The Game with Alex Hormozi - How to Sell "Ghost" Products Strategically | Ep 437

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Gain their trust by selling what you (don’t) have. Today, Alex (@AlexHormozi) talks about one of the most powerful sales tactics he’s been using: Ghost Products. He dives into how he was able to discover this idea, how to apply it, and how it’s a concept on diming imaging admission that you can do as a salesperson to gain the trust of your customers.Welcome to The Game w/Alex Hormozi, hosted by entrepreneur, founder, investor, author, public speaker, and content creator Alex Hormozi. On this podcast you’ll hear how to get more customers, make more profit per customer, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons Alex has learned on his path from $100M to $1B in net worth.Timestamps:(2:07) - Sold product out of stock by offering alternatives, giving instructions.(3:59) - "Ghost Products" build trust; distinguish help from manipulation with intention.(5:38) - Trust gained by offering low-margin items generously; present vision.(8:14) - Upsell using prescriptive closes; associate product use with existing habits.(10:35) - Emphasize the problem-solving aspect if the customer doesn't buy immediately.(13:11) - Sales goal: Move to the customer's side of the table.Follow Alex Hormozi’s Socials:LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Acquisition

Getting someone to make a new habit is incredibly difficult. Getting someone to break a habit is incredibly difficult. And so we just want to piggyback on habits they already have. And so that makes you both a better salesperson, but also a better salesman and better coach, like overall if you're trying to help someone achieve whatever goals they have. Welcome to the game where we talk about how to sell more stuff to more people in more ways and build businesses worth owning.

I'm trying to build a billion dollar thing with Acquisition.com. I always wish Bezos, Musk, and Buffett had documented their journey. So I'm doing it for the rest of us. Please share and enjoy. I want to tell you about the most powerful sales tactic, and that means something for me to say that statement that I have learned. And I never learned it from a book. I actually learned it by accident. And it will be included in the $100,000 sales book when it comes out. And so you heard it here first. But it's a concept on damaging admission that you can do as a salesperson to gain trust.

And I stumbled into this. All right. So I'll tell you this story because some people feel worried about how this ended up playing out. But I ended up selling 100% of people after I made this one switch in how I sold. And I was able to teach it to people who had never sold before and they were able to close 80, 90% of people who are coming in the door. Mind you, this is a retail environment selling physical products. Okay. If you don't know why I am, my name is AlexerMosie. I'm atopor companies that deserve for $100 million a year to make these because I want you to make tons of money and then hopefully partner with us in the future to get from $3 million to $10 million to $20 million and beyond. All right. Awesome. So let's rock and roll. So rewind the clock. I was selling supplements at my gym and the way that we

would sell supplements is that we'd sell some sort of service package and then we'd do a nutrition orientation. When they came for the nutrition orientation, we'd actually, you know, set them up with their meal plans and then we'd make recommendations for products. Now, normally I would sell pretty well, but still, I always wanted to sell more and get better. One day, we'd killed this launch for like a new challenge or something, and we had like a hundred new customers or sorts to come in and I ran out of one of the key products, right? And so I had ladies come in, the first half the day and able to get the products. And then some of their friends who signed up with them came in the second half of the day. And we're like, hey, my friend Sandy told me that I need X, Y, and Z.

And I was like, oh, we don't have Z anymore. And it was like really awkward. And I was like, and like, on the fly, I had to figure out something because I was getting these like, you know, some customers who had friends, some people who didn't, whatever. And so a lady came in. And so rather than me like try and skirt around like this clear item that was on the list that I didn't have, that arguably they needed or I wanted them to have, I said, hey, by the way, you can get this one for cheaper down the street at Costco. So, like, you don't need to get this one for me. Like, this one's a little better, but I think it'll get the job done. You can get this one after you've done the program. And they were like, oh, thanks. Like, that was cool. And then after I made that one

crossout, I was like, but you do want this and this from us. And they're like, okay, cool. And as soon as I made that switch from saying, hey, you don't need to buy this one. You can get that from over there, everyone bought what I recommended afterwards. And I was like, whoa. And so then I leaned into that and was like, I wonder if I could do more of that. So I could sell even more on the backside. So then I had two products that I was like, hey, you can get this and this over here, get this brand. It should be at this price. You can go get it. It'll save you 10 or 20 bucks. And they were like, wow, even better. And then I remember I looked at my list and there was a lady there and it was like a mass gainer. And she obviously wasn't trying to gain mass.

And so I was like, you're not trying to gain mass art. And she's like, no, I was like, you can just cross that out. Go ahead. You don't even worry about that. And so I gave her a recommendation of two things that you could get for cheaper. And then I said, you don't need to worry about this. And then when I said, hey, get, like, I need you to take two of these in the morning next to this, take three of these, take them next to this. Put this in your car. So you always have it with you. And then I gave her the prescriptions of how to take the stuff, which combines a different type of selling, which is prescriptive selling. I closed everyone. And what that gave birth to was something that I used to call sacrificial lambs, but now call ghost products because it sounds

better. But I ended up over time not even carrying the products that I had on there that I was recommending out because they were so powerful as a sales tool for me to gain trust from the other person. Now, this is an incredibly, incredibly powerful tactic. And like all persuasion, the difference from manipulation and help is intention. And so if you want to help someone, you are manipulating them, but you're just doing it in a positive intent. Now, and if you change someone's behavior and you have negative intent, you are manipulating them. And so if you believe in the stuff that you sell, you can create an environment where someone will trust you faster by giving them a reason to trust you. And so that means that you acted in their self-interest rather than your own so that they

can feel like you're not trying to take advantage of them. Now, if you know that they need this stuff, but they don't yet know that they need the stuff, then you can make a concession using a ghost product or using a sacrificial lamb like I gave in the example, which is how I stumbled onto this, so that you can gain the trust faster. And so if you feel uncomfortable about not having the product on your menu, then you feel free to carry a product and never sell it if you feel like it.

But I realized quickly that I was never selling it, and I was always giving those ones away. And so if you're going to use this tactic, my recommendation is to, if you feel like it, you can have a few in the back if you want it. because sometimes people just want to buy everything. But to make the products that you send across the street to be the ones that are the lowest margin product. So gain the trust by giving away the low margin stuff and then keep the high margin stuff for

yourself so that people trust you and then they buy that stuff. And so if you're in an environment where you sell multiple products, this has been the most effective way that I've learned to sell. Now I covered the setup, right? And this is kind of like pre-suasion stuff. Now, I didn't get that from Caldini, but it's still the set before the close. Real quick, guys, if you can think about how you found this podcast, somebody probably tweeted it, told you about it, shared it on Instagram or something like that. The only way this grows is through word of mouth.

And so I don't run ads. I don't do sponsorships. I don't sell anything. My only ask is that you continue to pay it forward to whoever showed you or however you found out about this podcast that you do the exact same thing. So if it was a review, if it was a post, if you do that, it would mean the world to me and you'll throw some good karma out there for another entrepreneur. When you want to sell the other products, what you want to do is give someone a vision of what their life's going to be like when they're experiencing the benefits. Okay. And so you want to explain to them exactly how to take it before you make the ask.

And so what we would do is say, hey, this one is going to help you do benefit, benefit. And the way that I need you to take it need you to take it is that you're going to take two of these in the morning. Then I ask a question. And I'm like, what do you do every day no matter what in the morning? Do you wake up and smoke a cigarette? Do you drink a cup of coffee? Do you take a shower? Like, what's something you do every morning?

And then they say, well, I brush my teeth every morning. I'm like, cool. So I don't want you to put this, push it in front of them. So I don't want you to put this in your cupboard because you'll forget about it. I want you to put it next to your toothbrush so we don't have to make a new habit. And they're like, oh. And what I want you to do, piece of tape, put a two on it. I want you to take two of them.

Okay. And we're going to put next your toothbrush. Got it? Okay. That's number one. This one, I want you to take it at night. So is there something you do every night? Well, I take my makeup off.

Okay, cool. Do you have a makeup remover? Yeah. Okay. Can you put this one in your makeup bag? Piece of tape? Three. I want you take three of these when you take your makeup off.

So you're in front of the mirror. You got the sink right there. You take your thing off and then you pop them in. And now you're being productive while you're taking your makeup off. Make sense? Okay, cool. Got it. Now, I would go through that with each of the products that I have.

And I would say, okay, you can have all these. You're good to go. make sure you keep that on the car, just a quick restate. And by the way, did you just want to use the cards you have on file? Now they don't have to take their wallet out. They don't have to make another purchase decision. They just have to say yes. It's a one-click upsell. And so the person says, yeah, sure. It's like, cool. What I would do? What do you know? I have all the contracts from all the people that I signed up the day before in front of me. Oh, cool. So the card ending in 4-6-9-7? Yes. Okay. 4-6-9-7, blah, blah, blah. Cool. Sign the bottom. This is your ticket out of here. And so as soon as they sign that, the person who's waiting also knows that they have to sign the thing to get out the door. And then you set up a beautiful selling experience.

And so that is a combination of a prescriptive close and having ghost products to set up trust. And you're also being a good coach by showing them how they're going to make this happen in the role. Now, this is obviously a consumption-based product. But in any product that you want somebody to use, they have to use it at a certain point. And so we want to figure out ways to associate the usage of the product with something they're already doing. And so you want it to be like net time. Getting someone to make a new habit is incredibly difficult. Getting someone to break a habit is incredibly difficult.

And so we just want to piggyback on habits they already have. And so that makes you both a better salesperson, but also a better salesman and better coach, like overall if you're trying to help someone achieve whatever goals they have. And so that kind of selling process, that set close, gain the trust, make the prescription works unbelievable. well. And then if for some reason the person's like, well, how much does this cost? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then you can say, well, are you on a budget? And if they're like, I'm on a budget, that's like, okay, then would you like me to order these in order of importance and the things that I think you absolutely need to have versus things that'll just get you more benefits faster? And then what I would then do is take off one and say, this would be the lowest

one I'd remove. Does this work for you? And if they're like, I can't do that. I'd be like, we're really getting into the bare bones here. I'd be like, I could take this one out. But like, this is what I want you to add to your diet to replace this thing because you don't want to show that what you took out isn't important because then it looks like you're selling stuff doesn't matter. So these are ingredients, but you're going to have to eat a shitload of broccoli now. All right. So you okay with that? You know what? I'll just get the thing.

Okay, cool. Now it's back in. And so you want to show because there's always going to be a cost. There's an opportunity cost to why. I mean, hopefully when you're selling something, you're trying to solve a problem. So if they don't buy the thing, then you reintroduce the problem that you were solving. So it's like, hey, I don't want you to have to eat a pound of broccoli, which is why I had this. Now, I don't even need to mention it because I made the prescription, right?

They're trusting me to make the prescription because that's why they're paying you for expertise. But you reintroduce the problem so that they're reminded like, oh, this is actually what I'm solving here. Yeah, you know what, it's worth it. And then you can pause and say, well, are there things that are your old identity that you're going to stop doing as a result of doing this program? Are you going to go out less? You're going to drink less. Are you going to smoke less? Or you're going to whatever less?

And they're like, well, yeah, I definitely want to be better on. these things. I'm like, cool, well, how much of that do you do? Cool, we just found some money. Don't worry about it. Let's associate with these new activities, new identity. If this sounds really smooth, I've done this a lot of times. So, like, you'll get used to it. You know what I mean? Like, you'll get a lot of reps in. And I think one of the best gifts you can have is trying to tack yourself into an existing sales process of a big business. So if you work at a business that sells lots of low-ticket stuff, like think car washes, think massage, think nails, think hair, stuff where they just see lots of people every day at low tickets.

See if you can work with a business owner and incorporate some sort of inject yourself into their sales process so that you can get rep after rep after rep after rep. And it will teach you more about the skill of selling and dealing with people than any course ever will. And you'll learn these little pauses, those little intonations, and it will equip you for whatever you want to sell for the rest of your life. It's one of the best things I ever did was do tons and tons of transactions at low tickets. so that when I got to selling higher ticket more expensive stuff, I was like, oh my God, this is a breeze. Because I used to be arm wrestling over $97. Right.

And so when we were selling $10,000, $100,000 things, I was like, this is unbelievable. I can't believe this. But you earn that. You know what I mean? That combines two things, ghost products and prescriptive closes. And I hope they serve you well in the things you sell. If you sold services, let's say you sold web design services. And you had like a laundry list of stuff.

You could say, hey, we can do this, but it's not necessarily our core capability. and it would probably cost you more if we did it because we'd have to allocate more resources. So there's guys in the Philippines that will do it for you. I've got a connection I can talk to you to about after this call. And if you really want to be sneaky about it, if you're the owner, it's harder. If you're a salesperson, owners tell your salespeople this. You can have it seem like they're leaning on their side of the table to be like, hey, man, like you don't need to worry about this.

Like, just I'll hook you up with a number of a guy. And then the salesperson becomes incredibly trusted. It becomes like they're on that side of the table. but what the person doesn't know is that they're trying to sell the other stuff. And so if you can move, like, at the end of the day, the goal is a salesperson is to move to their side of the table. If you start the conversation across the table, the goal is to end shoulder to shoulder so that you're both looking at the decision together with the same information to make the best decision for the person. And so if you can walk yourself around the table psychologically, this is one of the fastest ways to do it. So anyways, lots of love, keep being amazing, and I will see you guys.