There is one lighthearted question I wish I could have asked my grandmother who passed away a few years ago, at the age of 103, just for giggles.
“Hey, grandma. Did you know that young people nowadays don’t mind paying $12 - $14 for a big bowl of quinoa salad? They even eat millet, willingly. Mind you, willingly. What do you think of that?”
Yeah, I didn’t get to ask her this, but I’m not too disappointed because I know what she would have said (although it would have been a treat just to see her reaction).
My guess is she would have said something like this:
“Why in the world would you want to eat QUINOA when you can eat bowls of pearly white rice?! Feed that to birds!”
Bear with me for a few more seconds. There is a point to this story, and it is related to how you can make your prospects say “yes” to your offer faster. I promise.
Quinoa was never a trendy health food until now, especially from where I am from, Japan.
Back in the old days, commoners couldn’t afford highly processed white rice, so they ate brown rice. When they couldn’t afford rice - any form of rice - then they would eat barley mixed with quinoa, millet & other hardy grains that didn’t taste as good as white rice.
Even if you are not of Asian descent, you can understand that by simply replacing whole wheat bread and rice with white bread and rice people in the old days would kill for this trade.
OK, getting back to the story.
So to older generations, having to eat quinoa is like a punishment. For the rest of us, eating quinoa is a symbol of “I’m taking good care of myself.”
Punishment vs. A Status Symbol. What a stark contrast! Right?
So what changed?
I will spare you the history lesson. In a nutshell, the cost of highly processed foods declined drastically due to the advancement of technology, but we also learned over time that excess consumption of highly processed foods are bad for you.
What a bummer.
The bottom line: Once highly-prized foods are commoditized, and once passionately hated hardy grains are now highly-valued and highly-priced (compared to how they were priced years ago.)
My point is this: Quinoa never changed its positioning in the market; our perception of quinoa has shifted.
What does this have to do with getting your prospects to say “yes” to your offers quickly?
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Imagine your offer is quinoa. The question, though, is whether your offer is viewed as quinoa by older generations or younger generations.
This is the main concept of this post - how to close the gap between the true value of your offer and the perceived value of your offer so that your prospects will say “yes” a lot faster.
Quinoa has been good for our health for ages. Quinoa did not suddenly change its nutritional value out of nowhere. Perhaps your offer, too, is extremely valuable.
But if the market perceives your offer to be worthless, like the way my grandma would have felt about quinoa, you will have to pull out all the guns (of persuasion techniques) to convince them otherwise. Even then, there is no guarantee you will win.
That’s not all. Even if you are able to convince your prospects, the problem is the lead time being too long & too costly. Talk about frustration.
I’m not opposed to persuasion techniques and doing promotional activities for cold audiences as part of your acquisition strategy. But this should not take over your entire business development activities unless you are a startup backed by VC funds with the goal of extreme growth over a short-term & the money to burn.
Otherwise, offers that require intense convincing force business owners to work harder and longer, which is the least optimal option. The question I want to pose in this post is, “What if there is an easier way to solve this problem?”
The good news is, there are easier ways to close the gap other than forcefully trying to convince someone how valuable your offer is. In this post, I am going to share 5 solutions for closing this gap so that your offer will become quinoa in the 21st century.
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Value vs. Perceived Value Matrix
Before we get to 5 solutions, let’s go over the matrix so that you get to assess where your current offer’s position stands.
So that we will end on a positive note, I’m going to cover the worst quadrant out of these 4 quadrants and finish it off with the most desired quadrant. Are you ready?
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The bottom left quadrant is the hopeless one that I call “crap offers.” These offers themselves do not carry any market value even to the targeted market, and the perceived value corresponds accordingly.
In this case, do not worry about closing the gap as there is no way to do so. Instead, rework your offers so that they will be shifted to the bottom right corner first.
The next one up is the upper left quadrant which I call, “nothing but hype.” When the true value of your offer is worthless yet you’re pouring marketing & sales dollars into it, you are only creating hype that is not going to last that long. So, why bother? Don’t.
The bottom right corner is where most service business owners find their offers to be in. I call this quadrant, “uphill battle.” Because there is still a noticeable gap between the offers in question and its perceived value, it takes extra energy & time to convince your leads with persuasion, discounts, fake urgency, giving away free stuff and other tactics.
If your offers are here, don’t beat yourself up. I have some of my offers that still sit in this quadrant. The difference is that I am keenly aware where my offers reside & what to do about it. And, I want you to have the same knowledge so that you’ll know what to do next.
The last quadrant is where you want all of your offers to be in. I call this quadrant, “winners’ circle.” There is very little gap between the offer in question and its perceived value. It’s possible that its perceived value may be slightly higher than the value itself. In this case, you get to charge top dollar for it without breaking a sweat.
Sweet, right?
But be careful. There is a fatigue point in this quadrant. If its perceived value gets overly inflated for whatever reason, then your offer will start to slide into the upper left quadrant - “nothing but hype” and you’ll start to get angry phone calls.
My recommendation is to first put your offer through this quadrant to gain clarity on where yours is. It will be highly unlikely that it would be in the upper right quadrant. The question is then, where?
If you aren’t selling enough, your offer is in the uphill battle quadrant. If you are selling but also getting a lot of angry calls, your offer is “nothing but a hype.”
If none of the above is happening...well...congratulations, you have a crap offer.
“Why You” is the Answer & the Bridge to Closing the Gap
Whether they admit it or not, people buy with their emotions & use logic to back up their decisions to justify later (if necessary.) In order for you to sell your offer, they need to FEEL they want YOUR offer to be the solution and not anyone else’s.
I’m bringing back quinoa to make my point. Quinoa was once despised. Quinoa is now desired. What you want is your offer to be perceived as a solution that is irresistible so that you can beat white rice a.k.a. competitors.
So, now you know that boosting people’s perception of why you are the most desired solution provider is the bridge that is going to close the gap between the true value of your offer and the perceived value of your offer. As a result, you can make your prospects say “yes” a lot faster.
But, hold your horses as I can almost hear you say,
“OK, that’s easy! I can explain all the reasons as to why my offer is the best in the market.”
Hate to break it to you, but people don’t want YOU to explain it. They want to hear from 2 different sources instead:
1. People who are just like them
2. Authoritative third parties
If you want to learn more on how people make buying decisions and why these 2 matter, I’ve shared some insightful stats in the post, “How to Supercharge Your Referral Pipeline.”
Quinoa took thousands of years to get its spotlight. You don’t have thousands of years to spare by just sitting around & waiting for people’s perception to shift. This is where my 5 suggested solutions come in handy.
5 Solutions to Get Your Prospects to Say “Yes” Faster
Ready to turn your offer into quinoa in the 21st century? OK, here are the 5 solutions I propose.
1. Boost Your Authority in the Industry Through Relevant Publications & Media Outlets.
2. Showcase Testimonials from Your Customers.
3. Share Success Stories by Putting a Spotlight on Your Customers.
4. Get Endorsements from Peers and Influencers.
5. Get Endorsements from Academia & Leading Industry Organizations.
As you can see, these 5 solutions cover 2 different desired sources people want to hear from.
#1: Boost Your Authority in the Industry Through Relevant Publications & Media Outlets.
The secret to getting this done effectively is not to go for big & broad publications or media channels. Focus on the leading authority in your specific industry and/or market to start as they are low-hanging fruit. This includes online publications, leading blogs that are well-known, and podcasts.
Be sure to keep your topic relevant to what you offer and relevant to their audience. I am not going to cover details on how to approach them here because I have a separate post covering this topic, “DIY PR: How to Be Recognized as an Expert in Your Industry.”
Here’s another secret.
Once you have a few under your belt, don’t forget to make those brand logos visible on your website as well as marketing materials. I was never fond of this idea - plastering brand logos, but I have changed my tune after realizing I, as a consumer, like to see them on business sites.
There’s something about seeing “recognizable brand logos” under the “As Featured On” section on websites that I am not familiar with. Call that a sense of assurance, although, I do view them with a grain of salt.
I’ve asked some well-regarded marketers over Twitter about this, and most of them agreed that it is an effective way to boost someone’s authority.
If you have a different view on this, please share. I’d be curious to know!
#2: Showcase Testimonials from Your Customers.
You might think #2 & #3 are the same. They are not. Testimonials are about customers expressing their satisfaction for the valuable work you have provided. On the other hand, customer success stories focus on their transformation through solving the problem they had.
People want to see testimonials to figure out if you are a trustworthy solution provider.
People want to see success stories to imagine themselves being in their shoes & to be inspired.
This is why, ideally, you want both to share with your prospects as they serve different purposes.
There are 2 secrets to collecting testimonials successfully.
1. Make it a habit to ask for one at all times so that you don’t have to scramble when you need it.
2. Get permission from them to follow a template you provide or allow you to edit.
Testimonials should be structured and outlined well so that you don’t end up with ones you can’t use. For example, “Two thumbs up!”, “Chris was so helpful & awesome!”, “I was happy with the service Chris provided.”
Why do you think these are useless as testimonials?
Right, these are too vague. They completely lack descriptions about why and how Chris helped them solve their problems.
#3: Share Success Stories by Putting a Spotlight on Your Customers
As I clearly differentiated the role of customer success stories above, success stories should be all about your customers’ success and dramatic transformation they have achieved with a touch of mention that their transformations were made possible by what you offered.
The ideal ratio would be 95 to 5 respectively. This means 95% is about their story and 5% is about your relation to their transformation.
The most effective form, when it comes to showcasing their success stories, is a video interview. But if this is too ambitious for you, they can be in a written format to start. It is better than not having any at all.
Just like testimonials, success stories should also be structured and outlined well. You certainly don’t want them to read off a script; you want them to take people on their journey in their own words. But stories should be structured so that no one gets confused.
If you are interested in learning more about this, I recommend you read Donald Miller’s book, “Building a Storybrand.”
#4: Get Endorsements from Peers and Influencers
This is a very effective solution, especially for business owners who are in the process of building their authority in the market. This is because it’s relatively easy to attain (as opposed to getting media coverage, for example.)
Let me address the big elephant in the room, which is the term “influencer.” Trust me, I don’t like the term. You might feel the same way. But for the sake of simplicity, I have decided to use this term.
Here, I use this term to describe someone who has a positive influence on the market you operate in. This has nothing to do with big time YouTubers or those on Instagram.
When you are planning to reach out to them, consider the following questions:
“Do I share the similar target market or audience but offer something they don’t offer?”
This is to avoid going head to head with what they sell so that they will be less reluctant to support your offer.
“Are they perceived as authority figures in my prospects’ eyes?”
This is about making sure the peers and influencers you are about to reach out to will have a positive impact on your prospects. This may sound obvious to you, but I have seen even big brands make this mistake time and time again, where their customers couldn’t care less about influencers brands had chosen.
To be clear, I am NOT suggesting you pay for these people to say what you want them to say. That would be inauthentic.
Instead, think of it as getting book endorsements from your book if you had written one. In most cases, book endorsers are authors and leading figures who are willing to support a book because they believe in its quality and what it delivers.
The same goes for this solution. The secret to successfully securing genuine endorsements from peers and influencers is actually no secret: invest ample time building good relationships with them so that they will WANT to support you.
Here’s another no secret fact: Peers and influencers are aware that you want to leverage their authority to validate your offer. So, if you are only asking for favors, you know it will be unlikely to get an OK from them. So, start supporting what they care about now so that, over time, you will build a healthy business relationship with them.
#5: Get Endorsements from Academia & Leading Industry Organizations
No doubt this can be a long shot, but it is absolutely worth trying. Here are some examples that belong to this category:
● Winning awards i.e: an architectural firm winning a design of the year award.
● Articles being featured in relevant publications.
● Giving a guest lecture or workshop for their members and/or students.
● Being on a panel that they host.
● Speaking at their conferences.
Start local and start with who you know is the secret to this solution. Just as the rest of 4 solutions, going for low-hanging fruit first will provide much needed confidence. Plus, these will prepare you for bigger opportunities in the future.
What I do, is make a habit to stay in touch with my university professors and classmates over social media, especially on LinkedIn. It’s not much work as I sporadically comment and like on their posts. From time to time, I casually ask them if they know someone I can talk to about giving a workshop, etc.
As a matter of fact, I am working on one right now. Rest assured, it’s not labor intensive. The most important task related to this for me would be to put it in my calendar as a reminder so that following up is easy.
Frankly, I don’t have any new slide decks or ideas to present. I would say that’s the major difference between me 8 years ago and me now, where I no longer worry about “having everything ready” for things that may not be confirmed. My mantra now is, “ask first & figure out later.”
I have to say, this has been a game-changer & served me quite well.
In case you need further inspiration for success, you can also check out this blog post: Want to be an Opportunity Magnet? 9 Secrets I Found by Observing Successful Entrepreneurs.
Your Free Stuff, Discounts & Any Other Incentives are Harmful to Your Business Unless...
Sales and marketing experts kept repeating this mantra of “Give away all of the best stuff to build trust with your audience & selling becomes much easier.”
They aren’t 100% wrong, but I do have a major issue with this advice, especially the fact that I see comments on FB or IG from service business owners saying that their stuff doesn’t sell after giving away so much free stuff. This makes me completely bent out of shape with rage.
What the experts are forgetting to tell you is this:
Your free stuff isn’t entirely free from perceived value which can be low or high.
I am sure you are sick of my analogy by now, but this is my blog & I will continue on with my analogy. You can give a bag of quinoa for absolutely free to my late grandma & she couldn’t care less about it because her perceived value of quinoa is zero.
I’m sure this will piss off some Millennials who would love to save money by getting a free bag of quinoa. But it doesn’t matter. My grandma would rather get a bag of free pearly white rice which she values a heck of a lot more.
You get the idea.
If your perceived value (or that of your business) isn’t high, anything you give away for free means nothing to your leads or prospects. All you will get from that is some interest from a bunch of freeloaders who will never pay for your service.
This is a tragedy.
Your free stuff, discounts, and any other incentives are harmful to your business unless you up your game with your perceived value. So, switch your gears to focus more on elevating your perceived value with these 5 solutions, and let me know how this change makes an impact on your business.