Hey, have you heard of a Birkin bag before?

At the risk of sweeping generalizations, it's probably fair to say that a good chunk of women on my list know exactly what I'm talking about…

While a lot fewer men do.

Birkins are a model of handbag made by luxury manufacturer Hermès…

And they are considered some of the most exclusive handbags in the world.💰

They retail from between $9,000 to $500k+…

But here's the thing. Even if you're loaded, you can't just go into a Hermès store and buy one.🤔

Instead, you need to be “offered” one.

And most people won't be offered.🤷‍♂️

Now generally, to get offered a Birkin, one of two things needs to happen:

1.  You need to be super famous and influential, or
2. You need to have a strong buyer history with Hermès…

And even if you do get offered a Birkin Bag…

That's usually “it” for a while…

Because Hermès puts a limit on sales, where most customers can only get one new bag per year.

As a lizard-brained guy, part of me finds this all somewhat preposterous…
But I also think it's brilliant.😉

The demand and exclusivity behind Birkin bags creates a ridiculous amount of pent-up demand…🤯

And it makes these bags one of those ultimate aspirational purchases.

What's also interesting is that Birkin's exclusivity makes them a really good investment.

I read somewhere that over the past 35 years, the value of a Birkin bag has increased by about 14% per year…📈

Which is a better return than investing in gold or the stock market.

There's also an entire cottage industry set up around selling second-hand Birkins…

Which means in theory, you could get offered one of these bags from Hermès, then immediately turn around and sell it for a 4, 5, or even 6-figure profit (depending on the bag).

You'd want to be careful doing that though…

Because if Hermès finds out, you're banned from buying their products for life.❌

—

Okay, so why share all of this with you?

The Birkin bag is a beautiful example of takeaway selling.

Takeaway selling = pushing your prospect away (instead of pulling them towards you)…

Creating barriers and obstacles to the sale…

Limiting access and creating purchasing requirements.

It can seem so counterintuitive…

But the truth is, we often want what we “can't” have…

Which is why luxury brands like Hermès have mastered the art of the takeaway sale.

You don't have to be a luxury brand to deploy this tactic though…

We've all seen plenty of sales pages where they start telling you how there are limited quantities available…

We all know that “application funnels” work very well when it comes to high ticket sales, because people have to apply for the chance to receive coaching/membership/training/etc…

And personally, I practice this “art” a lot when talking with prospective clients who want to hire me to write a sales letter.

For me, the truth is that I really don't need any project…

And actually now, you can't even hire me directly…

You've gotta work with me and my protégé, Luke.

So the takeaway aspect here is real, not manufactured.

But even when I was earlier in my freelancing career and I did really “want” a project…

I never approached it that way.

I always tried very hard to stay neutral and indifferent.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't tell a prospective client I was excited about their project when I was…

But my mentality was always that no single project or client was going to make or break my career…

So if it wasn't a good fit, or the client wasn't willing to get close to my fee…

I'd just walk away.

And sometimes that's exactly what happened; the deal didn't go through…

But more often, I'd get the gig and the client would pay my asking price…

And a big part of that was because I didn't seem desperate or “thirsty.”

People can sense that…

So really, taking more of a stoic's approach is the best move as a freelancer, if you ask me.

—

Personally, takeaway selling is another reason why I stay true to my word when doing a launch for a course, program, etc.

​​For example, with my 7 Week Mentorship Program – I said I was only going to commit to doing one cohort of 20 people, and that's what I've done.

​​And when I did my Profit Fix Formula Launch, I closed it when I said I would. As of now, you can't buy PFF even if you want to. I've actually told 20+ people ‘no' since closing the launch.

I don't do this to be a jerk…

Instead,​​ I want my community to know that when I say they have a limited time to take action on something, that's real.

​​And the result of me doing this is pretty cool:

Most don't sit on the fence when I do offer something.

Instead, if it's a good fit for them, they jump right on it.

 

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link