"It's The Offer, Stupid." - Dan Kennedy

Consultants and Coaches come to me to get more leads and higher conversions. But what they THINK I should be doing for them is often not what we should actually focus on first.

Read this article to find out about the ONE THING you can change right now... to have the biggest and most immediate impact on your business without having to spend a dime.

You already know what I'm talking about, right? I mean...

I gave it up in the title by quoting what may be the most on-point sentence coming out of the great Dan Kennedy's mouth.

See, if you get this one thing right... if you have a killer offer, you won't have to worry about your marketing being average.

You won't need top-notch copywriting.

It wouldn't hurt. You'll do better with great marketing. But even if you have John Carlton writing your copy...

Russel Brunson setting up your funnels and Dennis Yu running your traffic...

It won't work without a great offer.

Now, many mistake their product or service to be "their offer". Which is simply not the case.

Your product is your product and your service is your service.

Your OFFER includes much more than that. It's basically everything you give to your client and the way you do it... and everything you get in return and the way you do that.

Let's just take this example that has been used a lot to explain the difference between a product and an offer.

If you buy a cup of coffee at a fast-food chain you'll probably pay $1 for it.

Yet many of us prefer to pay $5-$6 for pretty much the same product when sold at one of those cool coffee spots with free Wifi, Copywriter-looking people "working" on their laptops while nodding their heads to whatever hipster music is blasting at the time.

Why do people pay for that? Because of the art of using the foam to form a plant, a tree, or a heart?

It's part of it. Part of the actual offer here:

You don't just get a coffee...

You pay $5 and you'll get:

• Coffee with art on it
• Cool music
• Cool people (like me)
• Hipster shops with hipster owners who do hipster small-talk with you about hipster topics
• Free WIFI, so we can play Tim Ferris for a day

And more. As you see... the product (coffee) is only ONE PART of the offer...

The offer is the coffee PLUS the whole experience you'll get on top in return for $5 (plus the tip).

All of a sudden it may make sense to pay 500% more for the same commodity while not looking stupid.

I mean... nobody would be mistaken for a real copywriter sipping his $1 coffee while typing on his laptop at some fast-food place.

Now let's take a look at the various pieces a great offer is made of so that you'll know exactly...

How To Turn Your Product Or Service Into An Irresistible Offer

You can really get creative when putting together an amazing offer to set yourself apart from your competition while being able to charge more than they do.

The payment terms alone give you at least eleven options you can choose from - and just that might have a huge impact on your conversions.

So in that regard, you go for:

• Upfront payment
• Payment at a later point
• Continuity payment
• Payment plans
• "Early-bird" discounts
• Exclusive offer (certain people only)
• Limited offer (deadline)
• Limited offer (scarcity)
• One-time offer
• Qualified offer
• Combination offer

Choosing any of these options may have a huge impact on your offer already. And as you see, you can combine them, too.

For instance, if you offer your service with a payment plan which also starts three months from now, chances are high that clients may prefer your offer over a cheaper one they would have to pay for immediately.

Okay, so what else can you do to create an offer they can't refuse. Well, you could put a widget like this on your website:

OR... you read on and apply more established strategies. We're just getting started here!

Onwards.

We have talked about the price and terms of your offer. Here are six more...

Components Of A Killer Offer

Here's a little overview before we take a deeper look at each one:

• Deliverables
• Benefits
• Bonuses
• Risk-Reversal
• Urgency
• Call To Action

If you combine these components the right way... you'll not only have an offer that is better, and more importantly, DIFFERENT from your competitors'...

It will also be an offer people just can't refuse due to its strong value-proposition and risk-reversal.

Deep Dive? Okay, follow me!

In order to put all of this into action effectively, you need to do thorough competitor research first. And while most of us have done that before and have an idea how to approach this...

You may want to check out my other article I will link below to give you some guidance on how to do competitor research the right way in just an afternoon.

The research will show you gaps your competition might have left open... or ways to position yourself regarding the seven components mentioned above (Yes, I said seven... price & terms was mentioned before the bullet points, homie!).

How can your offer be different (in a better way) through...

The Deliverables

What deliverables can you add to your offer? Or, if you're delivering the same stuff as your competition, what alternative or additional formats can you deliver your offer in?

If it's a book... can you throw in audios? If it's audio... can you throw in videos?

Whatever you are willing and able to deliver, make sure to also mention its features as well as the reason why it will make your prospect's life easier.

Oh, what's that? Common sense?

Go ahead and check out your competitor's offers and see how many of them just mention pure deliverables, and maybe some of the features while neglecting to explain WHY that feature is so beneficial to the prospect.

So let's say your deliverable is a business development book and one of its features is that it comes with access to a platform with additional resources, and that feature is beneficial because those resources will be helpful when trying to apply the strategies taught in the book to one's specific business.

Got it?

Good. We're not quite done though.

After giving the facts about your product or service, as well as the features and the reason why they matter... you want to make sure you explain all three levels the prospect is going to be benefitted on...

Which are:

• What the feature and benefit does for the prospect
• Painting a vivid picture of what that experience will be like in the prospect's life
• Explaining how that will make the prospect feel emotionally

So in the book example you could have something like:

"The resources that come with the book will help you apply all the strategies discussed in it to your specific business. So whenever you're not 100% sure, you'll just hop on your laptop, watch a video with additional examples and download a step-by-step guide to easily move you through the whole process of implementation.

You will feel so proud of yourself because you've made the right decision to invest in this book and finally have absolute clarity about what the next steps need to be in order to run your business much more effectively and feel the satisfaction of accomplishing your quarterly goals."

I should write a book like that. Anyways.

Now... we've already talked a bit about pricing and terms but there's much more we could discuss on that topic, such as bundles, discounts, and value stacking. But going into that would be beyond the scope of this article.

There's a ton of resources you can and should read on these topics though.

For now, let's move on to...

Risk-Reversal Tactics

When we think of risk-reversal, usually what pops into our mind is some sort of money-back guarantee.

Obviously that makes sense... it reduces the risk for the prospect. And contrary to what some marketers say who claim that it's been used so much it has become ineffective, I'm 100% sure it's still a powerful risk-reversal tactic.

As a matter of fact, try the biggest, boldest guarantee you think you could include in your offer. If your competitors start saying "Man, that dude cray-cray!", you're probably on the right track.

If you don't feel uncomfortable with your offer... it's not a killer offer.

With that being said, removing the risk of financial loss is not enough.

Sure, nobody wants to lose money. But as the busy person that I'm sure you are... would you be happy to get your money back for a sloppily delivered service... without getting back your time you have wasted and a possibly high opportunity cost?

What about the inconvenience of having to spend time learning how to use a software (regardless of the quality it provides)?

Besides that, the prospect may lose face... in front of the co-workers, employers, employees, or the spouse - for having made the foolish decision to invest into that crappy product or service.

Your prospect may also simply worry about getting pushy sales calls or the inbox getting spammed as soon as they give you their details...

You get the idea. There are way more dimensions to risk-reversal and one powerful way is to turn these things around... for instance:

Opportunity cost could be turned into fear of missing out. In that case, what you'd try to convey is that passing on your offer may be the bigger risk than accepting it...

Because of the time and money the prospect may lose while chasing other less effective solutions for the problem your offer is solving.

Think deeply about what you can do to remove any risks your prospects may worry about. Don't make your offer feel like this here:

Which brings us to...

Bonuses

Adding a bonus is an awesome way to turn your offer into a straight no-brainer.

However, many people approach giving bonuses by thinking: hmm, what else do I have stashed somewhere that I don't really know what to do with anymore. Maybe I could give that away as a bonus...

Wrong.

The question we should ask ourselves is:

What else can I add to my offer, which my prospect will love even MORE than my core offer? What can I add to just BLOW my prospects away when my sales presentation or sales letter or video sales letter - whatever - reaches the point where I talk about bonuses.

When people are still on the fence... how can I bulldoze that fence into the ground?

Another way of approaching this is...

What questions, objections, or problems will my prospect have when using my product or service? Let's create a bonus that solves that problem, answers that question, and handles that objection.

Let's take away any excuse left for not buying.

And then... add more.

Now when it comes to presenting your bonuses... the same rules apply as for the core offer.

Explain the deliverables, the features, the why, and the benefits.

When speaking about the benefits, take your time to speak about all three levels...

The functionality, painting the vivid picture of how that functionality or benefit is experienced, and then taking it home by spelling out what the prospect will feel at that moment emotionally.

Sell the bonuses JUST AS HARD as the main offer.

And make sure they are at least as good.

Then, face your last enemy:

Time.

You fight it with...

Urgency and Scarcity

Give your prospect a reason to act NOW. Just keep it real though.

Using fake scarcity and urgency tactics will damage your reputation and integrity, and actually hurt your sales.

But if you think about it, you can definitely come up with reasons that would make sense for you to offer your product or services for a certain price for some time...

Before returning to the full-price.

Or maybe, as a consultant, you have a real scarcity problem as you can only serve so many clients. Use that.

Also, make sure to contrast the transformation they will experience by taking on your offer with the negative consequences they will experience if they don't (not solving the problem they are currently having and remaining in that unpleasant situation).

And when it's time to close, make sure you have a crystal clear...

CTA (Call To Action)

No matter how smart your audience is. Don't ever assume they know what to do next in order to take you on your offer.

Tell them the exact steps they need to take. Step-by-step.

It may seem redundant. It's not. It's necessary.

A crystal clear CTA can make all the difference in terms of conversion.

This article could be 20 times as long. It's not exhaustive of the topic at all. But I hope it's a good start for you to rethink your offers.

If you'd like me to help craft an irresistible offer for your product or service go to www.hamoongreen.com and book a strategy session.