Ooh, I just read a FB post that really got me fired up for how incorrect it was.
“Amateurs talk about their offer. Professionals talk about their ideal client’s problems.”
Uhhh… wrong.
I used to think this was right. In fact, I was a total apologist for this way of thinking. I was all, “yeah, just talk about problems and how you solve them; don’t go around pushing a ‘product.’ That’s salesy!”
(Truth be told, I was just parroting my mentors who said almost exactly that. I never questioned them.)
But then, through a flash of insight that I can only describe as coming from God, I started actually talking about my offer… and whaddaya know, I got tons more leads and 5X’ed my income (eventually 10X’ed).
Turns out that people can’t read my mind as to how to actually work with me. 😉
Moreover, I think that when we don’t talk about our offer much (or at all), signing up with us seems complicated/mysterious to our audience. And so they delay reaching out or in some cases never do at all.
I saw this firsthand last year when I hired a coach that I’d been thinking of hiring for months.
She shared so much great content. But she never talked about her actual offer to work with her – how long, what format, how it worked, who exactly it was for, what result it was aimed at, what was included to get me to that result, how much the result was worth and how much the price was in comparison to that, etc.
She also never shared what the signup pathway was – a call? Two calls? A messenger chat? Did she accept clients 365 days a year or only at certain times? None of this was ever said.
I finally had to reach out to get the information, and it was months after I’d started thinking about doing so. And indeed it was pretty complicated to sign up with her.
I’m glad I did, as she’s awesome, but I would have done so a lot sooner if the offer and signup pathway had been clearer and simpler. And I wonder how many others never reached out at all because they could never get into the headspace of being “ready” to dig for all of the information.
The truth is actually a happy medium between the two options the incorrect post-writer gave above: you do talk about your offer, but in a problem-based way.
Most people miss this because they’re talking about their offer in a “market-y/hype-y” way.
The “hype-y” way looks like this: “Message me about my Fit for Life program where I work with busy professionals to help them get healthy and fit!!!!”
Or: “Check out my Embody Sales bootcamp where I help heart-centered entrepreneurs to make more sales with heart and authenticity!”
Neither of those statements talk about the offer in a problem-based way. Consequently they look salesy (and way too excited, IMO). 🙂
In contrast, the problem-based way looks like this: “I have a great 12-week 1-on-1 coaching offer for entrepreneurial women who have about 20 pounds of body fat to lose, and want to dial in their current weight-lifting and eating regimes to lose that last bit of weight.”
Or: “I have an 8-week small group mastermind program where I work with 6-figure coaches and consultants who are currently closing less than 50% of their sales calls for their high-ticket offer, and want to learn a process that can take them to 75% or above.”
Both of those examples actually show what specific outcome the offer is aiming for, as well as where the best-fit client will be STARTING from. [this I call having a clear Point A and Point B]
The “hype-y” examples sorta hint at the KIND of problem they solve (“get healthy and fit” and “make more sales”) but it’s not a specific enough problem to draw attention without SHOUTING and jumping up and down. (and that just gets you attention period, not necessarily the right attention)
Actually, a full presentation of an offer in a problem-based way is a bit longer than one sentence (as it should also include your process for getting results, a price juxtaposition, and a few other pieces), so I’m going to link you to an example of one of mine as well as to my training on how to write them.
You can also see a lot more examples of offers in my framework from my clients and followers in my free FB group Organic High Ticket Sales for Coaches & Experts (click on Topics and then on the hashtag offers_approved_by_eleanore).
For me, the difference between “talking about problems” and “talking about offers” meant the difference between about $30K-$50K/year and $300K/year… and 0-2 leads/inquiries per week vs. 7-12 per week.
So if you’re wanting to scale things up, you might wanna try [drumroll……….] actually talking about your offer. 😉