by David Andrew Wiebe | Nov 26, 2022 | Productivity
Put more stringent measures into place to protect your time, and there will be immediate pushback from your partners, colleagues, collaborators, clients, and peers.
“Who do you think you are? Do you think your time is more valuable than mine?”
“Does this mean we can’t have three-hour conversations sorting out all the details of our next event?”
“I never knew you took your time and boundaries so seriously. Has this always been a concern for you?”
What your colleagues don’t appreciate is that you’re looking to create a workable, sustainable schedule for yourself. And by the time you’ve established a tenable plan, your productivity isn’t going to suffer. It’s going to increase. The people around you are the ones that are ultimately going to benefit from you setting more rails around your time.
You know yourself better than anyone else. That also means you are more qualified to devise a plan and stack the deck in your favor than anyone else. No one else can tell you how to live. They may have helpful suggestions, but at the end of the day you’ve got to make up your mind for yourself.
If you want to achieve next level productivity, then it’s all about setting yourself layers behind the frontlines. It’s about batch processing your email, returning texts when it best suits you, selectively ignoring communication as you see fit. It’s about delegating tasks and activity that are below your paygrade and handing off tasks to other capable people.
God forbid you might get a book written if you had an hour to spare in your day.
Fundamentally, most people aren’t going to be onboard with you opting to protect your time, and that may well be one of the greatest challenges you’ll face in setting up a moat around your castle.
But it must be done. You can’t get to where you want to go in life if you’re distractable, interruptible, contactable at all hours of the day. Someone will always be there to add to your to-do list.
Certainly, take on anything that’s aligned with your goals. But do it on your own terms. Choose when you return communication. Don’t let someone else tell you how it’s supposed to work. You make the rules.
by David Andrew Wiebe | Dec 28, 2020 | Entrepreneurship
You can have an awesome product that never sells. You can also have a terrible product that sells like gangbusters.
How could that be?
Well, it has a lot to do with how irresistible your offer is.
Now, I’m not suggesting you create a terrible product with a candy coating. That’s snake oil sales at its ugliest.
But you could also put all your blood, sweat, and tears into something amazing that no one buys. And that can be shattering.
So, here are some thoughts on creating an irresistible offer.
Know Your Audience
Whether common sense or trite, I feel like I’m beating a dead horse whenever I bring this up. Which is why I sometimes glance over it.
But it must be said, because you’re not going to rack up sales with a tone-deaf offer. You must know who your offer is for.
It’s like if someone came to Music Entrepreneur HQ and pitched a guest post about the environment (oh wait, this actually happened!).
Sorry, though many musicians are environmentally conscious, trying to sell them your recycling services is going to prove an uphill battle.
What are musicians interested in? Growing their fan base. Getting listeners for their music. Bringing a crowd to their shows. And so on.
There might be an opportunity to sneak in some tips about reducing their carbon footprint in an offer that covers one or more of the topics just mentioned. But it would be best to assume no opportunity, because you want your content to be focused and targeted.
Who is interested in recycling services? That’s what you’d want to figure out before pitching your offer.
In like manner, if you wish to create an irresistible offer, you must know your audience and what their needs are. If you can, go and ask them now.
Make it Valuable
Australian bogger Darren Rowse co-authored ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income (affiliate link) with Chris Garrett.
This book has instant magnetism to anyone who a) blogs and b) wants to make money blogging.
I bought a copy many years ago, because both a and b applied to me.
As I began reading it, I soon figured out that there were no secrets (at least none which I didn’t already know), at which point the book became a little less valuable to me. But the copy still hooked me and that got me in the door. And overall, I don’t regret the purchase.
So, consider what would be valuable to your audience.
Are business consultants looking for more clients? Almost always!
Are podcasters looking to build a bigger audience? Unless their name is Joe Rogan, and they’re just doing it for fun, the answer is yes!
I would suggest taking a little more of an investigative approach to figuring out what your audience truly desires (don’t just assume), but I think you get the point.
Once you know your audience and what problem you’re solving, it’s just a matter of wrapping it in a sexy outer coating.
Let’s go with the podcast example. You could name your product:
How to Grow Your Podcast Audience
Or…
How to 10x Your Podcast Audience in 90 Days or Less
Which seems more attractive to you?
Build Authority & Credibility
Again, I feel as though I’m beating a dead horse.
But I’ve thought back on my purchases over the past year, and I must say, most of them were based on my partiality to certain personalities. Meaning, I bought from those I know, liked, and trusted.
And that’s generally how business works. People don’t just buy randomly. At least not very often.
Sure, people binge and go on shopping sprees. But even then, most of the time, you could say their behavior was predictable based on interests and past purchases.
So, the question is, how do you become known by your target audience? How can you be seen favorably by them? What signals would they be looking for? What achievements, accomplishments, or experience would speak to them? How could you position yourself uniquely in the market?
These are critical questions. And they all deserve thoughtful answers.
I’ve seen marketers make up B.S. backstories to appeal to their target audience, and sorry, that’s just not my thing. If you want longevity in your niche, I’d warn against such fabrication.
Earn your authority. Earn your credentials.
And until that day, just keep documenting your journey. Your audience will come along for the ride. And to your delight, they will buy your stuff anyway, especially if they see you in your transparency and authenticity rather than your bravado.
More isn’t Always Better
Writing definitive long form guides has shown to be effective. This statement is problematic.
Yes, it was the wont of yesteryear marketers, and to an extent, it still has its place. It can certainly help with SEO, though it shouldn’t be thought of as a silver bullet.
But let’s look at this with regards to an offer.
If someone had 77 Marketers Reveal Their Top Marketing Secrets for 2021 as their offer, it could seem overwhelming to prospects instead of being irresistible.
It depends, at least somewhat, on who the featured marketers are. But chances are I won’t know all of them, I won’t heed all their advice, and I probably won’t gain much by listening to all of them either (focus is spelt Follow One Course Until Success).
Even if you find you get a high conversion rate with an offer like that, chances are your engagement rate will suffer. And that’s not what you want unless you’re after a “quick buck.”
Something like this would probably work better as a lead magnet. Even though it might have the density of what some might consider a product, people aren’t always looking for denser material.
If you focus instead on helping your audience get quick wins, and stack on those, I think you will find your infoproducts more engaged.
Although I’m all for sales funnels, big bonus stacks with inflated value and gigabytes of content aren’t universally appealing. Again, assume people want fast results, and if you can get them wins upfront, they will stick with you for longer. It’s all about whether to play the long game or the short game.
Get the Pricing Right
The final piece of the puzzle is pricing. As with every other component of the offer, pricing strategy is something we could easily spend another 1,200 words on (if not more).
But let me ask you this:
How could pricing not play a part in creating an irresistible offer? It’s critical, because it’s part of the appeal.
I’m far more likely to buy a $600 course for $7 (something I literally did a couple of weeks ago) than to purchase it at full price, even if the value was there.
This isn’t to say you should go as cheap as you can. In a race to the bottom, Walmart is the only winner. Remember that.
And as I already said, it’s not necessarily about the value stack either, though there can be something attractive about an eBook that comes with three expert interviews and 10 video tutorials, just as an example (Nathan Barry has something like this).
Nathan Barry’s three-tier offer.
If the value stack is our chosen strategy, then we need to ensure it is in fact valuable (each product should solve a problem the last one created).
But let’s face it – many people sell “fake” value stacks. They just break one product broken down into six – three core pieces and three bonuses.
An irresistible offer can be at any price. It doesn’t need to be cheap. But it does need to reflect the value offered, be something the market can bear, and be more customer oriented than seller oriented (that’s key!).
Irresistible Offer, Final Thoughts
So, if you:
- Understand your audience
- Create a valuable offer
- Build your authority and credibility (presence) with your audience
- Give your audience exactly what they need
- Price it at a rate your customers would be delighted by
You’ve got your irresistible offer.
Note that it can take time and effort to put all these pieces into place, but if you want to make an awesome product that also sells, you’ve got to put the work in.
What offer will you be creating in 2021?
Let me know in the comments.
Shh… Don’t tell anyone. Only the cool kids are talking about it.
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