Creating an Offer that Inspires "Yes" - The Customer-Focused Offer

I don't know about you but I experienced 2025 as an exhausting year. Clients and community members told me they were feeling a lot of stress and economic uncertainty. As a result they were being more cautious about saying "yes" to the offers they received unless there was a clear benefit.

When I get an email offer or read an offer online and the offer is filled with graphics and complicated sections, my brain just turns off. I barely get past the first paragraph and I'm gone.

It's sad that the offer might be exactly what I've been looking for. Doesn't matter if I don't understand the offer and don't read it through.

So what DOES work?

In this week's podcast I'll share with you my favorite way to create an offer. I'll explain the six step process and share how I used this process to help a client create their offer.

Read the complete offer here.

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Transcript

Customer-Focused Story 
 

Hi, this is Judy Murdoch. Welcome to the Marketing Root Work Podcast. And today we will be talking about creating offers that get to Yes. And this is a simple approach to create an offer that engages your audience. So writing offers is an important marketing activity that makes brains explode. The process seems so complicated. 

I know there are lots of resources available, which unfortunately don't make the process less complicated. I see templates that tell you that you must include lots of graphics and sections in order to create an insanely effective offer. So I get a lot of emails with. Offers that were constructed to be insanely effective. 

However, they are so complicated to read. I give up after reading the first paragraph, what the business owner is offering. I might exactly what I've been looking for, but I feel too tired and overwhelmed to parse through the entire email to find out. So I'm gonna share an offer structure that I've been using for years that is clear, simple, and most importantly works. 

It's called the Client-Focused offer. So what is a client-focused offer? The client-focused offer is an offer that answers two key questions your audience needs answered in order to take the next step. These questions are number one, does the business making the offer understand the problem I'm struggling with? 

And number two, can this business help me and my particular situation? If your offer quickly helps your audience answer yes to these two questions, chances are they will take the next step. One of the things that makes the customer focused offer powerful is that it addresses this whole question around trust and safety. 

Remember that your audience is getting bombarded by offers and appeals all day, and human beings are very good at screening out information. They judge is unimportant and annoying. And, and keep in mind this screening happens within a second or two. People are not really thinking about, do I believe this? 

Is this helpful? It's a very, very quick, almost unconscious decision. So complex and personal. Salesy offers turn your audience off. No one wants to feel like their only purpose is as a source of cash for someone's business. You might have the best intentions in the world. You might pour love and devotion into crafting your offer. 

What you're offering might be exactly what your audience desperately needs, but it doesn't matter if they don't read your offer. So let's look at what does work. So coming back to the customer focused offer, and in order to share how to create these, I'm gonna give you an example. 'cause I think examples are always the best way to go in terms of, um, bringing something to light so you really understand how it works and why it works. 

So a few years ago I worked with a client who owned a Pilate studio. She specialized in helping women who wanted to get fit, but whose physical limitations made it difficult to use standard options such as fitness centers, aerobic classes, et cetera. My client offered private and semi private classes that enabled her clients to safely progress at their own pace. 

This enabled her clients to get stronger and fitter without risking further injury. So here's how we developed a customer focused offer. The first step is to name the who and the problem with which they are struggling. So the very first thing you want to tell readers is this is who I help and what I help them with. 

The point is to elicit a strong yes. That's me in your ideal prospect. So they will want to keep reading the who and what for the Pilate studio was. Women who are suffering from chronic back pain, oftentimes the pain is so bad it makes it hard for them to do things. Most of us take for granted. Step two is specify the solutions that they've tried, which did not work. 

Now, I know it's very tempting to immediately share your solution. However, if you don't address what your prospects already tried. You risk hearing? Yeah, I tried that and it didn't work. And this makes perfect sense. Your prospect probably has looked for other solutions and it's important to acknowledge this. 

Here's how the Pilate Studio addressed this issue. Perhaps you tried the usual fitness options such as low impact aerobics, yoga and weight training, but these options made your condition worse. Not better. In step three, we're going to talk about why the solutions they tried did not work. So when you do this, you not only acknowledge what your prospects probably tried, but you go on to say in effect, Hey, what you did was perfectly understandable. 

That's what most people would've tried. I tried those things and my clients have tried those things. So you're demonstrating empathy. You're also letting them know they don't have to feel embarrassed or ashamed about trying and failing, that they are not the only ones who've struggled to find a solution to their problem. 

So here is what the Pilates studio talked about when they addressed this idea of conventional solutions and why they're not helpful. Okay. The problem with most mainstream exercise programs is the instructor's lack of experience working with back injuries and chronic pain. An instructor who is unfamiliar with these conditions may push for progress too quickly, or they may assume persons with chronic back pain can do each movement in the same way as everyone else. 

Oftentimes, this constrained back muscles even more. Causing more energy, causing more injury, and making pain even more severe. Okay, so in step four we're going to talk about what is necessary to really solve the problem. So your reader is probably thinking, okay, I understand why what I tried didn't work. 

So what does work? And so here is where you get to address their question. Here's what the Pilate Studio said. A successful fitness program for persons with chronic back pain require three things. A fitness trainer familiar with the physiology of back injuries, private or semi-private classes so the instructor can make sure the participant is doing the movements properly. 

And number three, a significantly slower pace to allow the muscles to adjust to new movements. It's okay. So we've talked about the person, the problem, what they've tried. We've talked about why what they tried did not work, and we also talked about what is needed in order to get good results. So we're at step five and we're going to tell them now why you are qualified to deliver the solution that works. 

So here's where you talk about your solution specifically. You are going to explain how you are qualified to deliver a solution that works, which you just wrote about in step four. Qualifications you want to refer to can include your personal experience, formal training, education, success stories, um, about how you help your customers and testimonials. 

So here's what the Pilate Studio wrote about their solution. Hi. I am Susan Miller, a Pilates instructor and studio owner for over 20 years. I suffered from chronic pain due to a childhood back injury. I looked everywhere to find an exercise program that would improve my strength and flexibility, and I hoped provide some relief from constant pain. 

When a friend suggested I try Pilates, I was skeptical, but after just two sessions, I was a fan. In fact, I was so convinced that Pilates was the answer for person suffering from back injuries and chronic pain that I decided to become a certified Pilates instructor. Initially, I worked as an instructor with an established Pilates studio, but quickly realized person suffering from the same back injuries as me, weren't getting the right help. 

So I decided to start my own fitness service. Which offers private closely supervised exercise sessions for persons for whom standard exercise programs just don't work. Okay, so now you've established your qualifications and your reader will probably be feeling pretty motivated about wanting to learn more. 

So in step six, you're going to tell your reader exactly what the next step is and how to take it. So a reader who is an ideal customer for you is probably feeling hopeful and excited about learning more about what you do, so you're going to tell them exactly what the next steps are. The example for the Pilates, Pilates studio is you are an ideal participant for my program. 

If you are a woman who's in chronic pain due to back injury. And conventional fitness programs haven't worked for you as the next step, click this link to complete a short assessment to learn whether my Pilates program is a good option for you, if you prefer. You can send me an email to schedule some time to talk. 

Now, you don't always have to offer two solutions. In this particular case for the Pilates studio, there are people, um, who might wanna do more research before they actually get in touch with Susan, and the assessment gives them a safe way to get more information. Without risking a sales pitch. Note what I just said, risking a sales pitch. 

People are very sensitive about getting pitch slapped. They don't like it, so you're giving them a way to get more information without, you know, having that experience. And then there are some people who will read Susan's story in step five and will immediately see her as someone they can relate to. In this case, they will want to talk with someone who understands what they are dealing with. 

So there is an example of the completed offer. It will be in the podcast notes so that you can take a look at the way that all, once we finish these steps, how does everything come together in a completed offer. Now you may be wondering, will this offer structure work for your business? So I never make promises when it comes to marketing. 

I never tell anyone 100% you will crush it because human beings are quirky and the only way to find out is to do it, experiment, and see how people respond. I can tell you that this structure will work better than most of those overly complicated templates and frameworks. If you're not getting amazing results from your current approach, why not give this a go? 

And for my very last point, 2025 was a rough year, and 2026 may be as well. Business owners I've talked with have been telling me 2025 was a rough year for their business. Their audiences experienced a lot of economic uncertainty and were less likely to say yes to offers, especially higher ticket offers. 

I hope 2026 will be a year with less uncertainty and more ease for all of us. Regardless, I encourage you to create offers which are client-focused. Easy to read and inspire your audience to take the next step to work with you. I appreciate you, Judy Murdoch. Word of marketing coach, writer, and artist.