Pod Insights The $100 MBA Show MBA2641 Want to Sell More? Try This Honest Sales Trick About this episode Do you ever feel like you have to sound perfect to make a sale, only to wonder if customers actually trust you? Does being completely honest about your product’s flaws seem like a risk that could hurt your chances of closing the deal? What if the key to higher sales is simply being real—even about what’s not so great? Today’s lesson explores a powerful yet underrated technique from Dr. Robert Cialdini’s classic book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. It’s called “damaging admission,” and it’s all about openly acknowledging your product’s limitations as part of your pitch. Omar breaks down how sharing your product’s honest drawbacks can actually build trust, disarm skepticism, and help you sell more—without sounding desperate or fake. You’ll learn practical ways to apply this approach, see real-world examples, and get a fill-in-the-blank script you can start using right away. Ready to transform your sales strategy and gain more trust from the very first conversation? Hit play at the top of the page for this essential lesson and see why honesty truly converts. Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHiSUBSCRIBEYouTube | Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Feed
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Small business owners, listen up. You started your business, but you can't do it alone. And that means you have to hire people to help. That's where Justworks comes in. Justworks is the payroll, benefits, and global hiring platform to unburden your brain from all the complicated small business stuff. They handle the things you can't afford to get wrong, so you don't have to worry. So you can focus on the parts of running a business that you enjoy, knowing everything else is running smoothly. You don't have to worry when it just works. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first, but didn't live up to the hype? For example, I really wanted to love the show Mad Men. I really tried to watch it and love it, but it just didn't do anything for me. As a marketer and business person, the show was a little bit of a disappointment.
0:45 Speaker 00 Marketers know that feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great, like impressions. But then, we don't see revenue. LinkedIn has a word for that: bull spend. Instead, you can get the highest ROAS of major ad networks with LinkedIn Ads. Cut the bull spend, advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com/MBAShow. Terms apply. Do 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.
1:28 Speaker 00 And yes, it's actually a way to increase sales. I first learned about this from Dr. Robert Caldini 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. Let's break it down.
2:00 Speaker 00 Welcome back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host Omar Zenhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business.
2:13 Speaker 00 Dr. Cal Diddy 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. So 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
2:56 Speaker 00 with everything else you say. The way I see it, it kind of short-circuits skepticism, which is hugely popular these days, okay? 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. It actually makes it real. It makes it even more credible. And in 2025, where skepticism is at a all-time high, attention is short,
3:38 Speaker 00 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. This 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.
4:22 Speaker 00 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. That 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?
5:07 Speaker 00 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. If you'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,
5:51 Speaker 00 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, increased trust. When you're willing to show 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 upfront, "We don't deliver quickly, right? We 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?
6:35 Speaker 00 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 interests 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. Now, there are 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, you know, 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
7:20 Speaker 00 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. The holidays are the season business owners get pulled in six directions. More calls, more requests, more chances for things to slip through the cracks. Hoping you catch it all isn't a plan. That's why today's episode is brought to you by QUO, spelled Q-U-O. The business phone built so you never miss a call or a customer. Ever have a lead call or text at 10:00 PM? QUO's AI agent handles both 24/7. It answers questions, gets to the details, and can text them a link to book an appointment.
8:04 Speaker 00 By morning, you've got the summary and can jump right in. And nobody should have to ask customers to repeat themselves. In QUO, every call, text, and voicemail lives in one thread, so anyone on the team can jump in already knowing the whole story. If you have a business where your customers call or text you, this is a no-brainer. You must have QUO. Money is on the line. Always say hello with QUO. Try QUO for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com/mba. That's Q-U-O.com/mba.
8:38 Speaker 00 Today's episode is sponsored by Upwork. I don't need a script to tell you how much Upwork has helped my business. I've been using Upwork for over a decade and it's the easiest way to find top talent to grow your business. From software development to AI implementation to marketing, design and business operations. You can browse profiles, review past work and get help scoping the role so you can hire with confidence and get started quickly. With Business Plus, you can access the top 1% of talent on Upwork. With over 170,000 freelancers holding five-star ratings, you can hire with the confidence that comes from hiring someone with a verified track record. I've hired engineers, customer service agents, marketers, copywriters, all on Upwork that
9:23 Speaker 00 helped grow my business from the moment they got hired. The best thing is it's free to sign up and posting a job is easy. Visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That is upwork.com to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's U P W R K dot com, upwork.com.
9:46 Speaker 00 I'm going to give you some rapid-fire examples so you know what I'm talking about. This 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. Don't do the damaging admission later, right?
10:30 Speaker 00 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 Kevili's got a program called the Single Malt Mastermind and early on in his sales page, He says upfront 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." Number three, reframe it into a strength, if possible. Just like that example I gave you with Matthew Kimberly's sales page.
11:11 Speaker 00 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. This 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.
11:56 Speaker 00 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. So 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.
12:40 Speaker 00 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. And 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,
13:19 Speaker 00 honesty converts, honesty retains, honesty wins in the short term and in the long term.
13:28 Speaker 00 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, something 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 gotta 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
14:11 Speaker 00 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. So, well done and I'll check you in the next episode.
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