Steal These 5 Questions I Used to Sell $10.3M in Courses

I had outperformed all 800 sales agents at Apple. But I couldn't sell a single course from content that had freed me to pay off my house and create financial freedom for my family.

What was I doing wrong? And why was no one interested?

Then a friend hit me with some brutal wisdom: "Seth, maybe you should stop pitching and start asking real questions."

"I am asking questions," I retorted.

"I said real questions," he shot back.

"So what's a real question?" I said, thick with sarcasm.

What he said next changed everything.

And that's when I went from zero course sales to $1.5 million gross profit in year one.

$2 million in year two, $2.8m in year three, and $3.9m in year four.

And it was all because I started asking five real questions. 

Find out what's bothering them

At my last company, one day, one of our sales guys, Kabir, said, “Seth, if you could only give me one piece of advice, what would it be?” 

I told him, “Find out what’s bothering them. Then position our course as the solution.” 

Pitching your product before finding your prospects' pain points is like water without thirst, food without hunger. An answer without a question. 

Until you know your prospect’s pain point, you have nothing to sell and will not make money. 

Once you find their pain point, it's easy

Let me give you a real life example. For a time I sold wholesale coffee to churches. One of my prospects, Luke, picked up coffee from Sam’s Club coffee every Saturday and then the volunteer team prepped it for the church congregants on Sunday morning. Luke found this process cumbersome and exhausting. 

That was Luke’s pain point. 

Had I bragged about how the coffee brand I represented just won the international award for the best-tasting filtered coffee (true story), I would have annoyed Luke. Luke’s pain point is not bad-tasting coffee. That would have been like offering sunscreen to someone who lives in London. 

Instead, I pitched the solution that we ship coffee to Luke’s church once a month so he can save gas, time, and the hassle of driving to Sam’s Club every week. 

Luke purchased. 

Why? Because my offer solved Luke’s specific pain point.

Sell to the core pain point. Everything else is a waste of time.

Let’s say that your prospect, Bobby, is trying to lose weight. But Bobby is convinced the reason he's not losing weight is because he has a low metabolism. If you go on and on about how Suzi lost a ton of weight using your program, Bobby is going to assume that Suzi has a fast metabolism. 

Your story about Suzi just annoys Bobby, driving him further away from the close you want to make. You must sell to Bobby’s pain point: low metabolism. Like this, “Bobby, one of my clients, Lisa, also struggled with a low metabolism. But she found that using my program accelerates the metabolism and today she’s at the weight she always wanted to be.” 

Notice how I overwrote Bobby's false belief with a new story. But not just any story. A story that directly addressed Bobby's pain point.

Learn this skill, and you will make way more money. 

I’ll show you how to do this using 5 simple questions. 

Let’s assume you are teaching people how to play pickleball.

Question #1. What is your ultimate motivation for learning pickleball? 

Instead of assuming that Lucy's end goal is to learn how to play pickleball, ask her why she wants to learn. 

Lucy responds, “Because I want to spend more quality time with my family. I haven’t seen my kids’ faces since the iPhone update.”

Now you understand what’s really driving Lucy. Family time. Pickleball is just a means to an end. Now you have way more influence on closing this sale, because instead of focusing on how great it is to learn pickleball, you will focus on how pickleball is a fantastic path to build lasting memories with your family. 

See how that just went 10,000 leagues deeper? You are now helping Lucy build memories with her family! 

That’s impact. 

But what if Lucy does not answer with her ultimate motivation? For example, says, "Oh, it’s something I’ve always wanted to learn.’” 

Then keep asking her “why” until she gives you her ultimate motivation. 

“Hey Lucy.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Why is pickleball something you’ve always wanted to learn?” 

“Because my friends have been playing for years and I’d love to hang out with them on the court.” 

Boom. You just found Lucy’s ultimate motivation! To spend time with her friends. 

Question #2. What does success 6 months from now look like to you?

Let’s say I agree to help you starting today. I teach you everything I know and do everything I can to help you get results. Now imagine we’re sitting in a coffee shop a year from now. What would have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy with your progress?” (BTW, this question is a version of Russell Brunson's, so thank you, Russell!).

Lucy is literally telling you what benefits to focus on when you tell her how your program works!

Question #3. What is your biggest fear about learning pickleball? 

Lucy replies, “I’m not athletic, so I don’t know if this would actually work for me.” By asking Lucy to share her “fear” instead of her “objection” you invite her to share the underlying false belief that holds her back from buying. The best way to overcome a false belief is not arguing against it or trying to defeat it with logic. Instead, overwrite it. 

And you overwrite it with a new story. Lucy probably got benched in high school while her friends played on the court. She’s carried this false belief since a teenager that she will never be good at any sport. 

So you tell Lucy the story of one of your clients, who is not athletic and never played a sport in their life. Yet they took your program and today they play so well that other players think they played since childhood. 

Question #4. Why haven’t you learned pickleball already? 

This helps Lucy to be transparent about her shortcomings, time wasted, and opportunities lost. This not only makes your offer even more attractive, but helps Lucy realize how much she needs your help.  

Question #5. What makes you different? Why would I work with you over someone else? 

This helps Lucy to sell her qualifications to you instead of you selling your services to her. You are putting her in a place of trying to get you to say yes. 

This creates a psychological switch that will cause Lucy to value your services much higher than if you are trying to persuade her to purchase. 

But there’s another reason this is so powerful: you do not want every client you can get. Some clients you need to decline. For example, if she has an arrogant attitude like, “I don’t need to prove myself,” then she will probably be a pain to work with. 

What if they say they don't have any pain? 

Let’s pretend you are pitching wholesale coffee to a church. When they say, “We are all set,” say this: “Oh, that is awesome, John! Quick question: if you could have the perfect coffee setup for your church–no limitations—what would that look like?” 

Ninety-nine times out of 100, John is going to share something he wishes was different. And when you find what that is, you sell your product to that wish. That wish is the pain point. It’s just flipped to being stated from a positive perspective instead of a negative one.