Tea with the Queen

[00:00:00] If your offer needs a flowchart, a PDF, and a voice note to make sense, your message isn't helping you sell. I wanted to start today with something that happens at Go Get It Day. Towards the end of the day, after we've done all the work, talked about business development, made plans, had conversations, taken action, we get everyone to stand up and we ask them to tell the room their offer.
[00:00:22] Three sentences. That's it. It goes something like this. "Here's what I do, here's who I do it for, and here's how much it costs." Three sentences. Sounds easy, right? You would think it was easy. It is incredible how many people cannot do it. They stand up, and suddenly we get the entire history of their business.
[00:00:46] "Well, I started doing this because blah blah blah blah blah." No. Or they give us 17 sentences, or they start explaining their methodology, or they start qualifying everything [00:01:00] Well, they tell us about their three different offers. Drives me insane. "Well, I have this, but I also do this, and sometimes I do this."
[00:01:07] No. Ladies, stop. Three sentences. And one of the things that becomes really obvious in that exercise is how many people have never actually said their offer out loud before. They've written it on their website, they've got it in beautiful copy, they've put it in Canva, they've spent hours crafting the wording, they've written social media posts about it, but ask them to stand in front of a room and say, "Here's what I do, here's who I do it for, and here's how much it costs" and suddenly we have a problem.
[00:01:40] We have a problem, Houston. And I think this is a much bigger issue than it actually looks. Because if you cannot explain your offer simply, how on earth is a potential client supposed to understand it? And if you can't confidently say what you sell out loud, how are you gonna sell it? [00:02:00] Today, I want to talk about signs that your offer is too complicated and how to simplify it fast.
[00:02:06] Because I have a theory. Most people don't have a sales problem. Nope, they have a clarity problem. They think they need more leads. They think they need better marketing. They think Instagram isn't working. Sometimes it isn't. And they think LinkedIn isn't working. Also the same. They think their audience isn't ready.
[00:02:27] They think they need a new funnel, a new website, a new lead magnet, a new launch strategy. And sometimes people just don't understand what the hell you're selling. That is it. And if somebody has to work really hard to understand your offer, they are probably not going to buy it. Confused people don't buy.
[00:02:49] They wait. They might like you. They might even trust you. They might follow you for three years. They might read every single email you send out. Thanks, by the way, if that's you. But [00:03:00] buying requires clarity. I need to understand what is it, is it for me, what will it help me do, and how much is it, and what do I do next?
[00:03:09] That should not require a 47-page PDF and a discovery call. So let's talk about the signs that your offer has become, well, a bit too complicated. Sign number one , you need 10 minutes to explain it. Go back to my go-getter day. Three sentences. If you physically cannot stop yourself after three sentences, I want you to pay attention to that.
[00:03:32] What is that saying? Because often the issue isn't that your offer is actually very complicated, it's that you've made the explanation complicated. Someone says, "What do you do?" And you say, "Well" Danger. Danger. Danger. Then you launch into, "We've got a six-month program," and this and that, "but there's also this membership component, and then there's almost this thing, and then you get access to this thing, and you have these modules.[00:04:00]
[00:04:00] But you don't have to do those, and then there's this fortnightly coaching, and then you get two strategy sessions, and then there are optional intensives," and all the things. Mate, I've already left that conversation. Not physically. I'm standing in front of you, smiling politely, but mentally gone. Goneski.
[00:04:17] Your offer should be able to be explained in a sentence or two, and that doesn't mean the delivery has to be simple, so please hear me on that. There's a really important distinction here. You can have incredibly in- rich client experience, and you can have coaching, or resources, or events, or community, or templates, or master classes, all the things.
[00:04:39] Great. But the person buying that doesn't need the full tour. They need to know what restaurant they're in and what's for dinner. We often confuse what is included with what we're selling. They're not the same thing. They are definitely not the same thing. People aren't buying 12 Zoom calls, I can guarantee that.
[00:04:58] They're buying what those [00:05:00] 12 Zoom calls can help them achieve. Sign number two, you lead with inclusions. I'm guilty of this. It's also one of my favorites. I ask someone, "Tell me about your offer," and then they launch, and they're like, "And you get six coaching sessions, and you get access to my portal, and you get a workbook, and a private group, and fortnightly Q&As, and, and, and, and, and..."
[00:05:22] No. Stop. Please stop. You've told me what I get. You haven't told me why I want it. Imagine I told you about Thriving Women by listing every single thing you can get, which there's a lot, by the way. You get the small group coaching, and master classes, and all the things. I'm not even gonna go into them.
[00:05:41] It's amazing, just saying. And it's all true. But that's not why people join. The bigger promise is helping women to build stronger, more profitable businesses without doing it alone. Everything else supports that. Your inclusions are the mechanism. The outcome [00:06:00] is the offer, and I think women in service-based businesses especially get caught here, because we desperately want people to see the value, and so we add, and we add, and we add.
[00:06:11] This is more sometimes people. "Oh, we give them this, and we'll give them this." No, no, no, no, no. Stop adding. I could go on. Give them a template, bonus, portal, record a course. Suddenly you've built Disneyland when the client, the client just wanted a blooming sandwich. More stuff does not automatically equal more value.
[00:06:31] Please hear me. Sometimes more stuff equals more overwhelm and more stuff. And overwhelmed clients, they don't necessarily get better results. In fact, they never get better results. Sign number three, you're trying to sell three things at once. I have seen this before. This is the other thing that I see. At Go Gets we ask, "What's your offer?"
[00:06:53] The one thing, right? Singular. And people give us three. "I do one-on-one, but I also do [00:07:00] this, and I also do this." I've seen it happen over and over again. Apart from anything else, everyone else has to have a go. Stop. What's the one thing that you want me to buy? Tell us that. That bit matters, right? That is the only bit that matters.
[00:07:12] Because when you're talking to someone, you need to be able to make a clear invitation. If I give you three things to choose from before I even know whether you're interested, I've just handed the decision-making over to you and now you have to figure out which of my offers you need. That's not fair.
[00:07:32] That's actually my job. Your business can absolutely have more than one offer. Mine does. Mine has a lot. But that doesn't necessarily mean I need to sell you every offer that I have in the same conversation. One person, one problem, one offer, one next step. That's a much easier sales conversation. One person, one problem, one offer, one next step.
[00:07:52] Number four, your client has to design their own journey. Don't be that one. This one's a bit sneaky. You've, like, [00:08:00] created an offer with so many freaking options that the client has to work out what they need. "Choose this module. Attend whichever session you would like. Pick from these 12 resources that we've got.
[00:08:12] Book one of these four calls." My goodness, it goes on. "Choose one of these seven pathways." And you think, "Look how flexible this is." And your client thinks I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. Remember why people are paying you. They don't just want information. They want your judgment, your lived experience, your ability to say, "Start here, do this, then do this."
[00:08:40] That's valuable, especially if you're an expert. Your job isn't always to give people more choices. Sometimes your job is to remove the choices. Sign number five, you keep adding new offers because the old ones aren't selling or aren't working. Ooh, let's go [00:09:00] there. You've got the membership, you've got the course, you've got the mini course, you've got the VIP day, you've got the strategy session, you've got the mastermind, the workshop, all the things.
[00:09:13] And now, now you're thinking, "Yippee, I need a new offer." Do you? Or do you need to sell the one you've already got? Because every time you create something new, you split your energy. Now you have another thing to explain, another sales page, another email sequence, another client journey, another delivery messi- method.
[00:09:36] Do I have to keep going? Another thing your audience has to understand. And guess what? Another decision they have to make. I'm a massive believer in turning on the tap, right? Before you build another tap, turn the existing one on. Tell people about your offer. Invite people into it. Email your warm audience.
[00:09:56] Follow up. Ask for referrals. [00:10:00] Head into rooms. Have conversations. Do your BD. Sometimes an offer isn't broken, it's just been, like, hiding. Sign number six, "Please keep asking which one should I do?" That doesn't even make sense. Cancel all that. Start again. Pay attention to the questions people ask before they buy.
[00:10:20] If you're constantly getting, "What's the difference between these two? Which one is right for me? Do I need this one before that one?" Is this included in the other thing? You've probably created way too much overlap, a bit like spaghetti. Now, sometimes having different pathways makes complete sense. In my business, someone at one stage of business may need something completely different from someone at another stage.
[00:10:47] That's segmentation, though, and segmentation is useful, but confusion isn't. There should be a really clear reason why offer A exists and why the offer B exists. [00:11:00] If you can't explain the difference simply, your clients certainly won't understand. Number seven, you're exhausted delivering it. Can we talk about this one?
[00:11:09] Because sometimes the client isn't confused, you are. You've sold something that requires 400 moving pieces. You're manually emailing people. Please stop. You're creating custom resources. You're running 17 calls, answering messages everywhere, updating portals, remembering who gets which bonus, and every new client creates another 12 things for you to do.
[00:11:35] That isn't necessarily a premium service. Sometimes it's just an operational nightmare wearing a nice outfit. A good offer should work for the client and for your business. I want women making money, not just revenue, profit. And if your offer requires an enormous amount of labor to deliver, we need to look at whether the price and the structure [00:12:00] actually makes sense.
[00:12:01] You can sell a lot of something and still create yourself a terrible business, a business of prison. Cash is queen, but profit matters too. So how do we simplify it? Let's do this quickly together. I want you to take your main offer and answer five questions. I don't want marketing language or jargon or clever names.
[00:12:23] Just tell me the truth. Question one, who is it for? Not everybody. Who specifically benefits from this? What stage are they at? What's happening in their business or life? What are they struggling with? Who gets the best result from this offer? That's your person. Question two, what problem does it solve? One main problem, not 14.
[00:12:47] There might be a lot of benefits, but what is the central problem? If someone handed you money and said, "Why should I buy this?" Can you answer simply? There can be complexity behind your work, [00:13:00] but the front end needs to be clear. We humanize the front end, and we systematize the back end. Question three, what is the outcome?
[00:13:10] What changes because they worked with you? And please don't tell me they'll feel empowered. What does that even mean? What will they be doing differently? What will they have? What will they know? What result are we moving towards? Make it tangible. You don't have to promise ridiculous guarantees, but you do need to articulate the destination.
[00:13:34] Question four, what do they actually need to get there? This is where I want you to become ruthless. Look at everything included in your offer and ask, "Does this help them achieve the outcome?" Not do people like it. Not did I spend six weeks making it? Probably. Not it would be nice to have. Does it help create the result?
[00:13:59] If [00:14:00] yes, keep it. If no, why is it there? You are allowed to remove things. Simplification isn't taking value away. Sometimes simplification is the value. Question five, what is the next step? This sounds ridiculously basic, but you'd be amazed. Someone reads your post. They love it. They're interested. They want the thing.
[00:14:23] Now what? DM you? Book a call? Buy a ticket? Click a link? Reply to the email? What? What do you want them to do? Make the next move obvious. You know I'm obsessed with business development, and one of the reasons people avoid business development is because they make the whole thing enormous. Sales doesn't always need a complicated funnel.
[00:14:48] Sometimes it is, "I think this would work for you. I think this would be useful for you. Would you like to have a chat?" That's it. That is business development. That's being human. That's connecting. [00:15:00] That's selling without the ick. So here's what I want you to do. Remember the story that I told you at the start?
[00:15:06] I'm going to make you do the same exercise we make people do at Go-Getter Day, but you don't get to hide behind your laptop. I don't want you to just write it down. I want you to say it out loud, because there is something very different about seeing your offer written beautifully or on a screen and actually hearing yourself say it.
[00:15:26] If you're brave, do it in the mirror. Three sentences. "Here's what I do. Here's who I do it with. Here's how much it costs." And then stop talking. That's the bit everyone struggles with. Don't fill the silence. Stop explaining. Don't add another offer. Don't justify the price. Don't tell me about the portal.
[00:15:46] Don't add some caveats. Three sentences. Then I want you to ask yourself, "Did that actually make sense?" Would somebody immediately know whether this was for them? Could somebody repeat it to [00:16:00] somebody else? That's another brilliant test. If I met you at an event and you told me what you did, could I walk across the room 10 minutes later and say, "You need to meet Sarah.
[00:16:11] She does X for Y and it costs C," 'cause that's powerful, and that means I can now refer you. Now I can talk about you. Now I can help you sell. Complexity can feel sophisticated. It can make us feel clever. Look at the ecosystem, look at the funnel, look at all the inclusions, but your customer isn't standing outside your business admiring your ecosystem.
[00:16:36] She's busy. She's running a business. She's probably got 72 tabs open in her brain. She wants to know, "What do you do? Is it for me? Can it help me? How much is it? What do I do next?" That is it. So before you create another offer, before you add another bonus, build another funnel, [00:17:00] spend three months recording another course, have a look at what you've already got.
[00:17:05] Strip away the noise, get clear on the person, get clear on the problem, and get clear on the outcome. Then we have a cool, clear offer. Then go tell people about it out loud, because clarity creates confidence, and confidence makes it easy to talk about what you sell. And when it's easier to talk about what you sell, guess what?
[00:17:31] Do-do-do. You actually talk about it. You turn the tap on, and that's when people can buy. Isn't that lovely? So there you have it. Try it out. Test it on your business bestie. Three sentences. Get it going. Nothing's broken. We just have to be really clear. I look forward to hearing from you. Jump into my DMs.
[00:17:51] Tell me your three sentences. I wanna hear. Yay.
[00:17:58] Thanks for listening to Tea With The Queen. If [00:18:00] you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It really does help to get the word out. For more about me, please visit emmamcqueen.com.au and I look forward to your company next episode.