How to write Compelling Offers!

[chris_tsurcanu]

Okay, I’ll just come right out and say it – most of the hundreds of Fiverr offers I read each month are simply AWFUL. One of the main reasons why is that the freelancers who are writing them only know they want to be hired – but they have no clear understanding of how to accomplish that goal.

So they just end up saying a bunch of stuff, with no real purpose, no real direction. It reminds me of a friend of mine, who was signing a lease for her first apartment after college. Her mother told her to be sure to “negotiate her rent”. But what the mom didn’t do, was give her daughter any negotiating tools .

So, like 99% of renters, my friend did what felt natural – she asked the rental company, “Can you please lower the price?”

And of course, predictably, they said no! What if, instead, she’d asked for a 5% reduction, in exchange for signing a two-year lease, rather than one year lease.

Do you see the difference? In the first scenario, my friend had no real direction and no useful tools – it was like trying to shoot a gun, with no target, and no bullets! Whereas, in the latter scenario, she would have been operating much more strategically.

Her goal would be much clearer, and she’d be using a sound approach to helping her reach her target.

So, down bellow, you will find top 3 tips when it comes to a GREAT offer. Let’s get started!

1. Call to Action - First off, you’re going to start with a well-defined goal that’s simple and doable – and that is, getting a response from
   the client. That’s it – nothing more, nothing less.

We’re just trying to open up a dialogue with the client. Another benefit that comes from this “start a conversation” approach is that humans have a built-in consistency mechanism – which means that, once we do something, we tend to do more of it.

That means that, if we can get clients to respond favorably to our
proposal, they’ll tend to keep feeling favorable about us – making them more likely to want to work with us – and pay us a good amount for our service.

So, rather than starting out with the vague and unrealistic goal of “getting hired”, your goal is simply to get the client to respond to your offer.

Simple, doable, and straightforward.

2. The one sentence rule
   First things first, though – before we can get the client to message us back, he needs to read through our entire offer.

And before he does that, we need to first make sure we capture his attention. And, we must do it quickly, right in our FIRST sentence. Not our second sentence, or our third – our very first sentence needs to grab the client and make him want to keep reading.

This is what I call, the Affirmation Approach. I call is that because it basically repeats back what the client said they were looking for in their job posting. The Affirmation Approach works well for several reasons.

One, it’s very simple and easy to execute, because you don’t have to make anything up, and it can be applied to almost any situation.

Two, it addresses the client’s needs, which makes you more likeable.
And three, it sets you apart from the crowd – because most freelancers won’t focus on the client or their needs at all – and in fact, many won’t even read through the job posting!

So showing the client you understand what they’re looking for in this way is effective.

3. Proper Image and Above the budget price.
   Go and try! Create a request and head a look over it in a couple of hours.

Having an eye-catching image with a bright background is something that will grab his attention . Take for example my profile picture.

Next, is simple but eye-catching images of your gig. Here you can use bright colors like green, orange or blue. DO NOT do like others!

Don’t fill your gig image with unnecessary info. Again, for a better understanding of a minimal and surefire design, take a look at my Logo Gig or Business Card Gig.

Lastly, clients don’t know how much cost your services, that’s why they are not sure about the budget. Don’t be afraid and go above his budget.

But, use numbers wisely! I will give you an example. Instead of 5$ offer go with 9$ offer or even 23 or 13. Do NOT use round numbers – they show that you are lazy.

Hope that this post was informative and not-so-boring 🙂

If you would like to know more, just drop a comment and I will rspond as fast as I can!

P.S: I do NOT wrote this article to promote my services!

[mistalim]

Very comprehensive and informative post. Thanks.

[carrioncutie]

I don’t get how using a certain number can increase or decrease successful Buyer’s Requests, but then again, I’ve never tried it myself. I haven’t thought of using the numbers like that. I’ll have to try offering $13 instead of the usual price and see my results.

Thanks for your information!

[designdame]

This is very good information, especially with the “conversational approach”. Most buyers want to connect and deal with real individuals, that don’t come across as being robots.

I am not too sure about your pricing model for odd numbers for gigs, but who knows, I might as well give it a try.

Thank you.

[chris_tsurcanu]

Well, from 10 offers that I’m able to send, 5 from them are successful.

The main goal is to make the client contact you, NOT accept your offer. That’s why I every time finish up my offer with a Call to Action question.

See, when you ask a client to contact you back, they have more room for freedom to take the decision.

Using an odd number make a difference between you and the rest of the competitors.

[element_graphix]

Nice. Thanks alot for this insight.

[anamariaedan]

@chris_tsurcanu, great post! If you don’t mind me asking, what software do you use for creating your gig videos? 🙂

[chris_tsurcanu]

I create the videos by exporting the Powerpoint Presentation to Camtasia Studio.

As you see my videos have nothing more than just a solid color with the white Roboto or Segoe UI Light Font.

[anamariaedan]

Oh My God, that is such a funny thing. As I was watching your videos, I was thinking that I could use Poweroint presentations and just convert them to videos. I never actually thought that’s how you create them. Anyway, congratulations! You have a really professional and outstanding profile.