What Makes High-Ticket Buyers Say Yes

High-ticket buyers don’t need you to convince them.

They need you to make them feel safe enough to spend six figures.

There’s a difference.

Most copy tries to build urgency, stack benefits, create FOMO. That works for $97 courses. It fails spectacularly at $50K.

Because high-ticket buyers aren’t impulse buying. They’re making a decision that could transform their business or destroy it. The stakes are real.

And when stakes are real, humans don’t respond to hype. They respond to safety.

The Pattern No One Sees

I spent years as a reporter getting stories no one else could get.

At the capitol, I wasn’t the one asking the loudest questions. I was reading which staffer felt overlooked and needed someone to see their expertise.

At a drowning scene, I wasn’t the one with a notepad thrust in grieving faces. I was spotting who needed to be left alone, who had info and what they needed to feel safe enough to talk.

At public events with fifty other reporters, I wasn’t following the pack. I was reading the room in the two seconds it took to walk through the door and identifying exactly who had the story.

Every single assignment: Read the room. Find the person who has what you need. Create safety for conversation.

This wasn’t manipulation. My whole life, everywhere I go, people tell me things before I even ask. I don’t extract information. I create the conditions where people feel safe enough to share what they already want to say.

That’s not interviewing technique. That’s pattern recognition.

And it’s the same skill that makes high-ticket copy convert.

Because high-ticket buyers need the same thing those sources needed. They need to feel safe enough to trust you.

What Safety Actually Means

Safety isn’t testimonials and guarantees.

Safety is: “This person understands what I’m actually afraid of.”

When someone’s considering a $75K investment, they’re not afraid of wasting money. They’re afraid of:

  • Looking stupid
  • Making the wrong choice and losing credibility
  • Exposing their business to risk
  • Trusting the wrong person

Your copy needs to acknowledge those fears without naming them.

Because high-ticket buyers won’t admit they’re scared. They’ll say they need to “think about it” or “run the numbers” or “talk to their team.”

But what they actually need is someone who sees what they’re afraid of and gives them permission to trust anyway.

The Difference Between Persuasion and Safety

Persuasive copy says: “Here’s why this is the right decision.”

Safety-driven copy says: “I see what you’re weighing. Here’s what you need to know.”

Persuasive copy stacks benefits until the value is undeniable.

Safety-driven copy addresses the actual decision-making process happening in their head.

High-ticket buyers already know your offer has value. They wouldn’t be reading your sales page if they didn’t think it could work.

What they don’t know is whether YOU are the right person to deliver it.

That’s what your copy needs to answer.

How I Write for High-Ticket Buyers

I spent 17 years working with trauma survivors. People making decisions under extreme pressure. People whose nervous systems are screaming “this isn’t safe” even when logic says it is.

I learned to read what someone needs before they can articulate it.

As a reporter, finding sources who will trust you is insanely difficult. (Hello, the word reporter is enough to send people running for the hills.) High-ticket buyers need permission to trust you with their money.

The skill is the same. Read the room. See the pattern. Give them what they actually need, not what you think they should want.

Most copywriters write to convince. I write to create safety.

Because high-ticket buyers don’t need more reasons to say yes. They need fewer reasons to say no.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Instead of: “Our proven framework has generated $10M for clients”

Write: “You’ve tried three other solutions. They worked for other people, but not for you. Here’s why this is different.”

Instead of: “Limited spots available – secure yours now.”

Write: “This works best for businesses doing $2M+ annually. If that’s you, here’s what happens next.”

Instead of: Stacking testimonials to prove credibility.

Write: One story that shows you understand the exact problem they’re trying to solve.

High-ticket copy isn’t about creating urgency. It’s about creating clarity.

When a buyer knows you see their actual situation and can deliver what they actually need, the decision becomes easy.

Not because you convinced them. Because you made them feel safe enough to move forward.

The Real Skill

I can read your audience the way I read every person I got a story from as a journalist.

Not because I’m psychic. Because I spent two decades learning to spot what humans need in the seconds before they decide.

That hypervigilance that made me an award-winning reporter is what I use to write copy that converts high-ticket buyers.

Your audience doesn’t need better benefit bullets. They need someone who understands what they’re actually weighing and gives them permission to trust you anyway.

That’s what makes high-ticket buyers say yes.

Not persuasion. Safety.


Want copy that converts high-ticket buyers?

Email me at becky@rebeccatdickson.com

Tell me what you’re selling and who you’re selling to. I’ll tell you if I can help.

No strategy calls. No education sessions. Just the work.

WTF Metrics

The Numbers That Actually Matter in Your Coaching Business

Forget everything you think you know about measuring coaching success. While everyone else is obsessing over follower counts and revenue targets, the coaches who are actually changing lives and building sustainable businesses are tracking completely different numbers. These “WTF Metrics” – the weird, unexpected, and unconventional data points – reveal more about your coaching impact than any vanity metric ever will.

The “Fuck This” Frequency

What it measures: How many times clients say “fuck this” or similar before making a breakthrough.

This might sound counterintuitive, but the best coaches track their clients’ resistance patterns. Every transformation requires breaking through old patterns, and resistance shows up as frustration, anger or the classic “fuck this” moment.

Smart coaches know that three to five major resistance episodes typically precede significant breakthroughs.

Track this by noting when clients express strong negative emotions about the process, complain about homework or want to quit. The coaches who understand this pattern don’t panic when clients get pissed off – they celebrate it as a sign that real change is happening.

Why it matters: Traditional metrics miss the messy middle of transformation. This metric helps you normalize the process for clients and predict when breakthroughs are coming.

Silence Duration Index

What it measures: How long clients can sit in uncomfortable silence during sessions.

Most coaches think talking equals progress. Wrong. The magic happens in the spaces between words, when clients are processing, integrating, or finally facing something they’ve been avoiding. Track how long your clients can tolerate silence without jumping in to fill the space.

New clients might only handle 5-10 seconds. Clients who are doing deep work can sit in silence for 60+ seconds while they excavate truth. The longer the silence tolerance, the deeper the work is going.

Why it matters: This metric reveals emotional maturity, self-awareness and willingness to go deep – all predictors of lasting change.

The Ugly Cry Coefficient

What it measures: Frequency and intensity of emotional releases during sessions.

Track when clients have emotional breakthroughs, not just tears, but the full-body, makeup-destroying, snot-fest ugly cries that happen when someone finally feels safe enough to fall apart. These moments are gold.

Rate them on a scale:
Watery eyes (1)
Single tears (2)
Crying (3)
Sobbing (4)
Ugly cry breakthrough (5)

Clients who hit level 4-5 emotional releases consistently show faster and more lasting transformations.

Why it matters: Emotional release is often the gateway to breakthrough. Coaches who create space for ugly crying create space for healing.

Excuse Velocity Decline

What it measures: How quickly clients stop making excuses for their circumstances.

At the beginning, clients arrive with a full arsenal of reasons why they can’t change. Track how long it takes for excuse-making to decrease by 50%. Is it three sessions? Six? Twelve?

Create an “excuse inventory” early on. Catalog their greatest hits. Then track how these shift from, “I can’t because…” to “I could if…” to “I will by…”

This progression reveals readiness for change.

Why it matters: Excuse velocity directly correlates with results velocity. When excuses slow down, transformation speeds up.

The Uncomfortable Truth Ratio

What it measures: Percentage of session time spent discussing things clients don’t want to talk about.

Most coaching stays surface-level because coaches are afraid to make clients uncomfortable. Track what percentage of each session is spent on topics that make your client squirm. The sweet spot is 30-40% discomfort.

Too little discomfort means you’re enabling. Too much means you’re traumatizing. But that 30-40% zone is where growth lives.

Why it matters: Comfort is the enemy of growth. This metric ensures you’re pushing boundaries without breaking people.

Energy Archaeology Score

What it measures: How much energy clients reclaim from addressing old wounds, limiting beliefs or toxic patterns.

Before starting work, have clients rate their energy levels on a scale of 1-10. Then track monthly. But here’s the twist: also track “energy archaeology.” How much energy they recover by cleaning up their past.

Clients dealing with unresolved trauma, toxic relationships or limiting beliefs are leaking energy constantly. As they address these issues, they don’t just gain energy, they reclaim it.

The energy archaeology score measures this reclamation.

Why it matters: Energy is the foundation of everything else. A client who goes from 3/10 to 8/10 energy will automatically see improvements in every life area.

Boundary Establishment Velocity

What it measures: Speed at which clients start saying no to things that don’t serve them.

Track the first “no” – when clients first set a boundary they wouldn’t have set before coaching. Then measure how quickly they establish additional boundaries. This progression typically accelerates exponentially.

Month 1: Maybe one small boundary
Month 3: Setting boundaries weekly
Month 6: Boundaries become automatic

Why it matters: Boundary-setting ability predicts every other area of success. Clients who master boundaries master their lives.

The Authenticity Emergence Rate

What it measures: How quickly clients start showing up as themselves instead of who they think they should be.

This is subtle but powerful. Track moments when clients share authentic thoughts, make choices aligned with their values (not others’ expectations) or simply stop performing.

Look for phrases like “I actually think…”, “What I really want is…”, or “I don’t care what people think anymore.” These authentic moments usually cluster together once they start appearing.

Why it matters: Authenticity is the foundation of fulfillment. Clients who find their authentic voice create lives that actually fit them.

Implementation Despite Imperfection Index

What it measures: How often clients take action before they feel ready.

Perfectionist clients will plan forever without acting. Track how quickly clients move from “I need to figure this out first” to “I’ll figure it out as I go.”

Measure the time between getting an assignment and taking the first imperfect action.

High-performing clients take messy action quickly. Struggling clients research, plan and prepare indefinitely.

Why it matters: Done is better than perfect, and action creates clarity faster than thinking ever will.

The Real Talk Frequency

What it measures: How often clients bring up topics they’re genuinely struggling with versus topics they think they should be working on.

Many clients perform in coaching. They discuss what they think they should focus on, rather than what’s actually keeping them up at night. Track when conversations shift from “should” problems to “actual” problems.

Real talk sounds like: “Can I tell you what’s really going on?” or “I didn’t want to mention this but…” These moments indicate growing trust and self-awareness.

Why it matters: You can’t solve problems that aren’t being honestly discussed. Real talk frequency predicts breakthrough potential.


These WTF Metrics might seem unconventional, but they reveal the human truth behind transformation. While everyone else counts likes and dollars, you’ll be tracking the metrics that actually matter: the ones that show when someone is getting ready to completely change their life.

Start tracking just two or three of these in your next client sessions. You’ll be amazed at what the numbers reveal about the real work of coaching.