Doubts and the webinar close
Lesson 22 of 31 in the course “Million Dollar Sales Course”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
A great lesson doesn’t sell by itself
In lesson 21 you built the webinar’s content. Now the hardest part: doubts and the offer. Brunson tells how he first sold from a stage. He prepared what he thought was a great talk, made an offer at the end, and nobody moved. He says he spent the rest of the weekend in his hotel room with ice cream, too embarrassed to face anyone. Then he started learning from people who actually sell, and realized something odd: the best content on its own doesn’t help sales. What helps is finding the beliefs that make people think “it won’t work for me” and breaking them with stories. Per Brunson, later a single talk brought in $250,000 or more. Why? As long as a voice inside says “not for me,” no amount of value turns into a purchase.
Three walls in their head
Brunson noticed that even after people believe the big idea, three kinds of doubts pop up. The first is about the method: “sounds cool, but how would it work for me?” The second is about themselves: “I’m not technical, I can’t do this.” The third is about circumstances, things outside their control: time, money, algorithms, the economy. In his own presentation, it sounded like this: funnels aren’t for me, I’m not techy, I have no way to get traffic. And for each doubt he has a separate story ready. Why split them into three? So you don’t forget any, which means no one leaves with an unspoken “but.” Misha has three walls: “editing on a phone isn’t serious,” “I’m not creative” and “the algorithm buries beginners.”
A story is the cure for a doubt
Where does “it won’t work for me” come from? Brunson breaks it into a chain. First comes an experience: someone downloaded an app, tried it, and it came out bad. Then the brain made up a story: “I just can’t edit.” And that became a belief. Arguing with a belief is pointless: people defend their experience. But you can tell your own story, where you thought the same, then something happened and your view changed. The new story replaces the old one. Misha says: “My first 20 videos were bad too, and I thought this wasn’t for me. Then I realized it came down to one technique.” Brunson’s advice: list 10–20 doubts your customers have, find the experience behind each one, and your story that breaks it.
Answering a doubt in 3 steps
Fladlien adds two things. First: doubts come up not at the very end but already in the intro, and you come back to them throughout the live. Why? If a doubt isn’t named, people spend the whole hour half-listening and thinking about it. There’s almost always time and money, plus “I’ve tried before,” “too good to be true,” fear, confusion and “now isn’t the time.” Second: a formula for the answer. Acknowledge softly: not “you’re scared” but “you may be wondering.” Agree it’s a fair question and turn it: “it matters that this fits into your life.” Give a target: “watch how students make a video in 20 minutes.” People start looking for proof that they can do it, not that they can’t. What not to do: argue or shame. “No time is just an excuse” only shuts people down.
The transition: an hour in a minute
The content is done, and many hosts stumble here: they jump abruptly from the lesson to the price, and the room goes cold. Fladlien builds a bridge. He quickly, in about a minute, lists everything the person got from the live, and says it as already done: “now you know…”, “you can already…”. Why? People hear not a list of topics but their own progress, and feel the time was well spent. Energy grows with each point. Then one simple question: want to go further and faster? Only then do you name the product. Misha says: “In this hour you figured out why people leave at second 2, made a hook on your phone and cut the pauses in your video. Want that for every video? Here’s how.”
The offer in 5 minutes
Fladlien says something surprising: the offer itself is the least important part of the close. Many hosts go through every module in detail, people get bored, and boredom doesn’t sell. His order: the name and a one-line benefit, then the main parts as “what it is + what it does for you,” all in under five minutes. If it takes less than three, the offer is weak. He names the price early, in the first minutes. Why? Until people know the price, they have nothing to compare the value to, and they listen with half an ear. Then the bonuses: usually 3–5, and whatever gets a “wow” works better as a bonus than buried in the program. Then the guarantee and an honest deadline, which you covered in lessons 5 and 20. Misha: “The Phone Editing course: videos people finish, no laptop. Inside, 12 lessons… The price is $49.”
The stack: everything in view
Brunson calls this his secret weapon. The idea is simple: people remember best what they saw last. Usually a host shows the course, then the bonuses one by one, and only the last bonus sticks. If it’s not worth the price, people don’t buy. So each new item is shown on its own, and then the whole growing list again: course; course and presets; course, presets and review. The last thing people see before the price is the whole stack. Per Brunson, with this technique he went from closing 5–10% of a room to 40% or more. Important: Brunson puts a dollar “value” next to each item. Write it honestly, as what the item saves or gives the person: “the presets save about an hour per video.” Made-up figures like “a $2000 value” undermine trust.
Do it yourself: your webinar close
List 10–20 doubts your customers have and sort them into three groups: about the method, about themselves, about circumstances. Pick the main one in each and match it with your story: what you used to think, what happened and what you realized. Name the most common doubts already in the intro. For answers, use three steps: acknowledge softly, agree and reframe, give a target. Write the transition: 4–6 “now you can…” points and the question “want to go further and faster?” Build a five-minute offer: name, one-line benefit, main parts, price in the first minutes, 3–5 bonuses, guarantee and an honest deadline. Make stack slides where items are added one by one, with an honest note of what each saves or gives. In lesson 23 we’ll see how to launch with no product and no big audience, and how to launch together with partners.
Check yourself
- What kind of doubt is this?
Correct answer: About himself: doesn’t believe in his ability. Per Brunson this is an internal belief: he trusts the method, just not himself. The answer is a story of how you thought the same and what changed your mind. - How to answer “no time”?
Correct answer: “Fair question. Watch how students make a video in 20 minutes”. That’s Fladlien’s formula: acknowledge softly, agree it’s a fair question and give a target. The person starts looking for proof they can do it instead of arguing. - When should he say the price?
Correct answer: In the offer’s first minutes, after the name and benefit. Fladlien names the price early: until people know it, they have nothing to compare the value to. Every next part of the offer is then weighed against the price. - What should he write next to the presets?
Correct answer: “Saves about an hour per video”. Honest value is what the item really saves or gives the person. It can be checked, and it convinces better than a made-up sum.
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