First, great book recommendation: _Never Split the Difference_ is packed with insights about negotiating, bargaining, and generally cooperation and decision-mak

First, great book recommendation: _Never Split the Difference_ is packed with insights about negotiating, bargaining, and generally cooperation and decision-making. Reader: if you haven't, read it. On starting with incentive before qualification: this is actually quite common. See: Cutco knives, CDs by mail, most current online courses/programs. Heck even startups doing lead gen offering analyses. This is both what gets people invested (I jump at the free thing, so I'll jump through the rest of hoops now) AND what the seller uses to establish credibility (if they're giving way something this valuable, imagine what else they have!). A gift to someone implies you see them as important/valuable, and people eat that shit up. There's a lot of ego/insecurity at play in sales. The person being marketed to wanting to feel seen/discovered/worthwhile, and the seller playing into it. Reminds me of the Tony Robbins recording that made the rounds again recently [1]. Shocking that this stuff works … but it does. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_zyLEiNYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_zyLEiNYk