Building an Incentive and Irresistible Offer

Creating compelling incentives and irresistible offers is probably the second hardest skill for any person in sales and marketing to develop. And it is a skill that greatly reduces the number of contacts needed with a prospect to make the sale.

Let’s talk a minute about what an incentive and irresistible offer is not.

• A weekly special is not much of an incentive; and it is definitely not an irresistible offer.

• A discounted price is neither much of an incentive, nor an irresistible offer.

• Limited quantity and limited time is a bit more of an incentive; but it is still not an irresistible offer.

Think about it in simple retail terms. It’s not the biggest incentive or irresistible offer, but it will make a point.

You see an ad for tuna Tuesday, four cans to a customer. Liking tuna, you clip the coupon and plan on doing your tuna shopping Tuesday. But you really like tuna and go through a lot more than four cans in a week so you plan on bringing a friend or going to the store more than once.

This simple, and maybe a little silly, example shows how a business owner can orchestrate events to his planning, productivity and profit advantage and how a buyer can be persuaded. The business is in control of the logistics. By pulling the consumer into the store for one thing, he knows the consumer will usually walk out with more. The store will further influence the consumer by positioning items that “work well” with tuna sales- mayonnaise, bread, potato chips, soft drinks, higher priced tuna and other fish, etc. The business is maximizing up-sell and cross-sell.

Still, this is not a real compelling incentive, nor is it an irresistible offer. It’s just a limited time, limited quantity, reduced price offer. There is no promise here without which one cannot live. So the question remains. Can you do this with a business-to-business sale?

Frankly, in the corporate environment it is practically impossible. Whether by design or by accident, because of fear, or greed, because of lack of confidence, or just plain not understanding, corporations struggle with the concept of incentive and irresistible offer and execute poorly, if at all. Unfortunately, hoping to follow perceived success, most small businesses shadow big business in this pattern. And that’s to your advantage.

The truth here is that successful businesses, large and small, break those rules and reap the reward. Here are a couple of ideas to help you build your business-to-business incentive and irresistible offer.

Create a legitimate scarcity

Build a targeted, powerful message based on expertise, customer testimonials and results and let prospects now that to maintain the high quality of work you are only accepting a specific number of new business accounts in a defined period.

Develop a value added service (maybe something you already have) that complements the product or service you are selling and offer it for a limited time or only for the first x number of new customers.

Let prospects know you are serious by posting and publicizing a ‘countdown.’ And keep it real. Stick to it. Once the time limit passes or the slots fill, keep it that way. At a future time, you can re-open the incentive using its overwhelming success in helping customers with problems as a legitimate reason.

Reverse, mitigate or eliminate risk

Think about all the objections a potential customer has and then think of way to address those concerns. Use this list to create guarantees and warranties to bury the objection and risk so deeply that it cannot possibly be a serious deterrent to doing business with you. Really stretch yourself to point of being uncomfortable. At the point of discomfort, assuming you correctly understand the prospect’s concerns to begin with, you are feeling the same feeling your prospect is feeling and eliminating barriers to do business with you.

Even if you don’t want to lay it all out in the beginning, hold it in reserve for negotiations.

Then, maximize the power of this “anti-deterrent” by building it into your message, presentations and proposals.

Now to make it hmmm.

Giving a 110% money back lifetime guarantee on a product or service purchased within a defined period is powerful, but it is still just a form of barrier removal. It is not a reason to take action.

To create a strong call to action, be a problem solver. To build a strong incentive and irresistible offer take a hard look at your prospect’s issues, your product and service and start developing your P3.U3.P.S. ™

That is the picture, promise and proof of your unique offering in an understandable and useful way that solves your prospect’s problem. Giving your prospect something of extreme value to him creates a trigger for him to reciprocate, it gives him a reason to take your phone call, for example.

• Picture
• Promise
• Proof
• Unique
• Understandable
• Useful
• Problem Solving

Use graphs and graphics. Use numbers and percentages. Paint pictures and tell stories of results. Don’t just say easier, faster and better. Show how it is easier, faster and better. Then go a step further in showing how well you understand your prospect by helping your prospect see what that means to him. Explain why it is easier, faster and better; then link the “why” to the “how” to help paint your prospect into the picture.

Download the full report “28 days and 28 ways to more consistent revenue- the new ABC’s of selling in the 21st century” here: http://bit.ly/aJaDax

Be the Hero.
Mark

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Mark H Daniels is a B2B and B2C sales strategist, coach and copywriter helping people and businesses present themselves in print, in person, and on the web in a way that has prospects and customers making decisions in their favor and saying “thanks.”

Learn more about why companies seek Mark’s services and what My Sales Hero does at http://www.mysaleshero.net/. Contact Mark by email at mark@mysaleshero.net  or call 732-417-0680.