The Flatla VALUE Test: Is Your Offer Ready for the Limelight?

If you’re a freelancer working online (and I hope you ARE leveraging the web to grow your business), it’s almost too easy to slap up a new offer without thoroughly considering how it brings value to the vendor-client relationship. If you’re in marketing or copywriting, you might even face situations where the client wants your help promoting an offer that feels a bit … thin.

Yet there’s a fine line between being thorough with new offerings and finding excuses reasons to keep sitting on a great idea. So I’ve created an easy-to-remember acronym that will help you decide whether or not your next offer is ready for the limelight.

It’s the “Flatla VALUE Test,” and it goes like this:

Verifiable – Just because you don’t have any paying customers doesn’t mean you can’t scrutinize your offer’s ability to deliver real, positive change for people. Can your ideal customer reasonably expect your product or service to produce the results you’re selling? Does your offer hold up in real world scenarios with real people who will behave irrationally? When in doubt, look at past offers and the results they produced (or didn’t produce) for customers; then extrapolate.

Actionable – If someone bought what you’re offering TODAY, could you deliver on your promise without having to cash in favors, spend a ton of extra money, or otherwise perform stupendous feats of heroism? This doesn’t mean you need to have the product or service completed before you sell it either. It’s often better to earn the money first and create the deliverable later. But if you DO get the sale, will you know exactly what you need to do with what resources in order to deliver? Or will you be confused and panic stricken?

Logical – Does your offer actually make sense? For example, when you go to write the sales copy, can you logically take your prospect from the pain to the desired outcome to the supporting benefits to product or service delivery to a final result? If your offer doesn’t align with the mechanics of how people make decisions to buy, your offer is either too pithy (missing details) or too thin (not enough value for the money), and people won’t believe in your claim.

yoU – (Okay, I cheated on the “u” here, but close enough!) Here’s where things can go sideways in a hurry for freelancers and other entrepreneurs working online. Every thing you offer—for sale or for free—must be an authentic reflection of YOUR worldview, your beliefs, and ultimately your humanity. When a value promise resonates deeply with the person making it, it’s more likely to also resonate with others. In other words, your story is probably someone else’s story. (Note: the number of people who will connect with your story in a BIG way is usually higher than you think.)

Engaging – People just want to feel better about something in their lives. I wish I could sound really smart here and make it more complicated than that, but it’s not. We may live much of our lives in this abstract, digital space online, but people still buy from people—not websites or sales pages or shopping carts. The decision to spend is an emotional one, almost every time in every situation for every kind of product or service. Winning offers shoot straight for the heart.

Certainly, there is more to know and understand around how to craft, market and sell your next great offer. The point of my VALUE Test is to make sure you’re being thorough enough to make the offer with conviction, but efficient enough to get the offer out of the dark (or off your hard drive) and into the limelight.

So, are you ready to make your next great offer?

Bio: Karri Flatla is a marketing strategist, copywriter and coach to online entrepreneurs seeking growth and action in their businesses. Known across the web for her take-no-prisoners style, Karri’s articles and advice have been featured at Search Engine Guide, Fuel Net, Problogger’s TwiTip, and Smart Company and Alberta Venture magazines. To learn more about crafting, marketing and selling your next great offer, visit Dare to Act! Marketing and register for Karri’s popular, pre-event training calls.