Overcoming The Biggest Sales Objection In Content-Driven Businesses

Don't get frustrated when faced with these situations, learn to handle it like a badass.

Welcome to Part 2 of my mini-series on Sales. If you haven’t read Part 1 regarding the Power of Founder Led Sales, consider checking it out.

This one might ruffle some feathers.

However, it deserves a proper discussion, especially with the rapid increase in the number of Gen-AI spammers and how hard it’s becoming to operate within the digital education space in general.

I’m far from being an expert on this topic, but I am “chewing glass” every day and fighting on the front lines — Sisyphus shows up every day even with no end in sight, so we have to press on.

Let’s go.

The Biggest Sales Objection By A Mile

You guessed it…

“I can 100% DIY and get all the content I need for free on the Internet.”

The Internet has a LOT to offer. One Google search and off you go.

• ChatGPT… enough said.

• Perplexity AI is actually pretty good for fact extraction.

• YouTube is the biggest EdTech media platform… or just media platform period.

If you’re willing to pay a little, you can get a lot.

• MOOCs, video courses - Coursera, Udemy, EdX, etc.

• Low ticket digital products - plenty lying around on Gumroad

• (e)Books - kicking it old school still works well, if you have the attention span and know what to read

• O’Reilly Membership (more expensive) - an all you can eat technical book buffet (marketing would disapprove of this description). In all seriousness, I really like it if you’re willing to put in the time and actually study.

However, the overall signal-to-noise ratio is not great. A distribution would roughly look like:

• 80% Buzzfeed-esque articles, trite wisdom, clickbait or advice that’s flat-out wrong, etc.

• 15% decent content that’s only useful under the specific set of circumstances that are usually not mentioned (i.e. cheap tactics)

• 4% that’s noteworthy and worth thinking more deeply about — has context and nuance.

• 1% that’s exceptional and hitting on the “big 3 of content creation” (i.e. educational, inspirational, AND entertaining) all while staying authentic.

Some days, that back of envelope distribution I gave is taking a turn for the worse, actually I’m pretty sure it is — yes, I’m calling out all those Gen-AI spammers.

So yes, I agree in theory you can DIY for free, but in practice it’s going to be a gongshow.

“Free” can be very expensive — said some wise person

That’s all great, but how do I handle this sales objection?

As long as we agree on the overall distribution of the quality of content out there and acknowledge that pure DIY is expensive and impractical, it will come down to how well you score on the 3 key factors behind the purchasing decision.

3 Key Factors Behind The Purchasing Decision

(1) Do you trust the creator’s judgment and taste?

In plain terms, you are buying a filter to get you the signal faster and more reliably. Even avoiding the noise that could set you down a suboptimal path is worth it.

Just like how actual tastemakers get paid in the hospitality industry or how critiques do, the same concept applies here. Consuming good content for knowledge work is analogous to cooking with quality raw ingredients.

Taking a slight detour, here’s my favourite litmus test — “missionary vs. mercenary”.

• Missionary: they want to improve the overall industry/category and intrinsically care about solving its issues. You can tell by how much they lean into a challenge even when no money is on the line.

• Mercenary: $ first, and don’t really have a deep understanding of the industry beyond what leads to $. When faced with a challenging problem they run with their tail tucked in between their legs and look for “easy $$$”.

For content creators, your perceived judgment is the foundation of your reputation — guard it carefully.

(2) Does the creator have verifiable proof of work?

TL;DR - the ‘free’ content you put out is not only for capturing attention, but for building authority.

Trust takes time, a long time to build up. I love Daniel Priestley’s 7-11-4 idea from his book “Oversubscribed”. To paraphrase:

• 7 hours: can they binge your content for this long?

• 11 interactions: closely tied to “views”, but with some level of engagement

• 4 contexts: different channels is a simplified way to interpret this

Note: Anything behind a paywall doesn’t count.

The exact numbers matter less than the idea that the table stakes to build the proof of work online are higher than what most expect.

(3) Is the creator forthright about their own assumptions and vulnerabilities?

If I could rewind time, I’d tell the former version of myself to learn the art of taking advice before taking so much advice.

Don’t be quick to generalize. Closely examine all the conditions required before concluding that any one thing is missing piece to attaining your goal.

Especially when you are not able to provide any context on your personal situation and preferences, proceed with caution.

Unless you’re able to have a dialogue, the workaround is for the creator to offer more context and examine the nuances instead of jumping straight into the solution and results.

Presenting a chart that’s up and to the right as the central focus will capture attention, but beware of the side effects.

Ultimately, we want to determine the underlying assumptions for something to work, so we’re aware of when it may not work as expected. Proactively calling out potential vulnerabilities to your own theories and solutions is counterintuitive and rarely done, but it’s always resonated with me when done well.

Over time, I realized that a healthier way to approach content creation is to create an environment for meaningful dialogue rather than finding a definitive answer.

BONUS: Do the incentives align?

This one is really tricky and doesn’t have a straightforward solution, but it’s a staple in my list.

Incentives matter more when purchasing a service (e.g. consulting) vs. an async digital product (e.g. eBook), as there’s high variability in the quality of the former after the initial purchase.

For services (and partnerships), deal structuring comes into play to make the desired outcomes of both parties better aligned. Rev-share is skill king and doesn’t overcomplicate things (i.e. anything where the upside is shared).

The reputation factor also plays a big factor here, but I won’t harp on it too much given it’s indirectly covered in (2).

Lastly, don’t be sheep and only rely on social proof. I know it’s how we’re wired, but don’t fall in love with the “wall of love” — heh, too much?

Parting Thoughts

Many other factors exist that may be the deciding factor between a yes or no. I’ve kept these in my top 3 since they are specific enough to translate into action while remaining aspirational enough to be pursued over the long term.

Make it a habit to review the 3 factors and tighten up areas where we may be falling short, as the ceiling is uncapped in the content game. Especially when things fall short of our expectations, it helps us focus on what we can control.

Part 3 is coming up next, stay tuned!