Steal this $99 hack to unlock more high-ticket sales

Plus ChatGPT prompt

Mar 23, 2025

Today, we bring you a special guest post from Eve Arnold.

Even runs the Part-Time Creator Club: A daily newsletter to help high-earning professionals and early stage creators build better businesses online.

For the last 3 years she’s built an audience of 100,000 followers (across platforms) and has written over 1 million words on the internet while working full-time as a User Experience (UX) Designer.

If you dream of building something for yourself, but don’t think you have enough time, Eve is the person to help..

Now, she’s here to break down her Step-Problem Technique for making more sales (and a ChatGPT prompt so you can immediately put this framework into action).

Here’s Eve

I’ve been looking for a car lately.

Which means my life has turned into endless scrolling on Autotrader, trying to find something that won’t fall apart in 12 months. (Turns out, I don’t have the best luck with cars.)

I found one I liked.

But this here’s what really got my attention:

Underneath the ad, was a little button that said: “Reserve this car for “$99.”

And now I can’t stop thinking about how it’s such a brilliant way to get more sales.

This means you can save the car until you can find a time to come and see it. Most car buyers, I imagine, are like me, they have a job and so, they’ll likely go see the car at the weekend.

I didn’t love the car but I liked it enough which made me think…

“What’s the harm in reserving? If it means I don’t have to waste all my time going to the dealership only to find out it’s sold, then why not. It makes sense.”

So, of course, I clicked the button.

5 minutes later, I got a phone call asking me when I could go view the car.

A day later I noticed the ad for the car went down.

In a panic, I thought it had been sold. I rang up the dealership, and they told me they would take the ad down if someone had reserved the car. Phewwww.

And then, when I sat down that night I had this weird realization.

I went from sort-of liking this car to feeling a sense of ownership.

I’d gone from liking it to feeling a kinship with it.

I’d gone from sort of wanting it to being miserable if it had sold.

Which is why I think this is such an incredible way to make more sales.

I call it the the “Step-Problem” Technique

Here’s how it works in 4-steps:

Step 1: Identify what “step-problem” you’re solving

So someone wants to buy a car = cool.

Most people buying a car will start by looking at car ads. They will likely, in most cases, start excited and joyful at the prospect of buying a new car, and then somewhere along the line, maybe 5 weeks in, they’ll get bored.

They’ll get frustrated. They’ll get annoyed.

They’ve probably experienced missing out on the odd car or two. They’ve probably left it late a few times and then the car they wanted had gone. And so, they have a new problem. A problem getting to their problem.

Problem 1: I need a car
Problem 2: I keep missing out on the cars I want

And actually, by solving problem 2, you solve problem 1. This is what I call, solving the “step-problem.” It’s the step you have to complete if you want to get to the actual problem.

Step 2: Figure out how you can solve the “step problem’”

So you’re a car company, you care about selling cars.

But, weirdly if you only focus on just selling cars, you might not see the huge opportunity in front of you. Instead, if you break down the associated problems with buying cars, you will find a whole host of ways to solve your problem smarter.

Here are a load of problems associated with buying a car:

Slimey salespeople: People hate going to car dealerships because they’re worried they’ll be hounded by salespeople. It’s the reason I actively avoid sofa shops.
F.O.M.O: You see a car online, can’t go look at it until the weekend and by then it’s gone, somebody else has bought it.
Buy it and something goes wrong: Half the time you don’t know what you’re buying and that means you might buy something that looks good and you end up paying for it later (aka like me).
Scroll time: I have to scroll through endless car ads to find the car that’s right for me, yet every time I’m looking for the same thing.
Figuring out what’s right for me: I’m not a car person, I just need something that gets me from A to B, that looks nice. But how do you search for that?

Step 3: Build from the pains

So I don’t know about you but from all those pain points I see a load of golden opportunities. Get them right and there’s a huge lift you can give your business. Let’s dive into each one and see what we can do.

Example 1:

Step problem: Slimey salespeople
What does that actually mean? Trying to upsell you every 5 seconds, don’t let you look at the car, lying to you about the history, getting the feeling they compete with everyone else on the sales floor (so you become a number).
Opportunity (things you can differentiate on): Only up-sell at the point of purchase (and once), test drive by yourself *no salesperson with you*, give a full breakdown of the history of the car from an independent company (send it before they come to see the car), and let them know your car sourcing process (and how rigorous it is), make it clear how the sales team operate—as a team, its group commission.

Example 2:

Step problem: F.O.M.O
What does that actually mean? I like this car but I’m worried it’ll go.
Opportunity: $99 deposit scheme (make it low enough so it doesn’t feel like a huge commitment) ~ 1% of the car value. Send a personalized video of the car (to increase ownership of the car). Create a 7-day price lock. Add count down timer ‘reserved by ‘x’, ‘y’ hours left’. Tell them how many people enquired in the last day ‘2 people have enquired in the last 24 hours’.

Step 4: Create an over-arching offer

Putting all the problems above together, I also see a huge opportunity for car garages to create a loyalty scheme.

Think about it, all the pain points above scream that the market is pretty rubbish when it comes to buying cars and some people change their cars every few years.

Aka high ticket item and a rubbish customer offering.

This means there is a HUGEEEE opportunity to capitalize on all of the pain points above.

If I were a car garage I would encourage buyers to sign up for a loyalty scheme, in that, if they buy a car with us again, they’d get $300 off the price. If they refer someone to us, they also get $100 voucher.

Remember, if you can encourage commitment in your buyer, you create a relationship between them and their potential purchase meaning they are more likely to buy.

Wanna try it out for yourself?

Here’s the ChatGPT prompt:

📌 "Step-problem" Framework

Step 1: Define My Business & Offer

My business: [Describe your business in one sentence]
The main problem I solve: [What’s the big problem your customers face?]
My current offer: [What’s your existing product/service?]


Step 2: Identify the Step-Problem

What frustration, delay, or obstacle do customers face before solving the main problem?
What makes them hesitate, procrastinate, or abandon the process?
How does solving this step-problem also help solve the main problem?

Step 3: Break Down Associated Pain Points

List the specific frustrations customers experience during the buying journey.

Translate each frustration into a customer perspective statement (e.g., "I want X, but Y keeps happening.")

Step 4: Build Solutions from These Pains

For each pain point, create:
- A solution that removes friction
- A way to increase urgency (e.g., FOMO, risk-reversal, exclusivity)
- A way to make the decision feel easy and low-risk

Step 5: Craft an Overarching Offer

How can I bundle these solutions into a single irresistible offer?
Can I add a loyalty program, referral bonus, or other perks?
How can I use psychological triggers (scarcity, commitment bias, social proof)?

Ensure the offer is a no-brainer, with clear benefits, urgency, and risk-reversal baked in.

Final Task:

Apply this to my business

That’s it.

Eve

Founder - Part-Time Creator Club