Is Your Offer Google-proof?

It's not just your product or service that you're selling, but everything the client gets when s/he writes you a check: the preliminary consultation, the product/service itself, the training and instructions that go with it, the follow-up support, etc.

Everything you give the client in exchange for their money is The Offer.

And your offer had better be good. So good, in fact, that it's Google-proof.

Do this: Google the most common search terms in your industry. See what comes up from your competitors. Look at their offers. How many of them are making attractive offers to your prospects? How many of those offers are more attractive than yours?

Be honest. If you find competitors whose offers are better than yours, your prospects will find them, too.

So ... do whatever it takes to create compelling offers.

Here are three ways to do it:

1) Add more perceived value
Offer a better consultation, free special reports, more product, more service, better training, better followup, etc. -- for the same price.

2) Lower the risk
In any transaction, the lower the risk, the more likely it is to happen. So, if you don't offer a money-back guarantee of some sort, start now.

If you're diffident, try a guarantee in one part of your business to prove that the concept works, then roll it out to your main products or services. Fact: You already offer a money-back guarantee, you just don't know it. It's fairly simple for a buyer to dispute a charge with their credit card company or PayPal, and you don't get paid.

Plus, in the age of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, and Angie's List, if an unhappy client starts telling the world how rotten your business is, you will do almost anything to stop them from damaging your reputation, up to and including refunding their money. Why wait for a public relations disaster to strike? Offer a money-back guarantee.

3) Lower the price
Yes, it's okay to discount a new client's first purchase, as long as you can make it back later, with an upsell ("Want fries with that?") or repeat sale ("It's been 3 months since your last oil change.")

More ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.