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HOW TO TALK
ANYBODY INTO
ANYTHING!

Persuasion Secrets of the

World’s Greatest Con Men

By

Richard Armstrong



WARNING: Before you even start reading this book, please be
advised that fraud, in all its forms, is a crime. Con artists, flimflam
men, grifters, and their ilk are criminals. If you engage in
fraudulent activity it is likely that you will be caught, prosecuted,
and imprisoned. The same goes for deceptive advertising or sales.
It’s illegal. So don’t do it! The purpose of this booklet is to teach
you some of the techniques of con artists for you to use—legally—
whenever you need to be persuasive for a legitimate reason,
whether it’s in a professional or personal context.

© Richard Armstrong 2018

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS


INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………..6

CON ARTIST SECRET #1: THE PRIME DIRECTIVE ……………………………………………8

CON ARTIST SECRET #2: WHO YOU CHOOSE …………………………………………………..9

CON ARTIST SECRET #3: SEEK INTELLIGENT MARKS ……………………..…………….10

CON ARTIST SECRET #4: SEEK EMOTIONAL & IMPULSIVE MARKS ………………..12

CON ARTIST SECRET #5: THE AFFINITY SECRET ………………..…………………………12

CON ARTIST SECRET #6: STUDY YOUR MARK ……………………………………………….13

CON ARTIST SECRET #7: DON’T CHANGE MINDS, VALIDATE EMOTIONS …...….14

CON ARTIST SECRET #8: LISTEN, DON’T TALK (YET) ..............................................14

CON ARTIST SECRET #9: FOOT IN THE DOOR .............................................................15

CON ARTIST SECRET #10: THE TROJAN HORSE ..........................................................17

CON ARTIST SECRET #11: FOCUS ON THE MARK .......................................................19

CON ARTIST SECRET #12: THE MAGIC WORD .............................................................19

CON ARTIST SECRET #13: FLATTERY WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE .................20

CON ARTIST SECRET #14: THE MARC ANTONY TRICK .............................................22

CON ARTIST SECRET #15: ASK QUESTIONS .................................................................22

CON ARTIST SECRET #16: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SOUND IN THE WORLD ......23

CON ARTIST SECRET #17: YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION ...............................................24

CON ARTIST SECRET #18: AUTHORITY AND EXPERTISE ........................................25

CON ARTIST SECRET #19: CREATE AN ALTER EGO ...................................................26

CON ARTIST SECRET #20: YOUR LIKABILITY ..............................................................27

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CON ARTIST SECRET #21: FIND A COMMON ENEMY .................................................28

CON ARTIST SECRET #22: SMOOTH TALKING .............................................................29

CON ARTIST SECRET #23: ELIMINATE WEASEL & CRUTCH WORDS ...................30

CON ARTIST SECRET #24: LET YOUR BODY DO THE TALKING ..............................31

CON ARTIST SECRET #25: THE MIRROR TRICK ..........................................................31

CON ARTIST SECRET #26: SMILING & NODDING ........................................................32

CON ARTIST SECRET #27: THE LANGUAGE OF LOGIC ...............................................32

CON ARTIST SECRET #28: NEVER ARGUE .....................................................................33

CON ARTIST SECRET #29: TELL A STORY .....................................................................34

CON ARTIST SECRET #30: FOREST VS. TREES .............................................................37

CON ARTIST SECRET #31: DISTRACTION & MISDIRECTION ..................................38

CON ARTIST SECRET #32: METAPHOR & ANALOGY ..................................................39

CON ARTIST SECRET #33: “NAMING” & “FRAMING” .................................................40

CON ARTIST SECRET #34: ADMIT A FLAW ...................................................................40

CON ARTIST SECRET #35: COMMITMENT & CONSISTENCY ....................................42

CON ARTIST SECRET #36: HONOR AMONG THIEVES ................................................43

CON ARTIST SECRET #37: THE SECRET OF THE SECRET .........................................44

CON ARTIST SECRET #38: ALWAYS LET THE MARK WIN ... AT FIRST .................44

CON ARTIST SECRET #39: THE HERD MENTALITY ....................................................45

CON ARTIST SECRET #40: SCARCITY & RARITY .........................................................46

CON ARTIST SECRET #41: THE TICKING TIME BOMB ...............................................48

CON ARTIST SECRET #42: THE ANSWER TO “LET ME THINK ABOUT IT” .........49

CON ARTIST SECRET #43: LEAD A HORSE TO WATER .............................................50

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CON ARTIST SECRET #44: THE LAST RESORT ..........................................................52

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................54

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 INTRODUCTION

In order to write my novel, THE DON CON, I had to do a fair amount of
research into the strategies, techniques, and tricks of professional con men because
my story was about an actor who, for the sake of revenge, decided to play an
elaborate and dangerous “con” on a Mafia don. As I was doing this research—
mostly on the Internet and in books (see the Selected Bibliography on p. 54)—I
made two interesting discoveries.
First, I kept seeing the same techniques and strategies over and over again.
Which told me that becoming a professional con artist is not an idiosyncratic
process that every aspiring con man must figure out on his own. Rather, it is a
highly-developed, codified, and tested set of principles that have been in use for
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years and can be mastered by anyone who is
willing to put in the necessary time and effort. Becoming a con man, in other words,
is like becoming a surgeon. You study the existing body of knowledge, you practice
the techniques and skills until you’re good at them, and then you’re ready to call
yourself a professional.
Second—and this was a little shocking to me—I discovered that, by and
large, they are the exact same strategies and techniques I’ve been using for the past
forty years as an advertising copywriter!
(“Copywriter,” by the way, is the word we use in the advertising business for
the person who is assigned to write the text of an advertisement—which we call
“copy.” When you see a slogan like “See the USA in your Chevrolet,” for example,
that’s called “copy” and the poor slob who wrote it is called a “copywriter.” That’s
how I have made a living for nearly all of my adult life.)
Now let me make one thing very clear. An advertising copywriter is NOT a
con artist. Why not? Because a copywriter does not intend to steal money from his
customer. Ideally, a copywriter is trying to sell a product that is worth as much (or
sometimes even more) to the customer in overall value than the amount of money
he is charging for it. A con artist, in other words, has what the law books refer to as
“criminal intent.” A copywriter does not. A con artist’s goal is to get his hands on his

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victim’s money and get out of town before the victim even realizes he’s been robbed.
A copywriter’s goal is (or should be) not only to make a legitimate sale, but also to
create a long-term customer relationship that will result in many more such sales in
the future.
Nevertheless, I can’t deny it! The persuasive techniques used by the con
artist and the copywriter are shockingly similar. So similar, in fact, that copywriters
can learn a lot by studying con artists. And presumably, con artists can learn a lot by
studying copywriters, too.
But copywriters aren’t the only ones who can learn from con men. Anyone
who is in a position where they need to persuade someone—either professionally or
personally—can learn from the techniques of con artists. The lawyer needs to
persuade the jury. The salesman needs to persuade the prospect. The CEO needs to
persuade the Board of Directors. The preacher needs to persuade the congregation.
The fundraiser needs to persuade the donor. The middle-manager needs to
persuade the executives. The trainer needs to persuade the jockey. And the jockey
needs to persuade the horse! I could go on and on listing professions where the
ability to persuade people is not only useful, but crucial. I might even go so far to
say that persuasion is probably single most important skill you can possess your
professional life.
Nor is it limited to business! Have you ever needed to persuade your toddler
to use a toilet instead of a diaper? Have you ever wanted to persuade your wife it’s
time to buy a new car? Have you ever decided it’s time to persuade your parents
they should move into a senior residence? These situations come up as often in our
personal lives as often, maybe even more often, than they do in business. The fact is,
everyone needs to know how to persuade. Which means that everyone has
something to learn from con men. That’s why I wrote this booklet.

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 CON ARTIST SECRET #1: THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

If you learn this one secret and keep it uppermost in your mind at all times
when you’re trying to persuade someone, you don’t have to read the rest of the
booklet. I’m sure you remember that Hippocrates’s first rule for physicians was “Do
no harm!” And the prime directive on Star Trek was “Don’t interfere with the
internal and natural development of alien civilizations.” (A rule honored more in
the breech than the observance by Captain Kirk!) Well, con artists have their own
golden rule or prime directive. And it’s simply this:
Find out what people want and figure out a way to give it to them!
That’s it! It’s that simple. If you can find out what your “mark” wants in his
heart of hearts and figure out a way to give it to him (or promise to give it to him) in
a way that also benefits you, then you can talk anybody into anything. Because
people will literally walk on hot coals if you promise them it will help them achieve
their most deep-seated desires. Just ask Tony Robbins!


CON ARTIST SECRET #2: CHOOSE THE RIGHT “MARK”

I’m going to use the word “mark” in this booklet because that is the word con
artists use—even though I intend to give advice on how to persuasive techniques
legally. These so-called marks could be anyone you’re trying to persuade. If you’re a
lawyer, for example, they could be members of the jury. If you’re a car salesman,
they could be the next guy who walks onto the lot. If you’re in advertising or
marketing, your mark is whoever is watching your television commercial, opening
your direct-mail letter, or clicking on your email. It could even be your husband, if
you’re trying to talk him into buying a new house he doesn’t think you can afford.
Once you’ve memorized and internalized the prime directive—find out what
people want and figure out a way to give it to them—your next most important step
is to:
Choose the right mark!

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 Yes, I realize the title of this booklet is “How to Talk Anybody into Anything,”
but your chances of success go up if you’re selective about the anybody you’re trying
to persuade. If you can’t be selective, at least be very knowledgeable about who that
person is and what motivates him or her. (More about that in a moment.)
In the direct-mail business it’s a well-known fact that the single most
important factor in the success of a mailing is choosing the right mailing list. You
can have the world’s greatest product ... sell it at a price that’s practically giving it
away ... hire the greatest copywriter in the world to write your sales letter ... and still
fail miserably if you’ve chosen the wrong list.
Don’t believe me? Imagine you were selling a full 14-piece set of high-end
golf clubs worth nearly $2,000. You’ve set the price at $99—a discount of $901.
You’re throwing in a dozen FREE Titleist golf balls and a FREE pair of golf shoes.
You’ve hired John Carlton to write your promotion, who is one of the best
copywriters in the world and who happens to specialize in selling golf products.
You’ve literally done everything you can to make your mailing a success. But
nobody, and I mean nobody, responds. You got a zero response rate. Why?
Because you sent it to a list of fly fishermen, that’s why!


CON ARTIST SECRET #3: AVOID STUPID & GULLIBLE MARKS

One of the worst (and most common) mistakes you can make when choosing
your “mark” is to look for someone who is stupid and gullible. Stupid and gullible
people simply don’t make good targets for a con game. Here’s why:
Stupid people can’t grasp the opportunity quickly enough to take advantage
of it. You can show them how they can make a million dollars from a thousand-
dollar investment, but they simply won’t understand how it’s possible—no matter
how good your story is, how well you persuade, or how much you deceive. A good
mark will not only understand the opportunity quickly, but they will be inclined to
act on it quickly—before it goes away or before someone else beats them to it.

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 Gullible people aren’t as good as you might think either. Some of these folks
have been cheated, deceived, and manipulated so often that they’ve become wary of
any new opportunity—even if it’s perfectly legitimate. They perceive any kind of
salesman, advertisement, direct-mail letter, telemarketing call, or fund raiser as
someone who is trying to take advantage of them. At a certain point, they simply
stop answering their phone, opening their door, reading their mail, or talking to
strangers on the street.
On the other hand, it’s true that the best target for a con game is someone
who has fallen for one before—perhaps more than once. That’s why the mail-order
business and telemarketers use “sucker lists.” But it’s a mistake to think of these
people as stupid or gullible. As the legendary advertising man David Ogilvy once
said, “The customer is not an idiot; she’s your wife.”


CON ARTIST SECRET #3: LOOK FOR INTELLIGENT,
EMOTIONAL & IMPULSIVE PEOPLE

So if you’re not looking for stupid and gullible people, who are you looking
for? The three qualities you want most in a mark is someone who is intelligent,
emotional, and impulsive.
As I mentioned above, you want someone intelligent because they have the
mental acuity to understand the opportunity you are presenting to them and grasp
it quickly. Ideally, you want them to recognize that opportunity even before you
spell it out to them. Because there is nothing more persuasive to people than an
idea they came up with on their own. (See “Con Artist Secret #43 for more on this
point.) Intelligent people also have another Achilles heel. They think they’re too
smart to be fooled! Someone who thinks they’re too intelligent to be conned makes a
wonderful mark.
On the other hand, you don’t want a mark who thinks like a robot or a
computer, i.e. without normal human emotion. To the contrary, you want someone
who—in spite of their high intelligence, or maybe because of it—is deeply affected

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by things on an emotional level. Somebody who gets angry easily. (Especially
someone who gets angry about politics or the news.) Somebody who is hurt
because of a recent divorce or break-up. Somebody who is lonely. Somebody who is
grieving. Somebody who feels like nobody understands them. Anxiety-ridden and
even paranoid people who tend to spin out scary scenarios in their heads. (“What
will I do if the economy collapses and I’m forced to scrounge for food?”) People
filled with fears, insecurities, longings, illness, pain, boredom, and isolation. People
who feel rejected, unappreciated, patronized, unloved, and abandoned. All of these
highly emotional people make perfect victims for con artists. It doesn’t matter
whether these emotions are the temporary result of their current situation in life or
a permanent aspect of their personality.
Having said that, it’s certainly true in many, if not most, cases you’re also
looking for greed. But the desire for more money is usually rooted in a deep-seated
emotional reason. An impoverished childhood, for example. Low self-esteem. The
belief that only money can provide real security. Or that money may be the easiest
way to get more sex, respect, recognition, and love. In my novel, THE DON CON, one
of the reasons Tony Rosetti makes such an easy mark for a con game is because he
believes money is the only thing that will never betray you.
Finally, you want a victim who acts impulsively. You don’t want the kind of
person who stops to think things through before taking action. Someone who
makes a pros-and-cons list (no pun intended). Telephones a friend before making
any big decision. Frequently seeks the advice of doctors, lawyers, and accountants.
Keeps a strict household budget. Discusses every major purchase with their spouse.
Does independent research on every problem or opportunity they face, etc.
To the contrary, you want someone who likes to act on hunches. Who
prefers to act alone. Who thinks they have a natural talent for sizing up people and
situations quickly. Who considers himself to be an excellent judge of character.
Who has made a couple of good decisions in the past (when it comes to investments,
for example) and is very proud of them. Who, in short, is a big believer in his own
gut instincts. So when you run into someone who is highly intelligent, extremely
emotional, and proud of their ability to act quickly ... congratulations!

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 You’ve found your perfect mark.


CON ARTIST SECRET #4: THE AFFINITY TRICK

You’d be amazed at how many confidence games are played in church. And
no, I’m not talking about the pastor skimming money from the collection plate. I’m
talking about the kind of serious financial fraud and other felony bunko crimes in
which one upstanding church member bilks another out of big money.
The reason? Affinity! The mere fact that both the con artist and his victim
attend the same church creates a level of trust, confidence, and vulnerability that
makes it easy for the con man to ply his trade. Half of the con artist’s hard work is
already done for him. The victim already assumes the con man is an honest,
trustworthy, decent person because ... well, because they go to the same church!
The same goes for college alumni organizations and fraternal organizations
like the Moose Club, the Eagles, the VFW, the American Legion, and so on. Anywhere
that people of like-minded interests and backgrounds gather together to socialize is
a happy hunting ground for the con artist.
You can legally take advantage of this by establishing “affinities” for whatever
product you’re selling. If you work for a cheese-of-the-month club, for example, you
could make a deal with a large non-profit organization to include your promotional
brochure in their regular mailings to members. The National Rifle Association
(NRA) and the American Association of Retired People (AARP) are juggernauts of
“affinity marketing” in large part because their membership rolls are so big. The
NRA has five million members and the AARP has thirty-eight million!
You don’t need gigantic markets to make this concept work, however. You
can use this technique in any one-to-one conversation with someone you’re trying
to persuade. Find out what you have in common with the person you’re talking to.
Do you both like tennis? Antiques? Lady Gaga? Pistachio nuts? It doesn’t really
matter how trivial these affinities are. You’d be amazed at how such seemingly
tenuous connections between two people immediately creates a strong bond of

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trust and friendship. At this point, persuading someone to do something amounts to
little more than asking them for a personal favor.


CON ARTIST SECRET #6: KNOW THY MARK

Maria Konnikova wrote one of the best books about con artists published in
recent years. It’s called “THE CONFIDENCE GAME: Why We Fall for It Every
Time,” and I highly recommend it. But a funny thing happened to Konnikova when
she was researching the book. She met with and interviewed dozens of actual con
artists—both reformed and not-so-reformed. More often than not, Konnikova
discovered the con men had researched her before the interview. They
complimented her on her previous books and magazine articles. (See “Secret #13).
When it came to the articles she’d written about con men, in particular, they
mentioned several instances where she got it exactly right. In short, they knew all
about Maria Konnikova ahead of time even though the ostensible purpose of the
interview was for her to get to know more about them!
Of all the different types of criminals out there, con artists are the hardest
working. Stealing money with a gun, after all, is relatively easy. All you have to do is
point it at somebody and tell them to hand over their wallet. A con artist, by
contrast, has to get their victim to hand over their money willingly. This requires a
fair amount of planning, plotting, preparation, and ... well, hard work. Any
advertiser, marketer, or copywriter will tell you that deep research one of the keys
to the success of any promotion. The French philosopher and mathematician Blaise
Pascal, who wrote extensively on the principles of persuasion, said “We must put
ourselves in the place of those who are to hear us. This assumes we have studied
well the heart of a man so as to know all its powers and then to find the just
proportions of discourse which we wish to adapt to them.”

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 CON ARTIST SECRET #7: DON’T CHANGE MINDS,
VALIDATE EMOTIONS

If you think you must “change someone’s mind” in order to persuade them to
do something, you’ve already lost the battle. Most people are incredibly resistant to
changing their mind about anything. To the contrary, they are constantly on the
lookout for facts that will prove they are absolutely correct about every opinion,
belief, or emotion they already have.
Therefore, when it comes to persuasion, your job is not to change your
mark’s mind ... but to use the facts, opinions, beliefs, emotions, myths, and memories
that already inside that person’s mind in such a way that they result in the action or
behavior you want to evoke. The best way to do this is not to change their mind but
to validate their emotions.
Someone is feeling unloved, for example? The last thing they want to hear is
that their mother loves them, their siblings love them, their grandparents love them,
their friends love them, and so on. They don’t want facts, in other words, they want
sympathy! And that sympathy can be subtly channeled toward whatever you want
them to do: “Oh, you poor baby, it’s true. Nobody loves you because nobody
understands you. They don’t see your inner beauty because they don’t notice you or
pay attention to you. But I have a perfume here that contains a secret ingredient
used by female wombats in the outback of Australia to attract a mate...”


CON ARTIST SECRET #8: LISTEN, DON’T TALK (YET)

Con artists have a reputation as smooth talkers. And, for the most part, this
reputation is well deserved. They are indeed smooth talkers. (See Con Artist Secret
#22). But they’re even better at listening!
When it comes to persuading anybody to do anything, the ability to listen is
far more important than the ability to talk. Listening closely to what your mark is
saying accomplishes three main objectives:

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 First, it makes your mark like you. Everybody loves talking about
themselves, and if you simply sit back, shut up, and let people do what they love,
they will often remark on what a great “conversationalist” you are. They will take
an instant liking to you, and liking someone is the first and most important step
toward trusting them.
Second, listening is how you find out what motivates your mark. Remember
the prime directive. You need to find out what your mark wants and figure out a
way to give it to him. If you listen long enough and closely enough, the mark will tell
you exactly what he wants to achieve … acquire … or accomplish.
But be careful not to take him too literally. He may tell you he wants a new
Harley-Davidson motorcycle, for example—which is probably something you can’t
give him. What he’s really telling you, however, is that he wants to be young and
virile again—which is something you might be able to offer him if you’re selling, let’s
say, male potency pills.
Third, listening helps you customize your own remarks when it’s finally time
for you to start talking. By taking careful note of what the mark is telling you about
his life, you can refer back to those points during your “pitch.” If you’re selling life
insurance, for example, you certainly want to know all about his wife and kids.
Think how much more powerful your pitch will be if you can directly relate it to the
details of the mark’s life: “You told me that little Jimmy is only twelve years old.
Imagine what it will be like going through high school and college without his father.
Will he even be able to afford college if Karen is the only breadwinner in the
household?” And so on. Using customized details like these puts your pitch on
steroids.


CON ARTIST SECRET #9: THE FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR TRICK

The comic trope of a salesman sticking his foot in the housewife’s door has
been repeated so often in movies and television that many people actually believe
this is how door-to-door selling actually works. Not so. The salesman who tries to

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stick his foot in the door of every potential customer is likely to have a chronically
broken foot. Sticking your foot in someone’s door is a very aggressive and
unwelcome move to which most housewives (and their husbands) would react very
negatively.
What is actually meant by “sticking your foot in the door” is politely asking
the customer if you can come inside to talk. The point here is that a successful pitch
often begins with asking the mark to do you a small favor. (Not the other way
around.) Psychological studies have shown repeatedly that a person feels more
obligated and committed to you if they have done you a favor than if you’ve done a
favor for them—or even presented them with a gift. (Although gifts do have a role
to play. See Con Artist Secret #10 below.)
This is why so many fundraising mailings begin by asking the customer to fill
out a survey or opinion poll. Or to take some other small step in support of the
organization that doesn’t involve giving money. Only after the mark has committed
herself to a small favor does she feel obligated to follow through with the much
bigger favor of making a donation. The same goes for the so-called “canvassers”
who work the street corners of America’s cities on behalf of non-profit (usually
political) organizations. They start by asking you for your signature on a petition or
for your opinion in a survey, a small favor that many people will grant. Then after
chatting you up for a while, they get to the meat of the matter—asking you for a
donation. It would be inconsistent to express an opinion in favor of saving the
whales, for example, then refuse to help an organization that was working to save
the whales. People will go to amazing lengths to avoid looking inconsistent. (See
Con Artist Secret #35.)
It’s rather like the old joke about the man who asks a woman if she’d sleep
with him for a million dollars. Of course, she says. Then he asks if she’d sleep with
him for two dollars. She refuses and says, “What kind of girl do you think I am?” To
which he replies, “We’ve already established what kind of girl you are, now we’re
just working out the details.”
Once the mark has let you in the door—either literally or figuratively
speaking—he has established that he’s open to listening to your pitch and willing to

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buy whatever you’re selling or give to whatever cause you’re promoting. Now it’s
just a matter of working out the details.


CON ARTIST SECRET #10: THE TROJAN HORSE TRICK

“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” said Cassandra to the leaders of Troy. But
they didn’t listen. When the Greeks said they were tired of fighting, ready to set sail
for home, and wanted to leave behind the little gift of a wooden horse as a souvenir
of the all the fun they had killing each other over the previous decade, the Trojans
bought it hook, line, and sinker. The rest is history.
As we discussed above, the best thing you can do to create a sense of
obligation and commitment from your mark is to let him do a small favor for you.
But the second best thing is to do a small favor for him … usually in the form of a gift.
Perhaps the best book ever written about the techniques and strategies of
persuasion is “INFLUENCE” by Robert Cialdini. In the world of advertising and
marketing, Cialdini’s book is considered a veritable bible—even though it was never
intended for that audience. A psychology professor at Arizona State University,
Cialdini wrote the book as a serious academic study of the psychology of persuasion.
In it he identified six psychological keys to persuading someone, and one of them
was something he called “reciprocity.”
If you’ve ever received a dinner party invitation from a friend and felt you
had to invite them to dinner at your own house before too long, you know the strong
psychological and emotional pull of reciprocity. The same goes for that Christmas
card that comes in from someone who was not on your own Christmas card list. You
feel compelled to send a card off to them as soon as possible. My mother, bless her
heart, gets dozens of fundraising letters that contain small gifts like address labels,
bookmarks, calendars, coins, and even dollar bills. She dutifully responds with a
contribution to whoever sent the gift to her, whether she feels strongly about the
charity or not.

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 Giving an unexpected gift or doing an unwanted favor for someone is one of
the favorite persuasion techniques of gangsters. I refer to this fact in my novel, THE
DON CON, when the narrator Joey Volpe says, “A chill went down my spine. There
was nothing like having a gangster ask you for a favor. The only thing worse was
having a gangster do you a favor.”
If you’re a fan of The Sopranos, you may remember the episode when
Carmela Soprano shows up unannounced and unexpected in the office of someone
whom she wants to write a letter of recommendation for her daughter. Carmela
arrives bearing a pineapple ricotta pie. Although the woman at first declined to
write the letter, Carmela left the pie behind as a constant reminder that she
expected the favor to be reciprocated. Which, of course, it eventually was.
The reason reciprocity works as a persuasion tool is because people
naturally want “balanced” relationships. They don’t want to feel indebted to
anyone. Undoubtedly, this feeling is deeply ingrained in our DNA and probably
dates back to the earliest days of human beings living in small groups. Nowadays
we tend to balance most of our economic relationships with money. But in the days
before the invention of money, the exchange of favors, gifts, labor, and commodities
were what maintained a smoothly functioning human community.
When I was a freelance speechwriter, I dealt with a lot of CEO’s and other top
executives of large corporations. I spent a fair amount of time in their offices
gathering information for writing the speech, and I was shocked to learn how much
of a typical CEO’s day is just spent just doing favors for people. Helping people find
jobs. Making useful introductions. Arranging for various gifts, events, and
invitations. (And yes, accepting speaking engagements.) Sometimes I’d wonder to
myself, “When does this guy do any actual work?” Until eventually it dawned me
that doing favors was their work. As Jesus said, “He who would be first among you
must be the servant of all.”
So anytime you want to persuade someone to do something for you, first ask
yourself if there’s something you can give to this person—or a favor you can do for
them—that will make their life easier or help them achieve their own goals? Do it
without the expectation of getting anything in return, but knowing full well that you

18
almost certainly will. As Vito Corleone famously said, “Accept this as a gift on the
day of my daughter’s wedding. Someday—and this day may never come—I may ask
a favor from you.” How do you think Vito Corleone got to be the Godfather in the
first place? Doing favors for people and getting favors in return!
(Well, killing people also played a role in his success.)


CON ARTIST SECRET #11: FOCUS ON THE MARK

When you’re talking to your mark face-to-face, make him feel like he’s the
only person in the room. Hell, make him feel like he’s the only person on earth!
Look intently in his eyes while he’s talking. Pay close attention to what he’s saying.
Do NOT do what most of us do: namely, pretend to listen while we silently compose
in our minds what we want to say next. You don’t have to say anything next. As long
as he’s talking, you’ve got all the time in the world. React to what he’s saying. Smile.
Laugh. Frown when it’s appropriate. (Don’t smile and laugh when he just told you
his mother died.) Ask questions, but don’t be constantly interrupting him to ask
another question. That’s almost as bad doing all the talking yourself. (See Con
Artist Secret #15 below). Above all, don’t show any kind of distraction, boredom, or
lack of interest. The WORST thing you can do—and people do it so often
nowadays—is to pull out your cell phone. For any reason. Even if your phone rings,
just say, “I’m sorry. I’m not going to answer that. Whoever it is can leave a message.
I’d rather talk to you.” Don’t even take the damn thing out of your pocket.


CON ARTIST SECRET #12: USE THE MAGIC WORD

Am I talking about “abracadabra?” No!
The magic word is YOU!

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 Advertising copywriters know this and they deliberately try to use the word
“you” a dozen times for every time they say me, myself, or I.
You would be well advised to follow the same rule!


CON ARTIST SECRET #13: FLATTERY WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE

Why does flattery work so well on us? Because we want to believe it, that’s
why! When someone tells us we’re attractive, sexy, smart, funny, talented, etc., our
normal human reaction is to think, “This person sees me as I really am.” When
you’re flattering someone, in other words, you’re indicating that you view them
exactly as they see themselves. And this makes you infinitely more likeable to them.
Psychological studies have shown that even blatantly insincere flattery with
an obvious underlying motive still has a tendency to make us like the person who is
flattering us more than we otherwise would. This is one reason why it’s so much
easier to notice when someone else is being conned than it is to recognize when it’s
happening to us.
Imagine, for example, an elderly man who falls in love with a beautiful
Russian fashion model on Facebook. After a whirlwind digital romance, she starts to
ask him for money so she can come to America and make love to him. All of this
man’s friends can easily tell he’s being conned. After all, why would a 25-year-old
Russian model fall in love with a 75-year-old widower from Lincoln, Nebraska? But
he thinks she’s in love with him because of his wit, charm, and wisdom. “She’s
soaking you for all you’re worth,” say his friends. “No,” he says, “she really
understands me.” It happens every day.
That’s why a well-placed compliment should be one of the few times you
open your mouth in your initial conversation with the mark. If you’re selling
motorcycles, for example, and the customer asks you a question about cylinder
displacement, you should answer the question … and then say something like this:

20
 “It’s such a pleasure to talk to someone who really understands motorcycle
engines. It makes my job so much easier.”

Will the mark realize you’re trying to butter him up? Probably. But it doesn’t
matter. From his point of view, he does know a lot about motorcycle engines and
you have simply made a statement of fact.
Of course, you don’t always have to be so blatant about it. Sometimes a little
subtlety works better. One of the greatest direct-mail sales letters of all time was
written by legendary copywriter Ed McLean for Newsweek, and it began like this:

“Dear Friend: If the list on which I found your name is any indication, this is not
the first—nor will it be the last—subscription letter you will receive.”

The genius of this line is that it flatters the reader for simply appearing on
the right mailing list! Or consider these opening paragraphs from copywriter Hank
Burnett’s famous “Admiral Byrd Expedition Letter”:

Dear Mr. Armstrong,
As Chairman of the Admiral Richard E. Byrd Polar Center, it is my privilege to
invite you to become a member of an expedition which is destined to make both news
and history.
It will cost you $10,000 and about 26 days of your time. Frankly, you will
endure some discomfort and may even face some danger.
On the other hand, you will have the rare privilege of taking part in a mission of
great significance for the United States and the entire world. A mission which,
incidentally, has never before been attempted by man.

In other words, we’re going to charge you ten thousand shekels for going on
a cruise around the South Pole. But, by God, we don’t invite every Tom, Dick, and
Harry to go on this trip—just uncommonly brave (and rich) people like you.

21

CON ARTIST SECRET #14: THE MARC ANTONY TRICK

If you want to see a truly brilliant example of persuasive techniques in print,
take a look at Marc Antony’s famous “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech from
Act III, Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Marc Antony manipulates the crowd
into doing a 180-degree turn on the question of whether or not it was morally right
to kill Caesar. Yet he does so without ever arguing, disagreeing, or contradicting
what the crowd already believes … or what Brutus has just said to explain why
killing Caesar was necessary.
Marc Antony starts out by saying, “I have come to bury Caesar, not to praise
him.” So what does he do in the very next line? He praises him! “The evil that men do
lives on after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.”
In her book “The Confidence Game,” Maria Konnikova correctly points out
that this is the classic con artist’s ploy known as bait-and-switch. Often this simply
comes down to starting your pitch by saying, “I’m not trying to sell you anything.”
This causes your mark to let down his defenses and makes him more receptive to
what you have to say. Then, of course, you proceed to sell him something. This is
why so many great sales pitches, junk-mail letters, infomercials, and internet videos
begin with lots of interesting, entertaining, free information until at some point they
make the “turn” toward sales. A good salesman sometimes will even reject the
customer’s offer to buy until he’s made the turn. “I don’t want your money, ma’am,
until I’ve shown you exactly how this amazing new device can change your life in the
kitchen.” The pitchmen on the Boardwalk of Atlantic City were so good at this they
could actually cause a feeding frenzy of people pushing and shoving to get in the
front of the line to buy.

CON ARTIST TRICK #15: ASK QUESTIONS

If you’re going to talk at all during the first part of your “con,” it should only
be to ask questions. This accomplishes three objectives: 1) it will encourage the

22
mark to talk more about himself, which he will enjoy doing; 2) it will enable you to
gather more information about the mark’s innermost desires and motivations; and
3) it will cause the mark to like and trust you more.
But be careful. Don’t become an interviewer. Don’t constantly interrupt the
mark with questions. Most importantly, don’t ask what I call a “Charlie Rose
Question”—namely, a question that is designed less to gather information than to
show off how much you yourself know about the topic at hand.
As a rule of thumb, don’t ask a question until you sense the mark is running
out of steam. Then slip a compliment into the question, thereby killing two birds
with one stone. For example, you could say something like, “You obviously know a
lot about professional golf. I wonder if you could explain something I’ve always
wondered about Tiger Woods’s swing...”
There’s also a “rope-a-dope” aspect to asking questions. Muhammad Ali
invented the rope-a-dope technique in boxing when he leaned back on the ropes and
let his opponent George Foreman gradually punch himself out. By the end of the
fight, Foreman barely had enough strength left to lift his hands. Ali hit him with two
or three quick jabs to the head and Foreman hit the canvas.
It may take a while, but eventually the mark is going to get physically tired of
talking. If for no other reason than to take a breath and rest their jaw, they’re going
to sit back and let you talk for a while.
That’s when you strike.

CON ARTIST SECRET #16: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
SOUND IN THE WORLD

Remember the song “Maria” from West Side Story? The lyric said, “The most
beautiful sound in the world—Maria.” Well, I’m sure Maria considered it the most
beautiful sound in the world. And maybe her boyfriend did, too, until he got stabbed
to death. The fact is that the most beautiful sound in the world for everyone is the
sound of our own name.

23
 Have you ever noticed how you can look at a document that contains reams
of text, thousands of words, dozens of pages and immediately spot your own name if
it’s in there somewhere? Have you ever heard your first name mentioned in a
crowd of people and immediately turned to see if they were talking about you?
Have you felt that warm sense of respect, recognition, and acceptance when
someone you’ve just met uses your name—particularly someone with a higher
status than yourself? Have you felt the disrespect, embarrassment, and annoyance
when someone gets your name wrong?
These are just a few reasons why it’s so important to learn the name of your
mark immediately, commit it to memory quickly, and use it as often as you can in
conversation—without going overboard. Every time you use someone’s name in
conversation, you’re giving them a little compliment, showing them respect and
recognition, strengthening the bond between you.


CON ARTIST SECRET #17: YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION

So far we’ve been focused on the mark, which is as it should be. But
remember, you need to make a strong first impression, too. Keep in mind your first
impression should be primarily visual rather than verbal. “Dressing the part” is
much more important than you might think. As a rule, it’s better to be slightly better
dressed than anyone else in the room. No, you shouldn’t wear a tuxedo to a
backyard picnic. But a good con man knows how to look sharp in even the most
casual styles of clothing.
There may even be some occasions in a “con” when you find it necessary to
wear a uniform that conveys authority or expertise. The famous con artist Frank
Abagnale actually wore an airline pilot’s uniform to help him pass bad checks out of
town. In her book, “The Confidence Game,” Maria Konnikova wrote about a con
artist who not only posed as a Navy surgeon, he actually conducted an emergency
appendectomy without so much as an hour of actual medical training.

24
 Unless you choose to become a professional con artist like these men, it’s
unlikely you’ll need to use such elaborate costumes. But if you intend to be
persuasive in the world of business—or even to apply for a job—investing in a
custom-made suit will be worth every penny. An expensive wristwatch and
expensive shoes also speak volumes about the man wearing them. (I’ve read that
strippers in Las Vegas always look first at a man’s shoes and his watch to determine
who to approach and who to avoid.) Don’t overlook the importance of haircuts,
white teeth, nose hair trimming, manicures, cologne (but not too much), fresh
breath, deodorant, and so on. It’s easy to pooh-pooh these things and say they’re
not as important as your “pitch.” But unless you get these little details right, the
mark won’t pay any attention to your pitch.


CON ARTIST SECRET #18: AUTHORITY & EXPERTISE

One of the reasons costuming is so important is because it helps convey
confidence, authority and expertise. When you see a doctor in a white lab coat or
blue surgical scrubs, a policeman in a blue uniform, a Naval officer in his dress
whites … these guys don’t need to open their mouth to convince you they have
attained a level of authority that puts them at a status higher than the average
person.
The word “con,” after all, stands for confidence, and confidence cuts two
ways. First, and most importantly, is the confidence and trust you’re trying to
engender in your mark. But the word also refers to the incredibly high level of
confidence con artists must have in their own ability to pull off their scam. In order
to convince someone else of something, in other words, you must be fully convinced
yourself. You want to gain the confidence of your mark, but it all starts with
pumping up your own confidence.
That’s why it’s so important to convey an aura of authority and expertise.
Have you ever noticed how people with honorary degrees—or even online
degrees—are much more likely to insist on being called “doctor” than people with

25
actual doctorates from accredited universities? Nearly every professor I had in
college had a Ph.D., but I can’t remember a single one who wanted to be called
doctor. Since that time, however, I have encountered dozens of preachers,
pharmacists, nutritionists, psychologists, chiropractors, naturopathic healers,
herbalists, astrologers, hypnotists, and the like, who practically demand that their
own children call them “Dr. Smith.”
Doctors, lawyers, financial experts, government officials, policemen, CEO’s,
FBI agents, military officers, etc. all have a built-in authority that not only makes
people trust them, believe them, but, in fact, obey them. Why worry about being
persuasive, after all, when you can actually demand obedience?
In the world of advertising—particularly when it comes to infomercials—you
often see the phenomenon of “borrowed authority” through the use of celebrity
spokesmen. The television viewer says to himself, “Well, this can’t possibly be a
scam because [POPULAR SITCOM STAR FROM THE SEVENTIES] is putting his
name and reputation behind the product. What the viewer doesn’t know is that
popular sitcom star from the seventies usually has a contract that absolves him of all
legal and ethical responsibility for the claims made in the ad. It’s just another acting
job to him. He reads the teleprompter and heads off to the next fan convention to
sign autographs for cash.
(See my novel THE DON CON for more about that!)
Speaking of cash, achieving authority and expertise often comes down to
nothing more than showing people you have a lot of money. Nearly every get-rich-
quick advertisement includes a shot of the guru with his two Rolls Royce’s in front of
his Beverly Hills mansion. But keep in mind that Rolls Royce’s—and even Beverly
Hills mansions—can be rented by the hour!


CON ARTIST SECRET #19: CREATE AN ALTER EGO

One of the ways con artists gain the confidence of their marks—and pump up
their own confidence—is simply to pretend they’re someone other than who they

26
really are. Con artistry, in other words, is basically an acting job. (That’s one of the
reasons why actors are featured so prominently in THE DON CON.) Your act may
range all the way from adopting a full-fledged false persona—like pretending to be a
Saudi Arabian prince, for example—to simply trying to be more confident,
intelligent, and witty than you normally are.
“It’s not about cultivating a fake identity,” says Maria Konnikova, “but tapping
into the strength of a personality that may reside dormant within you.”
As I mentioned before, dressing the part really helps. As a former actor
myself, I remember how my acting really kicked into high gear when we had our
first dress rehearsals. There’s something about being in costume and makeup that
helps you inhabit the character.
Even when I’m simply writing advertising copy, I’ve found it helpful to
pretend I’m the company’s CEO, spokesman, or product guru. I see myself sitting at
his desk. Looking out his window. Dealing with the phone calls and visitors. Then
sitting down to write a personal letter to the prospective customer. Advertising
copywriters focus a lot of attention on creating an “avatar” for their ideal customer,
but they don’t always take this additional step of fully inhabiting the persona of the
person who is supposedly writing the sales letter. Both are equally important.
Given that fact, it’s not surprising many of America’s top copywriters have some
acting or other kinds of performing experience in their background.


CON ARTIST SECRET #20: LIKABILITY

If you could only cultivate one character trait as a con artist, it would have to
be “likability.” Con artists are extraordinarily likable people, especially when you
remember that they are, after all, criminals!
Likability is probably even more important than authority and expertise.
When you combine all three of those traits, however, the result is greater than the
sum of the parts. A likeable surgeon, for example, is probably going to be infinitely
more successful than one who’s only good at performing surgery. When you’re

27
seeking referrals from your friends for a doctor, you often focus primarily on such
questions as, “Is he nice? Is he friendly? Does he take the time to talk to you?”
These questions are actually more important to you than, “Does he know what the
hell he’s doing?” The mere fact that the doctor has a medical degree and an office is
enough to establish his authority and expertise. That’s why the key distinction
often becomes whether or not he’s friendly.
There are three key components of likability:
First, physical attraction. We tend to like good-looking people (both men and
women) more than ugly people. Second, similarity. We like people who have socio-
economic or cultural backgrounds similar to our own. And third, social style. We
like people who are pleasant to be around, have a sense of humor, take time to listen
to us, and appear to enjoy our company as much as we enjoy theirs.
It helps a lot if you’re born with a likable personality, because it’s hard to
fake. I remember reading a biography of Dwight Eisenhower once. His personal
secretary was quoted as saying, “I always thought President Eisenhower was a
genuinely nice person. But Vice President Nixon struck me as someone who was
just pretending to be nice.”
So likability is difficult to fake. But not impossible. Focus on those three
qualities mentioned above. You may not be able to make your face better looking
than it is, but you can dress and groom yourself well. Try to match the cultural and
socio-economic background of your mark. Do your best to appear generous, kind,
and thoughtful.


CON ARTIST SECRET #21: FIND A COMMON ENEMY

If you can’t be likable, however, here’s some good news. It’s almost as good
to be angry, vengeful, and filled with hatred—as long as you hate the same person,
institution, or corporation your mark hates. As the saying goes, the enemy of my
enemy is my friend. And as the last century of American foreign policy proves, it
doesn’t matter how awful that so-called “friend” may be!

28
 Car salesmen love to use this technique. They make what appears to be a
satisfactory deal with you, then they excuse themselves by saying they have to get
approval from the sales manager. Ten or fifteen minutes later—the longer they
make you wait, the worse it’s going to be for you!—they come back and say, “That
son of a bitch sales manager of mine. What a pain in the ass he is. He says we can’t
go this low. He wouldn’t let you have $2,500 off the list price. But I went to bat for
you and I managed to get him to approve $1,500 off.”
Of course, $1,500 off the list price is what the salesman had in mind all along.
He went into the sales manager’s office and they talked about football for fifteen
minutes while you were sweating bullets back at his desk. By doing so, he created
a common enemy that made the salesman seem more like a friend.


CON ARTIST SECRET #22: WHEN IT’S TIME TO TALK, DON’T STUMBLE

As I mentioned earlier, con artists have a reputation for being smooth
talkers—even though their most important skill is the ability to listen. Their
reputation for smooth talking, however, is not undeserved. Because when it’s
finally time for them to stop listening and start talking—to tell their story or make
their pitch—they do it smoothly, fluently, and confidently. There’s no hemming and
hawing. No stumbling. No searching for words. No verbal tics or crutches, such as
“you know” … or “like” … or “know what I’m saying?” Because these things betray a
lack of confidence, and confidence is paramount. The secret is simply rehearsal.
The con man seldom tries to wing it. He’s got his pitch down pat. Even more so, he
knows when and where the likely objections will occur, and he has answers ready
for them.
Have you ever been on the phone with a telemarketer and said something
like, “Let me think about it for a few days.” Then your hear him rifling through the
pages of a notebook to find the section marked “What to say when the customer
says ‘Let me think about it.’” Well, the con artist doesn’t have to look at a notebook.
He already knows the right thing to say because he’s practiced it over and over

29
again. (See Con Artist Secret #42 for the answer to this particular objection, by the
way).
As I said before, con artists are the hardest working of all criminals. And one
of the ways they work hard is to practice their pitch until they deliver it smoothly …
and easily handle the objections, questions, and interruptions that may come up
along the way. Keep this in mind the next time you have to make a presentation at
work, a speech at a convention, or a sales call to a customer. Don’t try to “wing it.”
It’s the worst thing you can do. Be prepared! For everything.


CON ARTIST SECRET #23: ELIMINATE WEASEL WORDS

Even worse than crutch phrases like “you know” are weasel words. Weasel
words are words that give you an escape route, a way to back off on your claims if
things go awry. You could make a million dollars on this investment. This stock
might take off. This house should go up in value. And so on.
If you’re an advertising copywriter, you know that weasel words are usually
added by the Legal Department to cover the company’s ass. (Some copywriters are
so used to having lawyers rewrite their copy that they automatically use weasel
words before the lawyer even reads the ad. Don’t do the lawyer’s work for him.
Always write your ad as powerfully as you can, knowing you can rein it in later if
your lawyer insists.) If you’re in a face-to-face selling situation—or if, God forbid,
you’re actually trying to con someone—weasel words are killers because they tell
the mark that even you don’t fully believe in what you’re saying.
On the other hand, you can actually increase your credibility if you
judiciously admit there is some downside to your proposition. “There could be
some risk involved.” “There might be a small chance you could lose money.” “Not
every single oil well strikes a gusher.” (Notice how using weasel words like “could”
or “might” are actually helpful when you’re bringing up the negatives.) For more on
this technique, see Con Artist Secret #34.

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CON ARTIST SECRET #24: LET YOUR BODY DO THE TALKING

Especially during the listening phase of your pitch, it’s a good idea to let your
body do all the talking for you. Body language conveys a lot of important signals
about confidence, trust, honesty, sincerity, respect, and likability.
When your mark is talking, for example, lean in toward him. Make eye
contact with him. Do not cross your arms, which is a very defensive and off-putting
posture. If you choose to cross your legs while sitting, make sure you elevate the leg
that turns your body in towards the mark and not away from him. Keep your lower
abdomen, or “soft underbelly,” open and exposed toward the mark. This is the
posture dogs use to convey complete submission, and it’s a good way to let the mark
know that you respect him and you mean him no harm. It also shows you’re
comfortable and confident in his presence. You’re not being guarded or hiding
anything from him.
When it’s time for you to talk, be sure to gesture with your palms up. This
gesture is deeply ingrained in human DNA and it’s the foundation of formalities and
traditions that cross many different cultures. Handshaking. Saluting. Bowing with
your hands folded in front of you. Raising your hand, palm forward, to take an oath.
All of these open-handed traditions are designed to convey three important
messages instantly: 1) I’m carrying no weapons that could harm you; 2) I respect
you; and 3) I intend to be honest and straightforward with you.


CON ARTIST SECRET #25: THE MIRROR TRICK

One of the easiest ways to establish trust and likability with your body
language is simply to reflect whatever your mark is doing. If he crosses his legs, you
cross your legs. If he drapes one arm over the back of his chair, you drape your arm
across the back of your chair, and so on. The secret here is to allow a few seconds of
delay between his movement and yours. Otherwise, it may be too obvious what

31
you’re trying to do, and it may even look like you’re mocking him. So think of
yourself as a mirror on a five-second delay.


CON ARTIST SECRET #26: SMILING & NODDING

This is the simplest body language trick of all. Smile! It’s the easiest thing to
do from a body language standpoint and it brings you the greatest rewards. Studies
have shown that people who smile a lot are perceived to be more attractive, more
likable, and even more intelligent than those who walk around scowling all the time.
When you see someone smile, your body actually releases a variety of “happiness
hormones” that tend to make you smile, too.
And, of course, when your mark is speaking, be sure you nod your head in
agreement. But don’t overdo it to the point where you look like a bobble-head doll.
Too much head bobbing can be perceived by the speaker as a signal that you’re
impatient and eager to interrupt him. It’s almost as if you were saying, “Yeah, yeah,
yeah, I know, I know … now, please let me talk for a while.” That’s the worst
message you could convey! Instead, wait until you hear something that you agree
with, and then give a single affirmative nod to indicate you fully understand and
appreciate what the mark is saying.


CON ARTIST SECRET #27: USE THE LANGUAGE OF LOGIC

When it’s time to make your pitch, it’s more important to use the language of
logic than it is to use actual logic. Using real logic is risky because if you encourage
your mark to start thinking logically, he may come to see what you’re saying is
illogical!
Remember, persuasion is all about validating emotions, not about appealing
to reason. But the language of logic is very useful. When I say the language of logic,

32
I’m taking about words and phrases like “because” … “that’s why” … “as a result” …
“for that reason” … and so on.
The word “because,” in particular, is extremely powerful when it comes to
persuasion. In 1978 a Harvard psychology professor named Helen Langer
conducted an experiment on a long line of people waiting to use a photocopier. The
idea was to see what someone could say that would allow him or her to cut to the
front of the line. When the researcher politely said, “May I please cut in front of
you?” she was often turned down and sent to the back of the line. But when she
said, “May I cut in front of you because I’m in a hurry,” her acceptance rate went way
up.
Dr. Langer’s most revealing discovery, however, was that it didn’t matter
what the researcher said after she said the word “because.” She could give the most
flimsy, illogical, ridiculous reason possible—“I need to use the copy machine
because I need to make copies”—and people would still let her cut in front of them.
In other words, it wasn’t the actual reason that was persuading people to let her in;
it was simply the word “because.”


CON ARTIST SECRET #28: DON’T ARGUE!

For that reason … [did you see what I did there?] … never get into a rational
argument with your mark. Because you will always lose such an argument. You will
lose for the simple reason that people hate to be proven wrong about anything.
Some people would actually rather die than admit that they were wrong about
something. What you want instead is to have a conversation that is all about
validating the mark’s emotions. Then you gradually re-direct his emotional energy
into getting him to do what you want him to do.
Remember, you’re not on the debate team in high school. You don’t get any
points for being right, or marshaling facts in support of your case, or presenting
your argument in a logical manner. It’s all about emotion. Think back to how
Johnnie Cochran won the O.J. Simpson trial. All the facts of the case were lined up

33
against him. The notion that anyone other than O.J. could have committed the
murders was illogical and irrational to the point of being absurd. But Johnnie
Cochran took advantage of the fact that the majority African-American jury was
angry about the long string of misbehavior and abuse of power shown by the
L.A.P.D. over the years. So Cochran successfully turned the trial from a question of
whether or not O.J. Simpson murdered two people into a trial about whether or not
one of the homicide detectives had ever said the “N”-word. He gave the jury a way
to express their anger by acquitting O.J. Simpson. It was a masterpiece of
persuasion by emotion rather than logic.


CON ARTIST SECRET #29: TELL A STORY

Speaking of defense lawyers, one of their favorite techniques is to come up
with what they call an “alternative theory” of the case. In other words, they come
up with a story that pins the blame on someone else and lets their client off the hook.
If this story is even slightly believable, it’s can be good enough to provide reasonable
doubt and get the jury to come back with a not-guilty verdict.
Next to the ability to listen, the ability to come up with a believable story is
probably the single most important skill you can have when it comes to persuasion.
Facts are boring. Logic taxes the mind. Arguments create barriers of resistance.
But everyone loves a good story, and we will let down our guard long enough to
listen to it.
If the story is dramatic and emotional enough, we won’t stop to question the
facts. If you’re watching an episode of Star Trek, for example, you never stop to ask
yourself how the Enterprise can communicate with Starfleet Command by radio
when it’s traveling faster than radio waves. You never ask yourself why Scotty and
Sulu speak with heavy regional accents when the planet Earth has been unified
under one government for hundreds of years. Or even why aliens on distant
planets seem to have been born with the ability to speak perfect English. This kind
of acceptance by the audience is called “the willing suspension of disbelief,” and it

34
works fine for movies, television, and novels. Unfortunately, we’ve been trained so
well by Hollywood to suspend our disbelief, con artists can take advantage of this
predilection when they spin their tales.
In fact, if a story is rich in detail, filled with false facts and unlikely
coincidences, this actually works in its favor. You’ll probably listen to the con
artist’s far-fetched story and think to yourself, “Gee, you can’t make this stuff up.”
But, of course, you can. It’s pretty easy actually.
If you’ve spent any time in train stations, bus stations, or airports, you’ve
probably encountered some version of the stranded traveler con. Someone
approaches you with a long sob story, the gist of which is that they don’t have quite
enough money to get home to see their dying mother, sick child, injured gerbil, or
whatever. They’ll throw a lot of irrelevant “facts” into the story just for the sake of
credibility. The mother isn’t just dying; she’s dying of stage-four lung cancer. Even
though she never smoked a cigarette in her life! She’s at the Cleveland Clinic. The
doctors there have said she only has 43 hours to live. Her last wish is to have her
family gathered around her. But I’m $28.63 short of having enough money to buy a
bus ticket to Cleveland. Can you please help me?
What kind of heartless brute would say no to that?
One time I was approached in a train station by a man whose first words to
me were, “Sir, I’m a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. I served in Vietnam, and I
really need your help.” Instant credibility. But in retrospect, I should’ve stopped
him right there with a question: “What’s the Latin motto of the Marine Corps?” If he
didn’t say semper fidelis, I’d know I was dealing with a liar. But, of course, I did not
do that. I listened to his sob story—or as much of it as it took for me to hand him a
$20 bill and wish him luck. After a slight delay, I’m sure he went on to approach the
next sucker in the station.
One time I did manage to catch myself before I took the bait. I was walking
down the sidewalk and a guy pulled up next to me in his car, rolled down the
window, and proceeded to tell me a sad tale. At that very moment, his son was
having brain surgery in the hospital. Not just any hospital, mind you, but Johns
Hopkins in Baltimore. And not just any brain surgeon either. The surgery was being

35
performed by none other than the most famous pediatric brain surgeon in America,
Dr. Ben Carson. The father needed to get to Baltimore in a hurry. (We were in
Washington, DC at the time.) But he was almost out of gas. Could I give him $20
for enough gasoline to get to Baltimore?
But something just didn’t add up for me. What kind of father would be in
Washington, DC on the day his son was having brain surgery in Baltimore? Even if
he had some reason to be in Washington on that day, why would he drive there
without making sure he had enough gas to get back to Baltimore? Of all the
neurosurgeons in the Washington-Baltimore area, what are the chances his kid’s
surgeon happened to be the only one whose name I’d recognize?
So I said no. But I felt guilty about it for a long time. Until I read an interview
with Anna Konnikova (author of “The Confidence Game”) and she mentioned a
scammer who played the exact same con. Kid with cancer. Undergoing surgery
now. Need to get to the hospital right away. Out of gas. Almost word for word the
same.
This scam has been around for so long it even has a name—“The Spanish
Prisoner Con.” And it’s still common today in a variety of forms. So common, in fact,
that you may have seen it tried on the Internet. You get an email from a friend of
yours, someone whose name you recognize instantly. She says, “Richard, I’m in
trouble. I was vacationing in Paris and all my luggage was stolen. They got my all
my cash and credit cards. Passport, too. I don’t know what to do or where to go. I
really need your help. Please reply to this email as quickly as you can.”
Have you ever received an email like that? It was a fairly common email
scam a few years ago. But it fell by the wayside because it’s too easy to sniff out.
The scammer has stolen your friend’s contact list and knows how to make the email
look like it came from her. But if you check carefully, you’ll notice it’s not her usual
email address.
The important point is to take note of what all these stories have in common:
1) They’re dramatic—often involving life or death situations. 2) They’re emotional.
What could be more emotional than a child with cancer? And 3) They’re loaded
with facts and unnecessary detail to establish credibility and provide misdirection.

36
 These so-called “facts” play an important role in the con, as we’ll discuss in
the next section.


CON ARTIST SECRET #30: THE FOREST VS. THE TREES

Notice the rich detail and many unnecessary “facts” that are thrown into the
con artist’s stories we’ve just discussed. Not just any veteran, but a U.S. Marine
Corps veteran of the Vietnam War. Not just cancer, but stage-four small cell
metastatic carcinoma of the lung. (And she never smoked a day in her life!) Not just
any hospital, but Johns Hopkins. Not just any doctor, but a neurosurgeon. Not just
any neurosurgeon, but Dr. Ben Carson. And so on.
Have you ever heard the old expression, “I couldn’t see the forest for the
trees”? It means you’re so lost in the minute detail of a situation that you lose sight
of the overall picture. When a con artist throws these “factual” details in his story,
he’s saying, in effect, “Look at this tree. Look at that tree. Look at the tree over
there!” If he does his job well, you’ll pay such close attention to the trees you’ll
never notice you’re lost in a forest of bullshit.
I have a copywriter friend who likes to say, “Nobody was ever shot by a gun.”
By that he means that if you want to persuade your prospect that somebody was
shot and killed, you don’t say he was shot by a gun. You say he was shot by a Smith
& Wesson .38 Special revolver with pearl handles and an aftermarket silencer.
One of the differences you’ll notice between a low-level street con man who
works the bus station and a marketing genius on Madison Avenue who writes
television commercials is that the bus-station con man doesn’t care if his facts are
true or not. In fact, he tends to deal mostly in white lies, exaggerations, and
embellishments.
But the Federal Trade Commission cares very much if the facts in a television
commercial are true, so advertisers hire expensive lawyers to make sure every
factual “i” is dotted and “t” is crossed. But the forest vs. trees technique is still very
much in play. Some advertisements are scrupulously factual in detail while

37
remaining deceptive in the whole. Dietary supplement ads, for example, may be
filled with genuine testimonials from real customers who really lost weight,
scientific facts about the chemical makeup of fat molecules, detailed information
about how the product was invented, refined, and manufactured. All of these facts
are true. But the ad will never mention the fact that losing weight almost always
requires sacrifice, discipline, and hard work—whether you’re taking a pill or not.
Look at this tree. Look at that tree. But please don’t notice the forest!


CON ARTIST SECRET #31: DISTRACTION & MISDIRECTION

Look here where I tell you to look. Don’t look there where I don’t want you to
look. That’s essentially how every magic trick in the world works. And there’s a
deep connection between magicians and con artists.
Magicians tend to be con artists at heart, and con men tend to use the same
techniques and strategies as magicians. If you’ve read my novel, THE DON CON,
you’ll remember the character of Nigel is not only a con man, but also a card shark,
an amateur magician, and a pickpocket. All of these skills go hand in hand. You
could say that a magician is simply a con artist who has decided to go straight.
Both con artists and magicians rely heavily on distraction and misdirection.
If you look at a professional pickpocket, for example, you’ll see distraction in its
crudest form. A team of pickpockets often consists of three people. An attractive
young lady approaches the mark on a crowded street. She’s carrying a bunch of
papers in her hands. She says, “Excuse me, sir, but I’m really lost and I’m late for a
job interview. Could you tell me how to get to 38 Park Avenue South from here?”
While the mark is giving her directions, the second pickpocket bumps into the first
pickpocket and sends her papers flying. Then, while the mark is bending over to
help the young lady pick up the papers, a third pickpocket slips his wallet out of his
back pocket and quickly disappears into the crowd.
Distraction. Misdirection. Theft.

38
 Pickpockets and magicians use these principles with physical objects—
wallets, watches, white tigers—but con artists can do the same thing with words
alone. Plus, con artists are superior to pickpockets in another way. They don’t
have to steal money. The mark willingly hands his money over. When it comes to
advertising and marketing, the mark simply buys a product, a product that
(hopefully) gives him fair value for the money he’s paid. That’s why con men go to
jail and advertising copywriters win awards.


CON ARTIST SECRET #32: METAPHOR & ANALOGY

Whenever you’re trying to persuade somebody, two of your best tools are
metaphor and analogy. You want to tie whatever your pitching to something the
mark already knows—especially if it’s legitimate and successful.
I have an acquaintance who wrote the screenplay for “Firestorm,” a film
that’s notable for being the first, and the last, film in the brilliant acting career of ex-
NFL player Howie Long. But I don’t want to minimize my friend’s accomplishment.
It’s hard as hell to write a good screenplay and damn near impossible to get one
produced. So how did he do it?
With metaphor and analogy. He pitched the film to studio executives with
just six words. He told them his screenplay could be summed up as “Die Hard in a
forest fire.” They bought it. And they made it. (How it did at the box office is
another story.)
In the financial newsletter business, copywriters make frequent use of
metaphor and analogy to help people understand complicated financial investment
opportunities. One of the most common metaphors in financial promotions is the
“pick-and-shovel” metaphor. The copywriter makes the point that while very few
prospectors actually struck gold in the mines, the manufacturers of picks and
shovels (not to mention denim jeans!) did extremely well throughout the Gold Rush
… and some of those companies are still going strong today. Copywriters pull this
metaphor off the shelf when they’re talking about buying stock in a large company

39
that supports a more speculative industry—like promoting a blue-chip fertilizer
company instead of a speculative marijuana stock.


CON ARTIST SECRET #33: NAMING AND FRAMING

Another useful technique in persuasion is to take something that doesn’t
work in your favor and re-name it. This is a very common in politics. When
Congress passes legislation to raise taxes or increase their own salaries, they usually
slap a title on the bill like “Safeguard America’s Future Act.”
Speaking of politics, another acquaintance of mine, Frank Luntz, completely
changed the political debate on the estate tax in favor of its opponents when he re-
named it “The Death Tax.” Frank has a real knack for this. He re-cast drilling for oil
as “energy exploration.” And even though he usually works the conservative side of
the aisle, he was responsible for re-naming “global warming” to “climate change.”
In recent months, I’ve received a number of financial newsletter promotions
in which the copywriters re-framed boring investment vehicles into exciting new
moneymaking opportunities. One promotion described ordinary municipal bonds
as lawsuit settlement payments. Another took one of the dullest kinds of
investments, mutual funds, and re-framed them as the secret investment strategy
used by famous people to get rich. A third promotion focused on an obscure
investment device called a “Master Limited Partnerships”—which are most often
used for financing oil wells—and re-framed them as unexpected checks in the mail.
You might call this advertising sleight-of-hand. Sort of like when 7-Up decided to
call itself “The Un-Cola.”


CON ARTIST SECRET #34: ADMIT A FLAW

One of the best ways to build trust and confidence in your mark is to spot the
hole or flaw in your pitch and point it out to him before he notices it himself. If your

40
product or proposal has some little imperfection or problem with it, don’t try to hide
it. Don’t try to gloss over it or hope the mark doesn’t notice. Instead, come right out
and say your product is not perfect. Then explain why that imperfection is really a
benefit.
The famous Volkswagen Beetle ads created by Doyle, Dane, Bernbach in the
1960s were among the first in the history of Madison Avenue to use this technique.
They talked about ugly the cars were, how slow they were, how thoroughly
unstylish they were. One of the most famous of these ads talked about how small
the Beetle was. The headline said, “Think Small!” You have to remember that small
cars were almost unheard of in the United States in the 1960s. If you saw a Fiat 500
on the street in 1965, you’d point at it and laugh. So these ads got the Beetle’s
biggest flaws out in the open right away. They didn’t try to hide them or gloss over
them. But when they went on to say that the cars were beautifully engineered, that
they got amazing gas mileage, that they were extremely well-built and reliable,
everyone believed them.
So when you’re making a sales pitch, resist the temptation to describe your
product as perfect in every way. One of the most effective ways to do this, of course,
is to use your high price as an asset. “Look, I’ll be straight with you. These windows
cost nearly twice as much as what you’ll find down at your local Lowes or Home
Depot. But those are cookie-cutter, mass-produced, foreign-made windows. Our
windows are custom-made in our own local factory to the exact specifications of
your house and the climate you live in.”
The same technique can be used justify a low price. The whole concept of
“factory seconds,” for example, is based on the idea that one tiny little flaw in
manufacturing can result in a huge savings to the consumer. There’s a famous
example in mail-order advertising of a publisher selling thousands of encyclopedias
with the following headline:

A COLOSSAL FLUB BRINGS YOU THIS MASSIVE
$22.75 BOOK FOR A MERE $9.95
(Some idiot printed the wrong page numbers; the

41
 book is perfect – and truly superb – in every
other respect.)


Rather than throw thousands of books away, the publisher was going to let
them go for an amazingly low price. Was it really an accident?
Maybe. Maybe not!


CON ARTIST SECRET #35: COMMITMENT & CONSISTENCY

As I said earlier, most people really hate to change their minds about
anything. They dig a deep trench around their beliefs, opinions, and previous
commitments, and it’s almost impossible to pull them out of it. But strange as it may
sound, you can change their behavior by leveraging their reluctance to change their
mind.
The reason for this entrenchment is because people hate to admit that they
were wrong about anything they’ve said in the past. They hate to back down from
opinions they’ve already expressed. And they love to be consistent in their
statements, opinions, and beliefs. If you can get your mark to commit to stating an
opinion or belief that works in your favor, he’ll have a very difficult time backing
away from it later.
I had this trick played on me by a car salesman once. We were just about to
close the deal—a deal which I believed I had negotiated very well—when he asked
me the following question: “Richard, are you the kind of guy who trades in your car
every few years for a new one, or do you tend to hang onto them for a while?”
I happened to have very strong feelings about this topic so I was happy to
pontificate. “No, Bob, I think trading-in cars frequently costs too much money in
depreciation. So I like to buy a new car, do my best to keep it in good shape, and

42
then keep driving it until it dies of old age. That’s the only cost-effective way to buy
a new car.”
I didn’t realize it at the time, but the salesman had set the mousetrap and I
had just taken a big bite of the cheese. Now the hammer was about to clamp down
on my neck.
“Well, Richard, you’re absolutely right about that. That’s the smart way to
play it. People who trade their cars in for a new model every year are just throwing
their money away. But in order to make your strategy work, you’ve got to make
sure you don’t have any major mechanical problems, right? That’s why I’d like to
tell you about our amazing extended 7-year, bumper-to-bumper warrantee.”
Gotcha!
So what am I going to say now? No, I don’t want the warrantee. I don’t
intend to keep the car that long. I don’t care if it breaks down. I can’t say that! I’ve
already gone on record as saying I’m going to keep the car a long time and I believe
in keeping it in tip-top shape. If I decline the warrantee now, I might as well admit
I’m an idiot who says one thing at one thing at one moment and then says the
opposite thing five minutes later.


CON ARTIST SECRET #36: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

Professional con men find it often helps if the proposition they’re making to
the mark is very close to the line of being illegal … or at least unethical. This serves
two purposes. It strengthens the bond of trust between the con artist and the mark
because they’re in this thing together. They’re co-conspirators, in other words, so
they both have something to lose and a lot to gain. Second, it helps prevent the
mark from reporting the fraud to the authorities later. If the mark feels guilty or
ashamed of what he’s done, he’s not going to call the police and report it.
Even if you’re running a perfectly legitimate operation, you can take
advantage of this secret by portraying your proposition as some kind of “loophole”
in the law. It’s perfectly legal now, in other words, but only because the government

43
regulators are so stupid they haven’t yet figured out how it can be exploited by
intelligent people like you and me. This strategy has the added advantage of
implying that the mark better act now before the idiots in the government figure this
out and take steps to prevent it.


CON ARTIST SECRET #37: THE SECRET OF THE SECRET

Similarly, you want to imply that what you’re about to tell the mark is a big
secret. If people find out how this proposition works, then everyone will do it. And
if everyone does it, it won’t work anymore. The government will crack down on it.
The police will find out about it. Every investor will buy this little-known stock at
once, and it won’t be a bargain anymore. If the craps system becomes widely
known, the pit bosses will be on the lookout for it and kick you out of the casino.1
So keep this on the down low, okay? Just between you and me!


CON ARTIST SECRET #38: LET THE MARK WIN (AT FIRST)

Every single “Three-Card Monte” game on the streets of New York begins
with someone winning. Not every time, of course. But enough to make the
onlookers think the game is beatable. (It’s not.) Sometimes the winner is a partner
of the con man who will return the money later and take his cut. Sometimes he’s
just a bystander who the con man has identified as a sucker who can be convinced
to make larger and larger bets … until he loses the big one.
I remember the first time I played a slot machine. Believe it or not, I was just
six years old at the time. My father had taken me to a private club outside of Chicago
where there were a few not-quite-legal slot machines around for the entertainment
of the members. Dad gave me a few quarters to play the slots. I dropped one

1 For my about this, read my first novel “God Doesn’t Shoot Craps.” It’s YOURS FREE

when you buy “The Don Con.”

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quarter in the machine, pulled the handle, watched the reels spin and stop with
three cherries in a row. Then I saw six quarters drop into the tray. I was hooked.
That was sixty years ago and I’ve been gambling ever since.
There’s nothing like a win on your first try, even a small one, to convince you
that a proposition is legitimate, interesting, and worthy of further exploration.
That’s why professional con men call this strategy “The Convincer.” Almost every
major con job begins with the mark taking some money off the table right away. If
you’ve read my novel, THE DON CON, you may remember how Nigel’s stock market
scam began with his mark making $5,000 on a small trade. Then Nigel sent the
mark home to get some real money. This is what con men call “The Send.”
How can you use this technique in a legitimate persuasion situation like an
advertisement, a sales presentation, or a video sales letter?
It’s usually done with some kind of free demonstration. The carpet cleaner
salesman, for example, shows up at the door and says, “Madam, if you’ll let me in
your lovely home and show me the most stubborn stain on any of your rugs, I’ll
clean it for you for free in five minutes with no obligation.”
Sometimes it’s an outright bribe. The late, great copywriter Gary Halbert was
famous for attaching $100 bills to his sales letters. Not only as an attention getter—
it surely did get attention!—but also as a convincer that he was serious about the
proposition he was about to make … and that the $100 was just a small taste of what
was about to come in the future.
A video sales letter by the well-known financial guru James Altucher began
with Jim walking into a Starbucks, sitting down next to a girl he didn’t know, and
demonstrating how she could make $647 in two minutes with his trading technique.
Of course, the guy watching the video didn’t get six hundred bucks, but seeing
someone else make the money was the next best thing.

CON ARTIST SECRET #39: THE HERD MENTALITY

At some point when you were a kid, you did something wrong and your
mother asked you why you did it. You replied, “Because all the other kids were

45
doing it.” Unless I miss my guess, your mother said, “If all the other kids jumped off
a cliff, would you jump off a cliff?” I suspect you said no.
But you were lying.
The truth is that if all the other kids were jumping off a cliff, you would’ve
given some serious thought to jumping off a cliff. Why? Because next to the desire
for food and sex, the urge to fit in with the crowd and do exactly what your peers are
doing is the most powerful motivational forces in the life of a human being. The
reason for this probably dates all the way back to the earliest tribal societies when
the possibility of being ostracized from your group was one of the most
humiliating—and, in fact—dangerous things that could happen to you. Spending
just one night outside the walls of your village or away from your camp could
expose you to all sorts of mortal danger. Your mother could’ve asked you, “If
everyone else was drinking poisoned Kool-Aid and dying all around you, would you
drink poisoned Kool-Aid and die?”
Answer?
Yes, you probably would.
Con artists and their legal counterparts take full advantage of this powerful
urge to follow the herd. In fact, the more unfamiliar, questionable, and possibly
dangerous a situation your mark finds himself in, the more likely he is to be
influenced by the behavior of others. Because when people are put in unfamiliar
situations, they are more apt to look to the behavior of others as a guide to their
own behavior, or simply for reassurance. Ask him for his credit card number over
the phone? His computer password? His Social Security number? If you can show
him that many other people like himself have done so, he’ll gladly do it.


CON ARTIST SECRET #40: SCARCITY & RARITY

Many years ago, I told my wife I was going shopping at Macy’s and she said,
“If you see a board game called Trivial Pursuit, buy it.” A board game? Neither my
wife nor I had played a board game in years. “Why would you want a board game?”

46
I asked. She said, “Everyone’s playing it, it’s supposed to be really fun.” I said, “Well,
I don’t really like board games, but if you want it I’ll buy it.” After I’d finished my
shopping at Macy’s, I asked the clerk, “I also need to buy a board game called Trivial
Pursuit, but I didn’t see it on the shelves.”
He laughed at me. “Of course, you didn’t see it on the shelves” he said.
“We’ve been sold out for months. We’re supposed to get some more in about six
weeks from now.” That’s interesting, I thought. So I went across the street to
Gimbels and said, “I’m looking for a board game called Trivial Pursuit.” The clerk
said, “Yeah, right. You and everybody else. I could put your name on a waiting list,
but we probably won’t call you until next spring.” So it went for store after store.
Nobody had it for sale. Everybody wanted to buy it. And nobody wanted it more
than me. After a few hours of looking for it all over Manhattan, I was beside myself
with a burning, salivating, unquenchable desire for Trivial Pursuit.
Let’s examine my behavior. At the beginning of the day, I didn’t know what
Trivial Pursuit was and had absolutely no interest in it. By the end of the day, I
would’ve paid any price, borne any burden, supported any friend, opposed any
enemy … just to get my hands on Trivial Pursuit. What made the difference?
Scarcity! The mere fact that it was hard to get made me want it as badly as
I’d ever wanted anything.
The truth is that human beings are hardwired to put a high value on anything
that is rare, scarce, or hard to find—even if they have no particular desire to possess
that item in the first place.
Are you familiar with the type of mushroom called “white truffles,” for
example? Chances are, you’ve never eaten a white truffle because relatively few
Americans have. After all, it’s just a mushroom, so who really cares, right? You’ve
probably never eaten a fried grasshopper, either, but I doubt if you’re losing any
sleep over it.
What if I told you, however, that truffles were impossible to cultivate
domestically. So you have to find them growing wild in the forest. What if I told
there are only a few places in the entire world where they grow wild—the
mountainous Piedmont region of Italy and a few remote parts of southern France.

47
What if I told you they are so hard to find that truffle hunters have to use dogs or
even pigs to sniff them out. What if I told you that pigs are better at finding truffles
than dogs, but pigs have a tendency to gobble them up right away so hunters prefer
to use dogs—even though it means they’ll find fewer truffles. What if I told you the
taste of truffles has been described as “sublime” … “intoxicating” … “addictive” …
“unlike any other flavor in the world.” What if I told you that many people will pay
$100 or more to have one-tenth of an ounce of truffles grated over scrambled eggs.
(Can you imagine paying a hundred bucks for a plate of scrambled eggs?) What if I
told you that if you order white truffles in a restaurant, the waiter will actually bring
a small electronic scale to the table to make sure he doesn’t accidentally give you too
little ... or too much.
Would you like to try a truffle now?
I bet you would! And if I told you that you could have some white truffles for
just $10 instead of the usual $100, I bet you’d reach for your wallet faster than
Wyatt Earp could go for his gun. Stop and think about that! Two minutes ago, you
might never have even heard of white truffles, much less tasted one. And now, you
would gladly pay me $10 for one little bite.
That’s the power of scarcity.


CON ARTIST SECRET #41: THE TICKING TIME BOMB

Closely related to the secret of scarcity is the secret of deadlines. Even if the
item you’re selling is not particular scarce, you can make it scarce if you can come up
with some credible reason why you can no longer sell it after a certain date. We’re
all familiar with the “limited time offer” … “sale ends at midnight” … “everything
must go before our lease expires” sales. These ticking time-bomb offers serve three
purposes. First, they overcome the mark’s inertia and get him to the store now;
second, they trigger the mark’s FOMO instinct (fear of missing out); and third, they
interfere with the mark’s ability to think rationally.

48
 I mean, let’s get real! Do you honestly believe that if a car dealer is willing to
give you a $1,000 discount off the sticker price on President’s Day that they won’t
give you the exactly same deal on the day after President’s Day? (It’s true; they
might make a little dog-and-pony show out of it. “Well, I talked with my sales
manager, and guess what? He said he’s willing to extend the sale for 24 more hours
just for you!” Who says the Age of Miracles has passed?)
But if you’re going to use the ticking time bomb trick, you’ve got to make sure
the bomb doesn’t blow up in your face. If you apply too much time pressure, if the
deadline is too soon, or if you apply the pressure too early in the persuasion process,
the mark may very well back off and say to himself, “Well, I can’t make a decision on
this right way, so I’ll have to pass.” Like so many of the tricks and secrets in this
booklet, they have to be applied with a light touch.


CON ARTIST SECRET #42: THE ANSWER TO “LET ME THINK ABOUT IT”

If you’ve ever had any kind of a sales job, you know the bane of your
existence is the customer who walks away after saying, “I’ll think about it.” Ninety-
nine times out of a hundred it means you’ve lost the sale. Even if you’re an Internet
marketer, you’ve probably noticed in your data analytics the large number of people
who read your entire landing page or watch your entire Video Sales Letter, but don’t
respond. Why not?
Because they’re thinking about it!
The reason these “I’ll-think-about-it” customers are so frustrating is because
the salesman knows that probably no more than 2% at the most (perhaps less than
one percent) will ever come back to buy—even if they seemed like very hot
prospects who sat down and listened to your whole pitch with enthusiasm.
So are they lying when they say they’ll think about it? Is it just a polite way to
brush you off and get away from you without hurting your feelings? In some cases,
yes. But in many cases, they really do think about it. It’s only prudent, after all, to
think carefully about a big purchase like a car, a house, or a time-share. The problem

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is that, as time goes by, the positive aspects of your offer—all the wonderful benefits
you’ve presented—will gradually fade from memory. And only the negatives will
remain, especially the cost.
So what’s the best thing for a salesman to say when a customer says they’ll
think about it? Here it is:
“Fine, no problem. You should think about it because it’s a big decision.
But let me ask you one quick question before you leave. If you think about it
and you eventually decide not to buy, what do you think will be the main
reason you decided against buying?”
At this point, the customer will gladly reveal to you the main objection or
stumbling block preventing him from making an immediate purchase. Now you can
simply go to your prepared script for dealing with this particular objection. If it’s
the price, for example, you can say, “Well, I don’t blame you for being concerned
about money. But that’s why we’ve broken the price down into monthly
installments of just $31 a month. That’s just a dollar a day. You probably spend
more than a dollar a day on coffee, right? But I’ll tell you what. If you decide to buy
today [TICKING TIME BOMB], I’ll cut that price to just… etc.
Customers will rarely refuse to answer this question. They usually figure
they owe you an answer because you’ve just spent an hour with them giving your
pitch. But when the customer answers this question, it’s almost like being in a
sword fight and having your opponent put down his sword, unbutton his vest,
expose his bare chest, and say, “If you stick me in this spot right here, I’ll probably
die because this is the most vulnerable place on my body.”
It doesn’t seem fair, does it?


CON ARTIST SECRET #43: THE LEAD-A-HORSE-TO-WATER TRICK

When I give speeches or seminars on advertising, marketing, or copywriting,
the one criticism I’m most likely to hear from the audience is that my presentation
was “too basic.”

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 (After reading almost this whole booklet, in fact, you may be thinking the
same thing right now!)
To this I always plead guilty. I’m a big believer in the basics and
fundamentals. It’s fine to be up-to-date on new technology, the latest strategies, and
“what’s working now.” But if you don’t master the basics your chances of success
are slim to none. As Vince Lombardi said about football, “It’s all about blocking and
tackling.”
Having said that, there is one subtle, advanced, extremely sophisticated
secret I have learned over the years that I’m willing to share with you today. It’s the
only thing I know that very few other people know. It’s the one thing I’ve never
mentioned in a speech or seminar. Nor have I ever even heard anyone else mention
it. I’ve never even seen it any one of the hundreds of books I’ve read about
copywriting, con artists, marketing and persuasion. Are you ready for this? Can you
handle it? Okay, it’s simply this:
Persuasion is not just about what you say, it’s also about what you don’t
say.
At a certain point, in other words, you’ve got to make your mark think that
buying your product, accepting your pitch, agreeing with your presentation, falling
for your con game … whatever it may be … was ENTIRELY HIS IDEA.
You can lead a horse to water, as the saying goes, but you can’t make him
drink. Drinking the water has to be entirely the horse’s idea. (I’ve owned horses,
and, trust me, they can’t be forced to do anything. Horses are a hundred times
stronger and more stubborn than human beings. The best you can hope for is that
you can make them want to do what you’re asking them to do.) The same goes for
your mark. If you really want your pitch to be effective, you’ve got to make your
mark think he came with the idea all by himself. And that usually comes down to
knowing exactly when you should stop pitching and persuading … and let him come
up with the idea of buying on his own.
The key turning point in my novel, THE DON CON, for example, is when
Rosetti asks if he can invest more money in the plan than he was asked for because
he has come up with his own idea about how to raise that money. Whenever you

51
can get the customer coming up with his own ideas about how to use your product
and what your product can do for him—without spelling it out for him—you’ve got
him hooked. More sales have been lost over the years because the salesman talked
too much than were ever lost because the salesman said too little. And I’m not
talking about the length of the pitch here. Sales pitches and advertising copy are
often quite long. It’s more about the timing of knowing when the customer is about
to sell himself and knowing when not to interrupt. (As Sun Tzu said, “When your
enemy is in the process of destroying himself, don’t interfere!”) One of the most
important, and difficult, lessons a salesman can learn is how to take yes for an
answer.
So, yes, you can lead the horse to water. And sometimes that water is a very
long walk away from where you started. But you must let the idea of drinking occur
to the horse all by himself.
If you’re writing a sales letter, for example, you want him to think, “Gee, it
was a stroke of good luck that I got this letter today because it just so happens that
I’ve been looking for a product exactly like this.”
Was he really looking for a product just like that?
Hell, no! Until he got your letter, he probably had no idea such a product
existed. But if you do your job right, your letter will not only make him want to buy
your product … it should make him think he came up with the idea all by himself!


CON ARTIST SECRET #44: THE LAST RESORT

Finally, if none of tricks works for you, there’s one last thing you can try:
Sheer, unrelenting, unyielding, resolute, unshakable, unwavering, stubborn,
adamant, implacable, and single-minded…
PERSISTENCE!
There’s a famous passage in Napoleon Hill’s masterpiece “Think and Grow
Rich” about a young black sharecropper girl who had been told by her mother to
borrow fifty cents from the plantation owner.

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 The plantation owner refuses the request and tells her to run along. She
says, “Yassah.” But she doesn’t move.
A few minutes later, the owner looks up and is surprised to see the little girl
still standing there. He says, “What do you want, girl?”
She says, “My mama told me to ask you for fifty cents.”
“I’m not giving you fifty cents,” he said, “so get the hell out of here.”
She said, “Yassah.”
The plantation owner went back to his work. But after a few minutes, he
looked up to see the girl was still standing there.
He said, “I told you to go. What are you still doing here?”
She said, “MY MAMA SAID YOU GOTTA GIVE US FIFTY CENTS!”
So the plantation owner got up from his desk, walked slowly over to the little
girl, loomed over her in a threatening manner, and said, “GET YOUR ASS OUT OF
HERE RIGHT NOW—OR I’LL GIVE YOU A WHIPPING!”
Very calmly, she said, “I ain’t going nowhere ‘til you give me fifty cents.”
So what did the plantation owner do?
He gave her fifty cents!
I said a moment ago that many salesmen have difficulty learning how to take
yes for an answer. But there’s also great power in learning how to refuse to take no
for an answer. Because most marks will break down when they are faced with
unbending, rigid, unrelenting persistence.
There’s a passage in THE DON CON when the main character realizes that
this is the true strength of the Mafia. “I always thought mobsters got people to do
their bidding by threatening them with guns. I was beginning to learn that
unrelenting, dogged persistence was their weapon of choice. This time I could think
of no more excuses [to say no].”

I’D LIKE TO THANK YOU WITH TWO MORE FREE GIFTS!

Thank you for reading this free booklet. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I
hope you’ll purchase a copy of THE DON CON to see many of these principles in

53
action. After you buy the book, send me your Amazon receipt or confirmation
number at richarm1@aol.com and write “I bought The Don Con” in the subject line.
In return, I’d like to thank you by sending you a free digital copy of my first
novel, GOD DOESN’T SHOOT CRAPS … plus, a free copy of my new booklet, WHAT
NOVELISTS KNOW ABOUT STORYTELLING THAT COPYWRITERS DON’T. If
you’re a copywriter—or if effective storytelling plays a role in whatever business
you’re in—I think you’ll find some insights in it that you won’t see anywhere else.
Oh, and do me a personal favor, will you? Please use the principles you’ve
learned in this booklet to persuade … not to purloin!

# # #

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cialdini, Robert, INFLUENCE

Covell, Simon, HOW TO CHEAT AT EVERYTHING

Dutton, Kevin, SPLIT SECOND PERSUASION

Giacomaro, Thomas, THE KING OF CON

Konnikova, Maria, THE CONFIDENCE GAME

Lakhani, Dave, PERSUASION: THE ART OF GETTING WHAT YOU WANT

Mauer, David, THE BIG CON

Settle, Ben, PERSUASION SECRETS OF THE WORLD’S MOST CHARISMATIC AND
INFLUENTIAL VILLAINS

Wilson, Paul, THE ART OF THE CON

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