241 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
241 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
# Offer Formats by Business Type
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The right offer format depends on what you sell. The same six components (core, bonuses, guarantee, scarcity, name, price) get assembled differently by business type.
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This reference is organized by business type. Find yours, then use the format as a starting point — not a fixed recipe.
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---
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## Service / freelance
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You sell your time and skill.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | A scoped engagement with a specific deliverable and timeline |
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| **Bonuses** | Templates, frameworks, post-engagement support, tool stack |
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| **Guarantee** | First-milestone gate (paid pilot or first-deliverable refund) |
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| **Scarcity** | Capacity-based (next slot opens [date]) |
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| **Name** | Methodology-named or outcome-named (e.g., "The 30-Day Activation Sprint") |
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| **Price** | Project-based with down-payment, or monthly retainer |
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### What to watch
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- **Naming matters disproportionately** — services without named offers compete on price; named services compete on positioning
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- **Scope creep is the offer killer** — define what's in, out, and optional, *in writing*, before the engagement starts
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- **Bonuses should compound the deliverable** — templates and frameworks that make the buyer self-sufficient after the engagement, not during
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### Productizing the offer
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Move from "I sell consulting" to "I sell the 8-Week Marketing Reset." Same delivery, different offer.
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The productized version:
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- Has a name
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- Has a fixed scope and timeline
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- Has a fixed price
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- Has the same bonuses every time
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- Has a defined gate (week 4 check-in, paid pilot, milestone review)
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Productizing raises perceived value, simplifies sales, and creates a repeatable case-study factory.
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---
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## Course (async, cohort-based, live)
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You sell structured learning.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | The curriculum + delivery format |
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| **Bonuses** | Templates, swipe files, case studies, community access |
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| **Guarantee** | Conditional money-back (completion-gated) |
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| **Scarcity** | Cohort scarcity (enrollment closes [date]) |
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| **Name** | Outcome-named or methodology-named |
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| **Price** | Pay-in-full or 2–4 installments |
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### Async vs cohort-based
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| Decision | Async | Cohort |
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|----------|-------|--------|
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| **Pricing** | Lower ($297–$1,997) | Higher ($1,497–$5,000+) |
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| **Scarcity** | Bonus expiry, price increases | Cohort start date |
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| **Guarantee** | Generous unconditional | Conditional on completion |
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| **Conversion mechanic** | Email funnel, evergreen webinar | Launch window + cohort deadline |
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| **Default bonus** | Templates, swipes | Slack + office hours + 1:1 review |
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### What to watch
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- **Completion is the marketing asset** — every completer is a case study. Engineer the first win in week 1.
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- **Cohort scarcity must be real** — if "doors close Friday" is followed by "doors reopen Monday because we extended the cohort," the trick gets noticed
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- **Refund design matters more than refund rate** — a generous-sounding guarantee with smart conditions converts well and refunds rarely
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---
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## Coaching (1:1, group, mastermind)
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You sell access to your expertise applied to their specific situation.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | Sessions + asynchronous access + specific outcome focus |
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| **Bonuses** | Resources from your library, intro to network, post-engagement check-ins |
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| **Guarantee** | Outcome-or-extension or first-two-sessions out |
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| **Scarcity** | Capacity-based (N spots / quarter) |
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| **Name** | Identity-named or outcome-named (e.g., "Founder Marketing Mastermind") |
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| **Price** | Monthly retainer or 3/6/12-month engagement |
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### 1:1 vs group
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| Decision | 1:1 | Group / mastermind |
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|----------|-----|---------------------|
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| **Pricing** | $1,500–$10,000+/mo | $497–$2,500+/mo |
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| **Scarcity** | Capacity (4–10 1:1 clients) | Cohort size (8–30 members) |
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| **Guarantee** | First-two-sessions out | Trial period, no refunds after |
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| **Bonuses** | Custom resources, intros | Group access, peer accountability, library access |
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| **Default delivery** | Weekly or biweekly sessions | Monthly group calls + community |
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### What to watch
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- **Identity is the offer** — group coaching is often more about being in the room with peers than about the coach's instruction. Name the room, not the coach.
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- **Onboarding is part of the offer** — a sloppy intake destroys perceived likelihood
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- **Renewal is the real conversion event** — design for the 6-month decision, not the first-month decision
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---
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## Info product (guide, swipe file, template pack, community)
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You sell packaged knowledge or assets.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | The asset(s) + lifetime access |
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| **Bonuses** | Adjacent assets, walkthroughs, templates |
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| **Guarantee** | Generous unconditional (30-day no-questions) |
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| **Scarcity** | Bonus expiry, price-increase scheduling |
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| **Name** | Outcome-named, often punchy and specific |
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| **Price** | $29–$497, pay-in-full |
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### What to watch
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- **The first-impression matters disproportionately** — the buyer opens it once. If the first 5 minutes don't feel premium, they don't engage with the rest
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- **Quick-start is a bonus** — pair the asset with a 10-minute "do this first" walkthrough
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- **Lifetime access is implicit pricing** — clarify what "lifetime" means (yours, the product's, until you sunset it)
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---
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## High-ticket B2B ($5K+ ACV, sales-led)
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You sell to companies with a sales conversation.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | A multi-month engagement or annual contract |
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| **Bonuses** | Onboarding, training, integration, dedicated CSM |
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| **Guarantee** | SLA, performance-based, or pilot-gated |
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| **Scarcity** | Quarter-end pricing, capacity (N onboardings/quarter), tier limits |
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| **Name** | Internal-stable (e.g., "Enterprise Plan") + named engagement type (e.g., "Strategic Onboarding") |
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| **Price** | Annual contract with quarterly payment, often custom |
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### What to watch
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- **Buying committee, not buyer** — the offer has to land with the champion, the economic buyer, and the influencer simultaneously
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- **Procurement is the offer** — your terms (payment, NET 60, security review, MSA) are part of the offer; rigid terms lose deals
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- **Pilot offers convert sophisticated buyers** — "30-day paid pilot, decide to continue at end" reduces decision risk
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- **The CSM is part of the offer** — buyers consistently rate post-sale relationship as part of the offer-perceived-value
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---
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## Agency retainer
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You sell ongoing service delivery.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | Monthly deliverables + dedicated team + reporting cadence |
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| **Bonuses** | Strategy sessions, tool access, audit credits, library access |
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| **Guarantee** | Month-1 paid pilot or 90-day out clause |
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| **Scarcity** | Capacity (N clients / vertical / quarter) |
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| **Name** | Tier-named ("Growth," "Scale," "Enterprise") + service line |
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| **Price** | Monthly retainer with discount for annual commit |
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### What to watch
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- **Onboarding velocity is the offer** — agencies that take 6 weeks to start delivering lose to agencies that deliver something in week 1
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- **Reporting is part of the offer** — clean, monthly, action-oriented reporting reduces churn more than additional deliverables
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- **Tier upgrades are the easiest revenue** — design tiers with clear value-step-ups so upgrade conversations are obvious
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---
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## Self-serve SaaS
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You sell a tool with tiered subscriptions.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | Tiered subscription with clear feature differentiation |
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| **Bonuses** | Free onboarding, templates, integrations, partner discounts |
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| **Guarantee** | Free trial OR annual-with-30-day-refund |
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| **Scarcity** | Founding-pricing for first N customers, or seasonal launches |
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| **Name** | Tier-named ("Starter," "Pro," "Team," "Enterprise") |
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| **Price** | Monthly or annual with discount, value-metric-based |
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### What to watch
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- **Pricing tier > offer construction** — for self-serve SaaS, packaging and value metric do more work than guarantees and bonuses. Use the `pricing` skill.
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- **Free trial design IS offer design** — length, gated features, credit-card-required vs not, automatic conversion. Each is an offer decision.
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- **Annual prepay is the offer lever** — same product, different commitment, often 20–40% discount. Many SaaS conversion lifts come from improving the annual offer, not the monthly.
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For SaaS, this skill is supplemental. Read [`pricing`](../../pricing/SKILL.md) first.
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---
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## Direct response / paid traffic
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You sell from a sales page or VSL to cold traffic.
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### Default format
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| Component | Default |
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|-----------|---------|
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| **Core** | The "thing" + clear payoff |
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| **Bonuses** | Heavy bonus stack (5–7 bonuses, layered values) |
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| **Guarantee** | Aggressive risk reversal (better-than-money-back, double guarantee) |
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| **Scarcity** | Real time-bound (launch window, evergreen with hard close) |
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| **Name** | Hooky, often pattern-interrupt |
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| **Price** | Often single-payment with payment plan offered |
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### What to watch
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- **Direct-response buyers expect aggression** — quiet, premium-feeling offers convert badly on cold paid traffic. The aesthetic of the page matters as much as the offer.
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- **Refund rates can be 10–20%** — bake this into the math. If margin can't survive 15% refunds, restructure.
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- **The first 7 seconds determine the rest** — hook, then offer
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This format is high-skill. If you're not from a direct-response background, hire someone or partner with someone who is.
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---
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## Choosing your format
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If you're not sure which format applies, pick the closest match and adapt. The biggest mistake is borrowing a format from a different business type (e.g., applying direct-response bonus stacking to a premium B2B service — wrong audience, wrong aesthetic).
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Two diagnostic questions:
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1. **Who buys it, and how sophisticated are they?** Premium B2B and direct-response cold traffic both buy, but they need different offers.
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2. **What's the dominant constraint?** Service businesses are capacity-constrained, SaaS is pricing-tier-constrained, courses are cohort/season constrained. Match the scarcity format to the real constraint.
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For worked examples by business type, see [examples.md](examples.md).
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