The Art of Persuasion in Webinars: Lessons from Alex Hormozi's Viral Event
When it comes to trends, I either like to be way ahead of the curve... or else so far behind it that the thing is no longer trendy and I don't have to feel like I jumped the bandwagon too late.
(Yes, this contrariness drives my husband completely bananas.)
This week, though, I was motivated by my client's best interests to put that natural tendency aside.
See, my former client Erin recently re-hired me to help her reposition her offer and promote her upcoming launch...
...part of which includes helping her re-write her existing webinar.
And after Alex Hormozi broke the Internet last weekend with his webinar book launch (the replay of which has over 500,000 views on YouTube)...
I figured it would probably be worth my time to see what all the fuss was about and/or if there were any new strategies I could borrow to help Erin get results.
Whether you've watched the webinar or not, whether you like Hormozi or not (and there are several reasons why you might not), the webinar itself was a masterclass in principles of persuasion—some you might want to borrow, others you might not want to touch with a 10 foot pole.
Here's a quick rundown of what stood out most to me, and how you can use these strategies for yourself (without everything away for free):
1) Context-based Authority Cues
Now, I had heard of Hormozi's book $100M Offers, but - due to the aforementioned contrariness, pretty much ignored everything about it. So I knew his name, but not much else. That said, upon clicking play, it became immediately apparent that A LOT of people were pumped for this event.
The webinar was formatted as Hormozi standing in front of a wall of live attendees, with his slides in a separate window below:
Opening screen from the replay of Hormozi's live event
This presentation plays a large part in what seems to be one of Hormozi's main goals: Making you trust him 1000%.
Now, I know he's working with resources beyond what a lot of solopreneurs have available. But this is one example of how NOT-bootstrapping can benefit you.
When you have a professionally designed sales page, when you have a seamless customer experience, professional copy + branding, you also have the benefit of context-based authority cues that make people more likely to believe you're someone they can trust.
2) Prove Everything Immediately (Ideally with # / % / $ )
Hormozi is open about the fact that the entire presentation is the proof that his book works. He talks about how he used marketing and lead generating methods he teaches in his book first to build his Gym Launch business and then to market this event.
Not only does his personal story give viewers a Hero's Journey to relate to, as he speaks, he backs up almost every single thing he says with proof:
Screenshots of client wins
Screenshots of his bank account
Graphs of his followers on YouTube
He has the hard numbers, percentages and done-for-you math to underline the credibility of every claim he makes.
I've mentioned the "Show the Math" technique before in other posts (like this one), and that in particular is something I'll be using in my re-writes of Erin's sales page as we work on repositioning her course as a newly upgraded premium offer.
3) Give your Audience Goosebumps of Anticipation
As Hormozi tells his story, sharing both the frameworks he teaches in his book and the courses he is "selling" in this webinar, he repeatedly refers to what the offers will allow his audience to do. But not just by talking about the benefits...
His words are carefully chosen to create the kind of anticipation that makes buyers feel like getting their hands on your offer will feel like Christmas morning, at one point even mentioning the moment viewers will be able to "rip off the wrapping paper".
If you're trying to create this same effect for your own audience, consider what they'll experience within the first 15 minutes of having purchased your offer:
What other moments of excitement/anticipation/fulfilled desire can you reference to cultivate that emotion for your audience?
4) Anchor Anchor Anchor—Both in $$$ and in Value
OK, so, let's talk about The Value Stack (aka that bit of both your webinar and your sales page where you list the $$$ value of each component and then slash it down and tell people what it will really cost them today).
Your Value Stack plays a very specific role in both of these cases: It ensures that the first number that people see is a way bigger number than what you're asking them to invest.
Hormozi anchors the bejeezus out of every single thing he offers during this event. He anchors the value of each component in:
How much time he put in to learn / build it
How much money he spent to build / refine it
How much value it's created for him ($$$)
How much time it can save you—which he then links to $/hr, and
How much value it can create for you ($$$)
Now, I know a lot of heart-centered business owners aren't big fans of the value stack because it can feel sleazy to pretend that a PDF you've never sold is worth $997—and I completely agree…
But I still recommend you always use a Value Stack. The trick is just to base that value on #s you can back up in real life:
What would it cost them to learn what you've learned?
How much do clients pay you to do this for them 1:1?
If your audience charges $X/hour, how much money will they gain back once they buy your thing?
^^ These are all real-world reference points for your numbers that give the context without the sleaze.
5) Sell every component of your offer as if it’s the whole thing
As Hormozi walks us through the frameworks he teaches and the courses he's created to accompany his book, he follows the same general framework for each one:
How he learned it
How he used it for his book
How you can use it today
...peppering in all that proof I mentioned along the way.
For each framework, he takes time to tell his story. He take time to show his proof. He takes time to break down the steps that go into it. And he takes time to walk you through how you can use it, too.
So many business owners are afraid of having a sales page that's too long, or a webinar that's over an hour, but with this example, Hormozi shows us how – if you are constantly answering the question: "What's in it for me?" – people will stick around and pay attention.
~~~
Now, if you haven't been online much this week, you may have missed the news that ~ spoiler alert ~ Hormozi gives away everything he's been selling us all on... for free.
It's a gimmick, albeit a very effective one, but that definitely doesn't have to be the #1 thing you takeaway from his example.
Unlike Hormozi’s decision to gift his course to everybody who signed up, the 5 reminders I've shared above can be applied to your sales page and launch events regardless of your business model.
Now, I share these insights to show you that there are persuasion principles you can leverage for yourself without resorting to problematic tactics like bypassing consent and/or weaponizing trust to circumvent people's natural skepticism.
There are definitely aspects of Hormozi's teaching that are questionable, to say the least:
Illana Burk's post on Facebook (which she has since published on Medium) spawned a lot of interesting discussions on the topic of consent and Dr Michelle Mazur noted that she'll be deconstructing Hormozi's training for an upcoming episode of her podcast, Duped.
Interested in having my support with your next launch so that I can put my insights to work for you?
Inside Your Signature Promise, we cover all of the ways you're driving enrolment in your signature offer.
You can learn more about 1:1 launch support options right here.
Or check out my pre-recorded workshop, Plan Your Breakthrough Launch:
Want to give your next launch the best chance of success before you open your cart?
Plan Your Breakthrough Launch will help you sell more & stress less with your next launch.
We’ll cover:
The 3 Must Do's before even a Minimum Viable Launch (These are ESSENTIAL, but so basic, you might be leaving them out)
The 5 phases of every launch and what you should focus on during each one. Spoiler alert: Your whole launch ≠ Sell Sell Sell)
Choosing your launch event: The Pros & Cons of popular kickoff strategies. Plus, how to choose the one that's right for you
Plus, get a copy of my Launch Strategy Roadmap and map out your next launch while you watch!