Here’s a Business-Creating Secret that will Jump-Start Your Success

Your enemy: Indecision

Every business has the frustration of somehow convincing customers to go forward and sign on the dotted line. Right?

Quite often, their hesitation is due to one thing that you’re not giving them. And when I say one thing, I mean just that.

You need to sell what you do, as nearly as possible, as a thing.

How  many companies position themselves like this: “We provide technology solutions!” What’s that? Nobody knows. It has no shape, no definition, no beginning or end, no price tag. I cannot envision it.

Here’s the deal: nobody wants to part with money for something they don’t understand. High risk + feeling uncertain = no decision.

This is a particular challenge if your offerings are knowledge- (or technology-) based, or involve consulting, or scale up to potentially big-ticket price tags. A lot of us live and breathe in that less-concrete space.

Solution: Get Tangible

In fact, most of the time we purchase things that have a size, a shape, a set of items, and a limited price tag. People like to buy tangibles. Preferably bite-sized, at first.

So, if you are a provider, one of your greatest opportunities is packaging what you do in a way that can be easily explained, easily grasped, and easily bought.

Thing-ify it.

For instance: let’s say that you’re a gifted remodeler. You come to my house based on a cold call and start waxing eloquent about the potential do a total makeover of my entire house and yard. You talk on and on about all the great stuff you’ve done, but all I’m sensing is a huge price tag with no clear boundaries in sight. Too much risk, and not enough definition.

Solution? You let me know that you can do the entire project if desired, but you pick one very tangible piece of low-hanging fruit – let’s say, a single bathroom. Limited, definable, and lower-risk. I’m much more inclined to pull the trigger. Do a great job there, and now I’m ready to talk about bigger packages.

Labels, Levels, Packages

I had to go through this “thingification” process with my own Clarity Consulting practice. What I do is help individuals and businesses discover their marketplace “fit” and articulate their go-to-market offerings and messages. I’m like a combination consultant/coach/branding agency/therapist. But you know what? That’s pretty abstract.

So I have a document breaking down the offerings – each with its own label – into specific time frames and deliverables. A Clarity session has a well-defined start with borders and limits and – very important – a no-scope-creep price tag. It’s a thing.

I was talking to an entrepreneur last week and she was trying to decide how to approach her potential customers. I mentioned the Gold-Silver-Bronze analogy that I’ve often used with providers – have different offerings at different price levels, and make sure that the entry-level offering is a low-price, low-risk, easy-commitment package with a clear and tangible deliverable. You may very well have a great $100,000 offering, but new clients will make a much quicker decision on your $7,500 package – and if they love it, they’re much more inclined to trust you with the bigger stuff.

Remember – you understand what you do far more deeply than your client. They aren’t as certain. You do them (and yourself) a huge favor by making your foot-in-the-door service or product as concrete and clear as possible.

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Also on the blog: How to Waste Thousands of Marketing Dollars with One Simple Trick

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