Most service-based businesses are using run-of-the-mill offers in their commercial strategy.
The problem is that undifferentiated front-end purchase or subscription options leave you vulnerable to copy cats who can duplicate what you do and steal market share at a cheaper price.
Customers have no incentive to choose you over anyone else and you end up of competing rather than conquering.
That’s unacceptable to me and my clients.
Great offers are the answer, and they’re your #1 competitive advantage.
Developing them is probably the most under-leveraged skillset among modern entrepreneurs; yet one that you can quickly learn and perfect. Then, it’s just a matter of making a few tweaks to your business model… and voilà!
In this post, I’m going to show you how to craft truly irresistible offers that incorporate two specific elements (though there are more): scaling the deliverable and value stacking.
Let’s jump right in.
Making Irresistible Offers
Before we get into deliverable enhancement and value stacking, let’s talk offer creation.
By far, the best way to break through in this saturated service ecosystem is by creating 10x offers which front-load so much value that prospects have no choice but to join your program, platform, or product right then and there.
All that business is is a value-balance equation.
If you give more than you ask for and make it impossible to say ‘no’ then you’ll get more than you need with a surplus of buyers continuously flocking your way.
It starts and ends with what’s on tap — how you package, position, promise, pitch, and even promote what you’re willing to do for people.
Ridiculously good offers compact lots of value and remove nearly all risk from the prospect’s perspective.
Before I get into good offer creation, let’s talk about what not to do. There are four primary mistakes I see many business owners make with their front-end offer (and their business model in general):
1. It’s already being done. The offer is no different from anyone else’s.
2. It’s neither big nor scalable. It can’t be extrapolated to scale nor duplicated.
3. It’s not comprehensive. It can’t be called a “program,” “platform” or “system.” It’s too basic and doesn’t pack the punch needed to imply a surplus or excess of value.
4. It doesn’t over-deliver. The business owner falsely believes that they must adhere to a 1:1 value exchange ratio with customers so they can extract in equal proportion to what they give. They aren’t over-delivering at least 5-10x the price of purchase.
So what do you want to do instead? It’s basically flipping those “don’t dos” on their head:
1. Do something not currently being done by any other business. Do not offer a cookie-cutter (e.g., PDF program, weekly group calls) offer that is no different from everyone else. You have to put together the entire pie for people, not just serve up a piece of it.
2. Think big and scalable. How could you grow or add new users with no incremental cost of replication?
3. Change lives, permanently. If your product doesn’t transform some aspect of your customers’ lives, it’s still too limited. Your job is to create an all-inclusive and permanently life-altering experience for your consumer. This is what will allow you to charge premium prices and create compelling offers that people need.
4. Go above and beyond. If your preferred product is $5k, start thinking about how you can provide $50k worth of value.
Okay, let’s jump into one of the most crucial components of great offers: expanding the impact of what you provide for customers.
Scaling the Deliverable
Keep in mind that the goal is to get the most bang for your buck (minimizing expenses and added labor) while giving clients the most perceived and actual value you can.
So, how can you add meaningful aspects to your program that will go a long way in the eyes of clients but that would take relatively little effort to make, add, or throw in as a “bonus”?
There are six ways to add more value to your offer without altering the actual deliverable and without taking on more expenses:
1. Service level. How responsive can you be? How long does it take to respond to inquiries? How detailed are your agents? What would need to happen to optimize the quality of your support?
2. Time-to-value. How fast can you get customers material or emotional wins? How can you move up that time table?
3. Access. How accessible are you (or your team) to customers? Do they use email to contact you? DM? Can they text you or call you personally? Do you offer calls, chat, or in-person service if needed? Do you proactively reach out to your users?
4. Consumption style. Do you have learning or continuing education forums? How can you ascend your customers using one-on-one, small group, or large group communities? Could you find a way to offer more than one of these without doing it yourself (e.g., hiring a contracted coach)?
5. Add ons. What can you hold in your back pocket and throw in a prospects lap if they’re iffy on buying? If you’re an online business, coach, or education brand, for example, do you have any old lead magnets, articles, or videos could you compile into a new product, pitch as being worth a couple grand, and include “for free?”
6. Guarantees and promises. How can you assume the time, energy and financial risk so the client doesn’t have to take this burden? What kinds of assurance, warranty, or concession can you add in that don’t dilute your brand but which remove all objections prospects could have?
» Exercise: List 20 ways you could add more value to your program at no cost if you absolutely had to.
Value Stacking
Value stacking means hitting prospects with a flurry of stuff that they get as a result of buying. You don’t just get A, but also B, and lifetime access to C along with X, Y, and unlimited Z. The idea is to “stack” all these products and set ’em on the table all “for the price of one.”
When you stack value, you want to create so much implied value with your offer that it’s clear your solution is the only one worth consideration. No deliberation when customers are hit — no delay, no doubt.
Every business should be productizing their services, How can you go beyond what your competition is doing by creating a trademarked system, a branded model, or something else irreplaceable that’s custom for you and those you serve?
Normalize thinking about your offer as an all-inclusive experience. You need to productize your service and value stack not just to differentiate and sell more — but to actually create real change.
Consider what else you might throw in to sweeten the pie that will make a big impact for customers but require very little (if any) extra work on your part to create?
How could you incorporate 3-5 other components within your offer, each requiring and compounding the impact of the others? This will allow you to sell your big ticket as an actual system and charge 5x or 10x more for it.
You can offer one-off options or lower-tier products, but think about how you can make it extremely hard to say ‘no’ to your premium program by making any real success dependant on leveraging your entire offer.
In content and copy, use words like “proven,” “proprietary,” “platform,” “system,” “program, “results,” “[X]-step,” and “in [X] days.”
Below is a template I share with my clients to help them craft a statement for value stacking in sales presentations or on calls. Mimic this structure and logic when sharing your offer with prospects:
» Claim: We help ____________ achieve ____________ with a ____________.
» How: We’ll create a custom ____________ to get you ____________ in ____________ days using a ____________ that no one else in the ____________ industry offers.
» What you get: Service 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
» What else you get: Add-on 1, 2, 3, and 4
Once mapped out, you can use this language in all of your prospecting work, sales collateral, and customer touch points.
Final Thoughts
In this post, I’ve laid out some of the components of making great offers. What I didn’t cover here is the holistic strategy or set-up of organizing your offers.
For instance, you may want to lead with a low barrier-to-entry freebie that gets customers in the door, then upsell them with offers using components of the styles shown above.
If you want to learn more about making better offers, check out these resources I’ve created around the topic:
» Anatomy of an Irresistible Offer [Podcast]: Listen here
» 5 Ways to Ascend Freemium Users to Paid Memberships [Article]: Read here
» Making Great Offers [Reel]: Watch here
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➔ For more on value creation & high-growth frameworks, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my podcast & feel free to schedule a chat with me if you’d like help driving better customer value in your business.
