What Gangsters like Don Corleone Understand about Selling That You Likely Overlook

Don Corleone: You look terrible. I want you to eat, I want you to rest well and a month from now this Hollywood big shot’s gonna give you what you want.

Johnny Fontane: Too late. They start shooting in a week.

Don Corleone: I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.

“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

If there’s only one thing you can learn from the way gangsters do business, it’s that generating mega profits is all about the proposition – the 7^th P in the 9 Ps of Profit.

A proposition is an offer, and it’s the offers you make to your ideal customers that dictate how many sales you’ll close in your business.

Why Bad Offer’s kill Your Business

Do ever notice how terrible the majority of everyday marketing and advertising efforts are? Just flip through some magazines or newspapers and look at the ads.

Typically, you’ll find billboard style advertisements that give you little to no reason for picking up the phone, visiting the website, or making a purchase.

At best these ads serve as awareness advertising, and probably fail to do that since they are easy to ignore, which means those business owners are losing money every time they run ads.

I mean how many messages do YOU see, hear, or receive every single day that you just tune out?

But when a message catches your attention, do you ever notice why?

In all likelihood, it’s because that particular ad made you an offer that appealed to your needs, problems, or desires. And, the more incredible the offer the more likely you are to take action.

If you want your prospects to “click the buy button,” “call today,” or “schedule an appointment” you have to create compelling offers for your products and services. Period.

So what is an offer exactly?

Simply put, your offer is the part of your marketing message that gives your ideal customer a reason to buy whatever it is that you’re selling.

If you think that your products or services stand on their own, and that compelling offers aren’t that important, I have to warn you of the danger you face.

Here’s the deal, 80% of the time your prospects are not in “buying” mode when they come across your products or services.

In fact, they may not recognize that they have a need or desire for whatever it is that you offer until they are given a reason for buying that resonates.

This is why making an offer that gives them a reason to buy makes all the difference in getting your products and services sold.

How to Create an Offer They Can’t Refuse

It nutshell, your offer tells your ideal customer “what’s in it for them.” If you do this right, your product or service becomes instantly appealing.

Creating an offer isn’t difficult, and I’m going to make it even easier by giving you a formula for crafting an offer that’s totally irresistible. But first, let’s talk about the components of an offer.

An irresistible offer has to achieve the three following things:

1. Your offer has to establish credibility

2. Your offer has to increase desire for your products or services

3. Your offer has to move your customer to take action quickly

Credibility

For an offer to seem “credible” it can’t sound too good to be true. If it does, people probably won’t take you up on it.

Direct response writer and expert, Lois Geller, explains that “unless your offer makes sense to your ideal customer they won’t take an interest in it.”

For example, if a computer store offers a free computer with the purchase of $50 worth of printer paper, most people would immediately ask themselves, “What’s wrong with the computer?”

But if you were selling computers, and offered $50 worth of printer paper free with your purchase of a computer, this offer would make more sense to your ideal customer.

That said, $50 worth of free paper probably isn’t enough to make your offer compelling. Your goal is to find the happy medium.

Desire

Finding the happy medium with a credible offer typically rests on your ability to tap into your ideal customer’s desires. If your offer makes it easy for the customer to see themselves using your products and services, they will be much more likely to respond to your offer.

You can increase the desire for your products and services by adding things to your offer like discounts, bonus products or services, and by eliminating the risk in purchasing through free trials or money back guarantees.

For example, if your offer includes a free trial, your ideal customer will be more likely to take you up on that offer because you’ve eliminated the risk of buying from you.

Being able to create offers that increase desire for your products and services means you also need to know your ideal customer very well. You should be able to “get inside” the head of your ideal customer and tap into the things that matter the most to them.

Scarcity

In addition to credibility and desire, scarcity plays an essential role in crafting offers that cause prospects to purchase.

Scarcity is a marketing concept that is designed to help encourage your ideal customer to take action immediately.

Often times you’ll see scarcity applied to offers in the form of limited-time offers, limited availability, or price increases after a certain period of time.

There are tons of ways to use scarcity within your offer, but the key is to do so ethically.

Never abuse this concept by using false scarcity or by overusing scarcity. There is nothing wrong with giving people a reason purchase quickly, but don’t say an offer won’t last or is limited if it isn’t.

Turning Your Offer into Dollars

Now that you know the primary components of an irresistible offer, you’re ready for the formula that will turn your offer into money in the bank.

Irresistible Offer = Identifying Factor about Your Ideal Customer + the Key Benefit + Scarcity

The first thing that you need to present in your irresistible offer is in identifying factor about your ideal customer. This is how your ideal customer will know that your offer applies to them. Then, you want to combine that identifying factor with a key benefit (or multiple benefits) of the product or service you’re offering.  Lastly, you want to include an element of scarcity so that they are compelled to take action immediately.

Here’s a sample irresistible offer for a car dealer based on the formula above:

Come test drive our brand-new Honda Civics for an entire weekend. All you have to do is show up at our dealership by 5 PM on Friday, September 2, and we will give you a brand-new Honda Civic, with a full tank of gas, and a $50 gift card to Seasons 52 restaurant.

Call us now or stop by today to get your chance to have a free night on the down and drive a new Civic until Sunday – on us!

And, if you decide that the Honda Civic is not for you, we’ll take it back, no questions asked. 

See how that works?!  If you’re in the market for a new car, and you’ve had your eye on a Honda Civic, you were just given a great reason for going to check one out. That is the heart of an irresistible offer.

Offers Reign in Marketing

Next week we are going to talk about the 8^th P in the 9 Ps of Profit – Promotion. It’s my favorite, but if you’re going to get the most out of the 8^th P of Profit, you have got to master the 7^th.Your offers (propositions) make your promotional efforts worthwhile. They make your promotions stand out. And when they are crafted properly, the make you profit.

How can you create even more irresistible offers in your business right now?

Like this post? Then you'll LOVE my free weekly e-mail business training. Enter your name and email address below to join the crew, and start receiving your free training now!

Name:

Email: