Potential leads see them all the time – client offers coming at them from all corners of the earth. With so much noise, how do we get through to them, ensuring that we are exactly the answer they’ve been searching for? For years, I’ve been plagued with the question of why some designers have incredibly high conversion rates, while others – with just as many credentials – barely scrape by. It turns out the answer is not as elusive as I thought. There’s a formula to making client offers that can be duplicated for a successful outcome almost every time.
The winning formula that transformed the top line in my business focuses on learning how to “build a better mouse trap.” The concept is entirely based on the prospect’s perception of the value your serviceprovides by way of four categories. To consider your offer as something that provides adequate value,prospects must be convinced that the top two variables of the equation are high and the second two are low. The formula below comes from Alex Hormozi’s book, “$100M Offers: How to Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No.”
Dream Outcome x Perceived Likelihood of Achievement = Value Time Delayx Effort and Sacrifice
If there’s one key takeaway from this, it’s understanding that people buy goods and services to get more in value than what they pay in price. Naturally, when an item’s perceived value dips lower than the askingprice, an offer gets turned down. That’s not to say the goal is to lower the price to meet your products’ value point, as this only leads to price wars with the Havenly’s and Modsy’s of the world. Instead, it’s to provide greater value. Create an irresistible offer that can’t be compared to that of any other on themarket, and, in turn, charge a premium price for it. This eliminates the clients looking for a “deal” and those who see your creative work as a commodity rather than an art form.
Dream Outcome
Every potential client has a vision and dream goal in mind for their home. The more appealing we can make that goal or describe what the dream outcome would feel like, the more valuable the client will deem your offer. An added layer to that is making the client feel understood by identifying all the pain points forthe niche in your market and finding a solution for every problem a prospect may have.
Worries they have may revolve around not loving the design, regretting certain big-ticket purchases, theprocess taking too long, spending all their money, having to chase you as you’re unresponsive, and the list goes on. Use all the potential problems as a guiding post to structure your services in a way the prospect would find as the solve for every apprehension they have.
Perceived Likelihood of Achievement
Increasing certainty and reducing perceived risk is probably one of the biggest factors in determining the success of any offer. How likely is the client to reach their goal of a beautiful and functional home by goingwith your service rather than that of your competitor? Target your efforts on building credibility as anauthority in your field. Grow your social proof (testimonials, positive online reviews, influencerendorsements) make case studies of past challenging projects and push for opportunities to earn media coverage (magazines, blogs, podcasts). This does take time and effort on your part, but it will yield immeasurable benefits to your conversion rate.
Time Delay, Effort and Sacrifice
Deliver fast results without the sacrifice of a client’s time and energy. They will not only choose you over the competition, but they will also pay a lot more for it. Obviously, we’re in a creative field, and it requires time to curate designs and implement them. Nonetheless, people have come to love (and expect) instant gratification on all levels. While it’s not possible to deliver a remodeled home overnight (despite what HGTV claims), you can reduce the perceived time between a project start date and when the client receives their beautiful home. An appealing offer should include significant milestones that will be reached at specific intervals and should provide incremental and measurable results. The goal here is to get theprospect feeling like they would be one big step closer to their dream outcome at each interval.
Set up a process for clients to follow along on your journey as you complete the design. Whether that’s aweekly update with a visual of where you stand on the project completion scale or an update with sneak peeks of your headway on the job. Make the progress significant! Not only does this provide a more appealing service to the client, but it yields invaluable results for your bottom line.
When in place, the elements in the formula provide a distinct offer that is not bound by the forces of commoditization. With it, your prospects no doubt make a value-based rather than a price-based decision when it comes to your services. Your unbeatable offer will not require you to sell hard, as you’re solving all the problems with which your prospect is faced.
By Isfira Jensen, CEO & principal designer, Nufacet Interiors
Photo credit: Svitlana/Adobe Stock