This book is not about the audience or our personal head trash. This book is about making great offers. Now that we have addressed the audience and the head trash, let’s learn how to make our offers appealing.

Q. So what is the #3 factor in making great offers?

Answer: The actual offer. The option we give to our prospects.

While there are many strategies and tactics, let’s keep our focus on:

• Creating our offers.
• Positioning our offers.
• And how we describe our offers.

Time for some fun now. We finally can make our offer.

Our head trash is gone. If we make an offer now, make it an option, and present it to prospects who qualify … then two things can happen.

1. Our prospects will say “no” to the option we gift to them. This doesn’t mean we are bad. It only means the option we offered was bad for them at this moment. (And yes, we can try again with a better option.)
2. Our prospects will say “yes” to the option we gift to them. Done. And now we can be partners while going through the details.

Do we like things in easy-to-follow steps?

Then we will plan our offer carefully. We won’t make up an offer and tell ourselves, “I have a good feeling about this offer.” Let’s save our feelings for our therapists.

For our prospects, we need an offer so good that they will feel silly for turning our offer down. We want to make our offer a “no-brainer”, so our prospects can make their decisions fast.

Will we create a great offer on our first try?

No.

In the beginning, we will be underwhelming. Later, when we get better at making our offers, we will look back and cringe at our first attempts. This is normal as we get better the more we practice.

What steps should we take to start our offer-making skills? How about these:

Step #1:Understanding our audience. This is why listening to our prospects’ problems makes so much sense.

Step #2:Create an option for our prospects that is better than their current situation.

Step #3:Present our option as a gift. They can use the gift or not. This removes our agenda and calms our prospects.

Common sense. No need to be complicated. Simple is better. Prospects like simple.No need to impress or use hype.

If our offer is better for our prospects than keeping their current situation, they will want it.

We don’t have to have superstar persuasion skills. We don’t want to manipulate or convince our prospects into doing something they don’t want. We offer a better option. That’s it!

If our offer is easy for prospects to understand, they can make an instant decision before we ever explain the details.

Really?

Yes. Before our presentation.

Instant offers. Instant decisions.

How fast do prospects make up their minds? Lightning fast. Our brains have many things to think about. We have to decide if this current thought deserves more time, or if we should move on to the next thought. So, when we present an offer, prospects will pre-judge it and pre-judge it harshly in seconds.

How about an easy example? Ready?

You are starved. Hungry, hungry, hungry. I call and say, “Hey, I just picked up a hot pizza and a chocolate cake at the bakery. Mind if I come over?”

Hmmm. A pretty good offer. You are hungry. You like pizza. You love chocolate cake. I am only minutes away. How fast can you make a decision?

You answer, “I will leave the front door open!”

You didn’t need to know the ingredients of the cake. You didn’t even ask what type of pizza I had. Did you want to know about the company founder of the pizzeria? Did you want to hear testimonials about the chocolate cake?

No!

The decision was instant.

I had a great offer to a qualified and starving prospect with a hunger problem. I didn’t need any persuasion skills or magic words.

Offer. One-second decision. Done.

Oh.

And this is the power of making a great offer to prospects. They can decide instantly.

Why is this important?

Think about our new team members. Will they have instant, high-level network marketing and persuasion skills when they join? Of course not.

But we can give them immediate success if we equip them with powerful offers. Now they can experience some success while learning the skills of our profession.

Here are examples of simple offers, where prospects make decisions after only a few words.

• Eat cookies. Lose weight.
• Turn your body into a fat-burning machine.
• Remove wrinkles while you sleep.
• Never overpay your mobile phone bill again.
• Fire your boss, and be your own boss.
• Live longer instead of dying quickly.
• Stop commuting and work from home.
• Retire before your parents do, and at full pay.
• Help your parents retire when you do, so you can enjoy free vacations together.
• Have three-day weekends forever.
• Get an extra paycheck every Friday.
• Make our skin look like a teenager’s, but without the acne.
• Lose 10 pounds in the next 14 days.
• Get paid when your neighbors turn on their lights.
• Keep your current electricity supplier, but let us send you a lower bill. Use the savings for tacos for the family.
• Instant natural energy in a capsule, for 1/10th the cost of a Starbucks.
• In the next 60 days you could lose 20 pounds of unwanted body fat, without joining a sweaty gym.

Only a few words to make a decision? Yes. Unsure? Then let’s make it even fewer words. Ready?

• Sugar-free
• One calorie
• On sale
• Turbo
• Proven results
• Best-seller
• Best-value
• New arrival
• Instant savings

Did we feel it?

How fast did our minds make a “yes” or “no” decision?

Fast, right? We know if this is something we want or not.

Yikes. This brings up an uncomfortable reality.

“The first few words or sentences of our offer could be 95% of our success!”

If our offer solves our prospects’ problems and fixes our prospects’ pain, their decision is easy.

We don’t have to be a bargain.

We don’t have to be the lowest price with the best terms.

Yes, prospects want a deal.

Yes, prospects want value.

But most of all, prospects want to stop the pain of their problems!

Instant decisions, but could we stretch our mindset further?

Consider the possibility that making an offer is better than leads.

Salespeople beg and scream for high-quality leads that are pre-sold. They want pre-screened, stress-free prospects so they can read a brochure to them. Well, that is a salesperson’s fantasy, but not reality. These salespeople don’t even want to invest in the work of building rapport and trust.

But what if for a moment we forget about leads? We forget about targeting. We forget about funnels.

Instead, we consider a different way.

What if we offered a simple option to everyone in seconds? What would happen?

First, prospects react to getting an option instead of being sold through a sales presentation.

They think, “Let me hear the option to see if it would serve me or not. The only way an option can benefit me is if I take it. Let me look for positive ways that this option will work.”

Now they are looking for “reasons why” our offer can work for them.

Prospects continue thinking. “Because this is an option, you are giving me the power to see if it fits my life now or not. I am in control of the decision. I won’t feel manipulated by some persuasive sales technique by you. No need to be defensive.”

Now we prevent rejection. This feels so good.

Our simple offer takes seconds.

This way is faster than pre-qualifying a lead

All we do is gift an option, an option that is better than our prospects’ current situation. We allow our intelligent prospects to choose what is best for them at this time in their lives.

Prospects are not dumb. They can choose between something that will improve their lives, or keep their lives the same.

Their thoughts might be:

• “Do I want more money in my life, or less money?”
• “Do I want to lose weight one time and keep it off forever?”
• “Do I want to keep my wrinkles or get rid of them?”
• “I can do math. A lower bill is better than a bigger monthly bill.”
• “Does retiring early feel better than working to age 80?”
• “Work from home or continue to fight an hour of traffic every morning?”

Our simple offer could take seconds, and it’s faster than pre-qualifying a lead.

We gift an option that’s better than what our prospects currently have, and let them choose what’s best for them at this time in their lives.

Prospects aren’t dumb. They can choose between something that will improve their lives or they can keep their problems.

“But my product is so boring. I can only think of one or two short offers.”

Really?

Or are we being lazy and unimaginative?

Take any product or service and start collecting ideas now. Once we know that we are looking for fast and easy ways to make an offer, we will notice these gems in the future. Need an example?

A skincare and cosmetic networker asked for a few starter offers. Here were some of our initial suggestions to her.

• “Makes your skin look so good, you will never have to wear makeup again.”
• “Avoid the Clown School of Makeup by using our coordinated color palettes.”
• “Cheap makeup makes us look ... cheap.”
• “Skin like a baby in only 14 days.”
• “Feels so good that you can’t stop touching your skin.”
• “We call this the ‘pore-reducer.’”
• “Makes your skin look so young that you won’t be able to buy alcohol anymore.”
• “Acne-buster!”
• “Stop laying in bed at night listening to your skin wrinkle.”
• “Keep wrinkles away an extra 15 years.”
• “Wrinkle-shrinker.”
• “Lipstick that stays on your lips, not on cups and clothing.”
• “Have natural long lashes, without gluing them on.”
• “Makes your skin younger every night while you sleep.”
• “Double-chin remover.”
• “Lose those wrinkles!”
• “You never want your face to look older than you are.”
• “Facelift in a bottle.”
• “We don’t want to look like a prune.”
• “Get rid of the ‘tech-neck’ from looking at your phone all the time.”
• “Have that spa look in just 12 minutes.”

And these were only a start!

Yes, we can expand our offerings if we try.

One of my favorite single-panel cartoons is of a doctor talking to his fat businessman patient. The doctor offers:

“What fits your busy schedule better? Exercising one hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day?”

What if we don’t believe that prospects make quick decisions?

Then, we will be like John, the fact-driven network marketer. Here is his conversation with his prospects.

John bores his prospects. “B-o-n-u-s … n-u-m-b-e-r … s-e-v-e-n …”

His presentation couldn’t go any slower. Painful. And now his prospects start to twitch. Something bad is going to happen.

“We have to interrupt you, John. Don’t go any further. We don’t want to waste your time. We are not interested. This is not for us.” John’s prospects are in full eye-roll mode.

“But ... but ... how can you not be interested as you haven’t seen the whole picture yet?” John pleads to talk more.

But his prospects respond, “We have to get off this call now. We ... uh ... have a pressing appointment we must get to.”

We understand the cause of this scenario now.

Okay, but how about some clear examples

Our opening offer:

“I can help your utility bill be larger or smaller, which one would you like me to do?”

“I can help you be healthier and live longer, or help make your life shorter. Which one would you like me to talk about?”

“I can help your bank account get larger, or help it get smaller. Which one would you like to talk about?”

“I can help your skin look older … or younger. Which one is more interesting to you?”

Getting this initial “yes” decision is a start

Of course, we will have to do more. But if we start with our prospects having an open mind, and wanting our solution, the rest of our conversation gets easy. Our prospects are on our side, wanting what we offer.

Our job is to construct a creative offer that is a better option for our prospects’ lives.

But … but … what if we don’t feel creative?

Some people have natural creativity in their genes. Congratulations to them!

Us? Maybe not.

We think, “They didn’t teach me creativity in school. Probably because it was too much work to grade creativity tests. It will take me forever to train my mind to be creative!”

The good news is that we don’t have to have these exceptional creativity skills to make awesome offers. Then what do we need?

A checklist of basic tools

Each tool will prompt us to make small changes to our original boring offers. These tools help us look at new ways to improve our offers.

We don’t have to use all of these basic tools, but it is nice to look at our offers through each tool’s lens. We will see new possibilities from our new viewpoint.

And don’t worry. Yes, there are a lot of tools we could learn, but the reality? We will only need a few of these most basic tools to improve.

Let’s start looking at some of these building block tools now.