Welcome to the sleazy world of High-Ticket Sales Closing. This is the exact sales script I used to sell 9k – 15k 90-day programs with the truth about the lies I sold. This post is for every entrepreneur, business owner, coach, and consultant who’s fallen prey to an overpriced con that promised you more money in business but got you no results. This is the confirmation of your initial gut reaction if it’s already happened to you, future prevention so that it doesn’t happen (again) and my own redemption for being part of the online insanity that is “get-rich-quick.”
[This is part 1 of a 3-part series.]
How I became a high-ticket-sales closer
In December 2017 I decided to remain in Los Angeles and not return home to South Africa. Starting from scratch, I needed support to rebuild my business with American credibility and to make money fast. It seemed like my prayers were answered in the form of a time-sensitive offer online that actually landed me in the position of a high-ticket sales closer.
(Con #1: the time-sensitive offer which is actually an ongoing evergreen offer.)
Those were the days of Facebook and I’d seen an ad for a webinar that just happened to start in 15-minutes time!
(Con #2 – stating one thing but providing another. I’d fallen for the trick. It wasn’t live as stated, but a pre-recorded webinar. So the start was dishonest.)
The name of the male who hosted the webinar isn’t relevant. He’s long since vanished from the online-sales world. He is just one of the thousands of online con artists who promised me exactly what I wanted to hear when I was desperate enough to believe him: that he knew how to make me rich in 3 simple steps.
(Con #3: the three simple steps to get rich quickly.)
The webinar was so compelling I booked the free consultation afterward.
(Con #4: the free sales consult which is actually a sales call.)
During the call, the tables turned. I can’t tell if I sold myself or was bought hook, line, and sinker, but here’s what happened. When he realized I couldn’t afford his 12k offer for the 90-day accelerator program, he offered me a job: become his high-ticket sales closer and get the entire program for free.
(Con #5: the massive reduction of cost if you pay RIGHT NOW.)
I felt like I’d hit the jackpot. A 12k bonus gift, plus a mentor, plus a lucrative side gig of 15% per sale! I was 100% bought in! Worst of all, I fully believed in him and the offer. I’d been an associate and pitch coach for TechStars (the original 90-day accelerator program) and knew how powerful accelerators were. What I didn’t know was that what he called an “accelerator program” was not what it seemed at all. It was something else entirely (don’t worry, I’ll tell you exactly what his offer actually was in this post.) The truth was, I wasn’t about to accelerate my business success, I was about to enter the seedy underworld of high-ticket sales… and it would be a few years until I got out for good.
Too good to be true
It’s painful reviewing the promises of the program because I still wish they were true. I’ve chiseled away at them, polished them up, and stripped them down over the years to try and extract the truth from what I wholeheartedly believed. Who doesn’t want impact, income, and independence? It’s why you’ll hear so many high-ticket sales closers using some version of these promises. He wasn’t wrong about our basic human desires in business. But scratch the surface and you’ll see just how impossible the claims are to achieve with the solution he provided. What I didn’t know then is that my success wasn’t based on someone else’s formula. I didn’t have the success levels I wanted because it all takes longer than I’d hoped for. Success is about building the stamina, momentum, and resilience to keep going. It’s not a 90-day sprint to the finish line. There is no get-rich-quick scheme that works.
So, I’ll unpack all the fancy promises, explain the jargon and made-up terminology, list the cons, and offer alternatives for what you can do differently. But first, let me tell you the reason get-rich-quick schemes always fail.
The reason get-rich-quick schemes always fail
The only person profiting off a get-rich-quick scheme is the con artist, so unless that’s you, good luck making any money from their scheme. Their job is not to help you but to make you pay. Once you’ve paid, their job is done and it’s on to the next unsuspecting soul. Growing your business is not a box to tick. Business is a living enterprise that requires nurturing, adaptation, and consistent input. Just like growing, birthing, and raising a child, there is very little that’s passive about it. So set your expectations early on or you will fall prey to someone telling you it’s easy! Business is not easy. Business is extremely creative. Growing your business is one of the most creative and courageous acts you can do and its complexity is delightful, challenging, terrifying, and magical. But it’s not easy. And there is no one way to do it. So keep that in mind if ever someone promises one easy way to grow your business. It could be one of the ways that move the needle or one of the keys to unlocking a new avenue of success but there is never just one way.
[There are multiple interconnected parts that all require content, community (or an audience who buys), and a scalable sales plan. If you sell without the substance of a community to back you up then you’ll never last online. ]
(Con #6: the lie that there is one easy way to grow your business).
The Script
Every high-ticked sales closer gets a script. We literally read it. Part of my “act” included writing with my apple pen on an iPad but even the most spontaneous suggestions and drawings were scripted.
(Con #7: handwriting makes lies seem more true.)
This script doesn’t cover the customer objections (that’s a post for another day) because
A.) Many of the objections been overcome in the webinar and pre-call video
B.) And I’d use the “Yes” trick to get the ticket so warmed up that they’d usually say yes without any more convincing.)
The entire script is one big labyrinth of lies combined with a few real-life stories, facts, and basic human desires which makes it impossible to distinguish one from the other. But don’t worry – I will forensically inspect it for you. Kidding – that’s one of the trick words you’ll soon see in the script as if there are actual indisputable scientific methods and immutable techniques in the art of business creation. Spoiler alert – there aren’t.
The Actual $12K Sales Script
(I’ve added the script into sub-headings for easy reading. They aren’t in the actual sales script. The bracketed italics parts are me talking directly to you.)
Chit chat
Ok [insert first name], what would make this a really successful call for you today?
(When you tell me what you want it seems like I will help you get it. Nothing wrong with that except for that that it’s never addressed again because it’s irrelevant and I’m reading you a script regardless.)
Great, so the way we can achieve this is by me asking you a bunch of questions, to work out IF or HOW I can help you with this,
(IF – depends on how much money you have and HOW is through hinting at what’s in the program in a very vague way that is meant to entice and confuse you.)
then if I can we can create a blueprint together on what you need to work on. If I can help you and think we will work well together I will provide you with the right option to accelerate your progress.
(The blueprint and what you need to work on are the parts of the program I’m selling you and only those. There is nothing outside the paid offer that will ever get suggested.)
If I feel like I CAN NOT help you, I’ll let you know why, and do my best to point you in the right direction.
(If you can’t afford it, it’s bye-bye.)
Sound good?
(Con #8: getting you to say “Yes” as many times as possible to trick your brains into saying yes to buy at the end.)
Just for housekeeping purposes we always record our calls because as you will hopefully see, these calls are too important to miss anything and if you do join *Con-man’s name* as a mentoring client, it’s always nice to be able to listen to this call again after you’ve gained your desired results to see how your life has changed. Don’t worry the recording will stay vault safe.
Is that ok? (another yes)
One final thing before we start. We have a lot to get through and need to move at a good pace and so I may interject sometimes if I feel we need to progress the session. It’s not me being rude, I just want you to make the most of the call. Is that ok? (another yes)
(Con #9: asserting dominance by showing who’s boss with a warning, “I may interject” as if it’s for your own good because I know what’s best and you don’t. What this really means is “stick to the script” and avoid any deviations and questions.)
Great let’s get started
[Open application]
Ok so I got your application and I see a lot of great stuff:
Your Business Review
The review isn’t a con. I just read back what the potential ticket has written. This is so that you feel seen, heard, understood, and supported as if it really is all about you. It’s a standard reflection exercise. The fact that some solid techniques are used with shady ones just adds to the overall confusion of high-ticket sales. And it’s more of con #8, the “Yes” factor which is continuously repeated throughout.
- I can see that you help [insert who they help ]
- Your business has been running for [insert how long been running]
- Your current monthly revenue is [insert monthly revenue]
- You feel your level of impact with the top 20% of your audience is [insert impact ]
- Your level of independence from the business is [insert independence ]
- Your time commitment is [insert time commitment ]
- Your level of investment in growth is [insert level of investment in growth]
- Is all of this correct? Including the level of investment?
I ask this because I don’t want to talk about a strategy that won’t work for your current financial situation or a program that will accelerate the process. You saw the video from *Con-man’s name* after you applied and he talked about a strategy and program for that.
(The purpose of these discovery calls is all about how much you can spend today and how much you’re going to spend even if it means using a credit card. It’s not about your current financial situation at all. This part got to me the most. I hated seeing people use credit cards to afford the program. It’s why I suggest tiered offers so that you can reach clients no matter their financial situation. Always have a few free quick-wins because every business owner deserves support whether they can afford your offer or not. Check out my Freebies for some.)
Would you like to proceed with the call shaping the call around that strategy and program?
(Con #8 agin – yes, yes, yes)
[If they say that they cannot afford it then say:]
Ok, I may or may not be the right person to help right now as my expertise is highly defined.
(Con #10 – the vague “highly defined expertise” without future explanation, context, or examples. It just meant I’m here to close high-ticket sales and not waste time with people who won’t buy as we only got paid on commission. In reality, “highly defined expertise” has nothing to do with providing insight, unless “highly defined expertise” is getting people to pay you through a con.)
What will help is if you can tell me your budget and then I can either map out a strategy and program that fits your budget or refer you to another colleague who operates in your segment.
[If their budget is below $999 end the call by saying: “Unfortunately we will need to end the call here because my sweet spot is helping coaches and consultants who have a budget for advertising. I’m sure you have a great idea that needs to be realized or progressed so you can generate enough money to start advertising. This, unfortunately, is not my specialty segment, and therefore I want to tell you upfront that the call will be canceled as I don’t want to waste your time.”]
(Con #11 Meta ads. Facebook and Instagram ads are giant scams that don’t work. Not only will your bank account get hacked but the results they claim to get you aren’t the results you actually track. Anyone selling you ads as your primary solution to grow your business is a con artist. Save your money! I’ve lost thousands through doing ads after mentors told me I must, taking ad courses with professional teams helping me test over 100 ads, and with Meta experts – that is an entire blog post for another time. Luckily my bank refunded the most recent charges without investigation which means I’m not the first Bank Of America client who got scammed by “Facebook”.)
[If their budget is between $999 and $4999 continue with the call and try and sell the $2.5k case study, by moving over to question 1 on that script.] / [If their budget is $5k or above continue with the call and sell them into the $9k program]
[Complete the next 7 questions within 20 minutes maximum]
Your Expanded Business Review
(There is nothing wrong with these questions. They’re great to answer at any stage.)
- Could you give me an expanded 2-3 minute overview of your business and the background that brought you to where you are today, please?
- You attended the *Con-man’s name* webinar, what other steps have you taken so far to launch/grow your business and how has that worked out?
- What revenue did your business achieve last month?
- On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you with the level of take-home income your business is providing you with right now?
Your Future Dream Business
(Imagining the future is my favorite part of talking to a potential client because it taps into your imagination and deepest desires. These questions are worth asking if you’re actually going to unpack and discuss them so that you can offer insight and creative direction but as a high-ticket sales closer, you don’t do any of that. It’s a touch point of genuine connection and then back to the sales script.)
- Let’s imagine you are having a coffee with a friend in 12 months’ time. What would have happened in those twelve months to leave you feeling ecstatic about your business? What would you be telling your friend?
- Why do you want all of this and why now?
- Clearly, you know what you want. You’ve painted a really great picture for me. So let me ask you this—what do YOU think the main reasons are for not having this?
Ok, thanks for this, from speaking with you I think I can see several areas where you could make some big shifts, do you want to explore this with me now to see if we can unpack this together?
Great ok first of all from the answers you’ve given it’s clear that it’s very important to you to have a higher level business so a High-End Business. Is this correct?
(yes)
[Write “High-End Business” in the center of a venn].
(Sometimes-a-con: Venn diagrams! High-ticket sales closers LOVE Venn diagrams.)
The promises
Ok great, well as you probably remember from the masterclass there are really three key components to creating and running a high-end coaching business and that’s:
Giving high-end impact so you can be relevant and meaningful for the right people
You also need to generate a high-end income so you can create re-invest in your business to scale it which feeds back into your impact
Then there’s gaining high-end independence (freedom to do what you love which obviously feeds back into impact and income)
Are any of those or all of those particularly important to you?
Tell them what they want but only hint at how to get it
(Telling people the “What ” over the “How to” is a great way to entice potential clients but only if your “how to” actually works. Otherwise, it is a con.)
Ok, in order to give high-end impact and generate a high-end income in tandem you need to WIN ATTENTION so you can attract high-end clients successfully.
In order to give high-end impact and gain high-end independence you need to WIN TRUST so you can enroll high-end clients easily without any uncomfortable selling otherwise this can hamper growth
And in order to have independence and a high-end income you need WIN HEARTS by over-delivering and we do this by delivering what we call leveraged value that’s meaningful to your clients, which I’ll come on to shortly.
Ok, would you like to map out your 90-Day blueprint on how to achieve this?
(yes)
(This all still sounds amazing to me and I wish it was true and not just entrapment for a $12k webinar program which is what it actually is.)
Ok, the best way to do this is to show you what we do on the 90-Day Accelerator program. Remember the program *Con-man’s name* spoke about in the video you just watched?
Ok so in the first 30 days we focus on the WIN ATTENTION part and we call this Segment 1, and there are two powerful components to this:
Part 1
To win attention and attract successfully you first need to Forensically understand In the first 15 days we go into what’s known as the deep dive into the top 20% of your audience.
(Con #12: using vague scientific terms that sound important but don’t mean anything. You can’t forensically understand your clients. It’s nonsense.)
***
The word “Forensic” means “belonging to, used in, or suitable to the courts or to public discussion and debate. : relating to or dealing with the application of scientific knowledge (as of medicine or linguistics) to legal problems.” – Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Even if you do aim to understand your clients through customer research, it’s an art form. And because I did the program I can tell you what this made-up nonsense actually was in reality. It’s an interview form.
(Con #13: renaming a regular known task as a secret and special technique.)
In this case, I’d say “what’s known as the deep dive into the top 20% of your audience” when what was actually required was to interview 20 of your previous clients or customers with a set interview sheet. Good luck scheduling and managing that massive task, assuming you have 20 clients or customers who are willing to be interviewed. This task falls into another con category, con #14.
(Con #14: setting mammoth almost-impossible task within a mico-time frame and then blaming the person for not achieving it. Say it’s impossible to move further until the task is complete and make it the first task.)
20 interviews in 15-days or do not pass go. Good luck with that. And even if you do pull it off (which I did) you’re left with a bunch of notes you now need to categorize, make sense of, and turn into sales copy, as if that isn’t an actual career too. There is no training on how to do it, only the instruction that you must and then the blame that “you’re obviously not very clear on what you offer so improve your offer because this program only works with an irresistible offer.”
Now, creating an irresistible offer is its own thing entirely! That’s a third of what I’ve spent the past 5-years training business owners and entrepreneurs to do. And it has multiple moving parts. Check out Irresistible Offers inside The Vault for more insight.
***
Now I’m not sure if you know this but *Con-man’s name* is a Client Jobs practitioner meaning he uses something called the jobs-to-be-done framework that goes way beyond customer personas or avatars which can be useful when targeting but doesn’t scratch the surface when looking at behaviors and buying triggers. It was developed and evolved by some highly influential innovation experts over the last couple of decades.
(Con #15: using made-up job titles like “Client Jobs Practitioner” which isn’t a real thing and has no meaning.)
The most well-known one is Professor Clayton Christensen from Harvard Business School.
(Con #16: creating false associations to famous or credible professional’s work by using a made-up title that sounds similar to a prestigious person, place, thing, or event even though there is no association whatsoever.)
The framework looks at what important and meaningful jobs are your prospects looking to make a significant transformation with. I think *Con-man’s name* is the only practitioner in the world that we know of, who specializes in high-end coaching and consulting programs and so he takes the framework a step deeper and looks at what “life-changing” jobs your prospects are looking to make a transformation with.
So much so that they will pay $5, $10, $20, or $100k in some cases to accelerate the process.
(Con #17: making unsubstantiated claims like “the only person in the world.” This is also a doubling down on Con #15 and Con #16. It’s easy to be the only one in the world at something that doesn’t exist.)
(Con #18: the “life-changing promise” without any tangible example, definition, or transformation given. This is similar to the X10 your income in 90-days. If your service or product does change people’s lives, share the change in a testimonial as proof.)
***
The milkshake study by Professor Clayton Christensen had nothing whatsoever to do with the con man. It’s a great study that discovered that people care more about what the product does for them (the benefit) than its features (extra-thick, tasty, flavored ect… relating to milkshakes.) Here’s what you need to know: promote the benefits of your offer over the features. Again, mastering your message in marketing and copywriting and media is a huge skill set to have. Using the words your previous clients have used to describe your product or service is only one idea you could try. I have alternative approaches in the Sales Mastery category of The Vault and again, they’re only some ideas. There is no quick fix here. Communication is a creative and iterative process.
***
Over the years we’ve found that you can get significantly more traction and connection with your audience if you understand the beliefs that are stifling behaviors that activate change. This is why *Con man’s name* goes one step further and looks at the distorted beliefs they have around making the transformation that you’re helping them with and show you how to reverse them.
(This just means “how to overcome sales objections. Every sleazy marketer will tell you the exact same things which blames “fear” for your inability to “take action” when what they mean is, “don’t trust your gut, pay me.” Here’s an alternative idea: how about don’t? How about you trust that if the person wants to buy something they will and if they don’t they won’t. You don’t need to coerce or manipulate anyone. Trust that your potential client or customer knows what’s best for them.)
When you communicate with your prospects you want the hairs on the back of their neck to stand on end. You want them sitting forward nodding their heads thinking this person knows me better than I know myself. We will give you some cool tools to easily get this information from your audience and believe me no one else is doing this in combination with the jobs-to-be-done framework so you will be the first at the races. It’s very powerful and will help you build the right program and marketing plan which I will come on to.
(Con #19: making non-specific promises with impossible-to-prove guarantees like super “cool tools that no one else has like, “believe me.”)
(Con #20: saying “Believe me.” Who says that besides the same liars who say, “to be honest…” )
We found that our clients really struggled to nail this without one-to-one support and so at the end of the 15 days you will have a 2-3 hour private deep dive discovery session with *team member* who has deep conversion rate optimization experience where he’ll help you polish everything off so you have a strong framework underlying your whole business that connects with the top 20% of your audience and will help you structure your program and all associated marketing. He will even create the outline for your landing pages and ads which will save you the pain of doing this later in the program when you need them.
(The only person who should be nailing things is a carpenter, not you.)
(Con #15 again: Use made-up job descriptions like “deep conversion rate optimization experience” which means what exactly? I’ll tell you, the guy was an outsourced copywriter.)
***
This part of the script has some truth. You get a session with a copywriter to co-write your program outline and one-page landing page. The only “associated marketing” is ads which he didn’t do. There was apparently another outsourced course for that which required ongoing ad spend for ad testing. You needed client testimonials, reputable media credibility, pictures, company logos you’re associated with, and a bunch of other stuff you’d get from pre-existing big success. I had it all. I didn’t sell one of the programs the copywriter and con man told me to make. You need people to actually go to your website and their only way to drive traffic was to pay for it. It’s a terrible way. The best ways that work for me are referrals from my clients and organic content marketing. For either of these get Audience Growth and Content Gold inside The Vault. You don’t even need a website to sell.
***
Pause
By now you should be getting an idea of the labyrinth of lies that goes into high-ticket sales closing. I’ve disclosed 21 of the cons to look out for and there is one more to come! Subscribe for part 2 and I’ll keep you posted with the rest of the high-ticket $12K sales script, where I’ll unpack all the fancy promises, explain the jargon and made-up terminology, list the cons, and offer alternatives for what you can do differently!
[The next episode drops next week. Subscribe to read it here or listen to the podcast here.]
Summary
This is the exact sales script I used to sell 10k – 15k 90-day programs with the truth about the lies I sold.
Key Takeaways
If it sounds too good to be true, it is usually a con.
The reason get-rich-quick schemes always fail is that they’re created to profit the con artist seller, and not you, the purchaser
The Actual $12K Sales Script tells them what they want but only hints at how to get it with:
- Your business review
- Your expanded business review
- Your Future Dream Business
- The promises
- Part 1 of the 3 parts
Recommended Reading
Secrets, Lies, and High-Ticket Sales (part 2 of this series)
Warning: 22 Sleazy Cons to Avoid (the final part 3 of this series)
Love, Lauren
***
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