Psychology Tactics Used By JT Foxx to Sell $250,000+ At Free Seminars

If you’ve ever been to a JT Foxx free seminar, you might have wondered how he made so many people extremely eager to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for his training programs.

Perhaps you even attended one of his events and invested in his programs yourself. Then afterwards you wondered what made you spend so much money.

JT Foxx and other speakers understand human psychology so well, they are able to activate special triggers that make their $10,000+ programs almost irresistible to the audience. These triggers are so powerful, that even people who had no intention of buying anything, will have a burning desire to buy after just a few hours.

In the past two years, I’ve been to over 100 free or paid informational seminars. Some of them featured world-class speakers like Tony Robbins and Grant Cardone. Others were hosted by little known speakers, trying to promote their coaching services.

I became fascinated by how these speakers would craft their presentation and then pitch their services. Particularly the psychology behind these presentations.

Out of those 100+ presentations, the recent JT Foxx presentation I attended would rank as perhaps the most powerful of them all.

From an audience of 100–120 people, JT Foxx generated at least $250,000 in sales (probably more) in a single day.

If you’ve never been to a JT Foxx event, I strongly encourage you to go to his website and find his next event near you and register. You will learn so much — not from what he says, but what he does.

But if you can’t get to one of his events, I’m going to expose the secret psychological tactics he uses to make the event so effective. These are subtle tricks he uses to make his audience desperate to pull out their credit cards and pay $600 — $25,000 for his training programs.

If you have your own business or you need to sell something, there is so much you can learn from the way JT Foxx presents and the subtle psychological tricks he uses. Once you understand this, you can apply the same tactics he uses in your own events or in your sales process.

It will also help you become more aware of when these tactics are being used against you. So you can protect yourself from being persuaded into buying things you don’t need.

IS JT FOXX LEGIT? OR IS IT A SCAM?

He describes himself as the world’s #1 wealth and business coach. JT Foxx is a Canadian born American businessman and trainer.

Aside from his own website, it’s difficult to find a lot of information about JT Foxx online. There is no JT Foxx Wikipedia page. According to his website, he’s a coach, investor and has ownership in over 50 businesses.

Although he reveal his exact net worth anywhere, he claims to be worth over $100 million on his Instagram in 2024.

Personally, I’d never heard of JT Foxx until I saw his event advertised.

From what I could gather in the one-day event, he is a very skillful salesperson and highly persuasive. He has a lot of skills that would make him an effective businessman and potentially a very good coach.

I must admit, I did find him quite likable. Despite his big ego and constant indulgence in self-flattery, he was still entertaining and humorous at times. I had no problem sitting in the room for over seven hours listening to him talk.

He reminded me of Tai Lopez in many ways but a little more polished.

I didn’t purchase any of his training or coaching programs so I can’t comment on the quality of his paid training. I think he has a lot of knowledge and ideas that he could share with students, but whether he actually passes the best of that knowledge onto his students, I don’t know.

For someone who claims to be one of the world’s foremost branding experts and the best in the world, I did have to wonder why he isn’t more well known.

As of 2024, he currently has 209,000 followers on Instagram, which is relatively low in comparison to many other well-known figures in the business coaching space.

If you attend a JT Foxx event, I encourage you to go in with an open mind but also a little scepticism. Even if you’re doubtful about some of the big claims he makes during his presentation (I was) be careful not to dismiss him, because there is still so much you can learn from JT Foxx (whether you pay for his programs or not).

HOW JT FOXX USES AUTHORITY TO SELL MILLIONS

In less than 2 hours, JT Foxx creates a perception of authority that would rival the top experts and celebrities in the world.

Authority is the single biggest psychological trigger used by JT Foxx to make his events so successful.

People have a natural tendency to listen to and accept what someone says if that person is believed to be in a position of power or authority. It’s one of the six principles of persuasion that Robert Cialdini talks about in his book Influence.

For example, you’re much more likely to take medical advice from a well-dressed man in a doctors office, with a medical degree displayed behind his desk than an average Joe you meet on the street dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The doctor has authority so you listen to him.

Cialdini explains that people have an auto-pilot response to blindly accept anything that comes from a person who is perceived to be in a position of authority.

Even if you know absolutely nothing about JT Foxx when you first walk into his seminar, within two hours you will almost certainly be drawn into his perception as an influential and important person.

And once you begin to buy into this perception of authority, you’re naturally going to be more likely to accept what he says as truth.

From the moment you walk into the seminar, almost everything is designed to create a perception of authority.

He has around 10–15 staff in the room, who are all well dressed in suits and ties. You don’t see JT Foxx himself for about 20–30 minutes.

Another member of his team speaks for the first 20–30 minutes. Why doesn’t JT Foxx come out on stage straight away?

If you went to a Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber concert, they’re going to have someone perform before them. It’s called the supporting act. When Tony Robbins or Donald Trump speak, they will always have someone speak before them.

Important people don’t get on stage first.

So before the audience even sees JT Foxx, they’re already beginning to develop this perception of authority.

When he did get on stage, he spent the majority of the first two hours talking about his achievements, friendships with celebrities and billionaires and reminding the audience that he is the best in the world.

Everything, down to the way he dresses and the tone of voice he uses, creates a perception of authority. He speaks with complete confidence and conviction.

In another post on social media influencer Jason Capital, I discuss in detail how sub-communications can be used to create a perception of authority.

Much of this perception of authority JT Foxx generates, is derived from something called authority by association. He speaks in-depth about his friendships and connections will some of the world’s most influential people.

This works on the same principle as celebrity endorsements. When a high profile athlete is seen endorsing a sports drink or clothing brand, their authority is transferred to the product they are endorsing.

Subtle Tricks to Control The Minds of His Audience Members

Now I’ve covered the most important tactic used by JT Foxx in his seminars. But during the seminar, he employs many more psychological tricks to persuade the audience to think, how he wants them to think.

The entire full day presentation is carefully curated to move people towards a purchase.

The goal is to control the conversation taking place inside the minds of each person in the audience in a way that will make them desire the products he has to offer.

I’m going to reference specific moments during the presentation and language patterns he uses. I’ll explain why he says the things he does and what effect it has on audience members.

Overcoming Audience Scepticism

Quite early in the presentation, JT Foxx asks the audience who is sceptical about him. He understands that naturally there will be people in the audience who are going to be sceptical towards any ‘guru’ including himself. He also understands that as long as people are sceptical, they are going to be much less receptive to his messages and this is something he needs to overcome.

When he asked who is sceptical about him, around 10% of the audience raised their hands. Out of those people who raised their hands, he picked one woman near the front of the room and asked why she was sceptical of him.

Now, before asking her this question JT Foxx understands a few important things:

-He is in the position of power. He’s the one with the microphone, in front of the room

-The woman is in a position of weakness. Nobody knows who she is, she doesn’t have any authority and she doesn’t have a microphone

-Anything she says, he has probably heard before and will know how to refute it. He is prepared, she isn’t

With this in mind, JT Foxx knows that there is a 99.9% chance that he will be able to come out of the interaction looking better than his sceptic.

The woman responded by saying ‘well the things you say don’t really line up with what I’ve heard from other people.’ She sounded very unsure of herself.

Predictably, JT Foxx crushed this objection, making the woman look foolish in the process.

This short exchange between JT Foxx and the woman sends a subconscious message to the rest of the audience — “here is someone who is skeptical of JT Foxx and she looks foolish, so obviously only foolish people doubt JT Foxx. I don’t want to be grouped in with foolish people, so I shouldn’t be skeptical of JT Foxx.”

Of course, most people aren’t going to consciously think exactly those words. But for 80% of the skeptics in the audience, that will be the inner dialogue occurring in their mind — either consciously or unconsciously.

And with one very short exchange, JT Foxx effectively removes at least 80% of the skepticism in the room.

Priming The Audience to Desire Coaching

JT Foxx is a coach and he sells coaching products and services. But he understands there will be a lot of people who aren’t convinced they need coaching or that coaching would work for them.

So he needs to prime the audience to believe in the power of coaching.

At one point, JT Foxx talks about some of his previous challenges and struggles. He follows this by saying “now they call me a genius….they call me the best they’ve ever seen. I became a genius because I became coachable.”

There are subtle implications from these short sentences:

1. Coaching is what made him a genius
2. Being coachable is something you can become

With these implications, the audience is now thinking that coaching is necessary to become successful and that even if they’re not coachable right now, they can (and need to) become coachable.

This shift in thinking makes coaching go from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have’ in the mind’s of many audience members. And who should they go to for coaching?

JT Foxx, of course.

The way he does this is very clever. He doesn’t directly say that you need coaching and you need to be coachable in order to become successful. Doing so would have been too obvious that he just wanted people to buy his coaching.

Humans like to be able to draw their own conclusions when given just enough information. He gave the audience just enough information to form the conclusion that coaching is needed to become successful.

The way JT discusses the impact that coaching had on his own career also gives the audience hope. And if used correctly, hope can completely change the psychology of your audience.

Everyone in JT’s audience likely has their own dreams and aspirations.

But many of these aspirations have been dampened by setbacks and failures.

Now JT is presenting something new that gives people hope that their dreams can become a reality. And that hope alone can be enough to create a strong desire for his coaching services.

Overcoming Objections and Packaging It As Advice

Any smart salesperson or marketer understands the need to overcome the objections of potential buyers.

JT Foxx overcomes objections throughout his entire presentation. But he doesn’t directly address each objection his audience would have. Instead he takes objections, presents a counter argument to the objection and disguises it as a piece of advice.

For instance, he says to the audience “write this down, lack of money is the number one excuse you’re going to get as to why people don’t invest with you..why people don’t buy your product..and you need to address it.”

Then he goes on to say how the lack of money objection is the dumbest thing he has ever heard and why that thinking is flawed.

The implication — a lack of money is not a valid excuse to buy a product (including his own products).

By using the phrase “write this down” he was able to frame this as a piece of advice, while simultaneously overcoming a major objection of people in the audience.

Of course, this wouldn’t work so well for many people. But because JT Foxx had already done such a good job of positioning himself as an authority, most people will willingly accept his inference that lack of money is not a valid excuse.

Later on, he uses a similar tactic to address another common objection he would receive — what if I don’t have a business or experience?

To overcome this objection, he shares the story of a woman who previously worked in a low paying job with Nestle and had no business experience.

She joined one of the JT Foxx programs and eventually became a millionaire and was invited by Richard Branson to his private island.

Very subtle but now the people in the audience who were previously thinking ‘this won’t work for me.. I don’t have a business and I have no experience’ now have hope and belief. Now they’re thinking, “JT Foxx turned that woman from Nestle who had no experience into a millionaire. He could do the same for me!”

Objection handled!

This shows the incredible understanding JT Foxx has of his target audience and what they’re thinking. He knows exactly what is going through the minds of his audience. And he crafts his presentation to destroy every possible thought that could get in the way of a sale.

Another example of this occurs when mentions other influencers who talk about ‘hustling and grinding.’ With some subtle mockery, he dismisses this as some sort of childish, inferior approach to business. He indirectly communicates to the audience that he is somehow above that.

He doesn’t explicitly mention any names, but everyone knows who he’s referring to.

Why does he do this? Because he knows there would be a lot of people in the audience who follow other known business influencers. And there is a large disparity between the advice JT Foxx gives and advice given by other influencers.

He understands this may cause some friction. To remove this friction, he needs to position himself as a more credible source of information than the other influencer. By leveraging the perceived authority he had already developed and adding in some humour and mockery, he is able to put himself in a position of greater credibility.

All in about 30 seconds. Very impressive.

Note: If you’re interested in the psychology and influence principles used by the world’s top marketing influencers, you will want to see this. It’s an article I wrote, analyzing the $3.2 million presentation by ClickFunnels founder Russell Brunson. The psychology behind his presentation is mind-blowing. Read it here.

A Sneaky & Subtle Trick to Increase Perception of Authority

This one goes back to authority but I thought it’s worth its own section.

Like many speakers, JT Foxx uses a lot of video clips throughout his presentation. But there’s one thing he does differently to every other speaker I have seen.

Every other speaker will watch the video along with their audience or at least listen to it.

Each time JT Foxx played a video clip, he used it as an opportunity to get his phone out of his pocket and look like he was doing something important, like sending an email.

Make no mistake…this is a strategic move.

What does it communicate to the audience?

This is a busy guy who has important things to deal with. He doesn’t even have time to watch the video.

Capturing Attention Through ‘Edutainment’

JT Foxx understands that 7–8 hours is a long time to sit through a presentation. People certainly don’t want to sit through 7–8 hours of boring informational content.

Even by adding in some humour and stories, he knows it will be difficult to hold the attention of the audience for so long.

Mid-afternoon is a challenging time for a presenter running a full day seminar. The audience has already sat through several hours and they’re starting to lose focus.

As you would expect, JT Foxx had a powerful way to overcome this and ensure he had the full attention of the audience at exactly this point.

He invited four audience members to come to the front for a live coaching session.

This involved a quick personality analysis of each of the four audience members, based on their body language.

And then he spoke 1 on 1 to each of them, uncovering the challenges and problems they were facing in their business. He went deep and exposed their greatest pain points and flaws.

People are fascinated by other people. It’s human nature to be curious about other people and see their weaknesses and flaws exposed.

It’s why TV shows like Dr Phil and Jerry Springer have been so popular.

This engagement JT Foxx had with those four audience members, satisfies the rest of the audience on many levels…

For some, they’re able to relate to the struggles and problems that JT Foxx uncovered in the four participants.

Some people will delight in just seeing others who have problems — it makes them feel better about themselves.

And for most people in the audience, they will just enjoy the element of drama, tension and emotions. It’s captivating to watch.

We call this ‘edutainment’ because it’s a mixture of education and entertainment. Education is boring for most people. Nobody wants to sit through mundane lectures.

But if you add in the element of entertainment, the education becomes much more palatable.

This edutainment of JT Foxx not only captured the full attention of everyone in the audience but it also further increased his credibility.

He had spent plenty of time earlier talking about how good he is. Now he was showing the audience how good he was as a coach.

Activating the Likeability Psychology Trigger

JT Foxx understands that people buy from people they like. There are multiple psychological triggers that can be used to increase your likeability and JT Foxx deploys several of them.

One method he uses is talking about his philanthropic endeavors. He speaks of donating money to charitable causes.

He also shares a story about a Paul McCartney concert which he took a few of his clients to. At the end of the concert, the group of them were able to get a photo with Paul McCartney and JT Foxx let the others stand next to McCartney in the photo.

This communicates a few things to the audience. JT Foxx puts others first (especially his clients). This may or may not be true in reality, but that is the impression he creates. He instantly appears more likeable.

It also makes the audience think if they were to join a JT Foxx program and become a client, maybe they would be invited to come with him to a Paul McCartney concert or other events.

That’s Not All….

To avoid making this post too long, I’ll stop there. But what I’ve covered above is just a handful of the psychology tactics JT Foxx uses during his seminar.

Just these tactics described above are incredibly powerful. And JT Foxx is one of the best I have ever seen at using them to his advantage.

But there are also many more tricks he used during the presentation that all contributed to the buying frenzy that occurred after he pitched his products.

I have multiple pages of notes I made about how he…

-Creates a burning desire to join his $10,000+ programs

-Uses ‘open loops’ to create massive curiosity in the audience

-Appeals to people’s desire for hope and a better future

-Creates scarcity, making his offers more irresistible

-Overcomes almost every possible excuse for not buying his program with one simple video

In a follow-up article, I go into more detail on other powerful methods JT Foxx uses to influence his audience. This second article will show you how to overcome a silent obstacle that will derail your efforts to influence people.

And what JT Foxx has in common with Gordon Ramsay, Donald Trump and Simon Cowell, that makes all of them so influential. You can read this article here.

And as I mentioned before, I would encourage you to attend a JT Foxx free event yourself. Be warned, that his psychological techniques are so powerful, you may well be sucked into spending several thousand dollars on his training.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. His programs may be very high quality for all I know. Although I suspect you can get just as much value from simply analyzing his presentations.