Let’s start with a little thought experiment…

Imagine this.  You’ve heard raves about a new restaurant opening up in town.  The chef — Chef Browning — is apparently one of the hottest young chefs in the world.

Legendary.  Rumor has it that with your first bite of food from this esteemed chef, you’ll completely change the way you look at food.  Heavenly flavors.  Perfect cuisine.  Worth waiting months and spending your entire paycheck just to have a Chef Browning meal.

And you’ve got a seat for dinner this weekend!  You tell your friends, and they’re jealous.  They’ve heard all the raves for Chef Browning, too.  They even try to bribe you to give up your reservation.  Of course, you don’t take their bribe.  You can’t wait to brag about the meal next week.

Then, the evening arrives.  You go.  You’re seated at your table.  You’re waited on with flare and ceremony.  This is going to be a special evening, you think…

Then, you’re handed a leather portfolio.  You open it up, and rather than a menu, it contains a different kind of list.  “Chef Browning’s Pantry,” it says at the top.  It almost looks like a well-sorted grocery list — ingredients, rather than dishes and sides.

There’s meats and cheeses.  Grains and veggies.  Herbs and spices.  And so on.

You’re a bit confused.  Then, the waiter returns to your table.

“Have you decided what you’d like?” they ask.

It takes you a minute to even figure out how to reply.

“I’m really not sure what to order,” you say.  “I was hoping I’d be able to pick from…  You know…  Dishes the famous Chef Browning has created.”

“Chef Browning is not so presumptuous,” the waiter replies, “To tell you what dishes you want.  So instead, you get a pantry list, and you get to choose the ingredients you’d like, and the Chef will create your meal based on what you choose to go into it…  Do you have any favorite recipes?”

At this point, you’re pretty much thinking of what dishes you make at home, that the chef might be able to make for you.

And so you give up, and leave…

You stop at the grocery store on the way home, pick up your own ingredients, and make a dish you thought of when staring at the pantry list.

What is so shocking about this experience?

In short, it violates one of the biggest expectations you have for what a restaurant experience should feature.

You expect to go to a restaurant, to be able to select from a limited number of dishes the chef knows how to make well and specializes in, and enjoy their unique skill, perspective, and expertise.

The act of making the food isn’t what makes a chef valuable.

In fact, the act of making the food is often passed off to the sous-chef and a team of bakers and cooks who actually prep and cook.

I do think an ultra-luxury restaurant could offer a situation like the above where it was completely bespoke, and the chef was uniquely able to design dishes on the fly and make them work.  But it would be a rarity, and it would actually be the attraction of the restaurant.  And it would likely be a novelty, unlikely to become a regular haunt and unable to scale.

Alternately, McDonald’s succeeded not based on the quality of its food, dishes, or recipes…  But because you could walk into a McDonald’s anywhere and order a burger and fries and get the exact same thing in every location.

You don’t have to be McDonald’s, catering to the lowest common denominator with incredible consistency.  But you can learn something about packaging and offers from them.

Having a clear, compelling PACKAGE is key to the success of your offer…

This essay comes out of a conversation I had yesterday with a client.  He offers specific marketing services in a pretty tight niche.

He — and his company — are excellent at what they do.  Their client results are awesome.  Their testimonials are exactly what you’d want for a service provider like them.

Not only that, they are truly superior at what they do, based on years of experience and expertise in the industry that can’t be faked.

And they have the massive advantage of being tightly niched.  If you’re in their niche, they can tell you exactly what to do to succeed with the kind of marketing they do.

In fact, they’ve pretty much turned what they do into a formula — a recipe.

It’s repeatable and reliable.

You can show up, order it, and they can put it together for you and deliver it on a platter.

Like — a restaurant!

But when you arrive at their website, that’s not what you get.  Yes, they are clear what niche they are for.  They are clear about their capabilities.  They have their testimonials listed.

But when you go there, you can’t see a dish you want to order, and get a hold of them to order it.

CLARITY of your offer is the first step to making it irresistible…

Your goal in making an offer or putting a message in front of your market is to have them say, “YES, that’s for me!  That’s exactly what I need!”

That will get leads.  That will get customers.

That will make sales.  That will generate profits.

Get crystal-clear about what it is you offer.  Turn it into a PACKAGE, essentially a menu item that can be ordered.

It’s okay if you end up with a small number of menu items.  For example, this client has at least two services that can and should be their own offers — eventually.

But in the short term, their biggest leverage point for getting more clients clawing for their services is to make a crystal-clear offer.

Who is it for?  What does it include?  What is the total experience?  Why is it the perfect solution to my problem?  What results have others gotten through this?  What does it cost?  How do I get my questions answered?  How do I get started?

Answer those questions, first in mind, then in your marketing, and you’ll immediately add the clarity your offer needs.  Then, if there’s truly value there, for a good price, the offer itself will become irresistible.

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr