Why Your Offer Flopped (+ how to sell your new offer instead)

Today, I'm going to talk about why your offer flopped. As an educator in the online space, which is still crazy to say out loud even though I have online courses and run a mastermind, I hear all the time about offers flopping. From one-on-one coaching clients to the business owners in the last round of my mastermind, it happens to all of us. Then, they are nervous to put a new offer out there because their last one flopped.

I think there are three main reasons why this is happening and I'm going to go over them today in hopes that it will help give your new offer a different fate. I want you to succeed around here First, in case you are new to my corner of the internet, a quick intro. I’m Sarah, I am a six-figure business owner (I run a wedding photography business and branding/education business) and I’m a dog mom to an incredibly sassy love bug named Jinx (you can follow our adventures on Instagram).  Now, back to YOUR offer.

1. You didn't listen to what your customers are actually needing

Oftentimes I see people throw together an offer because they need a little more money. They're hoping their offer will sell because that’s what THEY need instead of focusing on what their audience is currently needing. When you look at what they're needing and how you can solve their problems, your offer is going to do a lot better. 

2. Your current offers need a little TLC. 

Do not - I repeat - do NOT rush to create a new offer if your current offers are not selling. Clearly there is a gap between the value you bring and the way you're communicating it with your audience. First, we need to figure out what that gap is and how we can fix it. If your current offers aren't selling, it's very likely your new offer won’t either without a little TLC. 

3. You self-sabotage. 

Coming at you with some real talk. I see this a lot with female owned business owners who don’t talk about their offer enough. We bring up our new offer on stories maybe once or twice, and if/when you hear crickets- you assume it's not going to work. Then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because you don't talk about it again. And when you don’t talk about it- you are right about it’s failure. 

The reality is we often need to talk about our offer at least 10 times before we can start to get interest. I talked about this on my secret stories the other day too - DM me if you want to be included in that Instagram party by the way. I started talking about Christmas mini sessions on SEPTEMBER 10th. To most people, that sounds insane. But starting early means that by the time I was actually ready to book them, people were warmed up to the idea. Your audience needs time to consider whether they need your new offer. Remember - they are busy and distracted people on Instagram.

Now that we've talked about the three reasons why your offer is flopping, let's talk about four steps to creating a new offer that WILL sell.  

1. First, learn what your audience needs and wants. What are their problems? What keeps them up at night? 

2. Brainstorm how to package your offer in a way that your audience actually wants. This step sounds simple but it will make the sales come a lot easier. 

3. Establish a unique value proposition. Oftentimes there are a lot of people doing similar things in the space, and it's important to come up with your unique offer and advantage.

4. Choose your price. I know this is the hardest part. Think about your offer: how many hours are required, is there any cost of material or extra services you’ll need? Price in a way that makes you profit after you pay yourself. Then, consider whether or not this price is realistic in your targeted space for the value you’re serving.

Once you have completed those four steps, or really even halfway through the process (hello messy action!) if you want more feedback from your audience. Talking about it before it’s ready also allows you to mold the offer based on the feedback that you're getting from your audience, which will always result in more sales. You don't need to build the whole new offer from scratch without validating if people want it. I know it can be tough to post and say, is anyone interested? But remember, you have to keep talking about it in order for people to be interested. Don’t self sabotage!

How to sell your new offer

I hope that was helpful in clarifying why your offer may have flopped and what you can do to make sure that it doesn't flop the next time. Ultimately, you may have an offer that just doesn’t sell from time to time but following this process makes it a lot less likely. I just want to finish off by saying how you sell is also important. Make sure you're always approaching it from a place of service, which sounds cliche, but it's so true. Think about your audience. Think about that one person that you're dying to help and think, how can I help them the best? How can I solve this problem for them? How can I make it really valuable for them? When you approach it from a customer centered perspective, you'll make more sales and it will be more fulfilling.