To become seen as an authority, you need to package your expertise in a way that makes it easy for your ideal clients to invest with you and to pay higher prices.
When we talk about “packaging” your expertise, that doesn’t mean you have to put it in a box and deliver a physical product.
However, most experts make the mistake of talking about the process of what they do or using a label like “coach” or “consultant” which doesn’t usually give people any reason to invest with them.
Presenting your services in that way is a bit like a restaurant telling you they serve food or listing the ingredients and equipment they have in their kitchen without offering any more information.
You need to be able to present what you offer in a way that encourages your prospective client to:
Decide to buy
See the extra value in the price you are charging
Try you out at a level appropriate to their immediate needs
Stay with you longer and upgrade to higher-value services
Dan Kennedy, one of the world’s leading experts on marketing for entrepreneurs and small businesses describes this as creating a “widget”.
A widget is a package of products or services that people can identify in their minds and therefore see how it could help them.
He says that the ability to package your services by consistently creating the right widgets that appeal to your ideal customers is one of the most important business skills.
“The ability to package your services to appeal to your ideal customers is one of the key business skills.”
So there are five key elements to packaging your offer effectively:
Proposition
Presentation
Pricing
Profit Ladder
Production and Delivery
Defining the Proposition
The first key to packaging your offer is defining exactly what you are offering to do. This follows partly from your positioning but clearly, you can have a range of propositions to offer as part of your positioning.
The key is that you need to define your proposition in terms of the results and transformation you can deliver.
For example, if you are a coach, you may struggle to attract clients by trying to convince people of the general benefits of coaching. It’s much better to talk instead about a specific service that delivers a desired outcome such as:
Attracting more clients
Meeting your ideal partner
Speaking with confidence in meetings
People then find it easier to see the value so they are more likely to buy.
Deciding the Presentation
The presentation of your offer is what you put in the “box” and how you describe it.
Again, it doesn’t have to be a physical box – although it may include physical elements – it is simply a way of presenting less tangible services in a way that people can get their heads around and understand how it might benefit them.
The five key elements of presentation are usually:
Personal Contact such as meetings or coaching
Written material like books and reports
Audio / Video with more detailed information and guidance
Resources such as spreadsheets, checklists, and recommended service providers
Services that deliver specific solutions
The exact mix of those will depend on your business and the price being charged.
One of the keys to success with presentation is to ensure it links with the proposition – usually by giving it an appealing name.
For example, if you are a coach, you could try inviting people to an initial meeting or you could instead create a package featuring your book, several worksheets, and an initial meeting and call it the Ultimate Goal Setting Workshop, linking it to a specific result you offer.
Find a way to show people exactly how you can help them.
Similarly, you could offer a coaching program or you could offer a 12-month Personal Transformation Program with a range of different elements included.
The key is that you need to find a way to enable people to understand exactly how you can help them, what exactly is included, and how they will be transformed.
By the way, the fact that you offer services in a packaged way does not mean you don’t continue to offer many different solutions. In the same way, a restaurant may have a weekly special offer that attracts people, and then many order something entirely different when they come in.
The key is to make the initial purchase decision easy and to build from there.
Pricing for Success
There are many different ways to package the same solution and the key to success is being able to find the best mix of ways to present your offer.
If you want to make $120,000 in a year, there are various ways of doing that. For example:
Sell 1 person something that costs $120,000
Sell 10 people something that costs $1,000 per month
Sell 1,000 people something that costs $120
Sell 10,000 people something that costs $12
All of these (and many other variations) are perfectly feasible business models, depending on your offer and your market.
The secret is to find the mix that is right for you. Ideally, you want to be able to package your expertise in several different ways so you can reach different markets and also give people different ways of trying out your services before they make a major commitment.
Somebody may buy your $12 book today and then be a customer for a $20,000 consultancy project in a few months.
Creating Your Profit Ladder
The approach to organizing your offers can best be described as a “profit ladder.” At the bottom end of the ladder, you have lower-cost offers where people can try you out with a small purchase and you are likely to make more sales.
As you go up the ladder, the investment and the commitment required increase. At the top, you have your VIP customers – a relatively small group buying your top services. You can break down these steps in any number of ways but there are five key stages:
First Step: A way for people to begin the relationship with you – this may be a free report or an initial consultation for example
Easy Purchase: A simple decision that turns a prospect into a customer such as a small project or a low-cost product
Upsell Process: A system for moving people on as quickly as possible to larger purchases and longer commitments
Ascension to VIP: A range of higher-priced offers for the best clients
Services: Doing things for people rather than advising them
The keys to success are that, as quickly as possible, you should get people on the ladder (investing something with you) and then move them up the ladder using a planned system.
As you go up the ladder, the investment increases
This is sometimes also referred to as a product “funnel.” The concept is the same but one drawback with the funnel concept is that it can focus too much on just getting people into the funnel – whether or not they are likely to be ideal clients.
The fact is it is often better to start by focusing on the small number of people who will pay high prices – and at the very least to get people buying something as quickly as possible.
While creating a high-priced offer takes more work, the potential return is much greater so you can often reach your objectives more quickly. But the key is to have the right mix so that you can deliver the right range of offers. The reality is that some people always want the biggest package you have available and others will always stick to lower-cost options.
A successful business caters for both. But often the best approach is to build your business around the smaller number of people who buy your highest price offers as that is where most of your profit will come from.
Producing and Delivering Your Package
When it comes to delivery, one factor to take into account is that some people prefer to write, others prefer to speak and some are more comfortable giving personalized advice.
Some people would rather sit at home one weekend and write a 20-page report, while others would prefer to get up on stage and do a live presentation.
Choose whichever method is the most appropriate and comfortable for you.
We talk more about this in the segment on publishing.
ACTION PLAN TO PACKAGE YOUR EXPERTISE
Answering these five questions should help you package your expertise in the best way for your ideal clients.
What elements could you put in a starter session for prospective new clients (free or paid for)?
What name could you give this session to make it very appealing?
Define the proposition for at least one low-cost package you could offer – focusing on the transformations it provides
Identify what elements you could add to this to make its value significantly higher
What elements would you include in a VIP package for your ideal clients?
The 5 Keys to Being Seen as an Authority
This is one of the five keys to building your authority as shown below.
Positioning: Identify your ideal clients and how you can best help them so you can attract them easily
Packaging: Offer your advice, skills, and knowledge in a way that makes it easy to attract a large number of high-paying clients
Publishing: Demonstrate your expertise in a wide range of ways so that people can see how you can help them
Promotion (Lead Generation): Take steps to attract more of your ideal clients to you instead of having to chase them
Persuasion (Conversion): Turn more of your ideal prospects into profitable long-term clients
Click on the links above for more information on each of the elements.
