How to make an offer so good that people feel stupid saying no. This book got my gears spinning at 100m mph. Will revisit many times as I move forward with my crusades.
My Notes #
Make people an offer so good they would feel stupid saying no.
Having a Grand Slam Offer helps with all three of the requirements for growth: getting more customers, getting them to pay more, and getting them to do so more times.
It allows you to differentiate yourself from the marketplace. In other a words, it allows you to sell your product based on VALUE not on PRICE.
Commoditized= Price Driven Purchases (race to the bottom)
Differentiated = Value Driven Purchases
A commodity, as I define it, is a product available from many places. For that reason, it’s prone to purchases based on “price" instead of “value.”
If all products are “equal,” then the cheapest one is the most valuable by default. In other words, if a prospect compares your product to another and thinks “these are pretty much the same, I’ll buy the cheaper one,” then they commoditized you.
Grand Slam Offer. #
An offer you present to the marketplace that cannot be compared to any other product or service available, combining an attractive promotion, an unmatchable value proposition, a premium price, and an unbeatable guarantee with a money model (payment terms) that allows you to get paid to get new customers.
The resulting purchasing decision for the prospect is now between your product and nothing. So you can sell at whatever price you get the prospect to perceive, not in comparison to anything else.
This entire book sits atop the assumption that you have at least a “normal” market, which I define as a market that is growing at the same rate as the marketplace and that has common unmet needs that fall into one of three categories: improved health, increased wealth, or improved relationships.
When picking markets, I look for four indicators:
1. Massive Pain
They must not want, but desperately need, what I am offering.
When they hear the solution to their pain, and inversely, what their life would look like without this pain, they should be drawn to your solution.
The point of good writing is for the reader to understand.
The point of good persuasion is for the prospect to feel understood.
2. Purchasing Power
3. Easy to Target
If our potential customers are all gathered together somewhere, then we can market to them.
4. Growing
Think about what you are good at in regards to health, wealth, and relationships. Then think about who might value your service the most (is in the most pain), has the buying power to pay what you want (money), and can be found easily (targeting). As long as those three criteria are strong and the market isn't shrinking, you’ll be in good shape.
You will fail. In fact, you will fail until you succeed. But you will fail far longer if you keep changing who you market to, because you must start over from the beginning each time. So, pick then commit.
I solve this type of problem for this specific type of person in this unique counter-intuitive way that reverses their deepest fear.”
Don't pick a bad market. Normal markets are fine. Great markets are great. Second, once you pick, commit to it until you figure it out.
If you want to know more about how I pick markets, and find niches that are profitable, go to Acquisition.com/training/offers course then watch “Winning Markets” for a short video tutorial.
Price to Value Discrepancy #
How to create and communicate value, aka the “worth-it-ness” of an offer.
The reason people buy anything is to get a deal. They believe what they are getting (VALUE) is worth more than what they are giving in exchange for it (PRICE).
The moment the value they receive dips below what they are paying, they stop buying from you. This price to value discrepancy is what you need to avoid at all costs.
Unless you have a revolutionary way of decreasing your costs to 1/10th compared to your competition, don't compete on price
The goal of our Grand Slam Offer will be to get more people to say yes at a higher price by increasing our value to price discrepancy.
We will raise our price only after we have sufficiently increased our value.
We are not trying to get the most customers. We are trying to make the most money.
Virtuous Cycle of Price #
When you decrease your price, you . . .
. . . Decrease your clients’ emotional investment since it didn’t cost them much.
. . . Decrease your clients’ perceived value of your service since it can’t be that good if it’s so cheap, or priced the same as everyone else.
. . . Decrease your clients results because they do not value your service and are not invested.
. . . Attract the worst clients who are never satisfied until your service is free.
Destroy any margin you have left to be able to actually provide an exceptional experience, hire the best people, invest in your people, pamper your clients, invest in growth, invest in more locations or more scale, and everything else that you had hoped in the goal of helping more people solve whatever problem it is that you solve.
When you raise your prices, you . . .
. . . Increase your clients’ emotional investment.
. . . Increase your clients’ perceived value of your service.
. . . Increase your clients’ results because they value your service and are invested.
. . . Attract the best clients who are the easiest to satisfy.
and
Actually cost less to fulfill, and who are the most likely to actually receive and perceive the most relative value.
Multiply your margin because you have money to invest in systems to create efficiency; smart people; improved customer experience; scale your business; and, most importantly of all, to keep watching the number in your personal bank account go up, month after month, even with reinvesting in your business
Higher Price Means Higher Value (Literally).
Raising your prices can directly enhance the value you provide. What’s more, the higher the price, the more allure your product or service has. People want to buy expensive things. They just need a reason.
And the goal isn’t just to be slightly above the market price — the goal is to be so much higher that a consumer thinks to themselves, “This is so much more expensive, there must be something entirely different going on here.”
One final point I want to drive home: if you offer a service where a customer must do something in order to achieve the result, or solve the problem you say you solve, they must be invested. The more invested they are, the more likely they are to achieve the positive result. Therefore, it follows that if you care about your customers, you should get them as invested as humanly possible. Ideally, this means pricing your services or product in such a way that it stings a little when they buy.
done-with-you rather than a done-for-you model #
Never charge more than your product is worth. But you should charge far more for your product and services than it costs to fulfill it.
Think up to a hundred times more, not just two or three times more. And if you provide enough value, it should still always be a steal for the prospect. That is the power of value. It unleashes unlimited pricing and profit power to scale your company.
- (Yay) The Dream Outcome (Goal: Increase)
- (Yay) Perceived Likelihood of Achievement (Goal: Increase)
- (Boo) Perceived Time Delay Between Start and Achievement (Goal: Decrease)
- (Boo) Perceived Effort & Sacrifice (Goal: Decrease)
The Dream Outcome (Goal: Increase) #
Find psychological solutions, rather than logical ones.
Driving a Lamborghini would decrease her status amongst her mom friends, while driving a minivan would show she was a good mother (increase in status). So it’s not about the money, it's about the status (the perceived increase or decrease in relative standing when compared to others socially or professionally).
Frame benefits in terms of status gained from the viewpoint of others.
When comparing two products or services that satisfy the same desire, the value from the dream outcomes will cancel out (since they are the same). It will be the other three variables that drive the difference in perceived value, and ultimately price.
Perceived Likelihood of Achievement (Goal = Increase) #
People pay for certainty.
Increasing a prospect’s conviction that your offer will “actually” work for them, will make your offer that much more valuable even though the work remains the same on your end.
So to increase value with all offers, we must communicate perceived likelihood of achievement through our messaging, proof, what we choose to include or exclude in our offer, and our guarantees (more on these later).
Time Delay (Goal = Decrease) #
Time between a client buying and receiving the promised benefit.
The shorter the distance between when they purchase and they receive value/the outcome, the more valuable your services or product is.
Two elements to this driver of value: Long-term outcome and short-term experience.
Always try and incorporate short-term, immediate wins for a client. Be creative. They just need to know they are on the right path and that they made the right decision trusting you and your business.
The only thing that beats “free” is “fast.” People will pay for speed.
Effort & Sacrifice (Goal = Decrease) #
Convergent problem solving Where you take lots of variables, all known, with unchanging conditions and converge on a singular answer.
Divergent thought process: Many solutions to a single problem.
Convergent answers are binary. They are either right or they are wrong. With divergent thinking, you can have multiple right answers, and one answer that is way more right than the others.
Step #1: Identify Dream Outcome #
When you are thinking about your dream outcome, it has to be them arriving at their destination and what they would like to experience.
Step #2: List Problems #
Immediately before and immediately after someone uses your product/service. What's the “next” thing they need help with? These are all the problems.
Think about it in insane detail. If you do, you will create a more valuable and compelling offer as you’ll continually be answering people’s next problem as it manifests..
Each of the above problems has four negative elements. And you guessed it, each aligns with the four value drivers as well.
Don’t let these buckets, which are just meant to get your brain going, constrain you. If it’s easier for you, just list out everything you can possibly think of.
Step #3: Solutions List #
Now that we have our dream outcome and all the obstacles that will get in someone’s way, it’s time to define our solutions and list them out.
Creating the solutions list has two steps. First, we are going to first transform our problems into solutions. Second, we are going to name these solutions.
What we’re going to do is simply turn them into solutions by thinking, “What would I need to show someone to solve this problem?”
Then we are going to reverse each element of the obstacle into solution-oriented language. This is copywriting 101.
Simply adding “how to” then reversing the problem will give most people new to this process a great place to start.
The value drivers are the four core reasons. Our problems always relate to those drivers, and our solutions provide the needed answer to give a prospect permission to purchase. What's even crazier: is that if only one of these needs is missing in a solution, it can cause someone not to buy.
Value Offer: Creating Your Grand Slam Offer Part II: Trim & Stack #
If this is your first Grand Slam Offer, it’s important to over-deliver like crazy.
You want them to think to themselves, “I get all this, for only that?”
Enter the sales to fulfillment continuum.
Whenever you are building a business, you have a continuum between ease of fulfillment and ease of sales. If you lower what you have to do, it increases how hard your product or service is to sell.
If you do as much as possible, it makes your product or service easy to sell but hard to fulfill because there’s more demand on your time investment.
Sweet spot where you sell something very well that’s also easy to fulfill.
If you can’t get demand flowing in, then you have no idea whether what you have is good.
I’d rather do more for every customer and have cash flow coming in, then optimize my business but have zero cash flow coming in after (and zero idea about what I need to adjust to better serve my customers).
It was simply the how and what I did that changed. The how and what is what we are breaking apart.
Create cash flow by over-delivering like crazy at first. Then use the cash flow to fix your operations and make your business more efficient.
Step #4 Create Your Solutions Delivery Vehicles (“The How") #
Thinking about all the things you could do to solve each of these problems you’ve identified.
This is what you are going to deliver.
Group things by how many people I'm going to deliver this thing to at once.
If I wanted to provide a one-on-one solution I might offer.
If I wanted to provide a small group solution I might offer.
If I wanted to provide a one to many solution I might offer.
This is just to illustrate the many ways to solve a single problem.
Now do this for all of the perceived problems that your clients encounter before, after, and during their experience with your service/products. You should have a monster list by the end of this.
Product Delivery Cheat Codes
-
What level of personal attention do I want to provide? one-on-one, small group, one to many.
-
What level of effort is expected from them? Do it themselves (DIY)
- figure out how to do it on their own; do it with them (DWY) - you teach them how to do it; done for them (DFY) - you do it for them
-
If doing something live, what environment or medium do I want to deliver it in? In-person, phone support, email support, text support, Zoom support, chat support
-
If doing a recording, how do I want them to consume it? Audio, video, or written.
-
How quickly do we want to reply? On what days? during what hours? 24/7. 9-5, within 5 minutes, within an hour, within 24 hrs?
-
10x to 1/10th test. If my customers paid me 10x my price (or $100,000) what would I provide? If they paid me 1/10th the price and I had to make my product more valuable than it already is, how would I do that? How could I still make them successful for 1/10th price
Stretch your mind in either direction and you’ll come up with widely different solutions.
it’s important that you solve every problem
Step #5: Trim & Stack #
I look at the cost of providing these solutions to me (the business). I remove the ones that are high cost and low value first. Then I remove low cost, low value items.
If you aren’t sure what’s high value, go through the value equation and ask yourself which of these things will this person:
- Financially value
- Cause them to believe they will be likely to succeed
- Make them feel like they can do it with much less effort and sacrifice
- Help them accomplish their goal and see the result they want with far less time investment.
What should remain are offer items that are 1) low cost, high value and 2) high cost, high value.
The next question becomes, is there a lesser version of this experience that I can deliver at scale?
Just take one step back at a time until you arrive at something that has a time commitment or cost you are willing to live with (or, obviously, massively increase your price so it becomes worth it for you.
There’s one type of delivery vehicle to focus on, it’s creating high value, “one to many” solutions.
These types of solutions require a high, one-time cost of creation, but infinitely low additional effort after.
That doesn’t mean you don’t ever want to do something in a small group or one-on-one model. After all, I do 1-on-1 with all of my portfolio company CEOs that we help scale past $30m+. You just want to make sure you save those high cost items for big value adds only. If you think you can accomplish the same value with a lower cost alternative, then do that instead.
The Final High Value Deliverable #
Step #1: We figured out our prospective client’s dream outcome.
Step #2: We listed out all the obstacles they’re likely to encounter on their way (our opportunities for value)
Step #3: We listed all those obstacles as solutions.
Step #4: We figured out all the different ways we could deliver those solutions.
Step #5a: We trimmed those ways down to only the things that were the highest value and lowest cost to us.
All we have to do now is…
Step #5b: Put all the bundles together into the ultimate high value deliverable.
We are selling something unique. As such, we are no longer bound by the normal pricing forces of commoditization. Prospects will now only make a value-based rather than a price-based decision on whether they should buy from us.
We artificially increase the demand for our products and services through some sort of persuasive communication. When we increase the demand, we can sell more units. When we decrease supply, we can sell those units for more money.
Naval Ravikant: “Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.” It follows, therefore, that we only want things we do not have. As soon as we have them, our desire for them disappears.
Therefore if we seek to increase the demand (or desire), we must decrease or delay satisfying the desires of our prospects. We must sell fewer units than we otherwise can.
Demand for services is non-linear. Instead, I’ve found demand to be fractal (80/20). In other words, one fifth of the prospects are willing to pay five times the price (or more).
In the example, I might have ten people willing to pay $500, but two of them willing to pay $5000. So, I would make more, have lower costs (more profits), provide more value, and increase the demand in the remaining prospect base by selling fewer units.
Implied demand People assume that there is a lot of demand for their time, and, therefore, not a big supply of it. As a result, it must be expensive.
Creating Scarcity When there’s a fixed supply or quantity of products or services that are available for purchase it creates scarcity.
It increases the need to take action, and by extension, purchase your offer. This is where you publicly share that you are only giving away X amount of products or can only handle Y new clients.
Three Types of Scarcity #
- Limited Supply of Seats/Slots: in general or over X period of time.
- Limited Supply of Bonuses.
- Never available again.
Physical Products #
To properly utilize this method you should always sell out.
It’s better to sell out consistently than over order and fail at creating that scarcity.
This method stacks in effectiveness if it is done repeatedly over time (just not too often)
Once a month seems to be the sweet spot for most.
When using this tactic, you must also let everyone know that you sold out.
It gives social proof that other people thought it was worth it.
Services #
1. Total Business Cap - Only accepting….X Clients.
Periodically, you can increase capacity by 10-20% then cap it again.
This is like saying “My agency only will service twenty-five customers total. Period.” Over time you can increase your prices and squeeze the lower performing accounts out and bring in new more profitable accounts, or, you can periodically ‘open slots’ as your capacity allows (always leaving some demand unmet).
2. Growth Rate Cap - Only accepting X clients per week (on-going).
This banks on the fact that you can only handle a certain amount of new clients anyways, on a regular basis, so you might as well let them know it.
3. Cohort Cap - Only accepting….X clients per class or cohort.
Always remember have less spots available than you think you can sell.
3. Honest Scarcity (The Most Ethical Scarcity)
You might as well define a number that you are willing to take on in a given time period, then advertise that.
Scarcity also implies within it, social proof. If you are 81% to capacity then a decent amount of people made the decision to work with you, and the closer you get to your arbitrary fullness, the faster the spots will disappear.
If you want to immediately make a lot of money, create a very exclusive service level based on access to you (yes, unscalable), that you cap at a tiny number. Price it very high. Then, tell people,
Create scarcity by also capping your service level and saying that if they leave than can never return. This type of scarcity makes people think extra hard about leaving.
Works best with small groups (like the above example). As groups become much bigger, the tactic loses some teeth (speaking from experience).
Favorite ways of using urgency on a consistent basis ethically:
- Rolling Cohorts
- Rolling Seasonal Urgency
- Promotional or Pricing Urgency
- Exploding Opportunity
Allows businesses that sell clients year round to still use urgency.
Buying in the prospect while maintaining your integrity — win-win. You can interchange a pricing promotion, discount, or added bonuses like free install or free onboarding or an extra workshop (valued at $1,000) if they buy now.
The price is going up! So get in now!” Never raise your prices without letting people know.
Exploding Opportunity
Every second someone delays, they miss out on disproportionate gains.
A single offer is less valuable than the same offer broken into its component parts and stacked as bonuses.
Increasing the prospect’s price-to-value discrepancy by increasing the value delivered instead of cutting the price.
When selling one on one, you ask for the sale first, before offering the bonuses.
If they say yes, then after they have signed up, you let them know the additional bonuses they're going to get. This creates a wow experience and reinforces their decision to buy.
On the other hand, if the person does not buy after the first ask, then you present a bonus that matches their perceived obstacle, then ask again.
Don’t feel weird about asking again. You simply agree with the prospect, add the bonus, and ask if this consolation was “Fair enough".
Key things to remember when offering bonuses #
Always offer them.
Give them a special name that has a benefit in the title.
Tell them: a) How it relates to their issue b) What it is c) How you discovered it, or what you had to do to create it d) How it will specifically improve their lives or make their experience i) Faster, easier or less effort/sacrifice (value equation)
Provide some proof (this can be a stat, a past client, or personal experience) to prove that this thing is valuable.
Paint a vivid mental image of what their life will be like assuming they have already used it and are experiencing the benefits.
Always ascribe a price tag to them and justify it.
Tools & checklists are better than additional trainings (as the effort & time are lower with the former, so the value is higher.)
They should each address a specific concern/obstacle in the prospects mind about why they can’t or won’t be successful (bonus should prove their belief incorrect).
This can also be what they would logically realize they will need next. You want to solve their next problem before they even encounter it.
The value of the bonuses should eclipse the value of the core offer.
You can further enhance the value of your bonuses by adding scarcity and urgency to the bonus themselves.
Advanced Level Bonuses - Other People’s Products and Services.
You can get other businesses to give you their services and products as a part of your bonuses in exchange for exposure to your clients for free. This is free marketing for them, and high value products for you at no cost.
Businesses will do this because you are going to give their business exposure for free to the highest quality prospects, your customers.
As long as they are not direct competitors, you can get some brownie points, secure some future referral IOUs, and make your offer more valuable at the same time.
Enhancing The Offer: Guarantees #
The single greatest objection for any product or service being sold is…drum roll…risk. Risk that it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do for them. Therefore, reversing risk is an immediate way to make any offer more attractive.
Four types of guarantees: #
- Unconditional
- Conditional
- Anti-Guarantee
- Implied Guarantees.
If you have a tremendous amount of cost associated with your product or service, you will likely want to employ a conditional guarantee or an ANTI guarantee, as you will have to eat the cost of the refund AND the cost of fulfilling.
What makes a guarantee have power is a conditional statement: If you do not get X result in Y time period, we will Z.
Unconditional Guarantees #
Basically a trial where they pay first then see if they like it.
Conditional Guarantees #
Conditional guarantees include “terms and conditions” to the guarantee.
Anti-Guarantees #
When you explicitly state “all sales are final".
You must come up with a creative “reason why” the sales are final
Implied Guarantees #
Revshare, profitshare, triggers, ratchets, monetary bonuses, etc are all examples.
If I don't perform, I don’t get paid.
Stacking Guarantees #
Like bonuses, you can actually stack guarantees.
You could give an unconditional 30 day no questions asked guarantee then on top of that give a conditional triple your money back 90 day guarantee. That would be an example of stacking an unconditional with a conditional guarantee.
Pro Tip: Name Your Guarantee Something Cool #
If you wouldn’t jump into shark infested waters to get our product back, we will return every dollar you paid.
Conditional Outsized Refund Guarantee #
What the Client Gets: Double or Triple their money back, or a no-strings-attached payment of $X,XXX (or another amount that’s far more than what they paid).
Conditional Service Guarantee #
What the Client Gets: You keep working for them free of charge until X is achieved.
You are never at risk for losing the money. The guarantee is around the outcome.
Conditional Modified Service Guarantee #
You give them another Y-long period of service or access to your product/services free of charge. Generally, Y should give them at least twice the duration.
Conditional Credit-based Guarantee #
You give them back what they paid but in a credit toward any service you offer.
Conditional Personal Service Guarantee #
Gets: You work with them one-on-one, free of charge, until they reach X objective or result.
Conditional Hotel + Airfare Perks Guarantee #
If you don't receive value, we will reimburse your product and your hotel + airfare.
A “refund of ancillary costs”.
Conditional Wage-Payment Guarantee #
You offer to pay their hourly rate, whatever that may be, if they don’t find your call/session with them valuable.
Conditional Release of Service Guarantee #
Let them out of their contract free of charge.
Conditional Delayed Second Payment Guarantee #
Won’t bill them again until after they make or get their first outcome.
Conditional First Outcome Guarantee #
You continue to pay their ancillary costs (ad spend, hotel, etc) until they reach their first outcome.
Anti-Guarantee #
All Sales Are Final
Implied Guarantees: Performance Models, Revshares and Profit-Sharing #
Performance: A) …Only pay me $XXX per sale/ $XXX per show B) $XX per Lb Lost.
Revshare: A) 10% of top line revenue B) 20% profit share C) 25% of revenue growth from baseline.
Profit-Share: A) X% of profit B) X% of Gross Profit.
Ratchets: 10% if over X, 20% if over Y, 30% if over Z.
Bonuses/Triggers: I get X when Y occurs.
If you do not perform, they do not have to pay. If you perform, your compensation has been determined based on an agreement decided upon before you begin working.
Start selling service-based guarantees or setting up performance partnerships. This will make all sales final (so no fear from refunds). Most importantly, it will commit you to your customers’ results and keep you honest.
Naming an offer #
Naming an offer correctly determines how well your advertising converts, how big of a response you get from outbound emails/cold calls/texts, and how many inbound responses you get from organic comments.
M-A-G-I-C formula. #
Attention (M-Magnet) Discrimination (A-Avatar) Purpose (G-Goal) Timeline (I-Interval) Method (C-Container)
Magnet #
Examples: Free, 88% off, Giveaway; 88% off, Spring, Summer, Back To School; Grand Opening; New Management; New Building; Anniversary; Halloween; New Year.
Avatar #
Announce Your Avatar
This component calls out your ideal avatar: who you are looking for and who you are not looking for as a client. You want to be as specific as possible, but no more.
When in a local area, the more local you can make your headline, the more it will convert. So don't do a city, try and go to the sub market, or hyper local area. Not Baltimore but Towson, MD. Not Chicago, but Hinsdale, Etc.
Goal #
Articulate your prospect’s dream outcome. It can be a single word or a phrase.
It can be an event, a feeling, an experience, or an outcome, anything that would excite them. The more specific and tangible, the better.
Interval #
You’re just letting people know the duration to expect here.
How long your results will take to achieve.
Don’t give a quantifiable outcome with the duration unless your platform allows it.
Examples: AA Minutes, BB Hours, CC Days, DD Weeks, Z Months. “4 Hour” “21 Day” “6 Week” “3 Month”
Complete With A Container Word #
The container word denotes that this offer is a bundle of lots of things put together. It’s a system. It’s something that can’t be held up to a commoditized alternative.
Examples: Challenge, Blueprint, Bootcamp, Intensive Incubator, Masterclass, Program, Detox, Experience, Summit, Accelerator, Fast Track, Shortcut, Sprint, Launch, Slingshot, Catapult, Explosion, System, Getaway, Meetup, Transformation, Mastermind, Launch, Game Plan, Deep Dive, Workshop, Comeback, Rebirth, Attack, Assault, Reset, Solution, Hack, Cheatcode, Liftoff, Etc.
Pro Tip: Find Time To Rhyme Good rhymes stick in people’s minds. Rhyme your program name to win the game.
Google “rhyming dictionary” for an easy shortcut. Note - Don’t try and force it. It’s not a requirement, it’s just a “nice-to-have.
Pro Tip: Alliteration Alliteration is when you make all (or most) of the words start with the same letter or sound.
you don't necessarily have to use all the power components of the headline. Using three to five will typically create something that is more unique and desirable.
Pro Tip - Name Sub Items & Bonuses Use the magic headline formula for each item in your stack and bundle.
It will automatically enhance the value of your offerings simply by naming in a way that resonates with your prospects.
Selling in-person at higher prices in a local market is inherently easier.
You will convert a much higher percentage of your leads.
The downside of local marketing is that offers fatigue rapidly because there is only a limited radius that a local business can serve.