A few days ago, I saw a video on YouTube that has since been taken down, I’m guessing because of the provocative topic.
The video was by a former crack addict, now turned sobriety coach. The title of it was something like:
“I am a crack addict, I can find crack anywhere”
The dude told a story to illustrate:
He used to have a white collar job (tech sales, “always the next easy thing”). At the same time, he was also a crack addict as his true primary occupation.
One day, his boss and he flew to a sales conference in a new town, I believe Orlando.
Sales conference is fine. But the real question was, where to buy crack in this new town, and quick?
The dude couldn’t just ask other sales conference attendees. “Hey are you from here? You know a good place to buy some crack?”
But he did get the info, and from the other conference attendees, and immediately.
Of course he didn’t ask directly.
Not only would he be compromising himself, but more importantly (crack being his primary occupation and interest) he wouldn’t actually find out where to buy crack.
The other conference attendees couldn’t verbalize the answer, either because they would find the question personally threatening or offensive, or because it’s something they had never thought about, because “where to buy crack” is not the way they think about their city.
So what did the guy do?
Simple. He asked, “Hey are you local? Where should I NOT go? Which part of town am I likely to get knifed or gunned down in?”
As the dude tells it in the now-deleted video, within 15 minutes, he had taken a cab, bought a crack pipe, and was smoking. This led to a three-day crack binge, getting fired from his tech sales job, and a shameful flight back home, sitting next to his former boss.
And now, you know where and how to get crack if you ever find yourself in a new town. But if you’re not planning to travel anywhere new, let me point out how this is also relevant to you right where you are.
Forget about the crack for a minute. Put that aside.
Instead, think about trying to sell your offer.
I’ve heard sales described as “the process of getting the truth on the table.”
How do you do that, though?
You can ask, of course:
“Are you overweight by 40lbs or more?”
Sometimes that can work. But in many cases, it won’t — either because people find the question personally threatening or offensive, or simply because it’s something they had never thought about, because it’s not the way they think about their situation.
Maybe the crack-finding parallels are becoming clear now.
The fix, in both cases, is to ask your leads about symptoms. People might not know they have the problem (or in the case of crack, opportunity). But they sure do know the symptoms, and much of the time, they are willing to tell you.
Over the past few weeks, I have been helping a few folks who have email lists and who had previously tried offering coaching to their audience, only to hear an orchestra of crickets. I’m helping them package up said coaching into $1k+ offers that are easier to sell and deliver.
The kind of asking-about-symptoms I just told you about is a part of this process.
Is having a $1k+ offer, which you can readily sell to your list, something that interests you?
If so, hit reply and let me know.
You can’t buy anything here. But if you do reply, I’ll give you a 1-page overview of how this process works, so you can go do it yourself if you like.