your position on the canvas · red → green
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How to create almost instant interest in any product or service.
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Master this box and prospects ask “How?” instead of tuning out — and you earn a premium price.
Work top to bottom:Start→Do the work→You’re ready
START HERE
Every conversation starts with confusion, not curiosity.
Without a painkiller sentence you can’t open an enrolling conversation, can’t earn the “How?” that gives you the right to ask questions, and can’t price the Better tier — because you haven’t named the pain yet.
→ Can you make a stranger recognize their own pain in one sentence?
DO THE WORK
Build your Seven Second Sale.
Tell people what they want to hear, NOT what you want to say. Fill in the formula with one painkiller verb:
We help [ICP] [VERB] [PROBLEM].
Pick one painkiller verb — it removes a pain (and anchors a premium price):
reduceavoidpreventminimizemitigateeliminate
Avoid vitamin verbs (improve, optimize, enable) — they collapse you into commodity pricing.
People are 10X more likely to act to remove a pain than to gain a benefit — so the verb must remove pain. When the listener asks “How?” you’ve earned the right to learn their situation — but do NOT answer yet. (Tim Draper: if he can’t grasp your customer story in 30 seconds it’s unclear — first impressions drive 80% of his decision.)
“Tell people what they want to hear, NOT what you want to say.”
YOU’RE READY
A stranger hears one sentence and asks “How?”
When your seven-second sale earns a “How?” every time, you’ve mastered it. Move on to Enrolling.
THE THREE BIGGEST MISTAKES
SKIP
You default to a vitamin verb — improve, optimize, enable — instead of a takeaway verb, so your pitch reads as nice-to-have instead of make-it-stop.
SHORTCUT
You get polite nods instead of “How?” — the line describes your product, not a pain sharp enough to make a stranger want to know more.
STUMBLE
In the conversation you answer “How?” immediately instead of asking three questions back, and stop learning.

3 Questions to Ask About Box 4 — Seven Second Sale

1. When a prospect asks what you do, you use painkiller verbs — reduce, minimize, eliminate — instead of vitamin verbs like improve, optimize, or maximize

What does "Take-Away Verbs vs. Vitamin Verbs" mean?
Take-Away Verbs vs. Vitamin Verbs
“People are 10x more likely to act when you take away pain than when you add a benefit.”
What

The single verb at the centre of your value proposition determines whether it reads as a painkiller or a vitamin. Vitamin verbs add something: improve, enhance, optimize, streamline, accelerate.

Take-away verbs remove something: reduce, avoid, prevent, eliminate, mitigate, minimize. Buyers are 10X more likely to act on a take-away verb than a vitamin verb.

Why

Loss aversion is one of the most replicated findings in behavioural economics — people work roughly twice as hard to avoid a loss as to secure an equivalent gain. A vitamin verb produces polite interest.

A take-away verb produces the word "How?" Only one of those closes deals.

How

1. Write your current value proposition on one line.

2. Circle the main verb.

3. If it's a vitamin verb, replace it with a take-away verb and rewrite the sentence around what disappears rather than what improves.

4. Test both versions on 5 strangers. Count how many say "How?" for each. The take-away version should win by a wide margin — if it doesn't, your quantifiable implication is too small.

Example: Vitamin: "We help restaurants optimize their staffing workflow." Take-away: "We help restaurant managers eliminate the scheduling conflicts costing them $800 a month in overtime." Same product, same customer, same price. One gets a nod. The other gets "How?"

2. The last 5 times you said your Seven Second Sale™ — "We help [ICP] [VERB] [PROBLEM]" — the prospect asked "How do you do that?"

What does "The "How Do You Do That?" Test" mean?
The "How Do You Do That?" Test
“Say the impact so they ask "How do you do that?"”
What

A pass/fail test for your Seven Second Sale™: say it to five prospects and count how many respond with "How do you do that?" Three or more is a pass.

Why

"How do you do that?" is the only response that proves a prospect recognised the problem, felt the pain, and now wants to know if you can fix it. "Interesting," "sounds useful," and "tell me more" all feel encouraging and mean nothing — they are politeness, not interest.

Testing on prospects who don't already know you is what makes the signal trustworthy.

How

1. Go somewhere your ICP gathers — an industry event, a trade group, a conference hallway.

2. Say your Seven Second Sale™ to 5 prospects who have never met you and never heard of you.

3. Write down their exact first reaction. Count only the ones who say "How do you do that?" — not paraphrases.

4. Fewer than 3? Change one variable and test again on 5 new prospects: the verb, the ICP specificity, or the size of the quantified cost. Change one at a time so you know which one moved the number.

Example: Craig Elias tests at networking events with people he has never spoken to. Version A — "I help companies sell more effectively" — got 0 of 5. Version B — "I help sales teams stop losing deals they should have won" — got 4 of 5 asking "How do you do that?" Same business. One verb changed the result.

3. You know the three best questions to ask when they say "How?" instead of telling them how right away

What does "When They Ask "How?" — Don't Answer" mean?
When They Ask "How?" — Don't Answer
“Ask for advice, you get money. Ask for money, you get advice.”
What

The discipline of responding to "How?" with three discovery questions instead of an explanation of your solution.

Why

The moment you explain your solution, the prospect switches from feeling their problem to evaluating your product — and every objection they raise from that point exists because you talked instead of listened.

The three questions do the opposite: they make the prospect articulate their own pain out loud, which is far more persuasive than anything you could say.

How

1. When they ask "How?" — pause. Do not answer.

2. Ask: "How big is this problem for you?" Listen and write down the number they give.

3. Ask: "How often does it happen?" This establishes frequency and urgency.

4. Ask: "What do you think causes it?" This reveals their mental model — which tells you exactly how to frame your solution.

5. Only after all three answers do you describe what you do — using their words, not yours.

Example: Prospect: "How?" · Founder: "Before I explain — how big is this problem for you?" · Prospect: "We lose maybe $1,000 a month." · Founder: "And how often does it come up?" · Prospect: "Every single week." · Founder: "What do you think causes it?" · Prospect: "Honestly, nobody owns it." The prospect just built the business case themselves. The founder hasn't pitched once.