Offering Special Offers to Increase Sales

By Marty Foley
Posted Friday, August 27, 2004

What is one of the greatest obstacles standing between you and a successful sale? The tendency of prospects to delay action, even on the part of targeted prospects that fully intend to buy from you.

One reason for delay is that there is often no incentive given to act now. Prospects feel that such an offer will always be available for them to take advantage of, whenever it's convenient for them to finally get around to taking action.

Us humans, being the expert procrastinators that we generally are, tend to put off action "until tomorrow" so long that it eventually fades from memory. Thus, all too often, "tomorrow" never arrives. Good intentions mean nothing if the intended action is never taken.

For the marketer, such delayed action usually means no sale, and for prospects, it means they never gain the benefits offered by your product or service.

Therefore, one crucial goal in marketing is to overcome the tendency of prospects to procrastinate. To do this, we should give strong reasons to act immediately. Not next week, not tomorrow, not later on today, but right NOW! This is where special offers enter the picture.

Types of Special Offers

Special offers come in many forms, limited only by your imagination:

A discounted price.

Free bonus item(s).

More of the same product or service at no extra cost.

Or any combination of the above elements.
Special offers should always be limited in some way, such as in the quantity available, and/or by a deadline.
Remember when creating special offers that your prospects must realize there is a cost involved in delayed action; that acting immediately is crucial to gaining all the benefits involved in your special offer, before they miss out.

It goes without saying that you should always live up to your word when making special offers. If the deadline for a special offer ends at a certain time, stick by it. That's not only fair to those that act before the deadline, but coming out with the same special offer next week can damage your credibility. (That's not to say you can't reuse effective special offers in the future; you can and should reuse effective ones.)

If you really want to spice up your sales, create special offers that motivate immediate prospect action. Then watch what they can do for your bottom line!