The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

Compelling Offer Tool Kit:
 
FAQ, Guarantee, and Overdelivery
 
As you continue to work on your offer, three tools will assist you in making
it more compelling: the FAQ page (or wherever you provide the answers to
common  questions),  an  incredible  guarantee,  and  giving  your  customers
more than they expect. Let’s look at each of them in detail.
1. Frequently Asked Questions, AKA “What I Want You to Know”
You might think that a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page is designed
merely  to  answer  questions.  Surprise!  It’s  not  …  or  at  least,  that’s  not  its
only  function.  A  well-designed  FAQ  page  also  has  another,  extremely
important  purpose.  You  could  call  it  “operation  objection  busting”:  The
additional  purpose  of  a  FAQ  is  to  provide  reassurance  to  potential  buyers
and overcome objections. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is
to  identify  the  main  objections  your  buyers  will  have  when  considering
your offer and carefully respond to them in advance.

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Wondering what the objections to your offer will be? They fall into two
categories:  general  and  specific.  The  specific  objections  relate  to  an
individual  product  or  service,  so  it’s  hard  to  predict  what  they  might  be
without looking at a particular offer. General objections, however, come up
with  almost  any  purchase,  so  that’s  what  we’ll  look  at  here.  These
objections usually relate to very basic human desires, needs, concerns, and
fears. Here are a few common ones:
• How do I know this really works?
• I don’t know if this is a good investment (and/or I’m not sure I have
the money to spare).
• I’m not sure I can trust you with my money.
• What do other people think about this offer?
•  I  wonder  if  I  can  find  this  information/get  this  product  or  service
without paying.
•  I  worry  about  sharing  my  information  online  (or  another  privacy
concern).
 
The  core  concern  for  each  of  these  objections  relates  to  trust  and
authority. You must create consumer confidence in order to overcome the
objections.  As  you  craft  the  offer,  think  about  the  objections  …  and  then
flip them around in your favor. You want to send messages like these:
• This really works because …
• This is a great investment because …
•  You  can  trust  us  with  your  money  because  …  (alternatively,  You
don’t  have  to  trust  us  with  your  money,  because  we  work  with  an
established, trusted third party …)
• Other people think this is great, and here’s what they say …
• You have to pay to get this product or service (alternatively, The free
versions aren’t as good, it takes a lot of work to get it on your own,
etc.)
• Your information and privacy are 100 percent secure because …
 
See how it works? The point is not to be defensive (you want to avoid
that) but rather to be proactive in responding to concerns. One model you
can use when describing your offer is outlined below in what we’ll call a
“rough awesome format.” It works like this:

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Point 1: This thing is so awesome! [primary benefit]
Point 2: Seriously, it’s really awesome. [secondary benefit]
Point  3:  By  the  way,  you  don’t  need  to  worry  about  anything.
[response to concerns]
Point  4:  See,  it’s  really  awesome.  What  are  you  waiting  for?  [take
action]
 
In  the  rough  awesome  format,  point  1  is  the  main  benefit,  point  2  is  a
reinforcement  of  the  main  benefit  or  an  important  side  benefit,  point  3  is
where  you  deal  with  the  objections,  and  point  4  is  where  you  bring  it  all
together and nudge buyers toward a call to action. You won’t always get it
right  at  first—sometimes  you’ll  discover  additional  objections  as  you  go
through the initial sales process with real-time customers—but dealing with
the most important objections from the beginning will help you get off to a
much better start than the wait-and-see approach.