This is a continuation of a previous post that lists the Reasons #3 and #4 for not having enough sales. Check it out here.

Reason # 2: They just aren’t turned on by your offer enough

In other words – your offer isn’t lucrative enough. There are other offers that your competitors are presenting – that are much more lucrative to your audience. Your audience, fairly or unfairly, judges other offers in your marketplace to be more valuable than yours.

Now, keep in mind – this is not just about charging less. Pretty much no market is dominated by low cost sellers. Lowest price is not a strategy. At least not a reliable one. I am not talking about lowering your price here.

I am talking about increasing the (perceived) value of your offer. Which in many cases just requires a different way of presenting it. And in many other cases, requires you to go back to the drawing board once again, and from scratch rebuild an offer.

If your audience thinks that what they will need to pay or spend is greater than what they will get in return, there is just no way they will take action. If they think feel their investment is roughly equal to what they will get, they’ll shop around. Fiercely.

If, and only if, do they feel that their perceived benefits are much greater than their perceived costs will they buy immediately, and without delay. Provided, of course, that they trust you.

But when we are talking about the lucrativeness of an offer, it’s all about perceived value differential.

Which is the difference between perceived benefits, and perceived costs.

Now, most sellers mistakenly think that perceived cost is simply the dollar investment that they are seeking in exchange for their product or service. It’s not always just that.

Let’s take an example.

If your product or service requires your customers to spend time and effort using it, or learning to use it after buying, then those are perceived costs too.

One of the reasons I have never taken flying lessons is that I will have to invest a significant amount of time learning how to do it. I don’t mind the effort too much, in this case… because it’s going to be fun. But time, I don’t have much. Not that much, at any rate. Not right now. Maybe ten years later!

Then again, the perceived benefits have a huge role to play as well.

Golfers spend tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for their hobby – in addition to thousands of hours and a significant amount of effort learning and playing, playing and learning.

Who don’t they just play basketball? Or tennis?

It’s like every other wealthy person plays golf. Especially if he’s middle aged or older, and male. Why?

Why would they spend so much time, effort and money for a mere sport?

Well, it’s because of the perceived benefits.

While the most direct and obvious reason is the implicit benefit – that of skill acquisition and sport…. that doesn’t explain why they don’t pickup another skill to learn, or another sport to amuse with? Something that costs way less money, but is way more fun, possibly?

The answer can be found in the benefits that aren’t so obvious.

Here are a few…

Golfers often strike business deals on the golf course. They meet other businessmen of stature, and other influential people on the golf course. And it’s easy to build rapport with someone while engaging in sport together. So the multiple possibilities of business deals that can lead to millions of dollars in profits easily dwarf the perceived costs.

Then, there’s significance. Playing golf, buying expensive golf clubs, being members of exclusive clubs, etc. makes them feel like an accomplished person. Not everyone can afford to join expensive sports clubs. Not everyone can by pricey golf equipment. Not everyone can afford the costly lessons. Just being there is proof that they’ve “made it”.

There’s also a sense of belonging. They are surrounded by other people like them. People who have also “made it.” It’s the instinctive need for community… for being surrounded by like-minded people that drives them. Classic case of birds of a feather flocking together.

All these three reasons – possible business deals, significance, and belonging … are indirect benefits. But nevertheless, they very well influence the mind of a potential golfer. Or an active one. Which is why marketers have found golfing to be a very hot market. With very active buyers. Who are rarely price sensitive. It doesn’t really get much better than that.

So when you are analysis the lucrativeness of your offer, it makes perfect sense to think about all the hidden costs and benefits too, in addition to the obvious ones. And to see if the benefits you are offering are comparable to the cost you are asking for.

There’s an entire section on value analysis in the Ultimate Business Diagnosis toolkit that you can get right here. In this section on value analysis, you will just follow step by step instructions … and within minutes know whether your offer is lucrative or not.

By the way, your offer doesn’t have to significantly more lucrative than your competitors’. If it is, cool. But don’t make it so much more lucrative that it becomes hard to make them trust you. There’s a fine line here.

If you have a business with steady sales at any level, I can grow it by 400% within one year. But if I make that claim to you, and if you don’t know me well enough, or haven’t known me long enough to know that the 400% growth is actually not a big deal … you will just not believe me. The value proposition can be huge, but if no one believes it, you’re done anyway.

So don’t strive to be too much better than everyone else. At least as far as claims go. Unless you can demonstrate it and obviously prove it.

I always say – find the best selling offer that your competitors have, and do slightly better than that. Say 25% more benefits for just 10% more cost. And you’re golden.

And now, for the grand finale

Reason # 1: They Just Don’t Want It!

Ta da!

They don’t care about your product. They are not attracted to your product. They don’t want it. They may need it, but they certainly don’t know that they need it.

The single greatest lesson I can ever impart anyone is this – don’t sell to a non-prospect. I see salesmen floundering and working exasperatingly hard… simply banging their heads trying to convert a non-prospect.

If someone doesn’t want something, you just can’t sell it to them. It’s as simple as that. And even if you are the greatest salesman in the history of the world, and do somehow manage to sell things to people that they don’t want… you will have a refund rate so enormous that it’ll shake the very soul of your confidence in your offer and your product or service.

Avoid this trap at any cost.

You may just be a victim of this reason. Your audience may just not want what you are selling.

And that can happen due to one of the following two possibilities…

Firstly, you are selling to the wrong people. Your advertising is targeting the wrong people. Or your lead generation systems are faulty.

If you want to sell a Corvette, you don’t target zipcodes filled with renters and subletters. You target zipcodes filled with home owners. Renters are just not the right demographic for what you want to sell.

But it’s not just about demographics. It’s about a whole lot more. Selling very expensive lingerie to pregnant women is going to be an uphill battle. Selling it to would-be-brides is easier than hot cakes to a pimply 300-pound teenager.

It’s not just about timing either. It’s about psychographics too. Politically conservative people buy many things that many politically liberal people don’t, and vice versa.

So you must ensure that you are only selling to the right audience. The simplest way of doing that is to target people who are actively buying from your direct competitors.

The second possibility is that nobody wants your product.

Just nobody wants it. Maybe the world isn’t ready for it yet. Chances are, it will never be.

If you are a pioneer… or an innovator… and your innovations haven’t had as warm a reception as you would have imagined… it’s highly likely that your time for calling it quits has already come and gone. You should have been trying something else by now.

People buy what they want to buy. Selling them what they don’t want is a vey tiring, very time consuming battle. This battle will rob you of your peace of mind and confidence… And you will still lose anyway.

If you re not sure whether you are a pioneer or not… there’s a simple test for this.

You are a pioneer if you don’t have competitors who are very successful. If there is no one else advertising a similar offer to your audience, there is a very good reason why they aren’t.

So if that’s you, do yourself a favor, and stop trying to force your way into selling something that people just won’t buy.

And that’s the final reason why you may not have enough sales.

Now, if you would like to download the seen different kinds of proof elements that you could be using, and should be using in presenting your offers… then click here.

****************COMING SOON******************

If you would like to do a complete diagnosis of your business by yourself… and would like our step by step checklist along with our toolkit to help you diagnose your business… click here. I highly recommend you do this diagnosis. By the time you are done, you will be looking at your business in an entirely new light. You will know where you are, where you want to get, and have fresh new ideas about how to get there. About how to cut through the clutter and achieve your objectives in a timely fashion.