Stop Attracting Freebie Hunters: How to Call In High-Intent Buyers Every Day

One of the biggest frustrations I’m hearing from online business owners right now—and honestly, one I’ve been feeling myself—is this sense that your list keeps growing, but your sales… don’t.

You’re getting subscribers, sure.
Your lead magnet still gets downloads.
Your freebies are still circulating.
Maybe you’re even seeing spikes in traffic.

But when it comes to actual purchases?
Crickets.

Or worse—you’re attracting the same five types of people over and over again:
The ones who want everything for free.
The ones who ask for “a discount” or “a scholarship.”
The ones who never open your emails until you offer a coupon.
The ones who consume everything you put out but don’t take a single action.
The ones who say, “I’ll join when I’m ready,” but never are.

It’s exhausting.
It’s discouraging.
And it makes you wonder if something is fundamentally wrong with your offer, your messaging, or even your ability to run a business.

But here’s the truth I really want you to hear:

You’re not doing anything wrong.
You’re just talking to the wrong people.

And the reason you’re talking to the wrong people is because your system—the way your business is designed to attract, nurture, and convert your audience—is optimized for the wrong kind of buyer.

Right now, most online businesses are still built for the Marketing Economy…
while the world has already shifted into the Relationship Economy.

And if you haven’t updated your customer journey to reflect that shift, then yes—you will absolutely keep attracting freebie hunters. Not because that’s who your audience is, but because that’s who your system is built to attract.

So let’s talk about how to fix that.
Let’s talk about how to call in the high-intent buyers—the people who take action, who invest in themselves, and who are ready for a deeper level of transformation.

And let’s talk about how to do it every single day.

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Why You Keep Attracting Freebie Hunters (And Why It Isn’t Your Fault)

Before we get tactical, I want to give you some context, because this entire phenomenon didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s directly tied to the broader market shift I’ve been talking about for months now—the one I outlined in my State of Online Business episodes.

We’re living in the aftermath of three converging forces:

1. A massive Trust Recession

People bought every course, program, and template under the sun in 2020–2021. And most of it didn’t work. Not because the creators were terrible—but because the market was flooded with rushed, low-quality, copycat content.
So people got burned, and they got skeptical.

2. Economic caution

Inflation, interest rates, the cost of living—everything feels tighter. People aren’t saying, “I don’t want to invest.”
They’re saying, “Prove it first.”

3. AI has devalued content

This is the big one.
AI can now create checklists, guides, “ultimate strategies,” and entire courses in minutes.
So the old model of “give people a freebie and they buy later” is falling apart.
Free isn’t valuable anymore. It’s abundant.

And abundant things don’t attract buyers.
They attract browsers.

So if your entire customer journey still begins with:
free → nurture → pitch,
then you are unintentionally creating a funnel designed to attract people who want… more free.

It’s not a judgment.
It’s just the system you’re using.

And systems create predictable results—whether we like those results or not.

Which means if you want to attract higher-quality leads, you don’t need to find “better people.”

You need a better system.

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The Three Core Reasons You’re Attracting the Wrong People

And yes—we’re going to fix all of these.

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Reason #1: Free Lead Magnets Attract People Who Only Value Free

For years, we were told to create “high-value freebies”—full workbooks, video trainings, multi-page guides. The more valuable your freebie was, the more subscribers you’d get.

And that was true… then.
It’s not true anymore.

In the Trust Recession, people don’t value free information—not because it isn’t good, but because there is already TOO MUCH information.

And thanks to AI, there is literally no end to it.

Freebies used to be a gift.
Now they’re background noise.

Worse—they prime your audience to believe your best stuff is free.

So you create a system where the people who enter your world do so with the expectation that the transformation you offer costs zero dollars.

And that’s exactly what they give back to you:
Zero dollars.

Not because they’re bad buyers.
But because you trained them that way.

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Reason #2: Your Customer Journey Isn’t Designed for Buyers

Most customer journeys are built like this:

Consume → Consume → Consume → MAYBE Buy

But consumption does not create buyers.
Consumption creates lurkers.
Spectators.
Passive participants.

Buyers become buyers when they have:

• momentum
• ownership
• clarity
• trust
• a sense of “I’m in this with you”

Free content doesn’t create any of that.

It keeps people passive.
You’re doing all the work—and they’re sitting on the sidelines watching.

There is no investment.
There is no commitment.
There is no transformation.

And without transformation, there is no trust.
And without trust, there is no sale.

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Reason #3: You Don’t Have a Trust-Building Offer

This is the big one.
The one almost everyone misses.

Because if your customer journey jumps straight from “freebie” to “$2,000 program,” then your offer isn’t too expensive—
there’s just nothing in between that proves you’re worth the investment.

This is why I’m obsessed with low-ticket, high-impact Trust-Building Offers (or TBOs).

A TBO is not another digital product.
It’s a bridge.
A small, paid experience that allows people to try before they buy.

It’s the difference between:

“I don’t know if I can trust you.”
and
“I’ve already gotten results with you.”

And that small shift is everything.

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How to Attract High-Intent Buyers Every Single Day

(This is where we get tactical.)

If you want to stop attracting freebie hunters and start calling in high-intent buyers, the solution isn’t more content, more funnels, or more visibility.

It’s a different system.

A trust-first system.

A system where every touchpoint creates a deeper connection, a clearer expectation, and a stronger sense of mutual commitment.

Here’s how to build that system.

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Step 1: Build a Thought Leadership Platform That Filters for Buyers

Buyers think differently than freebie hunters.

They aren’t looking for tips.
They’re looking for clarity. For strategy. For a guide who makes sense of a messy, chaotic landscape.

Your platform—whether it’s your podcast, your blog, your YouTube channel, or your newsletter—needs to reflect that.

Thought leadership content does three things:

1. It positions you as an authority
2. It communicates your beliefs and boundaries
3. It naturally repels the wrong people

Buyers are drawn to conviction.
Freebie hunters are drawn to “quick hacks.”

Your job is to make the difference very, very clear.

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Step 2: Create a Trust-Building Offer That Acts as a Buyer Magnet

This is where everything shifts.

A TBO is not a $27 template.
It’s not a discount.
It’s not a tripwire.

A Trust-Building Offer is a real experience they get to have with you.

It is:

• low-ticket
• high-value
• fast to consume
• immediately impactful
• intimate enough for them to feel seen

This could be:

• a paid workshop
• a challenge
• a guided sprint
• a behind-the-scenes build
• a small experience with big clarity

When someone pays—even $27 or $47—
they stop being a lurker and become a buyer.

And a buyer is far more likely to buy again.
Not because they’re “better people,”
but because they’re already in motion.

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Step 3: Build a Customer Connection Hub That Nurtures Buyers

This is the piece almost everyone skips.

Your people need a place where they can:

• ask questions
• get support
• connect with others
• feel seen
• feel guided
• feel like you’re accessible

This is not just an email list.

This is a relationship container.

A hub.

It could be:

• a private community
• a group chat
• a DM workflow
• weekly check-ins
• live office hours

The format doesn’t matter.
The connection does.

Because connection is the thing that transforms passive interest into daily sales.

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Step 4: Follow Up Like a Human (Not a Funnel)

Funnels treat everyone the same.
Humans don’t.

Buyers respond to:

• personalized follow-up
• real conversation
• thoughtful questions
• actual support

Not automated nurture sequences or generic “just checking in” messages.

This doesn’t have to take hours a day.
It just requires intentionality.

A few minutes of real connection will always outperform a beautifully automated funnel.

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Step 5: Install the Daily Sales Flywheel

When you put these pieces together—
your Thought Leadership Platform,
your Trust-Building Offer,
and your Customer Connection Hub—
you have a system that naturally generates sales.

Not through pressure.
Not through tactics.
Not through constant launching.

But through relationship.
Through trust.
Through real interaction.

This is the Daily Sales Flywheel.

It works because it mirrors how people actually buy now, in the Relationship Economy.

Not in big moments.
Not during seasonal launches.
But gradually—through daily trust-building interactions.

When you build your Flywheel, you don’t chase buyers.
You attract them.

Daily.

Predictably.
Effortlessly.

Because the system does the work for you.

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The Mindset Shift: You Don’t Have a Traffic Problem. You Have a Trust Problem.

And this is the part most entrepreneurs completely miss.

If you’re attracting freebie hunters, it’s not because:

• your niche is wrong
• your price is too high
• your offer is bad
• your audience is “cheap”
• people aren’t buying anymore

None of that is true.

People are buying.
They’re just buying differently.

They’re buying from the people they trust—
the ones who show up as humans,
the ones who invest in connection,
the ones who put transformation first,
the ones who build systems designed for actual buyers.

And the moment you shift your strategy from building a “big list” to building a trust-first ecosystem, everything changes.

You stop chasing freebie hunters.
You start attracting committed buyers.
And you feel—finally—that the work you’re doing is being appreciated, respected, and paid for.

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If You Want to Attract High-Intent Buyers Every Day… Start Here.

If this post resonated with you—
if you’re tired of attracting the wrong people,
if you’re exhausted by the feast-or-famine cycle,
if you’re ready for a system that actually reflects the way people buy in 2026…

Then the next step is simple:

Build your Daily Sales Flywheel.

And that’s exactly what we do inside the Daily Sales Incubator.

DSI helps you:

• build your thought leadership platform
• create your Trust-Building Offer
• design your Connection Hub
• install your daily follow-up rhythms
• and activate a system that attracts buyers—not browsers

Every. Single. Day.

If you’re ready to stop attracting freebie hunters and start calling in real buyers, the Daily Sales Incubator is where we build the system that makes that possible.

Join the Daily Sales Incubator.
Let’s build your Flywheel.

Join us HERE.