6 Psychological Tricks Gurus Use To Sell You

I dove deep into some of the biggest gurus' marketing funnels on the planet and discovered 6 marketing strategies they all use to sell millions of dollars online. What you're about to learn will finally help you work out for yourself when you should start selling in a funnel and which one of these strategies you should actually use. And after this, you're never going to look at buying stuff online the same, I'm afraid. Starting with strategy number 1, let's say you have 3 options to buy a drink: the small, which is $3, the medium, which is $7, and then the large, which which is $8. Which one are you going to choose, the medium or the large? A sane choice would probably be to choose the large option as it's just $1 more, but the quantity is a lot more. Here, the medium is introduced to be a decoy to make the large option more favorable and to pull you away from even thinking about buying the small. Now, if there was just a small $3 and then a large $8, a large chunk of people would have gone for the small as there's no other options. But with the introduction of the medium, people are now being sort of tricked to buy large instead and ignore the cheaper small option. This is known as the decoy effect. It's when we're given two choices, but the third option is added to make one of the original options look better. The new option is intentionally less attractive, which makes you more likely to pick the more profitable and expensive option. So here's how the gurus like to use this in the online world. Let's say you're offering an online course with two pricing options. You have the basic course, which is $99, and this includes only the course content. And then you have the premium course, which is $199. This includes the course content, bonus materials, and access to a private coaching group. So now you introduce the decoy option to make the premium course look a lot more attractive. We'll call this the Basic Plus Course. This includes the course content and bonus materials, but no access to the private coaching group. It will price this at $179, which is only $20 cheaper than the premium version. By adding the basic course at $179, it makes a premium course at $199 look like a much better deal for just $20 more. Since people are getting everything including the coaching group. The basic plus option serves as the decoy, pushing customers towards the more profitable and expensive premium course. But here's the trick to really making this work. There's an even deeper psychology behind this tactic that most people completely miss. And that brings us to strategy number 2. Have you ever gotten a gym membership and instead of them saying, our gym costs $360 a year, which can sound like a bigger expense, they might say, join today for just $1 a day. It seems like a much easier investment, right? This is called periodic equivalent pricing. By breaking the price down into smaller daily amounts, it makes the cost feel much more affordable even though it's still the same $360 for the year. So in the online marketing world, here's how that can work. Let's say you're selling a membership for $300 a year. Instead of presenting the full price, you can break it down like this. Get access to exclusive content and coaching for only $25 a month. That's only $0.82 a day. Someone who does this very well is Ramit Sethi, where he often compares his programs to being cheaper than buying a coffee at Starbucks every day, which is something that a lot of people do. So by framing the price as $25 per month or $0.82 a day, it feels much more affordable than seeing a bigger $300 price tag. People are more likely to join because those smaller amounts seem manageable, even though it adds up to the same total. This strategy can help you reduce the perceived financial commitment, making it easier for customers to say yes to subscribing. But did you know that there is a way to supercharge this strategy to make even more people take action? And no, it has nothing to do with lowering the price. Strategy number 3 is collecting short, authentic video testimonials. Highly edited testimonial videos can sometimes give off the wrong impression in today's smart buyers because let's face it, people are thrown with so many offers these days that they are not dumb and we can't think that they are. People are very savvy, especially when it comes to making a purchase online. So if you have testimonials, a highly polished video often goes through a lot of editing to make the company look good. However, simpler homemade customer videos are usually a lot more effective at making potential customers feel comfortable in making this purchase. For example, you've probably seen quick, honest testimonial videos on Instagram or TikTok. Many brands show their customers sharing short clips about their favorite products, often filmed on their phones at home. These videos are so powerful because they feel real and relatable, which makes viewers more likely to trust the brand. People tend to believe real customers more than companies, so short, unpolished videos work really well. A great example of this is Justin Welsh, where he even puts it that, "I don't brag, but my students do." And he has real, authentic videos from his students going through his program. The secret to these videos is making them feel genuine. And the benefit is that you don't need fancy production. Just let your clients talk about how you help them. Now here are some ways that you can collect authentic testimonials. If you're working with clients, add 5 minutes to your next call with a happy client. Ask if you can record them answering a few questions. Or you can ask satisfied clients that you've worked with in the past to record a quick video. We just need a clear before and after of their transformation from using your product. Here's a simple script that you can use to guide your clients. The first question would be, where were you before we started working together or before you used the program? Next, what's the biggest thing you learned and what results did you get from the program? And lastly, what would you say to someone who's thinking about working with me or joining this program? This approach will help you create genuine and relatable testimonials that will massively increase your conversions, and they're really easy for people to shoot. Just remember that the more raw and authentic the video can be, the better. Now, testimonials are an amazing way to increase your sales. This next strategy is an industry favorite, and honestly, if you're not using it right now, you're leaving thousands of dollars on the table. If you go to a fast food restaurant, you'll often see options like buying the burger à la carte for $5.99, or you can get the burger combo where you get a burger, fries, and a drink for $8.99. Most customers don't realize that they're often tempted to buy the combo because it seems like a better deal. Even though the combo costs more than the burger alone, customers feel like they're getting more value by getting fries and a drink included. So how do online gurus like to use this strategy? Well, great example is Black Friday. When Black Friday rolls around, many online educators offer special deals like a Black Friday course bundle, which is a comprehensive package that includes 3 of their most popular courses, exclusive bonus materials, and a one-on-one coaching session for $399. Whereas just one of the courses included in this package is going to typically sell for $199. During the holiday season, customers may be drawn to the bundle because it appears to be an incredible value. Even though the bundle costs more than selling a course, buyers feel they're getting a significant discount by accessing multiple courses and personalized support all at once. Bundling offers not only makes it easier for customers to make a purchasing decision because it's just a total no-brainer, but it also creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity when you're doing a limited time offer like Black Friday where it's only for a day or for a week in that time of the year. It's that perception of a bargain that makes customers more likely to invest in the bundle to maximize their learning opportunities during the holiday special. Each one of these strategies that I've shared with you so far can take your business to the next level without a doubt. But there's one key piece that brings all of this together, and quite frankly, without it, any one of these strategies will not be as effective as they could be. Imagine you walk into a barber shop with two different barbers. Both are great at cutting hair, but one is like Edward Scissorhands and barely engages with you while the other one takes the time to chat and genuinely cares about what you're trying to go for with your hair and also just about you and your life. Most people would choose to return to the friendly barber because that personal connection makes the experience a lot more enjoyable. In the world of online marketing, this idea of likability is a subtle hack that gurus use to sell more effectively. Brands that connect with customers on a personal level, like the friendly barber, build trust and loyalty much faster. When you feel valued and understood, you're more likely to return and recommend that brand to other For example, a company might share stories that reflect their audience's beliefs or values, creating a bond through online content. If you know that your audience is into a certain thing, let's say snowboarding, then you can put a snowboard in your background, for example, and that would make people want to connect with you more because they see that you have a shared interest. That's like me playing the drums in a punk band as a hobby that I have on the side. We're called One Arm Joey. Feel free to check us out online. But that's something where I'm able to connect with people on a different level, assuming that they also play a musical instrument. So by building these strong relationships and making customers feel like friends rather than just transactions, brands stand out massively against the competition. Think about the different online gurus that you really like to learn from. They may be talking about the same topic as other people, but it's who they are that makes you really connect with them and want to buy products from that person. This likability factor is a subtle yet extremely powerful marketing hack that helps brands create loyalty and increase their sales. So the question for you is, how can you show more of your authentic self in your content and products to connect better with your audience? Now, while that will absolutely take your sales to the next level, there's one subtle trick that companies use to constantly build this likability factor, and most people don't even realize it's happening. But once you spot it, you'll see why it works so well. When you're considering buying from a brand, you often need to see their message, several times before you feel comfortable making a purchase. A great example of this is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola uses various strategies to promote its drinks, like billboards, TV commercials, social media posts, influencer recommendations, in-store displays, event sponsorships, and product placements in movies or shows. This strategy is known as the Rule of Seven. By repeatedly showing you their brand through these different channels, Coca-Cola builds familiarity and trust. This makes you more likely to choose their drink when you're feeling thirsty. This consistency factor is a massive part of branding, which is why we say, yeah, I'll have a Coke, not I'll have a Pepsi. Even if you like Pepsi more than you like Coke, which shame on you, we still have the natural tendency to say I'll have a Coke rather than a Pepsi because Coke's branding is much stronger than Pepsi. So how does this work in this expert industry? Here's a clear example of how the Rule of Seven is applied in a marketing funnel by gurus to sell their products, especially in the online coaching and education space. The first encounter encounter that you may have is social media ads. You can see a sponsored ad on Facebook or Instagram promoting a free webinar related to a topic you're interested in, like how to build a massive Instagram following. After that, the second encounter or touchpoint would be an email signup where you click on the ad and sign up for their free webinar. Once you do that, you start receiving emails leading up to the event reminding you about the date and time and even adding a bit of secret tips along the way to kind of warm you up. The third encounter would be the actual webinar. During the webinar, the guru shares valuable insights and tips but also promotes their premium course at the end, creating a special limited time offer for attendees. This is where after the webinar you receive a series of follow-up emails. These typically provide additional tips related to the content of the webinar alongside reminders about the course offer. The fifth encounter could be social media engagement. You see additional posts on their social media accounts showcasing testimonials from past students who benefited from the course, reinforcing its value. Then the sixth encounter would be retargeting ads. If you didn't purchase the course, You'd start seeing retargeting ads on your social media featuring the course again, possibly with a countdown timer to emphasize urgency. And then the 7th encounter, you would finally receive a last chance email reminding you of the offer, including a bonus for signing up like a one-on-one coaching call or some exclusive content. So throughout this funnel, these gurus are ensuring that you encounter their message multiple times through ads, emails, webinars, and social media posts. Each touchpoint serves to reinforce their brand, build trust with you, and create urgency. And all this is designed designed to make it more likely that you will feel comfortable purchasing their program. And this repeated exposure is what the Rule of Seven is all about—subtly guiding you toward the decision to buy. Now, if you want to learn step by step how you can apply the Rule of Seven to your coaching or education business, check out this video and I'll walk you through each step of this process. If this video is helpful, please like it and let me know any thoughts you have or questions inside a comment below. As always, take what you learned here, get out there, make something happen. I'll see you in the next one.