Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / The High-Value Offer Makeover with Melinda Emerson

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The High-Value Offer Makeover with Melinda Emerson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Hi there.
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  This is Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, and I wanna welcome you to another episode of
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  the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  You know, all this year, all of 2025, I have been on the warpath to help you all get better
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  with sales.
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  And so I decided to, as we close out the year, I wanted to go in on sales one more time and
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  give you guys just a mini TED talk about one of the things that I think everyone needs to be
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  thinking about.
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  Like, something just really powerful that will absolutely change the way you sell, price, and
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  position your business in 2026.
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  And what I'm talking about is the high value offer makeover.
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  So here's the truth, you guys.
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  Most small business owners are stuck at the same price point for years because you've never
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  updated or evolved your offer.
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  So what do you do?
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  You pile on more bonuses, more deliverables, more hours, but the value, yeah, the
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  transformation, the the brand promise even, it stays the same.
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  So today, what I'm gonna do is walk you guys through step by step through my five p
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  framework.
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  Y'all know I love p's.
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  Y'all know I love a good acronym or alliteration.
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  So here we go.
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  I'm gonna walk you guys through how to exactly refine your offer so that your clients happily
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  pay more without pushback, hesitation, or ghosting you after the first discovery call.
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  So let's dive into what I'm talking about today.
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  First of all, the problem.
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  Right?
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  Every high value offer starts with solving a specific high value problem.
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  Lots of people end up with low ticket clients because they're solving surface level problems
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  instead of solving the real root problem, which is what people will pay serious, serious cash
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  for.
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  For example, if you say, oh, I help people simplify their social media.
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  Okay.
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  That's a surface problem because social media doesn't necessarily sell.
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  It's good for maybe brand awareness, a little bit of visibility, but conversions are a lot
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  harder on social media.
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  But what if you said instead, I help you turn your content into consistent paying clients.
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  Now that's a real problem.
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  And that's also a real promise.
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  It's not, oh, I'll help you get visible.
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  Because we all know there's a whole bunch of broke folks on IG that are visible that aren't
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  making any money.
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  So what I wanna talk to you guys about is getting to that root problem because when you
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  get to the root problem, you get to the money.
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  So I want you to ask yourself, what is the painful problem that your ideal customer wakes
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  up thinking about?
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  Or what is keeping them up at night?
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  What is the emotional or financial cost of not solving it?
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  In 2026, people are going to pay for transformation, not task, because all these AI
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  tools out here can do all the tasks, basic tasks that people need.
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  But transformation is something that an individual business consultant or coach is
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  still going to be delivering for people.
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  So if your offer solves a deep, painful, expensive problem, you can charge a premium
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  confidently.
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  You know, when I start talking about my sales accelerator boot camp program, the reason why
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  I'm able to charge what I charge is because I am the last person that's gonna have to teach
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  you that.
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  Right?
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  I mean, so you might be like, $10,000 for six weeks.
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  Wait a minute.
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  But listen.
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  I am the last person that's gonna have to teach you how to sell.
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  You will forever have these skills, and you will be able to take anywhere with you.
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  And it's so valuable that I get that kind of money and I don't have to beg for it.
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  So I want you guys to think about what it is that you sell, that you can confidently sit
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  back on your heels and say, listen, this is a big problem for you.
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  This is a problem that's been stressing you out.
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  Not being able to close people that you finally get on you know, on a Zoom call with you is
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  painful.
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  Having people ghost you after your first discovery call, that's painful.
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  So you gotta be like, how can I fix this problem?
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  And the way is is to get better about your messaging, how you're talking about it, but
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  also just about what you're actually delivering.
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  So let's talk about step two.
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  Step two is your promise.
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  And your promise is literally the transformation that your clients get.
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  You know?
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  And here's the secret.
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  The clearer or more specific your promise is, the easier it is to raise your price.
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  Weak promises invite haggling.
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  Strong promises attract buyers, ready to buy, presold to buy.
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  So a high value promise sounds like this.
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  In twelve weeks, we'll rebuild your sales system so you can generate qualified leads
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  every week without begging or chasing.
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  That's a value promise.
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  Now your promise should answer two simple questions.
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  How does it solve the core problem?
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  And will people pay real money for this outcome?
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  If the answer to either of those is I don't know or no, then you gotta go back and try
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  again.
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  It's gotta be something that is not even you you it can't be a hard sell.
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  So you wanna use outcome language because part of the problem that you guys are having is you
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  don't have an outcome based offer.
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  You wanna talk about how much time, how many weeks, how many bonuses, and not the
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  transformation.
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  And you gotta make sure that you're not using task language.
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  You're selling results, not modules in some kind of training program you got out here.
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  Now let's talk about step three.
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  Step three in my five P's framework for sales is process.
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  Your process is really your intellectual property in all of this.
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  It's your proprietary method.
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  You're not selling time.
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  You're selling your signature system or method.
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  So you wanna give your pro process a name.
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  Brand your steps.
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  You know?
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  Like, I'm I'm, you know, twelve months, 12 p's, five p's.
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  Like, that that's how I frame things.
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  You know?
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  In my first book, Become Your Own Boss in twelve Months, I called my my system to help
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  people transition from having a job to starting a business.
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  I called it the Emerson Planning System.
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  Right?
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  Honestly, I couldn't think of anything as clever as the hedgehog concept, so I just named
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  it after myself.
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  Why not?
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  You know?
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  But the point is you got to name it.
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  You got to give it a name.
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  And because people will pay more when they see you have a repeatable, proven strategy and not
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  a vague, we'll figure it out together.
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  That's not telling anybody anything.
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  So you wanna break your process down into three to five steps that they must take to get the
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  transformation.
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  So step one, diagnose the real issue.
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  Step two, implement the system.
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  Step three, optimize for sustainable results.
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  Now that's a basic framework system.
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  I mean, you honestly, you guys can get on one of these AI tools like ChatGPT and ask for it
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  to help you build your system, ask for it to help you come up with a clever name of your
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  system or your offer.
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  But the system itself, that's you.
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  You've gotta figure out what your secret sauce is.
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  You know, is there a little bit of oregano?
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  Is it is there is there a basil leaf?
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  You got some poultry seasoning in there.
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  You know, what's the secret seasoning that's that's giving it?
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  Is it is it a little bit of chicken stock?
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  You know?
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  What what is your secret sauce?
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  You've gotta figure it out.
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  But that's just a basic way you can create one.
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  The point is is you wanna have a clear, transparent, and branded process so that you
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  can justify the price.
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  And it's even better if you've got some testimonials you can put on it saying, look, I
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  already worked with two dozen people and this is what happened.
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  You always want to justify the process.
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  Nobody wants to feel like you're guinea pigs.
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  You got to tell them who have you used this thing on.
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  And that actually brings us to step four.
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  Step four is proof.
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  Buyers in 2026 are skeptical and overwhelmed.
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  AI is great, but what AI has done is created the ability for people to pretend to be
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  anything, use anybody's voice.
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  You really want to make sure that when you're thinking about your business, that you have
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  proof because proof is the fastest way to increase your price and still hear yes.
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  And proof also removes doubt because doubt kills sales.
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  And your proof can be anything like obviously testimonials.
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  And certainly I'm big on throwing down receipts, right?
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  I've been an entrepreneur for twenty six years.
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  I've been coaching entrepreneurs for seventeen years.
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  I literally reach a million small business owners each week online.
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  So I don't have to pretend to be anything because my success is well documented all over
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  the internet.
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  But you do want to make sure that if your signature system has worked well for some
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  people, talk about it.
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  Talk about those businesses.
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  Name your clients and your partners if you can.
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  I love before and after stories.
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  Like one of my favorite before and after stories is there's a young woman, sold yarn on
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  the internet, came to me when she was seven and a half months pregnant and said, look, I need
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  your help to streamline my business sales operations so that I can actually take three
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  months off with my baby.
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  Not only did I help her streamline her business, the year she came back from having
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  her child, her business did over $6,000,000 in revenue and she ended up on the Inc.
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  5,000 list.
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  So I know my stuff works, but you gotta have the receipts.
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  For a long time, for years and years, I just helped people, never even asked people for a
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  testimonial, never even asked people for a recommendation.
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  That is crazy.
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  Like, don't do that.
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  You want to make sure that you have your results, that you have your testimonies, that
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  you have your screenshots of people sending you amazing letters.
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  You want to create case studies.
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  And if you have any certifications, you can highlight those.
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  I don't have any certifications other than my MBA from graduate school, but if you have a
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  certification from a certifying body, group coach nation or international coaching
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  federation, whatever, you can highlight those things as well.
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  And certainly any media features you've had, if you have been featured in the media anywhere,
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  you should highlight that in your sales process so that people know that you're not out here
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  pretending to do this business, that you're doing it at the highest level possible so much
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  so that the wall street journal and the new york times has quoted you.
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  Now, let's talk about two upgrades that I want you guys to think about that can raise
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  perceived value.
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  Number one, you can make an outcome based offer.
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  So don't sell deliverables, sell the outcome.
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  So again, instead of saying six modules, you can say by the end of this program, you will
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  have a complete sales machine generating bookings every week.
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  People buy results, not lessons.
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  So that is a way you could do it.
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  The other thing you could do is offer a guarantee if you can.
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  Guarantees really reduce buyer anxiety and help people take action quickly.
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  And this could be a satisfaction guarantee, a conditional guarantee, a milestone based
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  guarantee.
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  You could say, look, try this program for thirty days.
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  If it doesn't work, we'll return your money.
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  No questions asked, you know, but you gotta be careful because if your outcome is tied to
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  their effort, you wanna make sure that you protect yourself.
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  But if you know that your stuff works, throw that guarantee out there, you know, because
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  confidence, your confidence will become their confidence.
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  And when you de risk the decision, clients say yes faster.
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  And the last P in my, the five P's that I'm going to teach you today is price.
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  So now that you've clarified the problem, you've strengthened your promise, you've
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  systematized your process, and you stacked out a bunch of proof, now raising your price
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  becomes natural.
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  So stop asking, what will people pay?
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  Instead, here's what I want you to do.
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  I want you to ask them, if I were able to help you solve this problem, what would it be worth
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  to your business?
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  In other words, what is the value of the transformation?
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  Remember, people do not buy price, they buy results.
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  And if you're solving a $50,000 problem, you cannot keep charging $1,500 Position yourself
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  as the premium solution, not the bargain alternative.
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  So let's just recap this for a second.
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  My five P's framework for sales is problem, promise, process, proof, and price.
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  And when you master these five pieces, you can raise your prices without losing clients
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  because you've increased the value in the way they, in a way that they can clearly see and
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  feel.
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  I want you to pick one of these five Ps and upgrade your offer for $20.26 this week.
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  Even a small shift in clarity can lead to a major shift in income.
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  Remember, 2026 is not the year for you to play small.
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  It's the year for you to step fully into being a high value expert and your business and your
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  clients, they're waiting on you.
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  They're waiting on you to have this shift.
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  Trust me, guys.
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  Now listen.
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  I just wanna thank all of you for rocking with me here at the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  If you guys love what you hear, first of all, please share it.
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  Let other people know about it.
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  And if you love this podcast, please give me a review on Apple Podcasts or everywhere that you
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  listen to your favorite podcast.
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  Also too, if you are interested in learning how to buy a business or buy an existing franchise,
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  please check out my next act CEO summit.
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  It's gonna be January.
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  It is a virtual three day conference, and I'm going to teach you everything you need to know
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  about how to become an entrepreneur through acquisition.
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  We've got the chair of the International Franchise Association.
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  I've got business brokers.
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  I've got franchise consultants.
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  I've got the money people here too.
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  I'm gonna have the financing folks in the house to tell you guys it's not that hard to buy a
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  business and you can borrow up to 90% of the money to do it.
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  So I want you guys to think about hanging out with me at the Next Act CEO Summit, and you can
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  just go to my URL.
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  It is smallbizladyuniversity.com/nextactceosummit.
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  Check us out.
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  It's going to be an amazing three days.
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  There's so many businesses out here that are available.
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  I want you all to take advantage of it.
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  And I've pulled together the best of the best to teach you, especially if you're a woman out
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  here trying to pivot, trying to figure out what's next.
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  You're 45, tired of corporate.
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  I got the answer for you, baby.
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  It's the Next Act CEO Summit.
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  Again, that URL is smallbizladyuniversity.com/nextactceosummit.
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  And I wanna leave you guys with this.
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  You never lose in business.
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  Either you win or you learn.
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  Hi.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson.
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  I am the small business lady, America's number one small business expert, and I wish you well.
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  God bless.
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  Wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for more fantastic information
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  and interviews.
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  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.