So… What exactly is an Offer?
Since “offer” is just another word, let’s bring some definition to it in the context that I’m referring to it.
An offer is a value proposition.
A value proposition essentially conveys to your customers why they should work with you and clearly communicates the benefits of your product or service.
There are a number of things that constitute the value of any offer.
I’d be mistaken if I didn’t reference Alex Hermozi here and his grand slam offer equation.
When it comes to offer creation, this simple equation and Alex’s book 100M Offers have likely helped a lot of people make a good chunk of change.
But here’s the thing with coaching.
Most of the factors in this equation stay consistent.
- Perceived likelihood of achievement is similar if you’re doing the work to market to your ideal avatar
- Time delay along with effort and sacrifice are also pretty consistent across the board (may vary if it’s DFY, DWY, or DIY but I’m talking specifically about 1:1 coaching here)
The hard deliverables of what the client gets with coaching are pretty standard as well…
A certain number of calls
Maybe some training videos
Worksheets and resources
Support in between calls
That’s about it.
When it comes to coaching there’s one thing (or set of things) that determines the value of an offer more than anything else.
How big of a problem are you solving?
The purpose of coaching is to support people in creating some kind of change.
And in most cases to solve a very specific problem or set of problems.
The quality of the problem you solve will be the biggest determinant of value.
Your ability to articulate what that problem is and show that you have and can support them in solving it is what will make your offer impossible to refuse because you’re speaking to a the one thing that drives commerce.
Demand
If you want to increase the value of your offer, solve a bigger problem.
Helping a couple save their marriage is a high-value problem and will save them from the wake that comes after divorce.
Helping coaches and creators craft an offer they’re excited to market and deliver so they can create a 6-7 figure income and get more calls on the calendar is a high-value problem.
Helping someone embody confidence so they can completely slay speaking from the stage is a high-value problem.
Pointing a skill or tool set at a specific type of person also increases the value not because it’s more niche necessarily but because when that person solves that problem, they can be more effective in their job or role.
Productivity for CEOs would be priced way higher than productivity for high school students.
The risk and reward is MUCH higher for the CEO.
If someone wants to solve a problem bad enough and solving that problem will significantly improve the quality of their life, business, financial ability, health, etc. they will feel as if they HAVE TO buy.
That’s if you know how to speak to them.
What you’re doing now that probably isn’t working
If you’re doing any of these things, you’re likely not seeing the results you want to see in your business…
- Thinking that you just need to have a label and that will be enough… embodiment coach, men’s coach, business coach, etc.
- Selling single sessions instead of coaching packages that are focused on long-term transformation
- Selling “coaching” instead of the transformation your ideal client will experience
- Having so many offers (across different niches because you can’t decide which one) that you confuse your buyers
- Slightly changing your offer to meet the demands of who is right in front of you instead of putting out a powerful offer for a specific person
- Being sloppy with your content and just posting what feels good or when you feel inspired hoping that someone will say yes to your half-baked offer
The reason you’re not seeing the results you want to see is that you’re not focused on the one thing that will communicate the value of your offer more than anything else.
The problems your solution can resolve and the steps needed to get there
Now here’s the thing…
You may not know what you want to offer. And that’s okay.
If that’s the case, however, you’re going to want to check out my previous article on The Action-Based Approach to Defining Your Offer and Audience.
For the sake of this article, let’s assume you know who your offer is for and unpack specifically how to design your offer and what problem (or set of problems) it solves.
Every problem has a solution (this is how you build an offer they can’t refuse)
Right now, your potential customer is experiencing something that’s in the way of them achieving a goal or objective, and in some cases, creating an entirely different life or business.
On one side of the spectrum, they have their current reality, and on the other side, their desired outcome.
Along this path is a set of smaller problems or milestones they need to hit in order to successfully achieve their desired outcome.
The Step-by-Step Guide
On a 30,000 ft level, you need to understand the greater transformation your potential client is looking to achieve. Where they are now, and where they want to be.
This greater transformation your ideal client wants to achieve is what I call The Promise. It’s the potential for what they can create if they put in the work.
There are also milestones they hit along the way.
When these add up, they equal the larger transformation.
I’m going to break down what this looks like for most of my clients.
The Transformational Path
When most coaches and creators come to me they are either having inconsistent income months in their business and want to create consistent 10-20k months or they want to take their business to the next level and either double or triple their income.
Their current reality may be something like…
I’m inconsistently hitting 3-4k months.
And I want to consistently hit 10k-20k months.
This is the greater transformation.
In order for them to see results there are a handful of things that need to happen along this path:
The nuts and bolts
- Knowing your values and goals because that will guide how you do what you do and what you do to get to the goal
- What kind of business do you want (1:1, group coaching, retreats, live events, small group masterminds)
- What do you want your lifestyle to look like (this dictates what kind of business you have)
- Your signature offer. What is the main offer you’re going to market for now to your audience?
Marketing
- Messaging – how you speak to the person you want to serve about what you can support them with as well as your tone and style
- Content creation (systems for idea capture, post types, when to post and how much, what platforms you’re going to be on, etc.)
- Building an email list so you bring your audience over to something you own (creating opt-in offers, newsletter, and how you nurture your audience)
Conversations
- Sending messages (DMing new followers, likes, comments, and engaging in conversations)
- Email marketing
- Picking what social media platforms to produce content for and deeply understanding how to maximize that channel
- How to start conversations in person without sounding salesy
Conversions
- Turning your DM conversations into calls
- Booking calls from your email list
- How often to follow up with prospects
- How to optimize your enrollment calls
Delivery
- This starts with the onboarding process… prework, setting up the client portal, etc.
- Any resources they get along with coaching
- Where support happens… email, Voxer, Telegram etc.
Now the path starts to look like this…
This should give you a very clear picture of what needs to happen in order to hit the goal on the other side.
When I started seeing the level of nuance that’s involved with all the steps my clients have to take in order to achieve the greater transformation, EVERYTHING changed.
Because the path they had to take became VERY clear.
When your ideal client sees these topics and milestones conveyed via content, webinars, opt-in offers, etc. they start to see that you can support them in this transformation.
They feel seen and understood.
The bigger problem here is income generation.
And when all of these things are done correctly, that bigger problem is solved.
They also serve as endless content ideas.
- How to define your goals and values so you stay focused and hit those 10k months
- Design a life around your business, not the other way around
- How to create a signature offer that sells
This is what makes up the fabric of your content and marketing material.
It’s what you’ll speak to on sales pages.
It’s what you’ll use to help people identify the problem they have and how to fix it.
And it’s ultimately what determines the value of your offer.
Assembling your client’s transformational path
Start wide and then go deep.
Identify the greater transformation your ideal client desires.
Where are they now and where do they want to go?
These are the opposite sides of the spectrum.
From there, you want to break that down into steps.
You can do that in terms of what problems they have that they need to solve or the steps you know they need to take in order to reach the greater goal.
Once you have all this you now have the transformational path and you can plot this along the line like I did above.
All of these steps and milestones make up the value of your offer.
When your ideal client realizes that they need to traverse this path in order to achieve their goal, they now have a clear picture of what it will take to reach the outcome.
And when they see them, if they don’t know how to do those things, or solve those problems, you’ve now just successfully created demand.
To wrap it up
Your offer provides value in the form of solving a set of problems or reaching milestones. These problems become the focus of you “marketing” your offer. When you utilize this path that your customers have to take you help them to start chipping away at their problems via your content, which in and of itself shows proof that you know how to help them solve their problems.
When you understand the problems your customers are facing and what they need to do in order to overcome them and you message around them, you speak to the demand that’s already there and you’re creating more as you make them aware of problems they didn’t even know they had.
Chat soon,
Jeff Agostinelli
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