Aaroe Writing Sell like ‘Slippin Jimmy’ (of “Better Call Saul”)
What The Kennedy Half Dollar Con Teaches Can Teach Us About Selling
The other night my son and I were sitting on the couch snuggled together watching the hit TV show Better Call Saul. We blew through Breaking Bad in about 2 months this summer (it was my second time through, so I skipped a lot of the re-watch) and now we’re on to the prequel, season 1.
In Season 1, Episode 10, “Marco,” Jimmy (Saul) heads back to Chicago, the city of his younger years and hooks up with his buddy Marco. In an effort to relive their glory days the two of them effortlessly dupe a businessman sitting alone at the bar into buying their Kennedy half dollar at 21900% above it’s value (If you haven’t seen the show, here’s a clip of the scene). The scam is done effortlessly, and I couldn’t help but notice what a perfect lesson in selling the fictional story provides for us marketers.
“Slippin Jimmy,” as he’s referred to on the show, and his friend Marco are “selling” a complete knock-off scam. But substitute a genuine product with proof from past customers and a rock solid guarantee… and Slippin’ Jimmy’s style becomes a superior lesson for how to capture your market and make the sales roll (or should I say ‘slip’) in.
Here’s how the scene unfolds… and relates to our lesson in selling.
Step 1: The Research
Jimmy and Marco are catching up after years apart at the local bar. Jimmy looks sideways as a middle aged man in a business suit walks past him engrossed in a phone conversation. The business man appears pompous and self-absorbed. Jimmy gets an idea, but first he asks Marco one key question as he gestures towards his next victim, “Is he a regular?”
They knew basic information about him, like that he was alone at the bar, and had some financial means. They also deduced certain things about his psychological and emotional state, specifically that he would be interested in a lucrative investment opportunity. And finally they made some assumptions about this background, that he would have an interest, but not an in-depth knowledge about coin collecting. All of these pieces of information about the “prospect” were key to the success of the scam. I can only imagine that if the loner at the bar were a woman, or tough guy wearing a motorcycle jacket, or a preppy looking college kid, the two would have chosen a different scam to run that night.
As marketers we can be much more thorough and methodical in our research than a con artist, we don’t need natural talent, we simply need an inquisitive mind. We can spend days or even weeks learning intimate details about our prospects, understanding not only their basic demographics, but also their daily struggles, fears and desires. Since we aren’t in the business of swindling, we don’t have to ask “is he a regular here?” But we do need to ask other, similarly poignant questions about our prospect in order to understand their relationship to our product and solutions it provides for them.
Like Jimmy and Marco, you need to know both the surface demographic details, like gender or income bracket, as well as their inner desires, their pressing needs and what will peak their interest. For both Slippin’ Jimmy and us, understanding our customer avatar intimately is the key to making the rest of the sales process work effectively.
Step 2: The Hook
The two friends first get the attention of their prospect by manufacturing some light tension between them. Jimmy implores Marco to “have a look” and Marco tells him he’s not interested. Jimmy keeps pressing, and finally Marco, with an eye roll, gives in.
Jimmy pulls out his prize possession, the Kennedy half dollar and presents it to Marco with one word, “BOOM.” With this Jimmy implies he has a secret, something of value, but no one in the audience has any idea what is so special. Introducing a secret with your hook is a great way to not only grab your prospect’s interest, but also keep them, however mildly, intrigued as you guild towards your big reveal.
Step 3: The Story
Once Jimmy has Marco’s (and he’s pretty sure the businessman across the bar’s) attention, he keeps that attention by launching into a detailed story about the Kennedy half dollar. He begins the story by drawing attention to the direction Kennedy is facing on the head of the coin.
Here, Jimmy reveals a little bit more of the secret he’s hinted at earlier but the full explanation, the actual secret has yet to be revealed. Jimmy instead goes on to explain in great detail and drama the origins of these coins, why they came into being, and then what happened to make this specific coin that he is holding extremely special. By the time he’s half way through his story, the business man across the bar has looked up from his work and is not only hearing what’s going on in front of him, he’s paying attention.
Whenever you need to capture your audience, especially if they are a highly skeptical audience, telling an exciting story, sometimes even a largely irrelevant story, is the best way to get your prospect to listen to you. Use the story to build on the hook you used to grab their attention, but don’t give away the secrets about your product. Instead, use the story to hint at the benefits to your prospect, and keep them wanting more.
Step 4: Scarcity
Finally, after going on about the details of why the face on the coin should be facing one way, Jimmy finally reveals what makes this coin so special. This is where Jimmy explains why this coin is so valuable, the direction of Kennedy’s face on the coin, which he hinted at, is actually unique to a very limited amount of coins, meaning the coin he is holding is worth far more than it first appeared.
Anytime you can legitimately introduce an element of scarcity, whether because time is running out, or because of a limited supply, you greatly increase the desire of your prospect. When something might be gone before we have a chance to experience it, we are hardwired to want that item, whatever it is, more than if there was no urgency involved.
Slippin’ Jimmy takes this a step further. At this very moment he looks over at his businessman prospect and calls out his skepticism directly. “What’s the buddy?” even though the man hadn’t said anything, and then “Do you mind? We’re having a private conversation here.”
I’ve seen marketers do something similar by including a first name tag in an email at exactly the point in their argument when the stakes seem the highest (talking scarcity is one of those moments). In VSL’s this would be an ideal time to look at the camera and speak pointedly and directly to the camera. By this point you definitely have their attention, and making it known that you know it is a slick and brilliant interpersonal move.
Step 5: Value
Next Jimmy launches into telling how much this coin, because of the unique story behind it and and its rarity, is worth. He picks an almost outrageously high number, $800. It’s a lot of money, though not an unreasonable number for a true collectors item. The reason he does this is to increase the perceived value of the coin juxtaposed with the price he ultimately gives to Marco to buy the coin off him.
You never want to name the price of your product or service without first giving it context, both conceptual as well as numerical. The more you can build up the perceived value of your product by naming what it should cost, the more likely you will be able to name whatever price you want, and people will be willing to pay it.
Step 6: Proof
Up until this point, although the businessman is paying attention to Jimmy and Marco’s charade, he is still scoffing at the idea of the coin actually having any real value. He is certainly nowhere near opening his own wallet. This is where the con takes its most brilliant turn.
Jimmy excuses himself to use the bathroom, giving Marco the chance to seemingly go behind Jimmy’s back and corroborate the claim. Marco starts talking to the business man, mirroring the skepticism he’s feeling. Marco even declares he’s gonna prove Jimmy wrong and call the cops on him. He’s calling out directly all the objections the businessman could have about the ideas being presented to him, laying it all out on the table.
Marco asks the bartender if he can use the bar phone. Marco could have pulled out his own cell phone, but instead he enlists the bartender in the theatrics, a small gesture of proof, simply saying, hey, this is real, here’s yet another person (the bartender) involved in what’s going on.
Marco then calls his made up friend, a guy who happens to deal with rare coins, and briefly explains (to a dead line) what Jimmy has told him about the coin. Before Marco can finish he is interrupted by the completely fabricated expert on the other end of the line, as if they already know how this story ends. Marco’s skepticism turns instantly to a look of smug interest. Marco ups the scarcity factor by turning his back on the businessman. Now Marco is in on the secret, and he doesn’t want anyone else getting in on the deal he’s just discovered is “real.”
As a marketer, you’re probably not selling something to one lucky buyer, unless you’re in the business of selling lottery tickets or something, so you won’t need to keep your discovery a secret for long. But the most important lesson here is that you have to speak directly to your prospect’s objects and provide irrefutable proof. You can do this in the form of expert’s opinions, research backed data, or the most easily acquired form of proof, customer testimonials.
Step 7: The Close
Jimmy and Marco close their deal effortlessly at this point. When Jimmy comes back from the bathroom Marco corners him and offers $50 for the coin. Jimmy says no, he’s not taking anything less than $100. Marco’s into it, but there’s a problem, he only has $64 cash on him at the moment.
This is the opportunity the business man needs and he seizes the chance. He offers Jimmy $75 for the coin. He’s now fully convinced, and he wants that coin as his own. Jimmy turns down the $75, again insisting on $100. In a moment the businessman is out of his chair, offering $80. He’s almost yelling, “This guy was gonna call the cops on you!” Which makes Marco heated, he’s still begging Jimmy to sell him the coin, promising he’ll bring the rest of the money… and a second later the businessman is waving $110 cash in both men’s faces. “Sold” Jimmy announces and exchanges the simple coin for 21900% it’s worth.
There are many ways to close a sales message, but the thing I love about this one is that they keep upping the drama. I see so many sales pages, emails and VSLs that start out strong, with emotion and high stakes, but once they get into the product details, all the bells and whistles, the message completely loses its momentum. The key to remember here is that people always buy from an emotional place, so you will always do better to close with an emotional appeal, up the stakes even. You can do this with future pacing, painting a picture of what life will look like if they make the purchase, or even better sometimes, what their life will look like if they don’t make the purchase. You can also close with scarcity to create a final sense of urgency to push your prospect over the proverbial fence. However you choose to close your sales message, don’t let the wind out of your sales, keep those emotions rolling, and drive your message home to the very last call to action.
When the businessman takes the coin and walks out the bar, Marco still isn’t done with teh con, he keeps yelling after him what he’s gonna do to the guy for “stealing” this opportunity from him. If the business man has regrets, he’ll be miles away from Marco and Jimmy before he comes down off the emotional roller coaster they’ve put him on and realizes the stupidity of what he’s just done.
If it’s this easy to pull a con on a hunk of silver worth fifty cents… how much more should you be able to sell your completely worthwhile products and services using these same tactics!? There are lessons in selling all around us, and the more we study it, the more we internalize these lessons and become experts in exchanging our solutions and dreams for our customer’s cash.
In the words of today’s fearless teacher, “S’all, good man”
Hi! I’m Annie Aaroe, a b2b marketing strategist. To find out more about story-driven, conversion copy and strategy that’s tailored for tech and SaaS brands, visit my website, aaroewriting.com, or shoot me an email at annie@aaroewriting.com.