MBA2641 Want to Sell More? Try This Honest Sales Trick

0:00Do you want to sell more without sounding desperate? Do you want to build instant trust without being pushy? Well, here's the most honest and surprisingly powerful sales technique I've ever used. Tell people what's wrong with your product. This is called damaging admission. And yes, it's actually a way to increase sales. I first learned about this from Dr. Robert Cialdini in his classic book called Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion. He calls it the most underrated persuasion principle out there. And today, I'm going to show you how to use it to sell more of anything while building trust with your customers and not making them feel like they're in a pressure cooker.

0:42Let's break it down.

0:49Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help you start, grow, and scale your business. Dr. Caldity studied the psychology of influence for decades. In his book, Influence, he talks about how admitting a genuine weakness or flaw voluntarily before the customer brings it up can actually increase your credibility and boost conversions. He calls this damaging admissions. Why does it work? Well, when you point out a limitation of your own offer, customers naturally assume that everything else that you're saying is more credible too.

1:34So even though you are saying something that is bad about your product or service, the fact that you're being upfront about that allows you to gain trust and credibility with everything else you say. The way I see it, it kind of short circuits skepticism, which is hugely popular these days. It shows that you're confident and it positions you as a trust advisor and not just a seller. A damaging admission is where you openly share a drawback, a limitation, a flaw of your product or service as a part of your pitch. You're doing this intentionally and you're doing it early on. But here's the key. It's a small flaw that doesn't disqualify the offer.

2:19It actually makes it real. It makes it even more credible. And in 2025 where skepticism is out of all time high, attention is short, and perfect really looks fake. Being real, being honest, even with your flaws will gain you more sales. Let me give a real world example to put this in context. When I was selling Webinar Ninja, my webinar software, when I was running my sales webinars, I would often say something like Webinar Ninja isn't the cheapest webinar platform out there. You can absolutely find cheaper options, but we built it for creators who want everything in one place. Live webinars, replays, analytics, landing pages, without having to duct tape three or four other tools together.

3:00This is a damaging admission. Yes, we are more expensive, but we save you time and tech headaches. We increase the likelihood of you being successful on a webinar. That one sentence where I point out something that's not flattering did more to close sales on my webinars than having like 10 slides of feature comparisons with my competitors. Let me give you another example from the$100 MBA program. We've used this with our sales videos, with our emails, and here it is. If you're looking for easy passive income, a shortcut, or a way to make$10 ,000 in 10 days, this isn't for you. But if you're serious about building something real with structure, with support, and a system, then this is exactly what you've been looking for.

3:47That example I just gave you, notice what happened. What we did here is we admitted what we're not going to do for you, right? We repel the wrong people and we pull the right ones closer to us by doing so. So that's the power of a well-placed damaging admission. So why does this work from a psychological point of view? Well, here's what's happening in the customer's mind. Number one, you are disarming their skepticism. They're waiting for a pitch. But when you give them honesty, when you actually say something that's not so great, it throws them a little bit in a good way. For example, if you're a business coach and you say, hey, we help people get to the first$100 ,000.

4:29You're trying to make a million dollars this year. We are not for you. Right? You're saying right off the bat, hey, I can't help people that are trying to make a million dollars. Even though that sounds appealing to make a million dollars, you focus on people that are just getting started. And therefore, people believe you more when you are pointing out the fact that you don't do something, that you don't cater for everybody. Number two, increase trust. When you're willing to share something bad, they assume the good is more credible. For example, when I was running my own clothing line, which we had custom tailored clothing, we would say up front, we don't deliver quickly, right?

5:04We don't deliver your item in 48 hours. It actually takes us two weeks to get your product to your door because we have to custom tailor it, right? It takes a while for our tailors to create your shirt, for us to package it, to send it over. So like we've upfront said, we're not Amazon Prime, right? We take a bit more time to get you something high quality in your hands. Number three, you shift from sales mode to advisor mode. And that shift changes everything. people start seeing you as somebody who sees their best interest in mind. In Caldini's research, he took a look at companies and salespeople who used this technique, damaging admissions, and saw significantly higher trust and purchase intent opposed to those who didn't use this technique.

5:52Now, there's some things you should not do when it comes to damaging admissions. This is not permission to fake humility. This is not a chance for you to be serving up some cheesy, humble brag, okay? An example of this would be like, the only downside to my product is that it might work too well. Nope, nope, do not do that, please. That is absolutely horrendous. Your admission has to be real and it has to be relevant to the customer. And if you really want to make sure it works well, you have to make sure it's relatable to the customer. I'm going to give you some rapid fire examples so you know what I'm talking about.

6:29This isn't for beginners, okay? You'll need to put in some effort. You're going to need to spend, you know, three to six hours a week on this program. It's more expensive, but here's why. We're still adding features, but the ones that we have right now work great and get you the results you're looking for. So let's break down how to use damaging admissions strategically in your sales process. Number one, you want to identify a real objection or hesitation. Ask yourself this, what's the elephant in the room? What would a smart customer ask, right? That's your damaging admission. Number two, lead with it.

7:08Don't do the damaging admission later, right? Use it in the first two minutes of your sales video. Have it as above the fold in your landing page. Say it early on in your sales calls. This surprises people in a good way, and it builds trust instantly. My buddy Matthew Kimberly's got a program called the Single Malt Mastermind, and early on in his sales page, he says up front his damaging admissions. He says, we don't have a Facebook group. We don't do coaching calls. We don't have an annual conference. But instead, we save you time and give you less work to do while holding you accountable to reach your goals.

7:44Number three, reframe it into a strength if possible. Just like that example I gave you with Matthew Kimberly's sales page, it's not just confessing that you're doing something that's maybe not super flattering. You're contextualizing it. You're saying, hey, this is by intention. Yes, it's a bit pricier, but everything you need is already built in. Yes, it will take effort, but that's why it actually works. That's what professionals do. They give you the truth and the full picture. I want to give you a fill-in-the-blank script so that you could just steal this and use it as a plug-and-play way for you to use damaging admissions properly.

8:23This isn't for you if, and then you can insert the flaw. So for example, this isn't for you if you're looking to lose 10 pounds in a week, but if you are, now you're going to insert the ideal customer trait, but if you are serious about your health and wellness, it's exactly what you need. Let me give you some other examples. This isn't for you if you want results without showing up, but if you're willing to do the work, you're going to love what's inside my program. Here's another example. This isn't the cheapest software on the market, but if you value your time, it's a no-brainer. Simple, honest, effective.

8:57So I want to give you a challenge this week. Here is sort of an action item for you to do after this episode. Write the top three objections customers have about your product or offer. The three big reasons why they're not buying. Pick the one that's actually true about your product. Turn that into a one to two sentence damaging admission. And then number four, use it in your next sales email, video, or conversation. You'll be surprised how well it works. Listen, in a world where people are hyping up their offer, where landing pages promise the moon and deliver, not much. You're going to stand out by simply telling the truth.

9:41And not just the pretty parts. Buyers don't need perfection. They need someone they can trust. I encourage you to use damaging admissions as a technique to show your customers that you are that person that they can trust. I found in my over two decades of doing business, honesty converts, honesty retains, honesty wins in the short term and in the long term. Thanks so much for listening to the$100 MBA show. If you want to go further in your growth as an entrepreneur, I encourage you to subscribe to my three things newsletter. It's absolutely free and it's my way to coach you from afar. Every week, I send you three things.

10:23Something to think about to improve your mindset. Number two, something to do so that you're actually taking action and moving forward. And number three, something to learn so that you're leveling up every single week. It's absolutely free. And all you got to do is go to 100mba.net, sign up for any of our free guides or freebies, and you'll get added to our newsletter automatically. Thanks again. And congrats, by the way, to making it to the end of the episode. Most people don't complete things. You are a completionist. You should congratulate yourself. You're doing great work by improving yourself and growing your business in the process.

11:01So well done. And I'll check you in the next episode.