Ask for the Sale (Three No's)
Asking for the sale isn't 'check me out' — it's 'would you like to buy this right now?'
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 90%
Shands's single most actionable tip: if you have a product, ask more people to buy it. He distinguishes a real ask ('would you like to buy this right now?') from a fake one ('check me out, send me your website'), which is just a disguised no. Selling t-shirts in the mall, he made prospects tell him no three times before he let go — and was stunned how many bought on the second or third ask. The mechanism is direct, present-tense, repeated asking.
Origin
Selling t-shirts at a mall kiosk, Shands noticed sales doubled and tripled the moment he stopped telling his brand story and started directly asking, 'would you like to buy this right now?' — and kept asking after the first no.
Core principles
- 01A direct ask to buy converts far better than pointing people to a link.
- 02'Send me your website' is a polite no; a real close asks for the purchase now.
- 03Most buyers who eventually say yes do so on the second or third ask.
- 04Asking more people, more often, is the simplest lever on revenue.
How to run it
- 1
Make the direct ask
Ask 'would you like to buy this?' in plain words instead of gesturing to a link or telling the story.
Pro tip The story and the cool design are not the ask; the ask is a yes/no purchase question.
- 2
Ask in the present moment
Request the purchase now, while you have the person and the product in front of you, not later online.
Pro tip 'You got a website?' is the moment Shands knew someone wasn't buying — don't accept the deferral as a close.
- 3
Ask again after the no
When they decline, follow up with another question and a reason that now is a good time to buy.
Pro tip Make them tell you no up to three times before you release them.
Watch out Read the room — repeated asking works in casual retail, not in every context.
- 4
Scale the ask
Ask more people more often, treating volume of direct asks as the primary driver of revenue.
In the wild
Shands stopped narrating how cool the brand was and started asking outright, 'would you like to buy this right now?' When people said no, he asked again — up to three times — with a reason to buy now.
→ Sales doubled and tripled, with a surprising number of buyers converting on the second or third ask.
Common mistakes
Mistaking 'link in bio' for asking
Making content and directing people to a link is not a sales ask; without a direct request to buy, most never do.
Accepting the first soft no
Treating 'send me your website' as a final answer forfeits the many buyers who would have said yes on a second ask.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone with a product or service who feels awkward closing and hides behind content.
Not ideal for
High-trust, long-cycle enterprise sales where aggressive repeat-asking damages the relationship.
From the transcript
“asking for the sale isn't check me out asking for the sale is would you like to buy this”
“I made them tell me no three times”
From the episode
David Shands: The Entrepreneurial Mindset, How to Build a Loyal Community and Hone Your Niche for Massive Success
David Shands