Stop Tweaking Your Product—Start Changing Your Customer's Mindset

I tweaked my landing page dozens of times and still my sales were terrible. At that time my wife and I were selling house items we didn't need on Craigslist to generate more cash for our business. A guy came over to buy my circular SKILSAW.

He got out of the car, walked over to where I was standing, held it for a minute, then handed it back and said, “I changed my mind.” He then started walking back to his car.

As he walked away, I called out, "Excuse me sir, why did you change your mind?"

"It won't work for me," he said.

"Okay, but can you tell me why?" I asked.

"I need a saw that can cut through metal," he replied.

"Oh this saw can cut through metal no problem," I replied. "You just need to use a carbide-tipped blade and it will cut metal like a chainsaw through cheddar cheese." He handed me a wad of dollar bills and took the saw.

One lesson, $100,000 in sales

I thought about that for a long time. “Why did he change his mind? How did he go from “I won’t touch your circular saw” to “Take my money”?

I retold that scenario a dozen times in my head and then it suddenly hit me. I had discovered what moved my prospect from skeptic to customer!

I applied this new discovery to my landing page, then sent out an email blast. Within 24 hours I made over $103,703 in new signups.

I’m going to show you exactly what I discovered and how to apply this to your offer. Even if you have zero online selling experience, when you apply this discovery, they will buy!

Overwriting false beliefs

Here is what happened on that fateful day: I overwrote his false belief.

The reason people aren’t buying your product is because you are not overcoming their false beliefs.

Here’s how it works. Let’s say you are selling training on how to play pickleball. Your prospect Bobby McGee says, “Well, I don’t want to buy your training because I won’t be able to learn how to play.”

You reply: “Oh you’ll be able to learn. It helped Suzi and Johnny learn in three months.”

Big mistake. Why? Because you did not address his false belief underlying his surface objection.

Find the false belief beneath the surface objection

Bobby’s surface objection: I won’t be able to learn how to play pickleball.
Bobby’s underlying false belief: I’m not athletic, therefore I can’t learn how to play any sport.”

And where did that false belief come from? A negative experience they had in the past. In high school, Bobby McGee spent most of the seasons on the bench because his coach told him he’s not athletic.

Since that day, Bobby has always believed that he can’t learn how to play a sport. So think about this: When Bobby objects that he can’t learn how to play pickleball and you say, “Oh but you can! Suzie and Johnny learned!”

Bobby is going to think, “Yeah, and Suzie and Johnny are probably those athletic types so this just further proves that it would never work for me.” You lost the sale because you never addressed Bobby’s false belief underlying his surface objection.

The Power of Asking "Why?"

So how do you fix this? Easier than you think: Overwrite Bobby McGee’s false belief with a new story. But to overwrite Bobby’s false belief you must first know what his false belief is. So when he objects to buying your product, do the same thing I did with the prospect who was going to buy my circular saw.

Just ask, “Why?” “I can’t learn how to play pickleball.” “Why not?”

“I won’t be able to create and live off a budget.” “Why is that?”

“I can’t shed fat and get shredded.” “Why do you think that?”

Once you understand the false belief driving his objection, you tell him a new story to overwrite his false belief, which I'll show you how to do.

Overwrite their false belief with a new story

But first, let's go back to your prospect Bobby. “Bobby, why do you feel you can’t learn how to play pickleball?”

“Because I'm not athletic.”

Now right here you’ll be tempted to say something like, “Oh, Bobby, my program is set up to make it really easy to learn. Every training includes step-by-step instructions on exactly how to learn the shots.”

That’s called using logic to sell. And it doesn’t work. People won’t buy your training because you logically convinced them. They will buy because they BELIEVED your training would get them the results they are looking for.

And why did they believe? Because you overwrote their false beliefs with a new story. So instead of heralding the glories of your training program, tell Bobby a story about how you or one of your clients who was terrible at sports took your training and today can play pickleball proficiently.

You want your prospect to go, “That’s me! That’s my struggle! If it worked for them, then it must work for me too.” Once you find your prospect’s false belief, you don’t disprove their false belief, you don’t argue about their false belief, you overwrite it.

False beliefs are often irrational

Let me show you what I mean. One late Friday night I met up with a group of people in downtown Austin to pray together before breaking out into pairs of two to talk to people about Jesus.

We finished praying in a huddle, I opened my eyes, and a man was staring at me, arm’s length away. “All Christians are hypocrites,” he said. “Why do you say that?” I asked. “Because I used to be part of a church. And they accused me of being a pedophile. They are a bunch of liars.”

I asked the man his name. “James,” he said. I shook his hand. “James,” I said, “if Christians from that church were hurtful to you I am so sorry, man. People claiming to be Christians have hurt me too. But I want to ask you something. Let’s say that you just met Ejay here.”

I pointed to my adult son who was standing next to me. “And Ejay told you that he follows Jesus. Does that make Ejay a hypocrite?”

“Yes!” James replied without hesitation. James did not appear to be high. He did not smell like alcohol. And he was dead serious.

James illustrates the power of belief. Because James apparently had been mistreated by Christians, he adopted a false belief: all Christians are hypocrites.

“But that makes no logical sense,” you might think. And I agree! But beliefs are often not birthed out of common sense. When someone goes through something that is emotionally charged, he as a highly intelligent human being, can adopt beliefs that are incredibly irrational. And those beliefs will hold them back from buying your program.

Two sons of a drunkard

Here’s the good news. Two people can have the exact same experience, yet end up with the exact opposite beliefs. My favorite example of this is the two brothers who grew up with a drunkard father. One became a drunkard just like his dad and ended up homeless. The other never touched a bottle and ended up with a beautiful wife and children and launched a lucrative career. Both brothers had the same drunkard dad.

So what made the difference?

One believed that he was doomed to be like his dad. The other believed that he could be the very opposite. Both brothers lived out their core beliefs. This shows you how swayable yet impactful beliefs can be. A single belief can literally change the course of one’s entire life.

The disciples of Jesus went from terrified men, running from the temple guards, to becoming bold preachers who were murdered for their faith in Jesus. What shifted? Their belief. After He rose from the dead, they now believed that Jesus Christ truly is the King of Kings. A single belief shift created massive change.

Apply this to your product and watch what happens

The same is true for your product. When you overwrite your prospect’s false beliefs about your product, you open the path for them to invest in your program. But how do you do that?

You are not going to overcome their false belief by using facts about your product. What you must do is overwrite their belief. You overwrite it by telling them a new story, since after all, they came to hold their belief through their own story.

My prospect would not buy my circular saw until he heard a new story–my own story–that using the right kind of blade, you can cut through metal. And that single story turned him from a skeptic into a customer.

Do the same with your product and watch what happens.