The Irresistible Offer is about “creating an itch that the buyer has to scratch”
The official definition is:
….. an identity building offer central to a product or service where the believable return on investment is communicated so clearly and efficiently that it’s immediately apparent you’d have to be a fool to pass it up.
Creating this offer is what the author, Mark Joyner, proposes to teach you. The basic premise is that if you don’t answer ALL of following questions in your marketing message, you are not hitting the mark but if you do answer them in a clear, simple manner that cuts to the chase and are offering your customer a high return on investment, you will be making your offer so irresistible that customers will be compelled to buy.
“What are you trying to sell me?”
“How much?”
“Why should I believe you?
“What’s in it for me?”
He observes that many marketers choose to take shortcuts and head straight to the “What’s in it for me?” question i.e. selling benefits instead of features and why this doesn’t work.
What I like about his message is that it’s not just hype, not about spinning a message so you can market junk, but making sure that you are providing obvious value to the customer first and then crafting the message around it. The four questions are definitely worth addressing when developing your marketing message.
There are a couple of well-known examples of irresistible offers in the book such as:
Domino’s Pizza – “Pizza hot and fresh to your door in 30 minutes….or less….or it’s free”
Federal Express – “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”
Unfortunately, there is an impression created that if you follow this formula, it is a miracle formula for success. Some of the testimonials include words like “easily construct an irresistible offer that will catapult you to success”. Well, I’m a bit sceptical about that!
The missing link is how to get your message in front of the right people. The author states that the “irresistible offer” does need to be presented to a “thirsty crowd” i.e. people who are naturally interested in your product or have a genuine hunger for your product. He skips past the issue of how by saying that you (the reader) already know the answers.
After teaching us the elements of an irresistible offer, he provides advice on how to “sell a second glass” to your thirsty crowd, meaning upselling, cross-selling and how to keep the door open with your customers. I had a chuckle when I read the words:
Keep in mind, though, that no one wants to be pummelled over and over again by sales offers. If you keep pitching people repeatedly, they will inevitably tune you out
.. and the reason I had a chuckle was that he does not follow his own advice. I am on Mark Joyner’s mailing list and I certainly feel pummelled! I am beginning to tune out, progressively reading less and less of his material.
However, based on my personal experience being within his firing range, his techniques do work. He is a master at creating urgency and even though my reasons for being on his mailing list are more academic than anything else, I do find myself drawn in every now and again.
A word of warning though – the techniques you learn in this book are not magic bullets and as mentioned earlier, there is a missing link. Nevertheless, the book does contain a lot of useful information and I believe that it is worth reading especially if you are new to marketing or are interested in how a marketing guru does it.
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