014: Time To Make An Offer

Have you created your first offer? Do you have a series of offers that your perfect client avatar will be happy to buy from you and create the fabulous transformation that they want in their lives? No, not quite? Well, fair enough. When you're new, a new coach or a new course creator making an offer is one of the biggest things that you have to overcome at the very beginning. In the beginning, it's so fundamental that you address what your offer is as you start in your new profession.

Welcome to Action Take Tribe. I'm Jo Ingram. Today, it's all about creating your first offer. So first of all, let's dive in and ask

What is an offer? To be really simple, it’s anything that you can offer that you will be paid for.

It's something that creates a transformation and impact for your perfect customer and builds your business because you're making money. It could be a free offer but that isn't what we're concentrating on today, because there's a massive difference between something you offer for free and something that someone pays you for. Two big, big differences. The first is that being paid will build your business. Unless you make profit, you have not got a business, you've got a hobby. The second thing is that when you have a paid offer, you are much more likely to create massive transformation for your customers.

Have you ever heard the phrase?... “The person that pays, pays attention.” Or my favorite one, which is

The transformation starts in the transaction

When people make an investment, they make an investment in their time, energy, and themselves to actually make sure they do what they're paying for. It's true for you, right? How many times have you joined a program, perhaps it was just a freebie that you got sent into your inbox. Okay, (hands up here!)...my inbox is full of phenomenal value that I have not utilized to my own advantage. When someone offers me a little free course on something, I think “ I want that!” That sounds really useful. It lands in my inbox. Haven't done it. Why is that? Well, I haven't paid for it. I haven't put my money down and said, this is something I'm investing in and because of that, I simply haven't done it.

When you make an offer that someone pays you for, they are so much more likely to get that transformation. As a coach or a course creator, that is what we're after. We want people to transform. We want people to really get that difference in their lives. We certainly want those great testimonials and people saying, “Fantastic, thank you so much!” We want to do that for more and more people over time. So, how do you go about creating your first offer? This is a sticking point for so many newbies. As you start and you think to yourself, what could I offer? What could I charge for? I come across two main blocks. I've experienced these myself. I see it all the time in the people that I work with...The first is mindset and the second is implementation.

So let's talk about mindset for a minute here. Making an offer is a massive deal at the beginning for many people. Why is that? Well, it's talking about money exchange. Put your hand up right now, if you have a money mindset issue. Well, I expect everyone's hands should be up because we just struggle with it in so many different ways. We have to overcome it all the time. It's not just like you deal with it once and it's gone. Different things will crop up.

For newbies, in the beginning, getting paid for that first offer is a massive barrier to actually becoming a successful coach or course creator. It is also a barrier to running a profitable business. So, if you're finding that making an offer is difficult because you don't feel that you have something worth asking money for, look at yourself really carefully and ask yourself two questions.

First, “Have I created a difference, change or improvement in my own life and is that what I'm helping somebody else do?” or “Have I already helped somebody else do this in some way?” And if the answer to either of these is yes, you deserve to be paid for the transformation you can create.

Something I've heard many times now is people saying, ”But I'm not good enough, I haven't done this for very long, I don't know all the answers” or “I’m not as far ahead as I would like to be. How can I possibly ask someone to pay me for this information when I don't feel that confidence in myself?” Well, first of all, take a deep breath, because it's hard for everyone. I get it. I get it a hundred percent. I've been in this business well under a year, myself. I understand all of the steps that we have to take to get through that first difficult year to become the person we're proud of stepping up in our own business.

But first of all, do not forget that you don't have to be the finished article in order to help somebody else. And in actual fact, many people don't want to learn from others that they perceive to be too far ahead. It seems unrealistic. It seems that they'll never achieve what that other person has. Actually, what they want to see is someone just a few steps ahead. They want to be able to relate to your struggles in your journey. So literally just being that 10 millimeters ahead of somebody else. Those two steps are actually a massive benefit. So be proud of the fact that you are only where they were yesterday or so it seems. Tell your customers and clients, “I know exactly how you feel because it was a short time ago that I was in your situation. I am only a few steps ahead and I can help you create this same transformation.” Tell them “I'm going to walk you through those steps.” That's the promise. It isn't more dramatic than that.

The second block is about implementation. You know what you need to do, but you just haven't done it. You're not quite sure what the steps are to go through to create that offer. What does it actually mean...Create an offer? How do you put it out in the world and charge for it and market it and all the steps you need to actually be paid to do something? Well, this area of “offers” is a big area. Today in this episode, I'd really like to cover some of the essentials to make sure that you're on your path to creating your first offer. So you can get it out into the world sooner rather than later.

First, the important question to ask is...

“Who do you help?”

This is about your Ideal Client Avatar. We must always start here. When we create an offer, your Ideal Client Avatar is the person that you are able to help, and you need to be really clear on who they are and what they need. Until you've got that bit in place, creating the offers is far more difficult. So if you've skipped this or you're a bit unclear, always go back to make sure that you've researched your client avatar first.

Find out what problem they actually have. These are their pain points. Where is it that they are starting from? A point perhaps, where you started from? Perhaps you're really familiar with the pain points. Perhaps you need to get it in their own words. Drop into Facebook groups, speak to your avatars, ask them “What is it that you're feeling right now?”

The second part, to that same equation is “What do they want?” So, if the problem they have is ‘Point A’ then what they want is ‘Point B’. Point B is their needs and desires. They want to travel from Point A to Point B as quickly and smoothly as possible. That's where you come in. You need to ask yourself,

“How can I help get them from Point A to Point B? What is the path that they can travel, that I can help them with?” Your offer is within that space.

You will offer them tools for transformation that get them from Point A to Point B. It's like, you're the vehicle that will help them travel along and you're going to present it to them as the promise…”I will help you get from your Point A to your Point B, with this tool for transformation and that's my offer.”

It's only when we create that offer, that we can create impact.

Most of us are in this because we want to create impact. We want meaning in our lives. We want to help others. We want to build great businesses while we're doing it. Creating impact can only happen when you launch an offer. Now, there are lots of different offers out there. Sure, you can do coaching. You can do courses, programs, evergreen courses. There are pop-up workshops. Lots and lots of different ways that you can create an offer.

I would encourage you if you're at the point, where making that first offer to get paid your worth is something that's a challenge for you, then start where you are. Please don't over-complicate things by thinking you need to create a 12 week program in order to launch your first offer. It is fantastic to have the ambition and want to create your program and I would encourage you to do so, but I would also say never let that stop you putting your first offer out.

Now, when I put my first offer out, I actually just started where I was. I knew I could help my clients get unstuck. I'm a business coach. I specialize in helping people overcome mindset blocks. That's what I said right at the beginning and I still do. I've since added strategic help. So I can help people actually formulate their online business and take all the necessary action steps but I didn't have that on day one. On day one I knew I could help people take action. I literally just put the offer out and said, I will do an hour of coaching. We'll go over any of the issues that you've got. Find out what's blocking you. Get you unstuck and get you moving on again.

That offer went really, really well. I found that people were coming to me. They were getting that transformation in that one hour that they need. And in time started booking packages with me but that isn't how I started. I just started with that ‘get unstuck in one hour’ offer. Now for you, that could look slightly different but the lesson that I'm sharing, which is start where you are, means offer something simple and offer it. Don't wait till you have all of the tools in your toolbox before you're able to say, “I am this.” You ARE it, right now. Just look to see how you can help and do it. Go through the exercise about your ICA and make an offer. The reason it's so important is because you are needed. The reason you are pursuing this path is because you have something to share and something to give, and while you're holding it back and you're not making the offer, you're not able to really step into your power.

So I hope I'd helped you a little today and it's becoming a little bit clearer about making an offer. I would love to hear of what offer you come up with and what your first step is. Please DM me, share it with me. And if you've enjoyed this podcast, of course, please do subscribe, write me a review on Apple podcasts, which would be absolutely amazing and share it with other new coaches. It's my ambition to help a hundred coaches personally this year, I've set that as my target and I want to help many, many more by sharing my podcast. So please get in touch, if there's any subjects that you'd like to see me cover. Have an action filled week, speak soon. Bye now