Channeling Desire

The Anatomy of an Irresistible Offer

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The moment I saw it…

I knew I had to have it.

And I wasn’t the only one. (We’ll talk more about that in a minute.)

This instant obsession makes for a good case study of what it really means to create an irresistible offer.

Because…

1) a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t sure how to make a compelling offer

and

2) there’s a lot of information about offer-making out there that’s flat-out wrong.

Most of the bad information I’ve seen is bad because it places too much emphasis on “value stacking.”

Adding bonus on top of bonus…

Slashing prices…

Creating free Facebook groups for buyers to hang out with like-minded folks.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with piling on value. And there’s nothing wrong with bonuses or FB groups.

But people do not buy because of value. Not in the traditional sense.

They buy because of DESIRE.

So an irresistible offer should be driven by “desire stacking.”

Which brings me back the offer I mentioned at the beginning of this email.

One of the most attractive, no-brainer offers I’ve ever seen.

A chance to rent out the mansion from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

You may have seen this. Airbnb posted the link about a week ago, and Will Smith gave a video tour on YouTube on Monday.

When you see this, what’s your instant reaction?

For me — and countless people like me — the response is…

1st: WHERE DO I SIGN UP?

2nd: Please, God. Let me get a spot before they’re sold out.

I did not wonder how much it costs (and I definitely didn’t try to compare price vs. other lodging in the area).

Flying cross-country in a pandemic didn’t dampen my excitement.

If I could have grabbed a spot, nothing would have stopped me from booking a night.

Of course, different people have different responses. But for the right people, this offer is totally irresistible.

And the core reasons the Fresh Prince mansion is a no-brainer… are the same reasons behind most offers that are too sweet to ignore.

Let’s quickly break down 4 of them.

1. Status

Your offer should raise your prospect’s status — in his own eyes or the eyes of others.

When he says “yes,” what does he get that instantly makes him feel better about himself… like he’s just jumped to the next level (or at least finally discovered the elevator)?

How will he look to his (future) wife? His kids? His golf buddies. His competitors?

What will he have that others WISH they had?

A few bonus ebooks ain’t gonna get it.

2. Story Factor

Does buying from you give the customer an exciting, envy-inducing story to share at his next dinner party or networking event?

Does it change the story he tells himself about himself?

Or the story his parents tell to brag to their friends about their son?

Does it give him content that will get tons of likes on social media?

You might be shocked how much people will spend or suffer through to have a good story to share.

Think of all the great stories you could tell after staying at the Bel-Air mansion! And unlike a lot of business stories, you can share this one with just about everyone.

3. (Aspirational) Identity

Every conscious decision we make is influenced by the way they see ourselves and our place in the world.

If your offer connects to your should-be buyer’s identity in a unique way…

Helps him express externally how he sees himself internally…

Or moves him closer to being the person he wishes he was, letting Clark Kent be Superman, as it were…

It taps the deep-rooted desire.

How can your offer link your buyer to that identity?

4. Exclusivity

You don’t have to convince anyone there’s a limited amount of nights to book a stay in a mansion.

And you don’t have to convince anyone there’s high demand for the available slots.

But only about 365 people will have the privilege of securing one in the next year — if Airbnb keeps it open that long.

That kind of exclusivity and scarcity amplifies desire that’s hard to replicate in any other way — as long as you’re offering something people want in the first place.

It multiplies the status and story factor. Being part of such a small group boosts the impact to identity.

Leveraging exclusivity makes your offer significantly harder to resist. Use it to your advantage.

So there you have it.

When you’re thinking about how to make your offer as compelling as possible, remember…

Put value on the back burner. It’s all about stacking desire.

***UPDATE***

When I sent this article out as an

I sent my broadcast email newsletter earlier this week, I tested two very different subject lines.

One promises a valuable lesson about a topic I hear a lot of questions about…

The other seems to offer a voyeuristic peek into the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

I have to admit, the split test results surprised me:

surprising email subject line split test results

If you’ve read my emails before, you may assume the mansion I promise a tour of is my own home.

(That’s kinda deceptive, but not maliciously so).

After the first hour, the voyeuristic subject line was opened TWICE as many times as the benefit subject line. Honestly, I thought the “Anatomy” subject line would win.And I definitely didn’t think either version would double the open rate of the other. There are a few takeaways here:

  1. TEST. You really never know what will work until you get it out to the market
  2. I’ve said it a thousand times, but must have forgot when I sent this test..

    Sometimes entertainment is the most valuable benefit you can provide. That subject line brought MTV Cribs to my readers’ inbox.

    If you want to keep your open rates from dropping over time, entertainment value is practically nonnegotiable.
  3. People really do want to go behind-the-scenes, especially if your business has a personality component. They’re curious about the non-business stuff going on with you and others in your industry.

One of the top copy rules is that the copy must be about the reader. And while the “mansion” subject line doesn’t seem to be about the reader, it really is. It’s providing something they want: entertainment… escape… scratching the curiosity itch… aspiration… connection.

How Do I Get People to Want What I Sell? Part 1

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How do you make people want what you’re selling? I mean, that’s the point of marketing, right?

Let me clarify one thing before we get started. I don’t believe in it’s possible to create desire. Our desires are pre-existing. Your job as entrepreneurs and marketers is to create products and services that there is already some existing desire for, then direct the desire our potential customers feel toward your offer.

Now, I hear what you’re saying. “There are companies making big money selling things people didn’t know they wanted. Just look at Apple. They’ve sold millions of devices nobody even knew they wanted.”

Steve Jobs himself said that “A lot of times people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

Jobs was dead wrong.

What about the auto industry? Henry Ford once said “If I’d asked my customer what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.” Nobody wanted cars. But in 2012, global car sales topped 80 million units.

Believe it or not, this apparent discrepancy actually proves that marketing is about selling what people already want. People may not have wanted a car, but they did want to travel faster. So Ford gave his customers what they wanted – it just came in a different package than they expected.

The same is true for Apple. Jobs and company didn’t create a brand new desire; they channeled desires that millions of people already had into a unique new line of products.

Apple didn’t invent music and inject it into the iPod. It just made it easier to access the tunes you love and carry them with you everywhere you go. Apple didn’t have to convince anybody that carrying one multi-capability device was better than hauling a music player, camera, GPS device and a phone.

The iGadgets are products appealing those already-present desires in an attractive new way.

So instead of asking “How do I make people want what I sell,” figure out how to channel your ideal prospects’ desires toward your product and the satisfaction they’ll experience when they buy it.

Vision, The Ne Plus Ultra of Desire Intensification

The real key to directing the desires of your potential customers is to create a vision, an image in their minds. Business gurus spend a lot of time talking about coming up with your own company vision, and that’s important. But until you’re building a vision in other people’s minds, you’ll always struggle to sell your product or service, especially if you’re not the cheapest, closest or only available option. (A precarious position at best.)

Even then, you face the danger of being overtaken by someone who does inspire visions in your customers’ minds.

Feast Your (Mind’s) Eye On This

Waikiki_beach

According to Roy Williams, the 7th Law of the Advertising Universe is this: “Engage the Imagination, then take it where you will. Where the mind has repeatedly journeyed, the body will surely follow. People only go to places they have already been in their minds.”

Think about it. When you’re making a big decision, you’ve always imagined scenarios of how it will turn out. You’ve seen yourself enjoying the benefits of action or enduring the pain of indecision. You’ve smelled the salt air and felt the warm waves soaking your feet on Waikiki.

When you keep picturing something you want, that recurring vision heaps up desire that sooner or later you have to act on. Or go crazy.

Eugene Schwartz said this in Breakthrough Advertising:

“Above everything else, advertising is the literature of desire…Advertising gives form and content to desire. It provides it with a goal. These desires, as they exist in the mind of your prospect today, are indistinct. They are blurs—hazy, ambiguous, not yet crystallized into words or images. In most cases, they are simply vague emotions, without compulsion or direction. And as such, they have only a fraction of their true potential power.

“Your job is to fill out these vague desires with concrete images… your job is to show him in minute detail all the tomorrows that your product makes possible for him.

“This is the core of advertising—its fundamental function. To take unformulated desire, and translate it into one vivid scene of fulfillment after another. To add the appeal of concrete satisfaction after satisfaction to the basic drive of that desire. To make sure that your prospect realizes everything that he is getting—everything that he is now leaving behind him—everything that he may possibly be missing. The sharper you can draw your pictures…the more your prospect will demand your product, and the less important will seem your price.“

How Do You Score?

Are your marketing materials are delivering in these areas? Are they intensifying and directing the desires of the people you really want to do business with? Are you talking about what interests you or what interests them?

In Part 2 we’ll plunge a little deeper into this topic. In the meantime, make an effort to get to know your prospects and customers better than ever. It’ll be one of the best investments you can make.