#61 - Positioning Your Offer to Sell: How to Attract Ready-to-Buy Clients

Did you know that only about 3% of your audience online is actively looking for a solution and ready to make a purchase right now? 

The rest may be problem-aware but not sure what the solution is (therefore not shopping for it), or solution aware and considering their options, or even completely unaware that they need help. 

So, if online marketing and social selling is a strategy for your business, but your messaging isn’t speaking to that 3%, you’re doing a lot of work for little return.

Until I understood this key factor about specifically online messaging, I had a lot of painful failures trying to sell via socials.

But imagine this - you’re posting content, having conversations in your DMs, but instead of hearing ‘I’ll think about it,’ you start hearing ‘This is exactly what I need. Where do I sign up?’

That’s what today’s episode is all about - positioning your offer to sell.

By the end, you’ll know exactly how to: 

✅ Shift your mindset so you feel confident selling every day.
✅ Identify and speak directly to the right buyer type so you stop attracting people who aren’t ready to invest.
✅ Call in clients who are ready to move NOW, not just ‘thinking about it.’
✅ Master the energetics of selling so you can keep moving forward, whether or not people buy today.           

Plus, I’ll share specific examples of social media posts and DM scripts you can use to start seeing results right away. 

So, grab a notebook or just listen in—this is going to be a good one! Let’s dive in.

Mindset to Market is a Luminous Creative Production. If you'd like to learn more about our business coaching program and group coaching container, please visit us online at DeborahcSmith.com.

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Mindset to Market is produced by Deborah C. Smith and designed to inspire and support big-hearted creatives in finding their own unique path, building a sustainable business, and creating financial, spiritual, mental wellness and abundance.

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Transcript

This is episode 61 and it's all about positioning your business offers to really move to sell easily and how to tune in and attract those ready to buy clients through your messaging. So a few years ago, I can remember very clearly spending I spent hours of my time creating content for the internet, like Instagram reels and LinkedIn posts and videos for Facebook, showing up constantly and consistently and really engaging in the DMs, like talking to people, but never, ever, ever making any sales. 

So it really felt completely unpredictable to me, like all this effort I was putting into the internet  to connect with people.  Let them know what I was doing.  And you know, some months clients seem to roll in and it seemed related, but other months I would just hear nothing. It was just very inconsistent using social media to connect with people. 

Then I started paying a lot closer attention to the message in my content. And I actually worked with a coach to focus on how I was showing up in those messages, whether it be emails, social media posts, or even just. Captions in my stories, I discovered something that was really off in my messaging and fixing that changed everything for me.

So I started positioning my offer for those ready to buy clients instead of trying to convince people to invest  because did you know that only 3 percent of your audience? is actively looking for a solution right now. The other 97 percent are  potentially clients, but they're not in a position where they're thinking about the solution that you offer as a business.

So they're not really in the market for whatever you're doing. So you need to create some content for that 3%, meaning speak directly to them. And until I understood this key factor about how to specifically message online in, in my social media posts. I had a lot of painful failure trying to sell in that way.

But imagine this, you're posting content, you're having conversations in your DMS, and instead of hearing from people, yeah, let me know. I'll think about it or send me the information. And then they totally ghost. You start hearing. Yes, that's exactly what I need. Where do I sign up? And that's what today's episode is all about.

I'm going to share with you a shift in your mindset around selling online so you can feel confident doing this all the time, every day. And also we're going to cover how to identify and speak directly to the right buyer type. So you stop attracting those people who are really just not very interested in how to call in the clients who are ready to move right now, not just thinking about it.

And a lot of that has to do with mastering the energetics of selling. So we're going to touch upon the energetics around. 

So this could be an episode where you want to take some notes, but you can also just listen in. And if you hear something that's really hits. In as magical for you, you can go back and write it down, but yeah, this is going to be a good one.  Hey there, welcome to the mindset to market podcast, your go to place for practical tools and solutions for the everyday challenges of being a creative and spiritual solopreneur living in a material world.

I'm your host. Debra Smith. I'm a holistic business coach with 17 years of experience, and I help my clients bust through mindset blocks and build a daily practice that prioritizes your business's financial growth, as well as your personal health and wellness.  I'm here to offer you support, creativity, mindset, practical, how to's and getting into imperfect, messy actions.

So you can find balance while building the dream. Business. If you're a purpose-driven solepreneur, who's working on that dream one day at a time, then you're in the right place. Let's dive in.  Welcome back to the show. Thanks for listening. I'm so grateful to have you here. And I wanna start with a very basic definition about positioning your offer.

What does it mean to position your offer?  Because you hear that a lot in the online space, and it's a little vague in my opinion, so let's break it down. Positioning your offer  means strategically shaping how your product or your service is perceived by your ideal audience, so that they see it as the obvious, most valuable solution to their problem. 

So it really means getting it in front of a The people who need it the most at the moment that they're experiencing the content or the the advertisement or whatever it is They're seeing your social media post or even just talking with you  You're positioning it as the only solution that they need the obvious solution and the most valuable  so  as I mentioned in the beginning really there's only a very small fraction of your audience that is searching on the internet for a solution to their problem.

So when they're coming in contact with your, your Instagram posts or your reels or whatever social media you're putting out there, like that means the lion's share of people are just scrolling around kind of lost on the internet. But 3 percent of people  have a problem, are problem aware,  and also know That what the solution is and they're actively searching for the right fit solution for them  Those are the people that buy instantly without hesitating when they see  your offer positioned, right?

So positioning is crucial if you want to sell with ease online so when you post a piece of content online you want to have a The core tenets of powerful messaging in general, so that your words can sell before you do, right? So your words precede you. So powerful messaging, very basics. Number one, share your story.

If you're telling your personal story, you are going to call in people who identify with details in your story. So it's a really easy and simple way to attract people that are going to like you.  Be authentic and share your story to showing proof that your offer works.  And three is really speaking to the transformation that people will experience and the benefits of the work that you do.

So those three things are just kind of standard, powerful messaging, share your story, show social proof and speak to the benefits and the transformations  and position your offer as the first step in their journey. Not just a product, not just something that you created, you know, the details of which are interesting, but that's not what people buy.

You want to show them that you have a real solution. And reminder that we are specifically talking about selling online. This is not exactly the same strategy that you might use if you were, say, a shop owner with a customer who's perusing a shelf of physical products. This is about having the right words.

and messaging so that it, that live out on the internet so that people encounter that and are already attracted to work with you. So listen to this with a mind on your online content and messaging because the goal is to have your words carry so much weight and do so much of the work for you that you can spend more time living your life.

offline. So let's dive in. The mindset of selling with confidence is really part one of this. And the key point here is that selling is not about convincing people of anything. It's about helping them make the right decision for them. So it's all about them. It's all about your customer. The more confidence that you have in your offer, the easier it is for others to trust you.

And confidence and building trust is, is a key tenant of sales. So  the shift in your mindset is really about moving away from trying to prove and convince and moving into the mindset of just truly confident in what you have.  to offer enough so that people feel that confidence in every message that you put out there and are attracted to it.

So an example for a health coach  might be, instead of feeling, you know, the energy of, and the mindset of, God, I really hope if I post this, that they sign up, I really need to prove that my approach is going to work. I'm a good health coach that I have experience. Shift into the mindset of, I know that my coaching can help people transform their health.

My job is to connect with those who are ready to take action in their life and guide them towards their next step. That's it. You're moving away from, I hope they buy. I hope they see me as, you know, good enough to, I know I'm good enough. And my only responsibility here is to guide them to making a good decision for themselves.

Maybe you're not a good decision for them at this moment. That's okay. Somebody else is going to come along who is. So that sort of detached confidence and instead of saying,  you know, posting content, this is what I used to do all the time. Oh my God, this is so cringy. I used to post all the time content that was basically like telling people that they should invest in their health because it's important for them.

And my program. will help them feel better and have more energy or telling people these nutrients are going to change the way that your cells feel. So you have to start caring about this.  Instead,  use an example from your own life about how you had a transformation or how you helped somebody have a transformation.

So a social media example of a post that illustrates this new confidence could say something like the biggest shift that I made in my business is I stopped trying to convince people to invest in their health. Instead, I started showing them what was possible with the right plan and the right support.

If you're ready to break free from the cycle of quick fixes and actually get some results in your health, let's chat, right? Something totally different. So instead of posting, you need to invest in your health, you need these nutrients, you need this meal plan. My program is going to give you that. It's showing an example of how I made my own shift. 

If you're ready, I can show it to you. It's just a completely different message.  So we want to work on shifting our mindset before we even post any content. Like, really work on that.  Move away from convincing, proving, and  telling people what they need and move into showing examples, illustrating what's possible for them, and offering to guide them. 

That alone will change everything in your content online. Just do it. Just that shift for yourself.  And another thing that really helps is knowing your buyer type.  So  the idea here is that not all potential clients are at the same stage of awareness. So some people have a problem. right? But they're just realizing for the first time that they actually have that problem.

So your content might be of interest to them, but they're not in a position where they're actually seeking a solution yet. Others are actively looking for a solution to their problem, but they don't know what that solution is yet. Others are aware of the solution and also they are in a position where they're ready to take action on that. 

So in my opinion, your social media strategy should include content that speaks to all of these different buyer types. But if we're talking about easy online sales, you need to make sure that you're including at least some content. I would say the majority of your content that speaks to those ready to buy.

people because that's going to take so much of the weight off of your plate and do so much heavy lifting for you. And what I've seen a lot is that that's the type of content that people are most reluctant to actually post. So that's why I'm talking about this today, because I feel like if you're not already putting out pieces of content that speak to that active, ready to buy third category, that's why you're missing out on sales.

That's what happened for me is I was not posting that kind of conversion content that really spoke to those people who, who are ready to go.  So let me just break those down, those three biotypes down a little bit further, quickly. Number one, you've got people who are problem aware, right? They know they have a problem, but they don't know the solution.

They are at a point in their journey where they just need education. So that educational content that is so popular on the internet. is valuable because it's helping people move from  seeking, you know, just awareness around how to get out of the place that they're in. Number two category is solution aware.

This is people who have done some research. They've been consuming that educational content. They've watched the documentary. They've spoken to a doctor. They've talked to other professionals. They know that solutions exist and they're considering their options. The third category is the category we're talking about today, which is those ready to buy clients.

These are people who are actively looking for the right person or the right product to help them right now. Those are our people. So let me give you a specific example of a tweak in your messaging. Um, and I see this all the time. You would be surprised. People are very vague and they're afraid to sell.

So then they leave it really open and there's no, actionable step to take. So example, um, let's say you're a teacher who creates PDF downloadable PDFs to help other teachers organize lesson plans. So  instead of saying something so vague, like, Hey, yeah, let me know if you ever need help with lesson planning. 

You just left it wide open. They have no action step to take. Tweak your messaging to say something very specific, such as, Hey, Jane, I saw you were talking about. all the work you had to do to plan your lessons. I work with other teachers to provide, uh, downloadable templates for lesson plans. Are you looking for support in saving time around lesson planning?

See how specific that was? Or, I mean, you could tweak that a million different ways, but the goal is to say, Hey, first name, I saw you were talking about, you know, the problem that they are working on. And I work with. Fill in the blanks, service providers, teachers, you know, people struggling with thyroid imbalance, um, people trying to get in shape, whatever you do, just like you, to get blank specific outcome. 

Are you looking for support in that blank specific goal, right? Fill in their specific goal that you see them talking about because that way you're showing them. That you see that they have that problem, that you have a solution, you're talking about the very specific solution, and you're asking them directly, Would you like more information about this solution?

So it's just a lot more direct, but it's also laid back. It's not a big deal. You're asking them if they want Okay,  and that moves us to the next point, which is that we want to practice creating content that speaks to those ready to buy clients. So we're We have to practice tweaking our messaging and move away from just giving away the solutions that we teach inside our offers or that we give them inside our paid product and invite them to purchase.

So instead of saying, Hey, are you struggling with this problem? Here's three tips that can help you  or, you know, five steps to move you from this place that you're in to that place that you want to get to.  That's fine. You can offer that type of educational content. But if you're trying to get somebody to buy, you want to tweak that messaging to invite them  into your solution.

So that could look like something like this.  If you're done trying to fill in the blank with ineffective solution that isn't working for them and you want a clear proven way to get your desired result,  then my offer,  Deborah's personal coaching program  built for you.  If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and actually get.

To the goal that you know, they're trying to get to DM me ready and let's chat  So, can you see how there's a much more specific and much more clear call to action in that post and let me just read it Again, so that you hear it really clearly instead of are you struggling with this problem that you know, they're struggling with Here's three tips to help you. 

They're not gonna call you up from those three tips and say hey, can you charge me?  Like they've just gotten the tips for free. So the tweak is, Hey, if you're done struggling with not knowing how to design a digital product and you want a clear and proven pathway to design a product, that's going to sell easily online, then my offer design your digital product was designed for you.

If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and get this done. DM me product and I'll show you how, like that's so much more specific. I'm telling them, I can show you the way, here's how you get it. Click here to get it or DM me, you know, a word and let's talk.  And I think that the point here is that you're not going to do this with every single person.

You're going to do this with the folks that are  clearly asking for help, right? You're going to, you can, you have to start paying attention to the types of comments that you get.  What people say to you in the DMS if they're looking for a solution Make it so easy for them to come and work with you  And then that brings me to another really important point about selling online, which is about the energetics  of sales so in sales Energy is everything like how you show up and the vibe that you bring Makes or breaks a sale every single time.

I remember you guys I had a juice bar. I would stand at the counter For many many years and those of you listening who remember  Um, me from those days, you will know this already. I often was public facing with the sales piece of my business. I either was working inside the cafe, working on the juice truck or around, like managing my staff.

I was always, always, always present in the sales piece of my business. I did all of the negotiations for large contracts. Like I was the salesperson for my business.  And  there were so many times when I failed because I was just not in the right mindset. And the right energetics of.  sharing the product with people.

It's hard to sell something if you don't believe in it yourself. It's really hard to sell something if you don't know enough about the actual details. Like when people ask you questions, you need to know the answers to their questions and you need to believe not just know, but believe that your product is a solution to their problem.

If you know about the details of the business of the product and you know that it's a, it's can help them. It's a lot easier to share that, but also, If you show up from a place of doubt or scarcity, people will feel it. If you show up with confidence and certainty, people will trust you. And trust is the cornerstone of sales.

I say this all the time. Trust is the cornerstone of sales. That's why you sharing your personal story is so important because people can tell if you're making it up, people can tell if you use the chat GPT to write the story, like  keep it authentic.  Even being vulnerable, like it's okay to be you.  That is more powerful than something super polished that feels inauthentic.

So this really goes back to what I was talking about at the top of the episode with the mindset shift and moving into a detached energy around your product or service and just.  letting, releasing it, knowing with confidence that even if somebody doesn't buy right now, that another person will come along.

If it's not,  if this is not the moment for that particular person to buy, or if they don't buy right now, today, keep showing up, provide value, release yourself from being attached to specific people and specific outcomes, right? You want to keep refining your messaging. To attract the right people, you want to trust that the right clients are going to come at the right time and have confidence in what you have created. 

And the mindset shift there is away from  the idea that if they don't respond, that I must be doing something wrong, or I'm not good enough, or my product or service is not good enough, or there's too many people in the niche. Instead of those thoughts, I want you to shift into the mindset of people will buy when they are ready.

My job is to stay in motion, keep leading, keep creating valuable content, keep calling them into action. But be detached from the outcome. This is so important. I, this is one of the biggest mistakes that I have made in my career. I used to put so much pressure on myself to get results every time I performed any type of an action that was surrounding sales.

And  just, it just gives off such proving and trying. and hungry energy. And it's, that's not attractive at all to people. Like, think about  if you were going out on a date and if it was a blind date, it's the first time you met somebody and you give off this energy of like, Um, really wanting them to like you and really hoping they ask you for a second date.

Like that's just, it's a little scary, right? It's clingy. It's trying too hard. It's proving  and that feels imbalanced to people. So why are you trying so hard? What is wrong that you need to prove something to me? Instead, you want to shift into just that place of confidence and the way that you arrive there is working on your messaging, working on your product, refining your offer.

Um, I've got a great training about refining your offer. It's called craft your rockstar offer. I talk about this a lot. It's a three step training to really help you get clear that your offer provides the right solution. So if you haven't done the refinement around your offer, then work on that. Because when you're confident about what you're giving to people, you can become detached because you know it's good.

You know it's great and you know that it's going to sell to somebody. It's going to sell to the person who's ready for your solution. So people will buy when they're ready. Your job is to stay in motion and just keep leading them and guide them to the best solution for them.  And then I do want to just touch upon, uh, uh, something.

which is closing the deal with ease, right? How do you make it really easy for people to say yes? Simplify the buying process, remove any friction or conflict and handle their objections or don't even deal with objections. Just have confidence at the end of the entire transaction because closing the deal and actually making a sale is also just energetic and it is partly about the positioning and the messaging.

So you just want to be specific again, instead of saying something  Hey, let me know if you're interested leaving it really open ended and really like loosey goosey now It's all up to them. They can just float away from that  You can say something more specific like I've got two spots open for whatever your offer is this month  Would you like me to send you over the details so you can see if it's a fit  now?

You're asking them yes or no. Send me the details  They, they can ghost you and they might, but they're probably going to say yes or no right then and there. Then you have an answer and you can move on. If it's a yes, you send them the link to the details. If it's a no, you move on. Not a big deal. But instead of just waiting and in that sort of hesitating and maybe energy.

So instead of let me know if you're interested, I want you to say something clear and specific and ask them if they'd like the details. It's such a small tweak, but it makes a huge difference.  Um, when it comes to handling objections, you know, instead of saying something like, Oh, I totally understand. Let me know if you change your mind, right?

You just let them go and just. Whatever.  You can change that to something a little more detailed and a little more action oriented.  Something along the lines of like, I get it, you know, investing in coaching is a really big decision. Can I ask what is your hesitation or can I help you clarify anything? So again, you're leaving them with a question.

You're willing to get a little more laser focused with them. If they think at that point they can come back and they can say, I'm hesitating because of the money or I'm hesitating because I'm not sure I'm ready for coaching. Or now, you know, I'm hesitating because I'm not sure what my husband's going to say, or I'm not sure if I'll have time to do the work.

Now you have clarity on the specific reason that they're not buying, and you can offer them support and guidance around that specific detail. So if you say something like, let me know if you change your mind. You're just letting them walk out the door.  But if you say, can I ask what your hesitation is? Or if there's something specific I can clarify for you,  then you're having a conversation with them still, and you might be able to help them get the solution that they need.

And again, guys, this is about service and providing great offers, great products, helping people have a better life, right? You're out there doing the work for a reason. So remember why you started this and get confident around your offer.  All right. We covered a lot about positioning your offer to sell.

Really it's about confidence and having that mindset of  the right buyers are going to come along that 3 percent of people who are ready to buy. Those are my people and I'm going to speak to them in my messaging so that I can. Invite them to my solution. And for the people who are not ready for that right now, enjoy my educational content.

And the right buyers will come along. Like be unattached from people who say no.  So if you're in a season of selling right now, if you're in a phase of your business where you actually have a product to sell. In the idea of creating, you know, like low cost digital products or digital offers as a part of your marketing strategy is something that you're working on. 

And if this episode resonated with you and you'd like to go further and, and you'd like some step by step guidance to refine this process, your offer, positioning your messaging to sell, then you really do need to join my mini course. It's called profit by design, how to create and sell your low cost digital product.

This is something that I've been working on for a while. I just launched a three week coaching program. It's a live activated container. It was called Love Your Digital Offer. And we're in our third week of that program right now. And it is amazing to see these people, the women who joined me. Really creating and launching these offers and positioning those offers to sell.

So, um, inside that program we're diving really deep into these strategies that I touched upon today. We're making sure your offer is aligned with your big goals and we are positioning it to sell. So we're really setting you up for success. So if you want in on that DM me the word design, message me on email on Instagram  or click the link that's in the show notes and I will send you all the details.

And really what I want for you guys is to stop efforting so hard and start seeing results from your online business. And I want that for myself and it took me a while to get there. So I'm really hoping that this episode helps you think about the mindset of sales. Helping you position your offer to sell with ease, letting your words do some of the heavy lifting for you online.

And, you know, just getting more clear about the strategy of how social media can really act as top of funnel to help you  really skyrocket the number of people asking you for the details of your offer.  And, you know, as always, if you have questions, you can email me at hello at deborahcsmith. com.  And like I said, drop me a line if you want the details for Profit by Design, this mini course that I've just created.

And I will send them right over to you so you can get into that program. I've got a great interview coming out later this week that I am so excited to share with you. I interviewed a woman named Addison. Bowen. And she is a hypnotherapist and a business coach. And our conversation was really fascinating to me.

So I'm really excited to drop that later this week. Um, and until then, you guys have an amazing day and as always, may you be vibrant.