There’s a lot of temptation in the industry, especially these days, to throw the bébé out with the bathwater a liiiittle too quickly when it comes to our offers.
Even if it’s something you’re REALLY excited about, sometimes if what you’ve built…
Doesn’t sell out immediately…
Attracts a different type of person (ahem) than you expected…
Or gets a lot of “I’m interested! But I’m not ready because __” replies in the DM’s…
… it can be REAL tempting to chuck the whole thing out your office window (and maybe your laptop with it) and start all over again with something else.
Because sometimes, going back to the drawing board entirely feels like a better idea than taking a second look at something that is clearly NOT GOOD ENOUGH (yet), AND WE NEVER WANNA SEE IT AGAIN.
(What can I say? We creative entrepreneurs are a dramatic bunch.)
Save a Badly-Executed Idea with a Little Strategic Positioning
I see this all the time with my clients — especially in my 90-minute Power Sprints as we analyze and upgrade their offers’ positioning and messaging, my VIP days as we develop a repositioning concept for a new audience or focus, and in the early stages of my Power Position coaching experience as we comb through what’s working and what’s not in the business before we start to reshape how they show up.
As you might imagine, I spend a ton of time by that proverbial open window with my clients, helping them figure out what to chuck and what to keep.
And a huge chunk of the time when it comes to their offers, I persuade them to shut that window, and turn back, still clutching their almost-chucked idea.
Because the truth is? While it’s true some offers just won’t work for whatever reason…
… MANY of the love-poured-into-’em offers I analyze and develop positioning for could be saved from the junk pile with a few pretty basic tweaks.
(Or at the very least, be given a second chance before being sent to the Great Digital Trash Bin in the Sky.)
The trick, though?
You May Need Help Seeing the Tiny-but-Crucial Details
Because you’re so close to your offer (as its courageous creator), you often can’t see the relatively minor shifts that might just change the game for you.
And often, they’re so forehead-slapping-ly simple, you just might miss ‘em.
So before you throw out that offer baby with its bathwater, rubber duckies, hopes, and dreams, let me give you two things to consider that might just change the game for your offer.
Trust me on this: I’ve seen these tweaks work, time and again.
Simple Fix Number One (for More Sales)
Problem: You’re talking to the wrong person, at the wrong level of readiness.
This is a BIG one.
If you find yourself spending a ton of time “convincing” in your messaging, that’s a red flag that you might be barking up the wrong tree.
Offer positioning often falls apart because you’re subconsciously focused on speaking to an audience that’s JUUUUUUST about 10-20% away from being ready to work with you, and you’re putting a ton of energy into getting them over that hump and into your client roster.
Nope. No ma’am. Don’t waste your time.
You need to focus your messaging on the people who are ready RIGHT NOW to buy from you, and hungry to work with someone exactly like you.
Here’s an Example of Incorrect Messaging
Imagine you’re trying to sell a Chonky Boi copywriting package.
It’s $15k all-in, and covers the full landscape of launch copy (webinar landing page, 3-5 email webinar sequence, 7-10 open-cart emails, sales page, etc.)
Let’s say you like working with established SaaS companies who want a highly strategic copy that’s more “human-sounding”, and with a splash of humor for any myriad of reasons — differentiation, a tone to match super-simple UX, whateva.
If on your sales page or in your promotion, you’re spending a ton of time on stuff like:
- What IS copywriting and why do you need it? (Wayyyy too beginner for this audience.)
- What a copywriter can help them with/take off their plate if THEY hate writing copy for themselves (Your target already knows why a copywriter is important — and they probably haven’t written their own copy in years.)
- Trying to convince them WHY they should sound more human (Again, your target knows and doesn’t need to be convinced.)
… who you’re REALLY talking to here is an early stage SaaS company who’ve never hired a copywriter before, and aren’t sure if it’s worth it.
And when they read this, your actual target audience might assume they’re a little too far along for what you offer, and will go somewhere else. sad trombone
How to Fix “Wrong Person/Wrong Readiness Level” Messaging
However, if you tweak the messaging to sound something more like:
- “I know EXACTLY why you want a more human-focused voice in your copy” — speaking directly to their current challenges and goals, cracking industry jokes about boring SaaS speak, etc. (They sit up and take notice. THIS WRITER GETS IT!)
- The lowdown on what you look for, and what makes your process about this so effective. (Oooh! This sounds COOL to them. You really know your stuff.)
- Underlining why you are THE strategic partner they’ve been looking for; notes about your background/qualifications, social proof if you’ve got it, etc. (Oh heck yeah! SOLD.)
*…*do you see how that might have a different impact on your conversions?
So ask yourself: who’s ready for me RIGHT NOW?
Who’s already at the crossroads they need to be at to see the value?
What’s going on with them, what have they already tried, what are their challenges and goals, and how can I speak directly to THOSE?
And watch what starts to shift along with your message.
Simple Fix Number Two (to Make More Sales)
Problem: Your timelines are running way too long
Ok this one took me A WHILE to get, and it required a lot of banging my head against the wall last year to figure out what was wrong.
Yes, the economy yadda yadda — but one HUGE obstacle to offers right now is we’re still operating on 2020/2021 time availability.
It seems odd to say, but in those years, it appears consumers WANTED longer timelines — 3 month, 6 month, 12 month offers were an easier sell because, for whatever reason, people felt they had more time to spare, or needed more space to think and act.
(Parents, I know I can’t speak for y’all on this one but it was indeed a trend I noticed.)
Now, life is back in full swing, and consumers are remembering: holy smokes are we a time-poor bunch!
It’s not that everyone’s seeking instant gratification, but in our current climate a 3/6/12 month offer or container can feel WILDLY intimidating, which is keeping people from committing.
Customers don’t WANT to spend months slowly making changes or combing through mountains of content. They wanna shift, and they wanna shift quickly.
Taking Too Long to Get to the Gold
Last summer, I hit the Great 2022 Wall that most of us did. Offers that had been working for YEARS were suddenly a much tougher sell.
I was bewildered. Nothing had changed about the offers or the way I sold them, and the outcomes were still desirable.
But as I looked for the patterns, I realized “time, time time” was the feedback I was getting most.
Lives were changing rapidly (babies, moves, general overwhelm), and they didn’t have time…
Buried in client work. Not now, but next time for sure…
Didn’t feel like they could commit to something for months right now. Timing wasn’t right...
Thinking between the lines of that feedback, I realized that while they once felt spacious, my longer-timeline offers were making clients feel like they might spin out completely.
(I also realized I was extending time frames to build in “security” for MYSELF, in a way. If anything went wrong, I had space to fix it. But I’m experienced enough now that I’ve outgrown that need as well — and maybe you have, too.)
‘Round these parts, when we spot a pattern, we take a swing.
Fixing Problem Timelines
So I took a critical eye to what I could trim down, sharpen up, and shift to make sure my clients got great results sooner.
It’s part of why I started selling my Positioning Puzzle VIP days (get in, get your upgrade, get out in ONE DAY) and 90-minute Power Sprints more, and condensed timelines for my Power Position AND Creative Direction offers.
And as SOON as I made that move? To shrink timelines, create quick(er)-win versions of my offers, etc?
The response was almost overwhelmingly immediate.
Times change. So take a look at your offers and see if there’s anything that feels overwhelming in your customer’s current experience of their lives — whether it’s a too-long time frame, a LOT of homework that may pile up, etc. — and see what you can strip down.
All of this to say:
If you’re standing by the “offer chucking” window right now, take a breath, take a step back, and take another look from these two angles.
I can almost promise you the bones are (very likely) still worth saving.
Make sure your positioning is the strongest it can be, for WHO is ready to work with you and the TIMELINE that would feel amazing for them… and see if anything changes before you go back to the drawing board.
After all: you won’t know until you give it one more shot.
Write on,
H
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
