Yesterday afternoon, in a breakdown of all discipline and order, I decided to skip the gym, eat whatever sweets I could find around the house, and instead of working, download a movie to watch.
After all, Daniel Throssell was sending out emails to sell my Copy Riddles course. Money was coming in without me doing anything. So why not take a rare day off to loaf about?
The movie I downloaded was one of my favorites — The Sting.
I’d seen it 3-4 times already. But yesterday, I saw something new in it, something I want to share with you because it’s very relevant to persuasion and influence.
What I want to tell you requires a spoiler.
So if you’ve never seen The Sting before, it might be worth stopping this email right now, and coming back to it only when you’ve watched the movie yourself.
It’s worth it.
Not only does The Sting have Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the lead roles… not only did it win an Oscar for best film and best director… but it also has a sparkling script (which also won an Oscar) by a guy named David Ward, who was well-read in the techniques of conmen, and who also seems to have had an intuitive understanding of human psychology.
Are you still reading? Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Here goes:
The relevant scene is when Johnny Hooker, a lonely conman on the run played by Robert Redford, tries to pick up Loretta, a gruff waitress at the local diner.
Hooker has already talked to Loretta before. He knows she is as alone as he is, and that she’s only passing through town, another tramp like him.
He’s tried asking her out before. She shot him down cold. But Hooker gives it one more try.
He knows where Loretta lives. And one night, at 2am, when Loretta finishes her shift at the diner and goes home and turns on the light in her room, Hooker takes a deep breath, walks up to her building, climbs up the stairs to her door, and knocks.
Loretta cracks open the door. The following dialogue follows:
HOOKER: I was wondering if you might wanna come out for a while, have a drink or something.
LORETTA [indignant]: You move right along, don’t you?
HOOKER: Hey I don’t mean nothin’ by it. I just don’t know many regular girls is all.
LORETTA [still angry]: You expect me to come out, just like that…
HOOKER: If I expected something, I wouldn’t still be standing here in the hall.
LORETTA: I don’t even know you!
HOOKER: You know me. I’m just like you. It’s two in the morning and I don’t know nobody.
Loretta pauses at this. She gives Hooker a sad smile. She opens the door a bit wider, and moves aside to let him in.
So that’s the scene. Now here’s the spoiler:
Loretta is not actually a waitress at a diner. She’s actually a top level hitman, or hitwoman, working for a mob boss that Hooker fleeced by accident. She’s been hired to take Hooker out. She’s playacting her indignation, just trying to reel Hooker in so she can kill him.
In many ways, this is the essence of a confidence game. And sure enough, the pattern above repeats in different situations in the movie, with different characters, as they try to influence and con each other.
Now, since Daniel’s Copy Riddles promo is over, I have to get back to work. And I do have something to sell today. But it’s not something I want to sell to just anyone.
For one thing, this thing I have to sell is too valuable to make available to anyone who wants it. For another, it requires more than money to profit from.
This thing I have for sale is probably not for you. But I’ll make you a deal:
Hit reply right now. Tell me the name of the persuasion pattern or strategy that the scene above illustrates. If you don’t know the name for it, then tell me in a sentence what you think is going on, on the level of persuasion.
I’ll give you a hint:
This pattern is also used regularly by pick up artists, salesmen, even by legendary copywriters.
So write in and tell me what you think it is.
If you get it right, it will tell me you might have it. In other words, you might actually profit from this thing I have for sale, so I’ll tell you more about that.
And if you don’t get it right, well, at least I’ll tell you what’s really going on throughout The Sting, and how it works in the real, non-con world as well. And maybe you can profit from that in some way.