to us. We can test them. We can try them. And then from there, be able to give you guys products and courses and books and training or whatever the thing is to help get you guys results in your life. And so that's kind of the next phase of my life. I'm really excited for is, is that has building the research center,

building the library, and then building the team to, to, uh, to create those things. So anyway, but you guys are interested. If you're a researcher, if things. So anyway, if any of you guys are interested, if you're a researcher, if you're a writer, if you're obsessed with the things I'm obsessed with, then I don't know, maybe we could get fit. Maybe someday I'll put out a job application and see if anyone would love to spend their life living in Russell's library,

just reading books and researching and pulling out the gems so that we can turn it into something that'll change people's lives. Anywho, that's all I got for today. Appreciate you guys. Remember, selling is all about learning how to tell your story

in a way to increase the perceived value of the thing that you're trying to sell. If you can master that, you'll never have to work another day in your life. All right, guys, appreciate you all. Talk soon, bye. Hey, everybody, this is Russell again. And really quick, I just opened up a texting community,

which means you can text me your questions. And right now I'm spending anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes every single day answering questions through text message to people who are on the podcast. And so I wanted you to stop everything you're doing, pull your phone out and actually text me a message. Okay. And the phone number you need to text is 208-231-3797. Once again, it's 208-231-3797. When you text me, just say hello.

And then what's going to happen is I'll add you to my phone. And then they'll send you back a message where you can add me to your phone. And then we can start having conversations. On top of that, through this texting community, so I'm going to be giving out free swag, giving away free copies of my book. I'll let you know about book signings, about times I'm coming to your local area, and a whole bunch more. So I want to make sure you are on this list. On top of that, every single day I'm sending out my favorite quotes, my favorite frameworks and things you can

get for free only through my texting platform. So what you need to do right now is pull out your phone and text me at area code 208-231-3797. One more time. That's 208-231-3797. I can't wait to hear from you right now.