Before You Create a New Offer, Listen to This
Episode 703: Show Notes
There have been a lot of conversations in our incubator coaching lately about what to do when leads are lower. But that’s only part of the conversation. Today, we want to focus on how to know what’s right when you’re considering different ideas to pursue. When we’re in a rut, we tend to think that it’s time to think far outside of the box. Innovation is amazing when you’re in a season to be able to create something new and it makes sense, but when you need a cash injection, or you want to start the year off with a bang, it’s not necessarily the best time to start with something brand new!
What if, instead, you looked for ways to do the same thing, but in a different room? Could you do the same thing through a different lens? At the end of the day, if you already have systems and processes around the thing that you have been delivering, selling, and pricing, it’s so much easier to stay in that lane. Don't reinvent the wheel! While it might sound counterintuitive, we encourage you not to think outside the box, but to spin it in a different direction. It’s the same thing, just from a different viewpoint!
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What to do when it’s time to move an existing offer into a new room
We’ve had some conversations with people who felt that they had totally tapped out on their existing network. The reality is, after years of truly leveraging your network, you’re going to outgrow those connections. That’s when you’ve got to get yourself into different rooms. Recently, we spoke to a business owner with a client base out of town. Her friends living there promised to connect her one day, but that just isn’t enough! We encouraged her to find a way to position herself in that community.
We’ve had even more conversations with people that we’ve never met in the last 90 days than ever before, and that was possible because we put ourselves in new rooms. It is possible to do that online too! We’re confident that moving into a new room is a step in the right direction. While it may take four to six months to see a return on your network, it’s still so much quicker than blogs and emails, which can sometimes take years to take effect.
Our favorite way to take what you sell and sell it in a new or different way
Changing your messaging while creating a sense of urgency is an effective way to make your offer feel new and different without actually changing anything about it. We’re not encouraging you to create fake urgency for things. Rather, create real-time limitations that lead to a sense of urgency. When we’ve been selling something for a while, we tend to forget that there is urgency, there is a limited approach to it. Have you actually communicated with your audience that you are rapidly booking and you only have four spots available for a specific offer?
There are different angles to the same offer, and you are likely focusing on the same thing every time because it works. Sometimes, if you just focus on one other aspect of it, it will appeal to a completely different audience and feel really different and fresh! Go and have a conversation with a good friend and start talking about the future. Ask them to stop you when something you are saying feels new to them. They’re paying enough attention to know what you’ve been doing and what has changed.
The right time to come up with an ancillary offer for your existing audience
As a service provider, you see people’s needs all the time, but what you deem important and what they deem important are not necessarily the same thing. So, when we create something new, we enjoy hearing what people are looking for, and where they feel they need the most help and assistance. When you focus too much on what people need, that can mean that you’re focusing less on what you can do for them. When you tune in with your own offer in mind, you’re treating them more like human beings, which will simultaneously build your business, fill your cup, and make you feel like you’re part of something that matters!
We received amazing feedback that our services don’t feel like a cookie-cutter offer or a presentation of what could work. We are intentional about listening to what clients need, what they are already bringing to the table, and how that can be packaged. It’s so much easier to sustain the business that you have than it is to start something brand new. You might think that lowering your price is going to save you time and get people to commit faster, and if that’s your approach, we want you to take a long, hard look at it. The time you spend on building relationships right now will just be reallocated. That time isn’t saved; it just gets moved around. We would argue that you will actually end up spending more time and more money trying to chase something at a lower price in a higher quantity!
How do you want to spend your time?
That’s the ultimate question. We would love to guide you through the process of finding a sales strategy playbook that works for you. A lot of that involves doing a deep dive into your historical data. We like to look at the facts: what has already happened? What can be easily predicted? How do we connect those things so that they come to fruition for you? This sparks new ideas and strategies you may not have thought of before.
Quote This
Giving your service offering a new messaging lens is an interesting approach, because, as a service provider, it’s easy to get in a rut.
Highlights
What to do when it’s time to move an existing offer into a new room [0:12:04]
Our favorite way to take what you sell and sell it in a new or different way [0:17:02]
The right time to come up with an ancillary offer for your existing audience [0:22:45]
Today’s Guest:
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
The Strategy Hour Podcast is a twice weekly show hosted by Abagail Pumphrey and Emylee Williams, the founders of Boss Project. Join us for semi-ranty biz conversations for service providers looking to ethically grow their agency businesses. Episodes cover everything from lead generation to leadership mindset to team culture and beyond.
Key Topics:
Sales strategy, Naming your products and services, Creating offers, Networking, Business building, Client conversations
