Sell Like Crazy Book: An Honest Review

Sell Like Crazy writer Sabry Suby says this will be the most important book you ever read if you want more buyers in your business.

He claims it will transform your entire business and your life…

And you will learn “how to write Google AdWords or Facebook ads that practically force your prospects to click them and buy.”

These are some big promises! But does the Sell Like Crazy book actually deliver on them?

Or is it all just a lot of marketing hype?

In this review, I’m going to answer these questions and give you the truth about the book. I’ll look at what’s good about the book and what’s not so good.

Firstly, who is Sabri Suby?

Suby is an entrepreneur who founded the Australian digital marketing agency King Kong. The King Kong agency has become one of the fastest growing agencies in Australia.

Suby had previously worked in sales before starting the agency. His style of marketing is heavily influenced by direct response copywriters.

Making Your Marketing Stand Out

Most businesses play it too safe with their marketing. They’re afraid to stand out too much.

They have bland and uninspiring websites, Facebook ads, emails…

Given that people are so easily distracted in the modern world, bland marketing just won’t cut it. You need to grab people’s attention.

If your marketing falls into the ‘bland’ category, the Sell Like Crazy book will give you ideas on how to spice things up. Suby knows very well how to capture attention.

He does this by applying principles founded by some of the best direct response marketers of all time. As well as human psychology principles and strategies used by clickbait advertisers.

Here is an example of a Facebook ad for Suby’s digital agency, King Kong…

This is the type of ad that will stand out in the Facebook news feed. It will grab people’s attention because it looks different to most other ads on Facebook.

Within the book, Suby details the basics of how to make your ads, landing pages and emails all stand out to capture attention.

But I would warn against some of the attention-grabbing tactics promoted by Suby. Getting attention to your marketing messages is good. But getting attention from the right people is even better.

With the clickbait-style marketing that Suby recommends, you’re going to get a lot of attention from people who are extremely unlikely to buy from you. And even worse, a lot of the people who are likely to buy will skip over your ads. I’ll explain why later in this review.

Do you want to generate qualified leads on auto-pilot in your business? Check out this free in-depth guide that reveals the proven system for generating qualified leads.

Targeting The 97% Out Of Market

The Sell Like Crazy book places a large emphasis on targeting people who aren’t currently in the market for what you’re offering.

He advocates targeting these ‘out of market’ customers indirectly with educational content (a free ebook or report) to bring them into your sales funnel. Rather than targeting those who are actively seeking what you have to offer with direct sales messages.

His rationale is that only 3% of people are in “buying mode” at any given time. So it would be more profitable to target the remaining 97% who are not ready to buy right now but could be soon.

To take people from “not interested right now” to “ready to buy” you use educational content, which increases the desire for your offer and lowers scepticism.

This approach certainly can work. Information marketers have been using these education-based sales funnels for years now.

Education-based sales funnels work particularly well for businesses that sell knowledge or education. For example…coaches, consultants, advisors.

But for other businesses, this approach can fail miserably.

Most people aren’t actually interested in being educated. They just want a quick and easy solution to their problem.

Consider these statistics…

33% of high school graduates never read another book in their life
42% of college graduates never read another book after graduating
80% of US families have not bought or read a book in the last year

And those stats are based on a 2003 survey. With the rise of on-demand entertainment since then, I imagine those numbers are much higher now.

If most people aren’t interested in reading books, they’re probably not going to read a free ’30 page e-book’ either.

For most niches, Suby’s education funnel approach just won’t be effective. Instead, you should promote direct offers that quickly and easily solve a problem.

Selling The Click

On the topic of Google Ads (AdWords), Suby states that the job of the ad is to ‘sell the click.’ Not to sell your products. He advises using clickbait-style headlines in your Google Ads just to get the click.

In an example he provides, he suggests using the following headline for an ad on the keyword “divorce lawyer.”

A Top Divorce Lawyers | Secret Checklist Finally Revealed

The ad would go to a landing page with a PDF download containing ‘tipoffs your partner may be cheating on you.’

This does not work on Google Ads! I could not believe what I was reading when I saw this.

Firstly, this is going to attract a lot of clicks from people who have no intention of becoming your client. And when you’re paying $10+ per click, that will add up very quickly.

People go onto Google to search for a solution to their problems. And they generally want to find the best solution in the least amount of time. They don’t want to waste time evaluating dozens of options or reading a 29 page PDF report..

If someone is searching Google for a divorce lawyer, they probably want to speak to a divorce lawyer! So you offer that to them. Directly offer a free consultation or phone call. Not a PDF download!

A good Google Ad should attract clicks from serious buyers and it should do part of the selling for you.

In another article on Best Google Ads Examples, I looked at the following ad from CRM system Pipedrive…

The ad is effective because they are selling in the ad. Many customers will be ready to start the 14-day trial before they even look at the landing page. Simply because Pipedrive has written a compelling sales-focused ad.

Because people are looking to find the best solution in the least amount of time, they will use the information in your ad to largely guide their buying decision. If you can succinctly address objections and provide a compelling offer in your ad (like Pipedrive did), a lot of people will be ready to take the next step before they even get to your website.

Suby’s approach can work in some niches. I would never use this approach on Google Ads but on Facebook Ads it could work in some cases.

But in most cases, taking a more direct approach will give you more qualified buyers and a much lower cost per acquisition.

The High-Value Content Offer

Suby suggests using a High-Value Content Offer (HVCO) to bring potential buyers into your sales funnel.

The HVCO is generally an educational ebook related to the product or service you offer. But it could also be a free consultation, a free report, a checklist, a case study or a webinar. It’s offered in exchange for a user’s email address.

This isn’t a new concept. Others in the marketing industry usually refer to it as a lead magnet. It’s a common ingredient in a typical sales funnel.

Here is an example of a HVCO used by a client of Suby’s agency, King Kong…

This informational e-book is promoted through Facebook Ads. When someone downloads the ebook, they are added to the childcare centre’s email list. The childcare centre can then continue to move the prospect through the sales funnel from there.

The problem is this strategy will only be effective for a limited number of niches.

It can be very effective for products and services that are inherently educational. For example, a coach, consultant or advisor.

But for other businesses, this strategy will waste money and attract low quality leads unlikely to ever become customers.

The truth is that most people who download these free e-books or checklists don’t even read them. As I already mentioned, most people aren’t interested in being educated. They just want a quick solution to their problems.

And if nobody reads your HVCO, what chance will you have to convert them?

Yes, they can be added to your email list and you can drip-feed them emails over time. But less than 20% of people will open your marketing emails and even fewer will click on a link in your email.

If you’re in the business of selling courses or consulting, then go ahead and try Suby’s High-Value Content Offer. It can potentially work very well if done right.

But if you’re not a coach or consultant, then forget about it.

The Godfather Strategy

Sabri Suby says the Godfather Strategy is the “single most powerful, most effective and most profit generating strategy” he has ever discovered.

In typical Suby fashion, he says this is the one strategy that he’s reluctant to reveal.

So what exactly is this strategy?

If you’ve ever read much online marketing content before, you’ve probably come across the term “irresistible offer.”

It’s basically just an irresistible offer.

Make a very compelling specific offer. Make it specific. Add in a strong guarantee (risk reversal). Throw in some free bonuses to go with the offer. Add scarcity – Eg. limited time or limited quantity available. And you have The Godfather Strategy.

The offer should be something very bold with a clear benefit to the customer. And it should be very specific.

For example, a digital marketing agency might use this as their offer: “We’ll Triple Your Revenue In 12 Months Or Give You Your Money Back.”

While Suby’s advice about developing your offer is generally quite good, it’s nothing revolutionary. Experts and marketing gurus have been talking about this same concept for a very long time. Suby just gave it a different name.

The book $100 Million Offers by Alex Hormozi covers this topic of making an irresistible offer very well. If you want to learn how to make strong, compelling offers, I would recommend Hormozi’s book over Sell Like Crazy.

Conclusion & Recommendations

Should you buy the Sell Like Crazy book?

If you’re a coach or consultant, this book may be worth a read for you. Some of these strategies can work well in your industry if done well. Although, most of the same information is freely available on digital marketing websites and YouTube channels.

For others, I don’t recommend Sell Like Crazy. The strategies will lead you down the wrong path and could potentially cost your business thousands of dollars.

Sabry Suby is a very smart marketer but unfortunately, he doesn’t bring his best advice in this book. I actually find the videos on his YouTube channel to be more valuable.

If you’re interested to see what really makes Suby a good marketer, I suggest reading my blog post analysing his sales page for the Sell Like Crazy book.

In that post, you will learn many of the psychology and persuasion techniques that actually make Suby’s marketing messages so effective.

You won’t learn any of those techniques in Sell Like Crazy. Even though these techniques are extremely powerful. And unlike much of the content in the book, these techniques can be applied to any industry and will still work.

Book Rating: 5/10

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