“What size are you,” the burly Muay Thai instructor asked me as I walked into my academy for Jiu-Jitsu on Monday.

In his hands was a white t-shirt, with the academy logo emblazoned across the front.

“Em, probably large,” I sputtered, in startled pidgin Spanish.

(Note: I don’t train Muay Thai. However, the Muay Thai instructor owns the entire academy, including the area in which we train BJJ.)

“Here,” he goes, shoving a t-shirt into my hands.

I’m about to walk away when he points at the same t-shirt hanging from the wall.

A price is written beneath it on a scrap of white paper.

Ten euro.

He waits in front of me, an expectant grin on his face.

“Fine,” I sigh, coughing up the tenner.

Now these aren’t advisable sales tactics.

I felt a bit dirty after the transaction. A little scammed. My trust had been betrayed.

See, if he’d wanted me to buy the t-shirt, it wouldn’t have been a hard sale.

I’m happy to support the club, to wear their apparel and to represent them outside of training hours.

None of that would ever have been an issue.

And don’t get me wrong, I *like* the Muay Thai coach. (Well, to be honest, I don’t often have too much interaction with him, but he seems like an overall okay guy 😅)

But the era of sleazy, underhanded sales tactics is over.

In these modern, customer-savvy times, it’s important to bring prospects into your world, build trust among them and nurture them with messaging that aligns with their beliefs.

Selling happens naturally after that.

You just need to prove that you have what they need/want…

And continually show up, putting your goods in front of them.

This way, the sale is natural, and feels like the organic “next step” in the customer-business relationship.

A lesson the Muay Thai coach badly needs to learn.

Shane

P.S. I’ve been creating something in the background 🥼🧪

It’s a short case study about how I captured thousands of new email leads for a client…

While hugely increasing their social media engagement…

And generating thousands of dollars of extra revenue.

Before I put the finishing touches on this case study, I’d love to know if this would be of interest to anyone on my mailing list.

If you think something like this could help your business grow, reply to this email with the letters “5DC”.

Everyone who replies will get early access, which in turn helps me know if there are any tweaks that need to be made before I release it to the world.

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