Hell-Then-Heaven Selling
Meet them in the pain, then sell the hope that tomorrow will be better than today.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 83%
Fladlien argues almost anything you sell to almost anyone is an attempt to escape pain — nobody sees a therapist because life is great. So you must meet the audience in the pain. The biggest mismatch he sees is successful entrepreneurs, for whom the topic is now easy, selling to aspiring audiences for whom it's very hard; they either promise only the pot of gold or they take a headache, turn it into a migraine, and sell a Tylenol. The fix is to do both: help them out of hell before leading them to heaven, giving a real reason to fight for today with hope for tomorrow. Because the sale is only the beginning, empowering rather than scaring them creates success stories and future customers instead of trauma.
Origin
Fladlien connects this to his own PTSD and the desperation that drove his customers, and illustrates future business with a story from his $25,000 'Driven' mastermind where guest Pace Morby described customers meeting, marrying, and having babies — 'a future customer.'
Core principles
- 01Almost everyone spending serious money is escaping a massive pain — meet them there.
- 02Successful sellers find the topic easy; their aspiring audience finds it very hard — don't mismatch.
- 03Get them out of hell before you take them to heaven — do both, not one.
- 04Scaring people into buying without empowering them creates trauma and less future business.
- 05The sale is only the beginning of the journey; delivery on hope compounds future sales.
How to run it
- 1
Meet them in the pain
Recognize the buyer is acting out of desperation to escape a massive pain, and spend real time in that darkness rather than rushing past it.
Pro tip Nobody goes to a therapist saying life is great — serious spend is pain-driven.
- 2
Match their reality, not yours
Remember the topic is now easy for you and very hard for them; avoid the mismatch of promising only the easy future.
Watch out Staying only in the pot-of-gold future alienates a suffering audience.
- 3
Sell the hope
After the darkness, give them a genuine reason to fight for today with the belief that tomorrow will be better.
Watch out Amplifying pain into a migraine and selling a Tylenol scares people into buying but empowers no one.
- 4
Deliver to compound future business
Follow through in the product so the customer succeeds, building the capacity and trust for more business rather than trauma.
Pro tip Empowered customers become success stories and even 'future customers.'
In the wild
At Fladlien's $25,000 'Driven' mastermind, guest Pace Morby described how customers in his community meet each other, get married, and have a baby. Fladlien joked from stage, 'a future customer, right' — half joking, because empowered customers literally create a population of future customers.
→ Illustrates that selling hope and delivering on it compounds into repeat and generational business, whereas fear-based selling erodes it.
Common mistakes
Only pot-of-gold or only pain
Painting only the rosy future mismatches a suffering audience; only amplifying pain to force a sale creates trauma and less future business. You must do both — out of hell, then into heaven.
Is it for you?
Best for
Coaches and marketers selling transformation to audiences who aspire to be where the seller already is.
Not ideal for
Transactional, low-stakes purchases with no underlying pain or transformation involved.
From the transcript
“we help them get out of hell before we get them into heaven right but there has to be some Heaven Too there has to…”
“if we just scare them into buying we might get their money once but we didn't Empower them we've actually created trauma”
From the episode
Jason Fladlien: The Quarter-Billion-Dollar Webinar Man Reveals His Best Marketing and Sales Secrets
Jason Fladlien