Coming Back From a Rejected Offer: The Pros of Downselling

So you have an offer you know is valuable. You know people need it, you know you can fulfill that need, and you’re ready to get selling. In fact, maybe you already have been selling. But there’s one thing left to consider: what if someone says no to your offer? What if they aren’t in a position financially to afford your offer or they don’t think they’re ready for it yet?

Don’t let a rejected offer cost you a client entirely. That client might really want to work with you, but they might still be a step before your main offer. If you only have that one offer, you’ll have to let them go and hope they come back when they’re ready. But what if you did have a step before? What if you had something that they could go through to get ready for that next offer?

Not only would you be helping them by meeting them where they’re at, either financially or at their current level of business, but you are also making money. You’re not leaving money on the table. This is where having an offer suite comes in! Let’s jump right in and take a look at how having an offer suite can redeem a rejected offer.

Why is an Offer Suite Important?

First of all, though I’m going to use the terms “upsell,” “downsell,” etcetera for ease of understanding, you don’t have to think about it in those terms. Think about it as setting up a series of steps for your client to follow; every customer is on a journey, and if you want them to take it with you, it helps if you map out the steps for them to take from beginning to end. By giving them somewhere to go, you not only can help clients who might not be ready for your main offer, but you can also potentially extend the lifetime value of your customer! No matter which rung they start out on when they step onto your offer ladder, if you have another rung set up above them, there’s always potential for them to keep ascending the ladder. This will help you avoid rejected offers in the future.

Let’s talk about the options you have for building an offer suite!

Freebie

This is one option that will almost never result in a rejected offer! The very lowest rung you can add to your offer ladder is a “Freebie” option. This serves as what’s called a lead magnet, something you can use to get people on your email list. When I offered a freebie, I had it set up so that right after someone opted into that specific offer, it would redirect to what’s called a tripwire page, or a page that sells them a lower-ticket offer. That page would pop up like, “Hey, great. So excited you got this thing! This freebie is on the way to your inbox. But if you got that, you’re gonna really like this…”

And that’s where your downsell comes in.

Downsell

The name downsell makes it sound like a loss, but trust me, it’s not. A downsell is just a lower-ticket offer you can keep in your back pocket in case you come across a potential client who either isn’t ready for your main offer and needs a step below or can’t afford your main offer but still needs whatever they can get from you. It’s exactly what you want to have in case of a rejected offer. By offering a lower-ticket option, you’re able to snag a client that might otherwise have left the conversation entirely after hearing the rejected offer; and when they are ready to move up to the next step, they’ll know exactly who to come to!

Offer

This is pretty self-explanatory, right? This is your main offer, the one you really want to direct people to—the one that might have been the rejected offer in the first place. When someone comes back after your downsell and wants to go a step further, this is what you can give them, and it’s the thing you want to lead with when you’re having a sales call.

Upsell

The upsell is another great tool to keep in your arsenal if you want to create lifetime clients and redeem a rejected offer! Many people don’t consider what could come next after their main offer, but you’d be surprised how many people will complete that stage and start searching for the next step to take. If you’re the one that has that next step all ready to go, it’s going to be easy as anything for them to step into that offer from you.

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Troubleshooting

There are a few common pitfalls when it comes to arranging an offer suite with the intention of moving clients through each level and redeeming a rejected offer. Let’s go over them real quick:

Don’t go crazy

Don’t try to do all the things all the time! I am a firm believer in going all in on an offer. You don’t want to jump around and try to offer every service you possibly can; when you jump around a lot, it’s gonna get confusing. Not just for you; but for your audience, too! You want to get very clear on what it is you offer, then arrange your offer suite to include different levels of that ONE thing.

Don’t get jealous

Don’t expect your clients to stay with you forever, even if you do have tiered offers! I have coached some people for years on end, but more often, I’ll coach them for a year or so before they spread their wings and fly. Sometimes they go join another program or work with another coach to get a different perspective. And that isn’t a failure on my part—I actually encourage that! I don’t get upset and jealous and wonder why they don’t want me anymore. I can’t, because I do the same thing! I haven’t stuck with one single program or coach. It’s healthy to get different perspectives; it helps you grow even further.

That said, I do find that even when my clients leave for other things, they eventually do come back. There are a few reasons for that, but one reason is that I have that offer suite. I have the next step for them to take, no matter where they start on the offer ladder.

Don’t reskin your main offer

When scaling down your offer as a downsell, you need to carefully assess what you’re including in that package! You don’t want to create competing offers; this will result in more rejected offers than you had before. I see this happen a lot, especially if someone’s downselling or trying to upsell. Customers have a knack for positioning it in a way where they’re actually going to pay less money and get more out of it.

Here’s an example: I created my group program for people who are just starting or in their first few years of business, and they really want to grow it into a full-time income. That program is a year long. It’s a lot of hands-on support. If I created a course version that was three months long, cost less, and ran through the same format of weekly calls and such, that would majorly compete with my group program. The client will look at those two offers and ask themselves, “What’s the difference besides the shorter amount of time?” The answer? Not that much.

So instead, the better way to create a downsell would be for me to offer a business starter course. No hands-on coaching. You go through it yourself. You follow guidelines, you follow that implementation, you follow the homework, and then you join the program when you’re ready for the hands-on coaching. The difference is that it’s self-paced versus hands-on coaching. I can charge less because it’s not taking up my personal time, but for those clients who need the hands-on help, the downsell offer won’t compete because it won’t meet their needs. So just make sure your downsell isn’t competing with the offer that you really want to drive people to.

It can be #PrettyAwkward dealing with a rejected offer…

…But if you have that extra option in your back pocket, it doesn’t have to be the end of your journey with that client! A rejected offer can either leave you wallowing in self-pity, having lost a potential client…or it can be an opportunity. It’s up to you to build a system that can redeem rejected offers! To learn how I like to do this, get access to my Unique Offer Suite Progression Workshop here: https://meganyelaney.com/unique-offer-suite-progression-workshop

Are you ready to take the first step onto the ladder of my offer suite? Get immediate access to my free class: More Profit$ In Your Pocket, Less Burnout In Your Biz: https://meganyelaney.com/more-profit-less-burnout-class

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