Hamburgers, toothaches, and your irresistible offer
Missed a previous installment in the Your Perfect Offer series? Read them here…
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How can you be sure your offer will sell before investing time and resources into creating it?
The last thing any coach or consultant wants to hear after opening the doors on a new offer is…
The sound of crickets. Ouch!
I’ve been there. It’s a fast track from optimistic enthusiasm to existential crisis.
“Do I even know what I am doing? Maybe nobody wants my expertise. They probably think I’m a fraud.”
I’ve also launched offers that brought in more than 700k in two weeks.
When this happens, many assume it’s an issue with the marketing or sales process. “Maybe I didn’t send enough emails. Perhaps I should have done a webinar. Does my sales page suck?”
But here’s the thing. While marketing and sales are key elements…
80% of your success depends on designing the right offer for the right market.
Even the best marketing and sales can’t make up for an offer that misses the mark.
So…what makes the difference between an offer that takes off and one that bites the dust?
It all starts with one thing.
The Only Advantage You Need
Ask a group of well-seasoned copywriters who is the greatest copywriter of all time, and you’re certain to hear the late Gary Halbert’s name mentioned.
Occasionally, Gary taught copywriting classes where he would ask his students:
“If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you want to have on your side to help you win?”
Students would quickly mention things like having the highest quality meat, the lowest prices, or the best location. Then Gary would give his answer.
“I’ll give you every advantage you’ve asked for. I only want one advantage, and I will still whip the pants off all of you! The only advantage I want is a starving crowd.”
Your Starving Crowd
The “starving crowd” advantage isn’t limited to selling food. Gary’s thought experiment illustrates the #1 principle of creating must-have offers.
Another way I think of it is this…
To create a winning offer, identify a “toothache problem” you are excited to help your ideal client solve.
Last year, when I was on vacation visiting my mom, the entire left side of my jaw started to swell and go numb. Within the hour, I was on the phone with my dentist, asking for a solution to the discomfort.
I couldn’t wait until I got back to New York. I didn’t put it off to see if it got better. I wanted it to go away, stat. I was ready to take antibiotics, get a root canal, or whatever was needed.
Your offer needs to connect to this kind of existing desire and urgency. Otherwise, you’re fighting an uphill battle you can’t win, Sisyphus.
To be clear, my point is not to take advantage of people’s pain and discomfort. The point is to help your ideal clients with their most pressing top-of-mind needs, problems, and unfulfilled desires.
This brings us to the second step for designing your perfect offer.
Your Perfect Offer: Step 2
In my previous blog post, we defined your ideal client using five key criteria. This was the first step in designing your perfect offer.
Step two is to identify your ideal client’s top desired outcomes.
What are they starved for?
A past client teaches a brilliant framework for helping teams at work have more resilience. She knows it’s one of the most important skills a team can have to manage stress and perform better.
But her ideal clients, managers and leaders, weren’t waking up in the morning hoping to find someone to teach their team resilience.
They were worried about retaining their best talent, preventing their people from burning out, and ensuring top performance and engagement from their team in the face of difficult challenges.
Resilience was the solution. Retention, productivity, and engagement were the top desired outcomes. This is what the organizations she wanted to work with were hungry for.
Outcomes Your Ideal Clients Will Pay Premium Prices to Achieve
There are five categories of outcomes your ideal clients will gladly invest in. I outline these five categories in the Your Perfect Offer Framework.
For a limited time, you can get free access to the worksheet and tutorial that walk you through the four steps for designing your perfect offer, including defining your ideal client and identifying their top desired outcomes.
Click here to get access to the Perfect Offer Framework
In my next blog post, we’ll dive into step three of designing your perfect offer. This is where your unique genius gets to shine, and you show your ideal client why you are the best option for them.
Watch for that post soon, or grab the framework above for a sneak peek.
