The Irresistible Offer

The biggest challenge for most coaches is the sales and marketing of their coaching business. It is generally much easier to sell and market products than it is to sell and market services because products are tangible. You can see them and touch them. You can generally watch them operate and get a fairly good idea on how you could put them to use. The same cannot be said for intangibles like services.

When it comes to selling services, most business owners make the mistake of using language that is company focused and not customer focused. Business owners selling repair services might be tempted to use the terms fast, friendly, and reliable to describe what they offer, but a better approach would be to stand in the customer’s shoes and speak towards their perspective. Try and treat your service like a product and understand how it addresses the needs of your customers. The key is communicating the value of what you have to offer and since services often have invisible value, this is easier said than done.

Sales and marketing of coaching services is particularly challenging since the profession is relatively new and there is a good percentage of potential customers that doesn’t even grasp what coaching is all about. Consumers are inundated with marketing messages on a daily basis and their attention span is getting shorter all the time. It is critical to find a winning formula for distilling your marketing message in as succinct a manner possible without any loss of impact or results.

The book "The Irresistible Offer" by Mark Joyner promises to do just that. The subtitle is "How to Sell Your Product or Service In 3 Seconds or Less."


The Irresistible Offer
Mark Joyner
Copyright 2005
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.



Joyner cites many examples of succinct marketing messages that capture attention, have positive impact and consistently produce positive marketing results.

Pizza hot and fresh to your door in 30 minutes or less or it's free.
Domino's pizza.

10 CDs for one cent
Columbia House records

What it absolutely positively has to be there overnight.
Federal Express.

After examining hundreds of these marketing messages, Joyner unearthed the winning formula that most all of them have in common. Joyner calls this the irresistible offer. Joyner’s irresistible offer must answer four basic questions:

1) What you are trying to sell?
2) How much?
3) Why should I believe you?
4) What's in it for me?

Joyner states the Irresistible Offer is an identity building offer central to a product or service where the believable return on investment (ROI) is communicated so clearly and efficiently that it's immediately apparent and that you would have to be a fool to pass it up. Joyner takes the well-known USP (unique selling proposition) concept to an entirely new level. In our inaugural webcast, the concept of competitive advantage is linked with Joyner’s irresistible offer as it applies to coaching.