How to Attract Dream Clients Towards 7 Figures
Book Review #36 of "7-Figure Formula" by Justin Michael including an insightful interview with the author
Having conducted 20,000 hours of cold calls and sent more than 5 million emails to finetune his method, he revolutionised the opening part of sales conversations, the main challenge of most sellers. The underlying JMM™ has been proven over the last few years by coaching over 1,000 sales reps and advising more than 200 tech companies.
Justin is no doubt a sales expert who has the magic key to open as the new close. While he conducts these activities for his daily work with coaching clients – he is now a sales coach. Not a surprise that the fourth book of this series doesn’t touch sales professionals anymore but instead fellow coaches and consultants who don’t have the boundaries of corporate sales reps or their tech tools available towards reaching the promised 7 figures.
Instead this playbook helps them to beyond closing clients to become the go-to-authority in their niche from ditching self-doubt to unlocking the desired freedom.
Justin continues the foundation of a new Outbound Operating System set in the first two books, Sales Superpowers and The Justin Michael Method 2.0, which has been added by the most unusual sales book, Attraction Selling, with elements such as music and sleep to complete the toolset of the successful sales professional.
7-Figure Formula covers client acquisition secrets for the modern solopreneur across three sections: Limitless clients-mindset and foundation, prospecting and conversation-client acquisition magic, and sealing the deal and scaling up.
Sure, most readers would want to become successful in selling their programs. Justin shows his own ways on how to get clients, make bank and still have a life. As one of those few constant seven figure earners in the world his methods are proven and working.
In addition to techniques from his others books like his “4th Frame” Social Selling method, Justin introduced the “3-Wall Model”, a framework for advanced client acquisition breaking those walls down:
Wall: Nobody wants it (create breakthrough on the first call)
Wall: Nobody has any money (fees are designed to weed out the uncommitted)
Wall: You’re fired (the stage when they squeezed all your wisdom)
Similar to his earlier three books, his methods are falling into the intersection of software sales (my industry!), traditional coaching and life coaching. No surprise that the book is full with quotes from well-known coaches and experts like Steve Chandler, Ric Litvin and others.
And many of his own sentences are scroll stoppers in its own right like “The trick to this business is that you have to love doing it. You must fall in love with every aspect of the process, not just the coaching delivery and fulfilment side but especially the lost art of net new client acquisition.”
Some further quotes: “It’s not a race to charge the most; it’s about giving the best value.” and “When you make those big asks, your ideal clients pop out of the woodwork like they were just waiting for you.”
For me this is a very special book – not only because I read it in an earlier draft and I’m quoted inside. Not also because before this release Justin has been so kind and wrote the foreword for my own book, Social Selling for Jobseekers. It is special because it adds the solopreneurship level as a side business, not only as a fully transitioned role. Because co-existence is possible – and this book gives the tools which are helpful for a main job, too!
Maybe the most practical element of the book to be applied by its readers is the art of the emotional close. Justin helps to master the psychology of trust to create a magnetic pull for the readers’ services. The first close happens “when you know their heart is in it”, the second close is the “finding the money” activity as final consummation.
The future business book author will note that Justin didn’t just write it as an ordinary business book; instead he added a lot of his own humour inside to make it an easy read and promise from the first page that it has a revolutionary character – so it can’t be dry!
Q&A with Justin Michael
1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?
I always knew there needed to be a “side hustle” book. It was evident that 40% of executives do side hustles but have no idea where to start. There are 400 million small & medium size businesses (SMBs) and 11 million tech reps, most of whom live on 50% of their earning potential on roller coaster commissions. Everyone relies on passive inbound or traditional marketing tactics like selfie videos, YouTube blogs, websites, and constant content posts, waiting for business in uncertain economic climates.
Based on my work coaching consultants, coaches, speakers, fractionals, and solopreneurs, the goal would be to break new ground going outbound. The coveted 7-figure threshold has always been the crowning achievement for all these folks. I remember the taste of victory when I hit it seemingly against all odds. 5% of coaches earn $1M/year and 1% hit $1.5M/year per the ICF – International Coaching Federation.
2. How long did it take from concept to launch?
My books are fast-paced, concise reads (45K words), so I can complete them in 120 days or less. The key is my publisher, Jeremy Jones, outlining the process, which truly helped. I spend 100 hours on a book and 50 on all the edits. This was unique because I injected a ton of humor, so it took time for comedic timing and style points to sit right with me and my audience.
3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?
I’m a hardcore student of coaching, consulting, and traditional selling methodologies. I drew significant inspiration from authors like Alan Weiss, David C. Baker, Rich Litvin, and Steve Chandler, among others I attributed. I have held thousands of Zoom calls myself and recognized three primary walls for coaches:
nobody wants to coach,
nobody has any money, and
once you teach them everything, they quit.
I created a process called the 4th Frame™ to get prospects to calls systematically via chat flows. I next created a formula called the 7-Step Close Process™ for running a first call and shifting polarity so it’s their idea to buy, which defers from 90s-style relics like BANT (budget, authority, need, timeline.)
Then, I thought through The Money Conversation so you can have a breakthrough and win the emotional first sale on every call. That breakthrough is investing in you! Breaking the Third Wall requires varying your delivery algorithm to gain lifetime value (LTV). There is so much more in this powerhouse succinct book.
Bryan Franklin, Reid Hoffman’s coach and a personal mentor who did $10M in three years and now I share his goal, $1.6M working two days a week, mentored me a great deal when I worked for him as CEO and Co-Founder of OutboundWorks. It formed the basis of the mega-scaled AB testing for my first bestseller with Tony J. Hughes, Tech-Powered Sales, where we effectively predicted ChatGPT.
4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?
The hardest part was making this thrilling, practical, and super actionable. I injected screenshots and scripts, but then I needed to anonymize them. Because I had hundreds of pre-readers, they asked every question about the corner cases on this material, kicking the tires hard. Doing comedy is challenging; I watched the Seinfeld documentary about how he built routines over a year on the road. I easily spent 30 hours editing the jokes alone.
5. What was your own reflection along the journey?
I realized that the client acquisition space for coaches, consultants, solopreneurs, speakers, authors, and “fractional” has never been disrupted or codified by fusing modern “outbound methods.” I innovated selling tech at 13 startups, which I outline in the rest of the Justin Michael Method (JMM) Series™. Since 40% of executives have a side hustle, this book can unlock an additional $100K/year in income for 11M tech sales reps with my background by simply applying it verbatim.
6. What is the outcome in having this book available?
People warned me that if I released this, everyone would copy me, and my business would tank. But as a result, one-third of my business is now coaching fellow coaches and consultants. In the past, “coaching coaches” were cult-like and MLM-style, shrouded in secrecy, so I aim to open-source and democratize access to these methods to bring dramatic ROI, like 2-5Xing your income. I have many testimonials, so I let my clients' results speak.
7. What would you advise others about writing their book?
Focus on your outline to stay organized and speed up the writing process. You only need a dozen chapters. Create a Venn Diagram of who you seek to help. Get them into the doc as you write it. And take the feedback seriously as it’s “the wisdom of crowds.” Think about synthesis vs. invention. Mash up things that came before into a new blend or gestalt. Write like you talk and advise, and you can’t fail. Be authentic and original and open up about your life story, failures, etc. Vulnerability is powerful.
Justin Michael: “7-Figure Formula”, Jones Media Publishing 2025, ISBN 978-1-948382-94-6 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the book and author