After my email yesterday about how to sell to a “skinny guy”, a reader messaged me and asked…
“I like your breakdown of what motivates the skinny guy to buy, super helpful. Although I’m surprised so much of it has to do with impressing other men instead of just being about women. Is this common?“
Great question.
And for reference, in yesterday’s email I mentioned that a guy who’s skinny (and who wants to put on muscle) is usually doing it for a few reasons…
– They feel smaller than other guys
– They feel like they can’t protect themselves if shit goes down
– They feel inferior if a big, strong dude starts talking to their girlfriend
– They feel angry and bitter at guys who are genetically blessed with big muscles
As you can see, a lot of the pain and frustration a skinny guy feels has to do with other men.
Which is interesting.
Cause most copywriters would simply focus on the pain points in relation to women…
i.e. if I get big muscles, women will be all over me
And while that is the dream scenario for most skinny guys…
A lot of what they feel actually has nothing to do with women…
It’s about other men.
Let’s look at an example of this…
Back when I was in college, I remember talking to this girl at a bar called the Ugly Tuna on campus.
We were hitting it off, pounding shots and dancing to “don’t stop believing”.
She was giving me kisses on the cheek…
By all measures things were going well…
But around 1 AM that all changed.
Why?
Cause while she was at the bar getting a drink, another dude butted in and started talking to her.
Which is usually not a big deal.
That happens at bars all the time.
Except this wasn’t just any dude…
He was an Ohio State football player that was like 6’5, 240 lbs.
So he stood out.
And once they started talking at the bar…
Her focus instantly went to him.
It was like I didn’t exist.
For the next 30 minutes I drank my beer and watched as she giggles and playfully slapped his chest.
I tried to act like it didn’t bother me, but inside I was a wreck.
On one hand I hated this guy and wanted to kick him in the nuts.
But on the other, I also wanted to be him.
I wanted to be 6’5 and 240 lbs.
Cause I didn’t look anything like that.
I was a skinny, little twig.
So to see this big, hulking guy swoop in and steal this girl right in front of me was brutal.
I felt helpless.
I felt like less of a man.
I felt like my buddies were gonna tease me about it.
So as you can see, yeh this was about a girl…
But all the pain, shame and frustration I was feeling was really about how I saw myself in relation to other men.
Now most copywriters aren’t aware enough to pick up on these pain points.
They’ll focus on getting big muscles and impressing girls.
But it goes deeper than that.
There’s “hidden motivations” in here.
And this happens in every niche.
A 47 year-old woman that wants to lose her baby belly is doing it to boost her confidence and feel good about herself…
But she’s also doing it so that she doesn’t feel so out of place on a Friday night when she’s out with her skinny girlfriends.
Getting in shape to impress her husband might not even enter her mind.
So like I said…
These hidden motivations are there in every niche.
You just have to dig into the thoughts of the person you’re selling to and figure out what they are.
Hope this was helpful,
– Justin
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