The Partner Profit Playbook

Script "Most of us have come up with an employee mindset where, if we use our own energy or our own time, we expect to get paid for that energy and that time. This is what we call earning money. And there's nothing wrong with it."

• Whynames the default so you can see it, without putting anyone down.
• Whenthe opening of the perspective shift, before any tactics.

Script "Wealthy people collect rent, they collect dividends, they collect royalties, they collect commissions. But they collect. In order to collect, you have to have an asset out there doing the work for you."

• Whysets up marketing IP as the asset. "It's just like a rent house. But unlike a rent house, you can copy and paste that damn thing without incurring another mortgage and without incurring property management fees."
• How"I have Google Docs that I've written... that bring in six figures a year for me." He didn't write them in one sitting. The market wrote them over time.

Script "An asset needs to have circulation. If you want to collect money, the asset has to have circulation."

• Whya coin in a drawer may go up or down in value, but it pays no cash flow. A T3 sitting in your drive pays nothing until it's in a partner's flow.

Script "Let's say we own an energy company. We want to put a turbine out there in the flow. Let the river do the work. Now, what's cool about this is it doesn't take anything away from the river."

• Whythe partner's buyers are the river; your T1 is the turbine.

Script "I would rather have a Google doc as an asset than a rental house."

• Whyhis rental cost about $118K and rents for about $800 a month. A free Google Doc with traffic can be a $10,000-a-month asset.

Script "Assets can only do one of two things. They can either be sitting there in a pool, or they can be flowing. If they're providing the flow, guess who doesn't have to provide that energy? We don't."

• Howput your T1 in their autoresponder, or in the letter that ships with their book. Write it once, and it keeps bringing hand raisers to your tappers.
• Whenlook for partners already doing book funnels or buying ads. A thousand books a day is flow.

Script "Money is the fruit of the tree, and we want to focus on the roots of the tree. If we focus on the assets, we will always have as much fruit as we want."

• WhyHelen asked for the first three things to do "without losing focus on money in the bank." Travis redirects her before answering.
• Whenany time you catch yourself fixating on the money or a percentage.

Script "The real asset is: what are they really, really buying? What are the top two or three criteria they're really buying, and what's the most important order? Then what stops them from buying? What's their current plan, and what don't they like about that?"

• Whythe answer to "what are we actually building?"
• Howyou collect it live from hand raisers (Stage 5).

Script "We want to let the market write our marketing, which is called marketing IP, intellectual property. It is an asset."

Script "The purpose of business is to get customers. Customers are the assets. It's the customers that are going to end up giving us the money."

• Whyresets the goal before any pricing. The money follows the customers.
• Whenas a mindset check before you set any price (it drives the payment-plan math in Stage 7).

Script "The wealthy don't work for money. The wealthy work for assets. The money is a byproduct of the assets."

Script "It's not really a land business. It's a database business just like anything else... Land just happens to be the product."

• Why"Land doesn't pull out a credit card and pay for itself. People do." The method transfers to any market.

Script "It's like a coin flip game where we say, if it comes up heads I get a thousand bucks. If it comes up tails I get nothing or I lose money. And what we end up trying to do to win this money game is to win more often than we lose."

• Whyshows the trap. You can't control the coin.
• Howhe acted it out with a real coin, playing both the "I'm awesome" streak and the "I suck" streak.

Script "If we don't make it mean something about us when it comes up tails, we're just like, shucks. The game becomes how fast can we flip the coin."

• How"Get yourself a coin, put yourself a card somewhere where you can see it and say, 'Flip the coin.'"
• Whenafter a T1 gets few replies, the moment you want to "lick your wounds."

Script "Employees need a guarantee. They feel like if I've worked, if I've toiled, I have to have a guarantee. That's not the way investors work. Investors say, how do I make it so when I flip a coin, I get maximum upside and minimum downside? Then it's just a matter of flipping this coin as many times as possible."

• Whypeople get crushed when a test doesn't work out ("Now I need three months of therapy because the campaign didn't work").
• Whenbefore every test, and after every one that flops.

Script "What investors want to do is minimize their risk. So if it comes up tails, I only want to lose X amount, but if it comes up heads, I want my payoff to be ginormous... It's like flip the freaking coin as fast as you freaking can."

• Whendeciding how big your first step with any partner should be.

Script "We want to set this up so when it comes up heads, we get paid thousands or tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, and when it comes up tails, we only lose a little bit. That's how you play the game as investors."

• WhenDebbie thought her second test had failed. Even failed tests often make some money, just not the money you want.

Script "The chooser very often is the person taking on more risk in the relationship."

• Whythis is the psychological reason you get to choose, not a mindset trick.
• Howexplained through dating (women carry more risk, so they choose) and McDonald's (the worker risks time and energy but is easy to replace, so doesn't choose).

Script "We can rely on lots of marketing and reputation building and take years, or we can just reverse the risk and become the chooser."

• Whenwhen you think you need years of authority first.

Script "The person that takes on the risk gets to make all the rules."

• Whyyou don't need a reputation. Freelancers who take no risk end up taking orders.

Script "We're literally the prettiest girls at the prom. So we get our pick, and that's why we have to be so careful who we select."

• Whyimagine 50 people waiting to work with you. That's how it will be. "Getting partners is the easiest part of this business. You won't believe it until you've had to say no a bunch."

Script "I'm an investor. I'm not a savior."

• Whenwhen a list replies angry, or a partner's problems aren't yours to fix.

Script "If I want to buy somebody's land, they don't ask me how many offers I've made before. Because I'm coming with the monies."

• Whyyou're taking all the risk, so your track record matters less than you think. "You don't have to be the next marketing wizard."

Script "We do not get paid to write copy... What do our partners care about? Pretty copy or sales? I always tell them, if you want pretty copy, I'm not your dude."

• Howhe asks partners, "Is it okay if I use your copy? Your YouTube videos?" One partner's emails get turned into direct mail.
• Whenin the first partner conversations. Pitch it as "I'm going to bring a virtual sales team to you," not as copywriting.

Script "The second we take a retainer agreement, we're both at odds with each other."

• Whythey want the most out of you for the fee; you want another client and to do as little as possible.

Script "All we're doing is engineering profit situations for people. Most of us have been taught to be a cog in a wheel and do all the work, rather than be the engineer of a profit situation."

• Whythe core identity shift. Remove their effort and their risk, and "everything is open to you."

Script "If we're willing to shoulder the risk, we get the deal done much easier and we get paid much higher."

Script "I don't get paid for pretty writing. I get paid to put people in the Mike Newton 2000 program... If you want somebody that knows the ins and outs of NLP and how to write an amazing big idea, I'm not your dude. Totally not your huckleberry for that."

• Whenif a partner asks about your copywriting experience. Reframe: you're the investor putting the team together.

Script "I would much rather have a dime of Marilyn Monroe money than a dirty old Danny DeVito dollar that I've got to put a lot of energy into, because we're limited by our energy."

Script "We spend our energy willy-nilly and clutch the money. When you die, you're going to have money left over. What I can guarantee nobody will have left over is time and energy."

• WhyTravis's brother-in-law has cancer again and is back in chemo. "Life is short."
• Howput a dollar value on an opportunity: "If I had to write a check for it (a million, or 20 grand), would I?" He means physics energy (joules, work), not chakra energy.
• Whenchoosing between partners or deciding whether to take a deal.

Script "If you allow 2s and 3s to come in, you're not going to live a 10 life."

• Whywe take the 3s, 4s and 5s because we think they're more plentiful than the 8s and 9s. They're really not.

Script "There's all the 10 opportunities that you want out there, but you can't ever get to them if you're busy doing fives, sixes and sevens."

• WhenCarlos took a deal he found boring because it paid. Travis: upgrade your fun levels. Fun deals get more focus, more breakthroughs, more money.

Script "Most of us revere money and cling to it so tightly that we'll work our bodies to a nub rather than turn loose of some money to gain an asset."

Script "You don't have to be good. You don't have to be somebody that you're not. Just be who you are."

Script "It's not about being vulnerable. It's about telling the truth. Copywriters will tell you all their copy converts. Here's the truth: they don't know if their copy is going to work or not."

• Whyintegrity. "Look, I don't know if this is going to work or not" is exactly why you run a test.

Script "Even a bad email sent has more of a chance of making money than the world's greatest email that never gets sent."

• Why"white-knuckle writing" and hovering over send help nobody. If a T1 gets no hand raises, send another T1.

Script "There are so many deals out there... If we act like this is the only one, we're not going to make good decisions for us and we're not going to make good decisions for them."

• Whyneediness leads to bad partners and bad terms. "I'd much rather you say no."

Script "Everybody changes these numbers around, but the idea is understanding the numbers, not getting married to a number."

Script "Just because it's 10% doesn't mean it's not important. Like I'd say, oh, my heart only makes up 10% of my body, so screw it. That wouldn't be very smart."

• Whycopy still matters for clarity. "I'm going to help give you a better sales process" doesn't land. "I'm going to show you how to send one email a week that makes you an extra $1,000 a week" does.

Script "What a lot of copywriters do is they try to skip the offer part and go into their brain and sound cool. And it's a shame, because rain makers are born or they die depending on if they can pull out the emotional hot buttons of that crowd."

Script "Understanding the difference between marketing and sales has made me a fortune and made my life so much easier."

Script "Drucker says the purpose of marketing is to make sales superfluous. In Arkansas redneck terms, that just means not necessary."

Script "There's really no rule that says we can't tap this a few times. We get paid the same amount if we get it in on a hole in one or it takes us five times or seven times. Knowing this changes everything, because now we can make this a $5,000 offer."

• Whyremoves the pressure of the one-shot close, which is what keeps people stuck at low prices.

Script "What's the worst thing you can do when a ball is two inches from the hole? Not tap it in. If you swing at it like it's way back there, you're going to knock it way the hell out there."

• Whytreating everyone like a cold prospect blows the sales that were nearly made.

Script "You can't get closer to the hole than somebody who has already been through the hole one time."

Script "When the economy is on the upswing and all their ads are working, everybody's making all this money. That's the middle of the party. You say, 'Hey, I might be able to show you a little more fun.' 'Ah, I'm good.' But what happens the next morning, when you've got the hangover? You're a little more open to some help then."

• Whenany time there's "bad news on the horizon": inflation, ad platform changes, a slow quarter.

Script "I don't have a tendency to look at things as bad or good. I just look at them as change. I'm like a surfer. I don't worry too much about the waves. I just want to make sure I have the ability to surf whatever wave's coming up."

Script "If you're two weeks behind on payroll, what the hell do you want? Who do you want to work with? Rain makers."

• Whyhe says it happens more in 7-8 figure companies than 6-figure ones.

Script "Always bet on the jockey, not on the horse. The product is the horse."

• Whymoves your focus from the product to the person running it.
• Whenbefore you judge any offer, judge the owner.

Script "If you had to spend 10 grand for each coffee date, would you reach out to somebody that you didn't think a long-term future was possible with?"

• Whymost of us were raised to treat our time as worthless and cling to money. The $10K frame flips that and forces real research.
• Whenbefore you add anyone to an outreach list.

Script "Why do I want to invest in them? What are they doing that's different than everybody else? If they're just one of a million, it's going to be hard. If they're one in a million, it's going to be easy."

Script "We'll say no more than we'll say yes, instead of having to beg and hope people say yes to us."

• Whensaid after Marcus's "backwards win": saying yes to nice people with "huge potential" who turned out to be the wrong fit.

Script "Why pick an opportunity that's not fun, when there's a hundred other opportunities out there?"

• Whywe're so used to the "check yes or no" habit that we forget we can pick.
• HowTravis only takes money topics (stocks, real estate, marketing, personal finance). He passes on blood-level health data, CBD, roofing, HVAC, weight loss and fear-driven survival offers.
• Whenthe first filter, before research.

Script "How are they doing it differently that can be immediately seen, heard, tasted or felt?"

• Whyhe calls this the missing factor, shared only with paid people. "You're screwed if you can't show they're rare."
• Howoften they "sell in spite of themselves" with the lead buried. Your job is to bring it to the top.

Script "Amazing results doesn't tell me anything. I'm looking for a difference that I can draw out, that would be new and exciting for everybody, and fun for me."

• Howdownload the book on Kindle, read the contents and first chapter, check the About page and website.

Script "If you stay in a relationship with those folks long enough, you will be the source of their problems."

• Howon a tapping call, "I've taken 3,700 courses and they all sucked" plus "they're all fakers" gets "Thank you for reaching out. Don't think I can help you."

Script "It's about the mission and about the income, not about the percentage."

• Whyhis best partners are almost always trying to give him more.
• Howif they haggle for no reason: "I understand you'd like 75% and you think 25% is enough, and for those reasons I'm out." If they have real costs (cost of goods, coaching), he's happy to talk.

Script "Will they leave me the f*ck alone and let me do my thing? Autonomy is one of my highest-level values."

• Howon the coffee date, it's normal to review copy early, "but if you need to be heavily involved forever, it won't work for me. Can we have a frank discussion around that right now?"

Script "What dollar goal do I want out, and what energy do I want to put into this? Then I work backwards from that."

• Whenbefore the coffee date, using their site and some Googling.

Script "Do you think it's five times harder than selling a $2,000 product? Absolutely not."

• Whya $10,000 product is not five times harder to sell. Sometimes a $25,000 one is easier. The limit is usually whether the customer list supports it.
• Whensizing up a high-ticket offer with a small list.

Script "It's the same amount of work to send an email to 1,000 prospects as to 50,000 buyers. But the money's different."

• Whyaim for a partner worth about $10K a month to you. "I can't generate time or energy." Pick the list that pays the most for the same effort.

Script "They burn them and churn them."

• Whya company selling a new product to a huge prospect list, with nothing before it and nothing after, has no longevity.
• Howask how long they've sold it, what they sold before, what they sell next.

Script "Why, in the love of Marilyn Monroe money, would we want to work with prospects? Why not start with buyers? There's plenty of them out there."

• Howwhen a partner says "we've got a 30,000-person prospect list," ask, "Tell me about your customers." "We've got 5,000." "That's where I'm going to start perking up."
• Whenevery first test. Do prospects later, "out of profit," once customers are buying.

Script "If you can't sell it to the customers, you are not going to sell it to the prospects."

Script "One way to cheat is don't start out cold. Start out as hot as you can. The other one is to sell something that's already sold."

Script "Were they buyers or prospects? ... I'm gonna say never do prospects. The buyers will work a lot better for tests."

• Whensaid to Debbie after her first test, to a prospect list, flopped.

Script "Put a hundred business owners in a room. I would bet a hundred grand that 90 out of 100 don't talk to their previous customers at all."

• Whykills the assumption "they have oranges, so they must already know this." They don't.

Script "If you go after somebody who's already running a seven-figure, eight-figure business, they're already used to hiring people. Their profit problems are a lot larger problems."

• Whyin the red, a 7-figure owner may have to let someone go. A 6-figure earner may just skip a vacation. Different urgency.

Script "Start with a seven-figure or eight-figure company that has a customer list with like three-plus products... Even if you're quote-unquote failing, you're still making money."

• Whythese are the training wheels. A first test with a solopreneur, a 10,000-person prospect list and a new offer is "putting your toddler on a motocross bike."
• How"It's not heads you make 50 grand, tails you lose a thousand. It's more like heads you make a hundred, tails you make 10."

Script "I like to start up at the top and get pushed down if that's going to happen."

• Whythe CEO buys in for a different reason than the marketing person. To marketing, you can be more hassle, or make them look bad. Once the CEO buys in, "let me introduce you to my CMO" is easy. Pushing up from sales or HR is not.
• Howif he talks to someone lower, it's only to gather information for the CEO conversation (do you sell by phone? where do applications come from?).

Script "I won't submit a proposal, put my hands together, and pray. I just won't do it."

• Howinstead, show the CEO the upside: 10,000 past customers, a $50,000-a-year mastermind, room for 100 more people = $5 million a year. "Is that enough to run a test?"
• Whenwhen a lower-level contact asks for a proposal.

Script "I never try to replace what they're already doing. I just want to be doing something they're not already doing."

• Whyif you compete with their sales team, you have to prove you're better. Anthony's prospect said "we're too mature for this" because it sounded like competition.

Script "Successful people can only do three. There's 998 other things that they can do to become super successful."

• Howlook for the one thing they know would make money but can't get to: follow-up, upsells, a Sunday email, direct mail.

Script "Are you basing that off thought or off data?"

• Whythe Finland member believed there weren't enough businesses there. Travis made him check. Writing to them in their own language was a natural advantage. They replied: "Come talk to us, please."

Script "Tell me about your flow. Tell me about the next thing that you have for sale."

Script "Have you sold any of it? If they're like, 'No, I haven't sold any of it, it's a brand new thing,' then don't do it. That's probably going to be your biggest thing."

Script "Don't propose deals. Because it's almost like proposing marriage too early into the relationship."

• Whenbefore any offer, when you're tempted to send the full agreement.

Script "When everything has gone well in the relationship and there's some track record behind it, you almost can't say the marriage proposal wrong. You could say it completely backwards like Yoda: 'Marry me, you will.'"

• Whywhat happens before the ask matters more than the wording of the ask.

Script "We always start with hello. And then hello goes to what we call a coffee date. A coffee date could be a Zoom meeting, could be a phone call, could even be a chat, but it's a coffee date to find out if it even makes sense to do a first date."

• Whenuse it to check what your message is actually asking for. It should be the coffee date, nothing bigger.

Script "The coffee date and the first date is just as much for us as it is for them... I look at behavior, not what people say."

• Whyyou're screening partners too. A bad partner on a 12-month deal is expensive.

Script "What they didn't understand is I knew what to say next. I knew how to actually have a conversation."

• Whythe magic isn't the opening line; it's carrying a real conversation after it.
• Howtold after young pickup-artist guys at a San Diego convention mocked his "pickup line": "Hello, my name's Travis."

Script "Most of those scripts are an ask. They're asking something from somebody, and it doesn't make hardly anybody feel good."

Script "Roy, I'm gonna give you a million dollars and you can give it away to people, but they have to meet these three criteria, A, B and C. If you can give it all away, I'm going to give you 20% of it."

• Whyasking your network for a million dollars is miserable. Giving a million away is easy and fun.

Script "My whole philosophy in business is to give before I ask for anything. And this just happens to spill over into prospecting, cold outreach, those kind of things."

Script "Sampling is the oldest method in the universe, and it freaking works."

• Howthe AOL free-month CD; a free Loom critique of someone's ad and offer (which got that person to say "I need to be in your mastermind"). For email marketers: "Let me write some emails for you. Let's see if they make you some sales."

Script "We want to start our hello with what they are thinking about most. I call this mind share."

Script "Most business owners don't think about profit very often actually."

• Whybreaks the default opener "Do you need more profit?"
• HowAmazon sellers: "If they're ranked number one, they're eating good. They drop down to position three, oh crap, time to stop the private schools."

Script "Usually there's a mission that they're on primarily. Secondarily they want to look good, and money is tertiary."

• Whyfor partners and audience owners, the hot button may be the mission, not money.
• Howhis "million marriage mission" pitch to relationship-space partners; a financial author who cares more about fighting 401(k) orthodoxy than about the money.

Script "If I wanted to get a captain's attention, and the ship is sinking and there's fires breaking out, there only better be two things I'm talking about: 'Captain, can I help you bail water?' or 'Can I help you put that fire out?'"

• Whyanything else ("a new HR program") gets you thrown off the deck.
• Whentest every opener against it before you send.

Script "If you're trying to get email marketing clients, nobody [bleep] wants email marketing. They don't [bleep] want it. Maybe one in a hundred."

• Howdelivered loud, on purpose, to make it stick.

Script "If you bumped into this person at the beach and were having some wine or beer with them, is that how you'd really start a conversation with them?"

• Whyhis answer to people who say the approach feels disingenuous.
• Whena self-check on every draft.

Script "Guys know when you just want to make out with them and you skip all that. You're not part of the conversation."

• Howwhen they give you something, tie it in or ask about it. Ron mentions a baby antelope; you ask, "What did you feed it?"

Script "You won't lose them. If you lost them, you never had them to begin with."

• Whypauses feel risky in email or DM, so people cram. Saying more won't save a lost prospect.

Script "I don't want to catfish him."

• Whybe who you are (his "dude" and sandwich jokes are his, not a template). If they don't like it, better to know before the coffee date.

Script "Hey, are you still Roof Sealant 2000 certified?"

• Whya local roofer's site bragged about one certification on every page. One line about the thing they're proudest of got a reply. (The certification name is Travis's stand-in.)

Script "Dude, I just bought three of your books. I read two of them. One's on its way."

• Howhis real opening line to an author, then a genuine question: "How did you ever come up with just sending them a deed?"

Script "Keep it so short it almost seems painful for you."

• Why"You're at a barbecue having a beer. You wouldn't be like, 'Oh hey dude, I see you wrote the book on this and I'm really good at selling digital products and you should really work with me.'" A couple of replies back and forth beats 20 bullet points.

Script "You're on one side of the creek and they're on the other side, and you're asking them to jump all the way across, and they ain't going to do it. But if you put a trigger point stone a couple feet in front of them, they'll take a step."

Script "Can you imagine me knocking on the door? 'Hi, Mr. Anthony. If you're making more than 10,000 a month with your coaching business...'"

• Whythe doorstep test. Read your copy out loud as if at someone's front door. If the door would slam, rewrite it.

Script "Do you have a new course coming out in 2022?"

• Whyhis rewrite of a two-page coaching email. Coaches sell through courses, so the launch is the trigger point. "A yes or a no is great."
• Howsubject line "your course"; that one question as the body. Next stones: "What kind of course is it?" then an invite to pre-sell it.

Script "If you want to write one line down, this next line is it. This has made me a lot of coffee dates: Would you be open to discussing it?"

• Whylow commitment, and it lets them choose.
• Whenright after the give.

Script "What have I not told this person? Anything about my product, my authority, or how much I'm going to charge."

• Whythose trigger vetting and rejection. They belong on the coffee date or later.

Script "It's not so much about the words as it is the intention."

Script · If they ask "What are you trying to sell me?" "Apologies. The way we work, we find the copy, the salesperson, everything, even the leads, and we never ask you for a dime up front. You only pay after it makes sense."

• Whythey just want to know you won't ask for a $25,000 retainer.

Script "If somebody's gone quiet, don't ask them if they're still interested. Ask them something about their baby."

• Howwinery: "Hey, I was thinking about you last night... what wine do you want to sell most of?" Be quick with the second line, or the first one might freak them out.

Script "Almost every business has something with a lot of margin they want to sell more of."

• Howroofers want commercial roofs, not small repair jobs. A dentist doesn't want more teeth cleanings; they want the all-on-4 implants and cosmetic work ($10K to $30K). A barbecue joint wants carry-out and $10K-$30K catering jobs, not more lunch traffic.

Script "Ron, did you get run over by an antelope, a reindeer or something? Or did you decide to put filling up your Mercs on the back burner? Either one's totally okay. I hope you're okay. Let me know if I should call 911."

• Whythe reverse. It makes it okay to say no.
• Whenafter they've gone quiet mid-conversation.

Script "If we don't put this on the calendar, it's never going to get done. Can we get the CMO on Zoom right now?"

• WhyCEOs want someone to take charge and take things off their plate.
• Whenright after the CEO says yes and wants to hand you down, so you don't get lost in the shuffle.

Script "I'm willing to fund a virtual salesperson, all the leads and all that stuff. They don't even have to pay a $25,000 advance deposit. Do you know anybody who would like that?" Then: "If I crafted some copy for you, would you let them know about it?"

Script "He's normally really busy, and he's not going to charge you a $10,000 or $25,000 deposit. Let him know I sent you, and he'll waive the $5,000 advance fee."

• Whythe endorsement script. It makes the influencer look generous and safe.

Script "I know you wouldn't be sending people to me just for the money. But I like to take care of people who take care of me. I pay 10% of everything I bring in until you've got 10 grand."

• WhyTravis tested $10K, $50K and lifetime; they excited people about the same, and $10K stood out because almost nobody offers it.
• Howset expectations first: "Will you be upset if it just doesn't work out for us?" Add: "There's a lot of people I won't do business with," because you're paid on results.
• Whenmention money after, never as the lead. The best referral partners want to help their audience.

Script "Damian, Frankie and Cole are going to the new steakhouse Friday. They just flew in some Japanese Wagyu... Are you free on Friday? Can you come with us?"

Script "What do you guys want to sell more of? I don't care if you're talking to a dentist or a coach or a roofer. Every one of these guys has something they want to sell more of. And it's usually not the main thing they're selling."

• Whyit opens on their goals, not your service. A dentist doesn't want more teeth cleanings.
• Whenthe opening question of every coffee date.

Script "Let me get my calculator out. 40 times 25,000 equals... that's a million dollars a year."

• HowTravis plays dumb on purpose, then stays curious instead of pitching. On some deals he brings out a calculator and "bangs on it while they're looking."

Script "That's a $400,000-a-month problem. Is that a back-burner thing for you or a front-burner kind of thing?... With $400,000 a month as the upside, would it make sense for us to have some coffee over Zoom?"

• Whytheir $8,000 program could take 50 more people a month. The question tests whether they really care.
• Howif they won't get on Zoom for $400K a month: "Cool. Come swing by later."

Script "If they say it's a later kind of thing, I'm like, 'Okay, cool. Let me know when it's a now kind of thing.'"

• Whyno chasing. You only work with partners who want it now.

Script "If you're anything like me, there's lots of things we know we could do to close that gap. We just don't have time and energy for it. But if you had the time and energy, what are you doing now? What's not working for you right now?"

• Whyasks what stops them without making them feel like crap.

Script "I see a lot of fruit up there at the top of the trees. What's going on there?" ... "Have you thought about getting a boom truck?" ... "If I brought in a boom truck and we picked all that fruit off for you, would you give me half of what we pick?"

• Whyinvestigate first, and don't make them wrong. You learn what they've already tried before you propose anything.
• Howthen frame the test: "Sometimes my truck can't get through the trees, so I may not be able to do this. Let me go out there two or three times and see how much we can pick."

Script "I'm a crock-pot thinker, not a microwave. Would it be okay with you if I just ask you some questions, figure out your situation, what you want, what's stopping you, and then let me take it back home?"

• Whyyou don't have to invent a solution on the spot. Travis "thinks slow": one or two coffee dates, look at all their stuff, then come back with an offer.
• Whenat the start of the call, if you don't think fast on your feet.

Script "We're just like a mechanic. We don't know what's wrong with the car until we open the hood and do some diagnostics."

• Whyit takes the white-knuckling out. You don't need answers you don't have.

Script "How much will we make? I don't know. I've sent out 3,000 letters and made 150 grand. I've also sent out 5,000 letters and totally crapped the bed. Your results will be somewhere in between. But what I'm proposing is, let me pay for it."

• Whenwhen they ask for a prediction. It says, "Here's a person who's not going to screw me."

Script · Telling people what you do (Ann's question) "Have you ever wanted to make more sales of your coaching program? Wouldn't it be cool if somebody came in, ran the leads, made the sales, without any of your involvement, and you only paid them once the money came in? ... Well, that's what I do."

• Whyconversational, not an elevator pitch, and it doesn't box you into a title.
• Howask what they sell first, then qualify: "How many folks are you working with right now?" Many people are coaches "in name only."

Script "Hey, I'm not sure if it's going to 100% work or not. What I want to do is see if it will work, and I'm willing to take on all the risk of making it work."

• Whyhonesty plus risk-taking builds the trust a stranger hasn't earned yet.
• Whenright after the coffee date shows there's something worth testing.

Script "Can I send five or 10 emails to your list and get the offer dialed in first? Then we're going to know if it's going to work. If that works, then I'm happy to fund the rest of the campaign."

• Whya small, concrete ask is easy to approve. Used instead of asking to mail a 30,000-person direct mail list on day one.

Script "Hey, let's send out three to five emails to your list. Let's get it dialed in, and then we can take it from there."

• Whyit sounds easy, so they usually say, "Oh, that sounds so easy."

Script "Well, I've got a crazy idea. I'll bring in a virtual sales team and I'll drive the leads for them. Why don't we start a test? Why don't we send three or four emails out there? Let me get it dialed in. If it works, we can send one every Sunday and it'll just be a new flow for you. All you'd have to do is deliver your program."

• Whyyou're giving, not asking. "We're the pretty girls at the prom": everyone knows 1,001 things that would grow them, and nobody offers to handle and fund one.
• Howfind the flow point first. If they mail Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Sunday is open.

Script "I don't know if this would work or not, but I'd like to run a test and see if we can fill up some of the capacity in your program. I will fund everything... If it worked, you'd only pay me after the money hit your account. If it doesn't work, it's all on me."

• Whenwith a high-ticket owner, e.g. a three-month program at $30-40K, after complimenting a specific chapter or idea from their book.

Script "The first thing they're going to say is, 'I don't think that'll work.' Cool. Let's just run a test. I will fund it."

• Whydoubt means undervalued, which is what an investor looks for.

Script "Look, Carlos, let's just run a test. I'll drop a couple emails. We'll see what happens and we'll take it from there."

• Whywhen they start asking when emails go out, what they'll say and who does what, the deal grows in their head. "Our job is to shrink it back down."

Script "This is the first time that I've done this as an investor, where I supply everything. Is that okay with you?"

• Whenfor a first-timer. "We don't have to have all the damn answers."

Script "It doesn't have to be pretty. We just want to test it."

• Howset up a text service or a fresh Gmail (e.g. their name plus "vip"): "If you're interested, just email me and I'll get you the details."

Script "When you first start talking to somebody and you say, 'What would you like to sell more of?', the first place they typically will go is their brand-new offer... Unless you like to eat stress for breakfast, don't do new offers for your first date."

• Howuse the first-date frame: "If I'm going to take you out to dinner, I want to take you to a restaurant I've already eaten at, where I know the food is good... If that goes well, then we can look at selling your newer offer."
• Whenon the coffee date, when they name the offer they want to push.

Script "The easiest thing to sell is going to be something they've already sold before in the past to their customer list."

Script "Have you done it again?" "No." "Ding, ding, ding."

• Whypast winners that were never repeated are the easiest tests. Many say they ran a webinar three months ago that did great, and never ran it again.
• Howreuse their old webinar and sales page. The best part is often buried halfway down; move it to the top. "Just take the webinar and turn it on its side."

Script "What would be the first thing to try?" "More truck bed liners."

• Whya partner with 40,000 truck bed liner buyers asks what to sell next. The answer is the same thing: a new truck, a spouse's truck, or different colors.

Script "If you can't reactivate their old customers, that tells you something."

• Whythe replies ("your software sucks, it's too expensive") tell you about the partner. It's data.

Script · Proposing it "First off, I'm just going to be working with people that used to pay you but aren't paying you anymore. Are you planning on bringing any of those back? ... That's all money you never would have had anyway."

• Whena set-in-their-ways partner who worries you'll touch what already works.

Script · The T1 "Hey dude, we miss you over here. I was talking to Carlos about you, wondered what happened to you. So we put together a little special gift if you wanted to come back."

• WhyTravis calls it ridiculously simple, and often all you have to do.
• Howthank past customers profusely, say you miss them, make a special offer to come back.

Script · Lapsed SaaS users "We miss you. Maybe you took a break; it's heating up again. We put together a special package."

• Whenmarkets where people leave and come back (real estate cycles, for example).

Script "One of the big opportunities, I think, is for SaaS companies, because every SaaS company has churn. And what is churn? They're buyers that aren't active anymore."

Script "Let me tell you all the pain-in-the-a** stuff about working with me. I want 100% control."

• Why"I don't want you to have to mess around pushing buttons."
• Howthen: "I want to run a test first, a 5-10 email test to your list."

Script "I'm not looking for a boss. You'll be working with my project manager. Is that going to be an issue for you?"

• Howlay it all out before the first date.

Script "I just want to be super clear so we start this partnership on the right leg. I am not looking for a boss. You can look at the copy on the first few to make sure it makes you look good. If you need to look at the copy every single time and make adjustments, I totally get that, but we're not going to make a good long-term relationship."

• Whythe right partners are relieved: "Where have you been all my life?"
• Whenonce they've said yes to the test, before work starts.

Script "I'm like Marcus Lemonis. I want 100% control. You're going to have to give me a login to your Infusionsoft account... All I want you guys to do is deliver it."

• Whyif half the outcome sits with their sales team, your share depends on them.

Script "Completely understand. That's not going to work for me. Where should we go from here?"

• Whyif they balk at control or logins, you walk. There are too many deals to get needy about one.

Script "That's not going to work for me. I appreciate what you're trying to do. What's important to you about that?"

• Whysaying no, then asking about their position, turns a fight into a collaboration.

Script "Maybe I haven't been clear. I'm not asking you for any money up front. I'm putting all my capital, my experience and my team on this. If we make zero, I'm the one that's out. If references would make you feel better and you'd rather pay somebody 25 grand up front and a 5 grand monthly retainer, that's awesome. That's not what I do... I'd much rather have data tell me if I made a good decision."

• Whenif they ask for references. Travis says that usually means he "jumped in with a solution too soon."

Script · Saying no to what they want to sell "I get it, you want to sell your live event. I'm not your dude for that. Are you open to bringing in new revenue before that event?"

• Whyas the investor, you call the shots, kindly.

Script · Putting a new partner on the calendar "The first opening I have to even run the test is fall of this year."

• WhyBrandon's new partners all wanted everything "right now." Usually they say "I wish it were sooner," take the date, and respect you more. "Don't say 'I can do it tomorrow' to everyone. It leads to disaster."

Script "I don't want to make this about percentages. What I want to do is grow this income stream to make it as big as we possibly can. The worst thing I could do to you is take a percentage that's too small, because then I can't grow the income stream. So let's be partners in this. Let's do it 50/50. All the expenses come out of my side. I'm sure you would much rather have 50% of a million dollars than 80% of $100,000. How's that sound?"

• Whyframes his share as what pays for growth, not as his cut.
• Howhe's said it so often he "can almost do it in his sleep." Sometimes they offer 50/50 before he finishes.

Script "The second worst thing I can do is take a piece that's too big, because if it doesn't work for you, it's going to kill our long-term partnership."

• Howfollow with: "All the expenses come out of my side. I will never ask you for a dime up front. No deposits." They often answer "Why don't we just split it 50/50?" or raise their product costs, and you collaborate from there.

Script "Do you think they'd rather have 50% of a million, or 80% of 100,000, or 100% of zero?"

• WhenKH's business broker said "I'll think about it" after hearing 50/50. Ask what they make now from that channel: if it's zero ("too expensive"), their focus comes right back.

Sample · Josh's thank-you campaign pitch, step by step (recurring services at $100-350 a month)

1. "You've got 30,000 people that were on the service but aren't anymore. What do you think would happen if we sent them a thank-you letter, thanked them profusely for their past business, told them we missed them and we'd like them back, and here's something extra we're going to do? Do you think we'd bring any of those back?"
2. "Left to your own, with everything else going on, would you run that? ... Okay. Let us run that for you. We'll run a test. Maybe it'll do good, maybe it won't. All you'd need to do is deliver your service."
3. "Gosh, if we could get 5% to renew, that's 1,500 people at 100 bucks a month. That's about 150 grand a month. Is that even a significant enough number for you?"
4. "I don't know if we can do that or not. But I'd like to grow that income number even bigger, as a partnership, and I'd front all the expenses. I want to talk to you about what you think would be an equitable split."

• Howbring out a calculator. Usually they offer 50/50. If not: "Here's a way I'd propose: we split 50/50, but I take all the expenses. How's that sound?"

Sample · The vision math for an e-commerce brand "So you've got 100,000 people that bought your stuff. If we sold even 1% of those, that's 1,000. If we found a $5,000 program and you got 50% commission, that'd be 2.5 million." Then: "Are you going to do it on your own? ... Is 2.5 million even a number that would be worthwhile to you guys?" And if they only think in affiliates who promote them back: "Would you be mad if you made $2.5 million and they never promoted you back?"

Script · Adding the value of leads "'Our salespeople get 10%.' Totally appreciate it. Are your salespeople driving their own leads? No. Are they following up? No." Then: "How much is a phone call costing you? $200 is reasonable. If I mail 1,000 of your customers and get 30 leads, that would cost you $6,000. I'll drive the leads, you don't pay me the $6,000, and I'll convert them too."

Script · Taking less on purpose "Dude, you've got 90,000 past customers and a $5,000 offer. I don't need 50% to make it work. Why don't we do 40/60? You take 60."

• Whyhe's after the long-term relationship. On another deal he took 40% so the partner had extra money to buy more front-end buyers, which grows the flow.

Script · The biggest piece is on the back end "What's the biggest piece you could give me if they uplevel into your mastermind?"

• Story: Travis proposed a test of 50-100 buyers into Eric's $2,000 program. On the call he learned about 20% uplevel into a $30,000 mastermind. Fifty buyers = 10 new mastermind members. Smart owners give 100% of that; others 50-75% if you cover card fees and they do nothing.

Script · Walking away from scarcity "Thank you for telling me that. I appreciate it, and for that reason, I'm out."

• Whena prospect said, "If I make $2 million, I don't think I'd be okay paying you a million." They make zero from the channel now, have no cost-of-goods issue, and still object to you making that much. "I'm more than willing to let you keep 100% of zero" (Travis doesn't say that part out loud).

Script "I agree to do this, you agree to do that, and we both agree to do this."

Script "I'm going to send you a real simple agreement. I'll get it to you by noon tomorrow. When can you have it back?"

• Whyforces a date and time so you can watch whether they keep it.
• Howbe kind, not just nice. If they're traveling, set it for the day after they return. He's fine if they ask to change the date; if they get squirrelly about giving one, he's out.

Script "If you're like me, unless you put something on the calendar, it never gets done. I've got my calendar in front of me. Do you have yours?"

• Howgive yourself 2-3 weeks on your first ones. If they push for sooner: "Here's what I promise we'll have it done by. If we can get it done faster, we'll send the first test email before then."

Script "Let's get together at 1 p.m. on Monday, Central. Here's the Zoom link. I always show up a minute early. Will you be able to show up at 1 p.m. Central on the dot?"

• Whyhe's testing who they are. If they blow off the call or show up 15 minutes late, imagine how they'll act when they owe you 50 grand.

Script · Tech access "I'll have my tech person send what we need by close of business Friday. When can your tech people have that back?"

Script · When they miss one "We both agreed to Wednesday. I don't know if something came up... This is a first date for me. I'm not sure we can keep agreements, so I'm going to close the file on us."

• Whylet them save it or walk.

Script · Changing a date (Nice Guy Negotiation) "Hey, it's perfectly reasonable to change the date. We all get busy, I get it. Over here, we just have a tiny little rule where if we're going to change the date, we let both parties know so we can agree on a new date. What would you like to do?"

Script · Responsiveness "If we're partners and we're making money together, when I PM you, you'd better respond. Or I'm out."

• Why"We train people how to treat us." Travis's "velvet hammer" Casey pings and pings until they learn to respond. If people often ghost you, look at your system and where you might be responsible.

Script "We become a paycheck to them rather than an expense."

• Whyowners protect a paycheck. "It's found money with no hassle."

Script "I want to see how you guys handle money when the amounts are small, because these amounts are going to get big."

Script · When it works "Let me tell you what happens when the test kind of goes well. They want to move forward all on their own."

• Howa couple of emails bring in $30-50K and the partner asks, "What's next? Can you email my list every day?" "Pretty soon they're introducing you to the whole company, and you've got a full-fledged deal on your hands."

Script · Talking it through after a win "We sent five emails and made 50 grand. We can send one email a week and resend to unopens; that's probably $5,000 a week, so send me $2,500 a week. How does that sound?"

• Whyhappy partners usually ask for more ("You send Tuesdays and Thursdays? I can send Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays"). The test becomes "the first date that never ends."

Script · Exiting a test that isn't working "Hey Shirley, I really wanted to knock this out of the park for you and get a home run, but I can't even get on base here... This is not going to be a good fit for me. I hope we can still do business in the future."

• Whygive the real reason (e.g. not enough of the right buyers on the list). "You're better off giving up quick." Most partners just say, "Ah, that's cool."

Script · Calling the game "I wanted to hit it out of the ballpark for you, but we really had trouble just getting on first base. So I'm going to call the game."

• Howreport the numbers sent, replies and price points, with no emotion. Suggest what the data says (often more certainty, like a results-based guarantee).

Script · When it made money, just not enough "Hey, we did okay on this, but... I don't think there's going to be a big enough universe for it to make sense going forward for us."

• Whythe test was agreed to be "for them and for us," so ending it is no betrayal. Give a specific reason, e.g. "you need investors who've done five deals or more, and most of these have done none." They may try to save it ("Can we give you more money?"); still tell them what panned out.

Script "If it doesn't work in five, get the f*ck out. Because the ones that are working, they're going to work."

• Whygood campaigns show it early. He has left some partners after just two emails: "Dude, it ain't going to work." "Don't keep on trying to put lipstick on a pig."

Script "Nobody buys software. Nobody buys a program. Nobody buys coaching. Nobody buys the deliverable."

• WhenDebbie felt stuck because her partner only had one 8-week program.

Script "I don't care if it's an info product or a service, we're never selling the thing."

Script "Maybelline does not sell makeup. Maybelline sells beauty. Once you understand that, your whole world opens up."

• Whypeople don't want the funnel. "Your funnel is a screwdriver." Ask what it creates for them and which hell they're escaping.
• Whenwhenever you sell a done-for-you service.

Script "Copywriters with decades of experience will say, 'Oh, we've got a proven process,' and they expect people to flump over in their chair with their wallets flying out of their pockets. Nobody's going to convert off of a proven freaking process."

• Howthe test is whether the brain can make a picture of it.

Script "What's going to convert better? 'Make a bunch of money flipping houses,' or 'Here's a business you can teach your kids, connect with them, have a ton of fun, and it makes a really good living too'?"

• Whymoney is a tertiary currency in real estate. Asking "other than the income, what else is important?" revealed coaching their kids and escaping the cubicle.

Script "A lot of times what we think is not what motivates them to purchase."

Script "If you take nothing else away from this, please let it be this: you get the ball rolling with present pain. Your offer should be present-pain focused."

• Whyabout 60% of the offers Travis fixes fail because they sell future gain or something vague.
• Howcheck every offer: "Am I giving them an escape from hell?"

Script "If they're doing well selling future gain, you will absolutely crush it if you figure out what the present pain is, that they had yesterday and are having repeatedly, and position the offer around that."

• Whyrepositioning alone can lift sales. Keep future gain in, but lead with the pain.
• Wheneven luxury offers (Carlos asked about Lambos): "everything solves a present pain." Just don't get "saleslettery" about it.

Script "You must be able to point to their present pain. You can't just talk about it. It has to be something you can point to."

Script "I can't just sit there and talk about profits, profits, profits, because any monkey can do that."

• Howfind where the money actually leaks. Travis's done-for-you work is really "helping them meet payroll." Two salespeople who need leads or they'll leave is a symptom you can name.

Script "Is a 50% increase a feature, an advantage or a benefit?"

• Whya percentage is closer to a feature. Dimensionalize it: $500K a month becomes $750K, and that $250K is all yours. It lets you hire the manager you need. "Nobody talks like that. That's marketer talk."

Script "The first sale you make is to open the damn cover. If he'd just said, 'This is a book on outsourcing,' nobody would open it. But he said, 'The 4-Hour Workweek. Escape the rat race. Join the new rich.'"

• Why"rat race" is Hell Island, "new rich" is Heaven Island, and the 4-hour workweek is a curiosity-laden mechanism. That's "the gap."

Script "Every hot button is somewhere your identity or your reputation has taken a hit."

• Whythe one rule that ties every example together. Use it to test any hot button you think you've found.

Script "What do people always say after they've been robbed? 'I've been violated.' And when you've been violated, what does the lizard brain want to do? It wants to punch back."

• Whyexplains why revenge sold Ring when safety didn't.

Script "If I was the last man on earth, I probably wouldn't care what I ate. I'd want to stay healthy, but I wouldn't be trying to look hot. Losing weight is a means to an end."

• Howfind what's under the stated goal by asking what it would mean if nobody else could see it.

Script "Close is not good enough. It can be good enough if you just want to be a freelancer taking orders from everybody and let them figure out the hot buttons. I hate that."

• Whensaid after Carlos guessed "prevent theft" for NCR: right area, not yet the button.

Script "Remember, at this point he doesn't know anything about fax advertising. I haven't even talked about my offer yet."

• Why"Why hasn't it been solved?" is where what's missing and what's different are born.
• Howplay detective (Columbo). "How big of an issue is that for you? Is it an issue at all?" then "How come?"

Script "So let me make sure I'm understanding you, Mike. If you could get something in front of all the offices here in town, and you knew who to send it to, what do you think that would do for you?"

• Whyyou don't say "what's missing" out loud. You have to know it, and get them to say it.

Script "I've called all the offices here in town and got permission to send faxes to them every day. And they're excited to get daily lunch specials and coupons, because one of their big questions is 'Where are we going to go to lunch?'"

• Howhe showed a physical sheet with every office name and its headcount. A fax goes only to them, with no postage.
• Why it worked: nobody else was doing fax advertising. If ten people were, he'd have needed a different "what's different."

Script "Remember, a symptom is something you can see, hear, feel, taste, or touch, or a combination of those."

Script "The important part of this is not the [__] guess. We either want to go and research what they're using as a plan, or, if you're already working with people, look at how they're solving it now."

• Why"Looking at how people solve something now tells you a lot about what they're trying to do, and it tells you a lot about the assumptions that they're making." A guessed plan gives you a guessed assumption, and the whole T rests on it.

Script "If you can attach a name to what happens because they're using the plan, it's super powerful."

• Howhis example is "the Smorgasbord Effect": cramming two years of content into an 8-week course.

Script "We only stay stuck in problems because we're making a false assumption somewhere."

Script "I've seen people lose hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, by making this new plan something you have to change internally to yourself."

• How"Even if it is something internal, if you can bring it outside of yourself, or turn it into a character that you can fight against..." Willpower is internal. Hormones feel external, especially once named: "Herman, the hungry hormone." Calm Herman down and you don't rely on willpower.
• Why"If you tell a woman she's got to change herself to help the relationship, you're not going to convert nearly as much as if you give her some words to say. That's why everybody's so into hacks."
• When"In cold ads or first dates, we want to be very tactical." Deeper change can come later.

Script "He questions. He's like, 'I don't know about this Force thing.' And trust me, this is what your prospect's going to do with your plan."

• WhyLuke is the realistic Rudolph. Obi-Wan's plan is three words ("Use the Force"), and much of Star Wars is Luke learning to trust it. Those doubts become emails, page sections or steps in your plan.

Script "We never have to outrun the bear. We just have to outrun what they're already doing."

• Howask how they handle it now. Partner: "I don't want to handle all these responses." Travis: "How are you getting people in now? What do you do when they don't show up? When they show up but don't buy?" "So you're already kind of tapping."

Script "I'm never selling my thing. I'm selling against their current plan."

• Whypeople only change when the old plan clearly fails them. "We just have to outrun our friend, and the friend is whatever they're using for a current plan."

Script "Rebecca, you're running a martial arts studio, you've got kids, a busy schedule. Let's have a frank discussion. Are you going to be able to block out the time to do this?"

• Whywhen will Pat believe you about the sharks: before you try to get her in the boat, or while you're pulling her in? Before. Once you're pulling, you look like you have an ulterior motive.

Script · Why price early "Most marketers stack benefits, then drop '$6,000' at the end. The scales slam," and you get "Let me think about it" and "Do you have credentials?" Harpoon the shark early. "Have you flipped your ever-loving mind? $8,000?" Then later in the campaign: "Well, son of a b*tch. How do I get started?"

Script "We call it capping off a bullet. Most people write their bullets backwards. They start with the mechanism first."

• Howbenefit first, then the how, then a touch of objection handling. A Child email still has a little Adult and Parent; an Adult email still has a little Child.

Script "Took me 20 years to vet these vendors. Blew through tens of thousands of dollars with the wrong ones. I'm going to hand you a 20-year shortcut that's probably going to save you 15 grand off one bad purchase."

• Whyit was one tiny bullet point in his copy. Asking "How long did it take you to get that?" uncovered its value.

Script "So if somebody buys your thing and emails you, how long will you answer them for?" "Forever." "Okay. Why don't we position this as a VIP hotline? Six months."

• Whysomething they already do, renamed, can be worth more than the product.

Script "If after six weeks you haven't got this result, I'll work with you until you do, as long as you're doing everything we put in there."

• Whybig-ticket buyers don't want their money back. They don't want to waste time and energy. Travis doesn't offer money-back guarantees.
• Howask, "Do you just stop taking their questions after six weeks?" They usually keep helping anyway.

Script "What people are really buying a lot of times is certainty."

• Whythe magic pen. "Pay $10K now and I'll ship it" is a hard sale. "When it arrives, write me a check for a million" isn't. Results-based guarantees work the same way.

Script "It's not changing what you do, it's changing who you do it for."

• Whymaking it appeal to everybody forces the price down. A more specific, hair-on-fire problem raises the value.

Script "Sometimes what we're really selling is not what we think we're really selling."

• Story: Harlan's T3 to his keto group ("Would you like to become a keto coach?") put 19 people in. It was an identity offer, not a keto offer.
• Howthe three-beer rule. What would they say they really want after three beers or three glasses of wine?

Script · "Give me ___ and I'll give you ___." A tool for finding the offer, not a line you must print.

Script "It has to be binary. You can't say, 'Are you really motivated to make six figures?' because that's not a binary question."

• How"Either a yes or a no. They can point a finger to it." Fewer people reply, "but they're way more qualified."

Script "I'm just a screwdriver. I'm a Phillips screwdriver. Tell me what your screw looks like."

• Whyif they have a slotted screw, you're not a fit, and that's fine. "I'm useless for you" (or "I'm most useful for...").

Script "People will lie more about the money. They won't necessarily lie about how many opens they have or how many sales a day they're making on Amazon."

• Howask about the activity behind the revenue, not the revenue. When you do ask directly: "We don't have anything against newbies. This is best for people already doing six figures."

Script "Why don't we just ask the market while they have their wallet out, while they're in pain, what they're looking for and what's important to them? Anybody can do that. Almost nobody does."

Script "This is not about how great of copywriters we are."

• Whyclassically trained copywriters often struggle here because they stitch swipes together and forget there's a person on the other side.

Script "Our next thing is like, where does it hurt? ... 'Well, I didn't get much exercise during this COVID thing, my hip stove up.' That's your next T1. You let your market write your marketing for you."

• Howthe chiropractor example. T1: "I've got time to help a few people who are having trouble getting up and down the stairs because they have hip pain or lower back pain... Would you like some help with that?" T2: "Where does it hurt?" "What happened?"

Script "My next T1 comes out of a conversation that I have."

• Howget one thing going, have conversations, then write the next T1 from what you heard. Tell it as a short story without naming the person.

Script "We all know how to get from our garage to Walmart... If we have to have four maps and five GPSs, we're never going to get there."

• Whyyou don't need the whole campaign planned. You'll know what to do when you see the results, like you'd know to call AAA for a flat tire.

Script "Hey, Matt, Ed, Axel and me, we're all going to the new steakhouse. Heard they have an amazing Wagyu beef they're flying in from Australia. And I'll buy you their best 25-year single malt Scotch. If we're not too tipsy, we might go see the new Rock movie. Would you like to come with us?"

• Whythat's an invitation. Most copywriters write the opposite: "Are you sitting home all alone tonight? Are you frustrated..." plus a discount, "and guess how many responses they typically get? None."
• Howsay who's going, what's good about it, the offer, and ask if they want in. "Here's what we've got going on. Here's why it's cool. Here's all the fun we're going to have. Would you like to join us?"

Script "Hey, spring's here. A lot of people are getting back out in the yard, and they've been stove up since COVID... I'm helping a few folks out so they can get all that done. Would you like to join us?"

• Whya back-pain program that had been sold only on its deliverables ("work with me for six weeks"). This T1 leads with present pain.
• Whenfirst email to a list of back-pain ebook buyers.

Script "Hey, we realize that it's not about the money for a lot of you guys. It's really about making sure that no dog ever has to have a shock collar put on, never has to get whapped in the nose with a newspaper... Would you like to be part of this mission with us?"

• Whythe rewritten dog-trainer T1, after buyers kept saying "I don't care about the money."
• Howname the dog if you can. It's more powerful, like Rudolph.
• Whenthe second T1, after T2 feedback showed the real hot button.

Sample · The hair-on-fire T1 (Nathan's restaurant consultant) "Hey, great to see you. A lot of the restaurant owners reaching out to us are usually struggling with one of three issues, or all of them: getting enough people in the restaurant so they don't have to shut the doors, keeping food costs down with inflation, or dealing with partnerships and management so they don't have to be at the store all day. Which of these situations apply to you?"

• Whyit replaced "increase your margins up to 18%," which is soft and hard to picture.

Sample · The VIP day T1 (sold out with one email and one resend to unopens: three spots at $15K, could have sold about ten more)

• "I don't know if you'd be willing to jump on a plane and fly out to California and work with me for a day."
• "If your lead costs are rising faster than your health care premiums, your margins are getting gobbled up faster than brains at a zombie convention..."
• "It would completely make sense if you know these are problems you want to fix but just don't have time to sit through a d*mn 12-week course."
• "I'll have my driver holding up a sign with your name on it when you arrive... Then shoulder to shoulder, you and I will lay out the plan to solve all these problems for you in one powerful day."
• The qualifier is built in ("spending $1,000 a day on Facebook, AdWords or any other ad network"). Every detail is something you can point a finger at.

Sample · The Rainmaker car T1 (about $50K with the T2 and T3) "What kind of car could you buy with one Rainmaker promo to your email list?" "Travis popping by real quick." Results counted in opens (600 opens to $28,000 in under two weeks; 1,300 opens to $83,000 in 14 days). Sharks named: "If you're thinking my list is too old, not responsive enough, or I'm just not a good enough copywriter... I feel you." A pendulum swing: "Let me rub some shiny off" (a recent flop: $8,000 on about 1,000 opens, "but that's still a used car"). Close: "I don't have a fancy sales page. Hope you won't mind. Just reply back to this email."

Sample · Evergreen offers "I'm setting aside time to work with 10 people in July." You can't work with the whole world at once, so capacity is real. A deadline isn't required. (Dean Jackson's cookies: "Would you like me to bake you some cookies?" gets "Don't put yourself out." Holding out a plate of their favorite cookies gets a yes.)

Script "The subject line is the bouncer for the nightclub."

• Why"The worst thing you can do is let everybody in, because you have to pay for everybody that comes in." A Facebook ads expert kept getting broke clients from "Are you struggling with Facebook ads?" His best clients' pain was no-shows: "Show-up rates less than 50%?" Newbies won't even notice it.
• Howthe pay-per-open test. Write each subject line as if you had to pay for every open.

Script "My banker does not accept open rates."

• Whygimmick subject lines like "bad news" get opens, then people stop opening because the emails aren't relevant. Travis's best subject line in 2021 was "RSVP." His best now is "offer": lowercase, no punctuation. It presupposes they're ready to buy.
• Howread opens relatively. If the list usually opens at 30% and "offer" gets 10%, they don't want to buy from this person. If it usually opens at 25% and "offer" gets 60%, people want to buy far more than the partner thinks.

Script "When I see some sh*t sticking on the wall, I feel more of that kind of sh*t."

• Howwhen a segment wins (nurses), slice it again: RNs or LPNs, hospital or home care.

Script "Especially when you're dialing in an offer, the win is not a sale... The win is pulling out more and more information from them."

Script "Ann, can you tell me a little bit about your situation?"

• Whyit works "out of the can" most of the time. People coming off the T1 invite already know what you're talking about. Travis calls it his favorite T2 question.
• Howstart general, or narrow it: "Can you tell me about your back pain situation?" or "What had you considering changing what you're doing for pain relief?"
• Whenthe first reply to every hand raiser while dialing in.

Script "Hey Rebecca, good to see you. I know you're hoping to see Ann, but she's out training dogs right now, so I'm giving her a hand. I hope you won't mind. Can you tell me a little bit about your situation?"

• Whytapping as an assistant filters out jerks ("if they're mean to the tapper, get out") and gives people a safe spot to tell the truth. People tell the big name what they think he wants to hear. Travis sometimes pretends to be the tapper on his own programs.

Script "The big mistake tappers make is they don't listen. They just ask the next question. It should be like playing catch. You've got to catch the ball and then throw it back."

• Howpick up something they just said and hand it back before the next question. Repeat their exact words with a question mark ("Supplemental income?") to get them to expand. Their wording matters: "supplemental" is not "extra" or "passive."

Sample · The land-investing chat "What's happening in your life that has you considering this land investing program?" "I'm looking for supplemental income." "Supplemental income?" "Yeah, I'm 55, not quite at retirement..." "What's important to you about the supplemental income?" ... "What else is important to you?" "I want something I can do with my wife." Close the loop: "Let me make sure I understand. You want to earn supplemental income, but you want it to be fun and something you can do with your wife." They'll say "That's exactly it," even though you only repeated them. Then ask which matters most ("It's got to be fun") and feed that into all the marketing.

Sample · The wholesaler drill-down "What's important to you about the deals you're wholesaling?" "We don't have a lot of capital." "What's important to you about getting the capital?" "So I can get more deals." "What's important to you about more deals?" "My wife is sick. I need to stay home and take care of her." Then: "You won't hurt my feelings at all. What stops you from getting this done? What have you tried?"

Script "We're never selling the thing that we're selling. We're selling away from whatever they're doing right now. And our job is not to make them wrong or right."

Script "Man, I love real estate. Why in the heck would you even want to look at doing something different than real estate?"

• Whyget on their side first, so they tell you the real reason.

Script "How soon do you want to be home with your daughter? Is this a now kind of thing or a later kind of thing? ... Why is now so urgent? And we haven't even talked about the product yet."

• Why"pre-selling the price." Find what it's costing them in time and family: "How long has it been broken?" "Why fix it now?" "How much longer before...?"
• Story: "We need to fix our sales." How long broken? Three years. Why now? "We haven't paid our founders in six months." "How much longer before you lose one of your founders?" Now $6,000 feels right.

Script "Sounds like you're doing awesome. You should just keep on doing what you're doing."

• Whenthey have no real pain, or say "I'm just looking." Then stop. "It's not about converting everybody. It's converting the people that are ready for it."

Script "Can you remind me what had you looking into this to begin with?"

• Whenplayed like Columbo, when they say "this is expensive, not sure it's for me."

Script "Super great to see you. I'm excited to send you details, but would you help me help you? I want to make sure there's nothing preventing me from getting you a result. Could you answer these three quick questions for me?"

• Whensomeone replies "send me details." When the qualifying language was reversed this way, it did a lot better.

Sample · The short event T2 "Hey Cody, thank you for connecting. Do you get 500 or more opens on your email list when you send, and at least a $500 offer? If we were to do this together, what outcome would make you happy? Dates are May 5th through May 7th. Do those dates work for you? Do you mind flying out to Arkansas to turn your email list into $500 to $5,000 sales? Let me know and I'll send you the rest of the 411."

• Why reconfirm the dates, even if the T1 had them: otherwise you'll hear "I can't make the dates" at the T3.

Sample · The social T2 (in a DM) "Mind if I ask a question or two to make sure there's nothing preventing me from getting you the results you're after?" Then one or two qualifying questions inside the chat. On social, there's no three-question email.

Sample · Before a call "I'm excited to jump on a call with you, but before we do, would you help me help you? I want to make sure I'm not spinning your wheels." Ask your three questions, then send the T3 with the scheduling link.