Fatal Copy Flaw: Too Much Lemonade. Not Enough Poison.

Emo Philips

“At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote.” – Emo Philips, Born Feb. 7, 1956.

Selling is a two stage process, generally speaking.

First you sell the customer on your interpretation of their problem. Like so, elaborating on:

The symptoms that irritate them.
The causes that have harmed them.
The responsible parties who they can blame.
The ripples that touch all aspects of their life.
The dominoes that tumble into even more problems.

Then, once you've dictated to them the shape of the hole in their lives that happiness and fulfillment leak out of, you can much more easily sell them on your plug for that hole.

And lo and behold, the solution just magically happens to fit the exact size and shape of the hole… Not only countering all the aspects above and ending the suffering – but completely reversing it into a source of pleasure and delight!

At least, that's how you describe it.

It makes them want to buy your stuff. And it makes them think it was their own idea. It feels like they decided. And they did.

Kind of.

But not really. Not if you're any good.

That's what today's post is really about: Fangs.

We put some backbiting psychological fangs in there, too. Because if they walk away from the offer, not only will they not experience that wonderful reversal of fortune.

But those malevolent ripples and dominoes of worry and woe will continue… And WORSEN. The problems compound and mutate and multiply. Situations deteriorate. Solutions become more and more distant, and less and less possible.

This moment of decision is truly a turning point. Choose relief? Or choose destruction. Ruin. Desolation. Death…

I'm exaggerating… slightly.

If you're GOOD at making an offer, walking away from it without taking it feels like they are choosing to stay poisoned when the antidote is there in your hand, for an entirely reasonable price.

Crazy. Foolish. Impossible.

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