Whether you sell products, provide services, or produce events, you are a “problem solver.” You help customers, clients or patients effectively deal with meeting their needs, overcoming their obstacles, and fulfilling their dreams and desires.

Unless you’re the one person in the world selling red rabbits to men over 70 years old, it’s likely that you have a great deal of competition for making a first sale and keeping a customer loyal.

So how do you stand out amongst all of the other choices available to consumers looking for what you offer? How do they decide to choose YOU?

Here’s one easy answer…

Too Many Choices

No longer do we live in a world where all you have to do to win a customer or his/her loyalty is to have the best product or the best price, by be the most convenient, or be the best at what you do.

The “Information Age” has become the “Information Overload Age.” Simply by doing a little bit of online and offline research, your prospects and customers have no problem learning virtually everything they need to do what you do, or what your product does, on their own, at little to no cost – or at least at a far less expensive price than you offer it. And they can find out more about you and your company than you might wish they knew.

That doesn’t mean that they don’t want to buy what you offer. People still want convenience and freedom. They need to purchase products that they cannot easily make themselves, and take advantage of services that they themselves cannot do. They want to attend great events to learn and network and have fun.

But because of their many choices, YOU need to stand out amongst the competition for their business. You need to dedicate yourself to consciously creating the pieces of YOUR puzzle that make you stand out in highly desirable ways.

One significant way to stand out and attract or keep the attention of prospects and customers is to become a – or even THE – “Recognized Authority” in your market niche.

Use “Special Reports” to Win the Customer / Win the Sale

Whether you sell products or services online or out of a brick-and-mortar location, one of the fastest ways to becoming a “Recognized Authority” is simply to share what you already know about your area of expertise and service.

I can hear some of you saying: What does this have to do with me?” And then adding on a sentence justifying why you think that providing information in an age of “information overload” simply isn’t something you should do. “I own a dry-cleaning store, for goodness sake. My customers only care how much their dry cleaning is going to cost them, and how quickly they can get it back after dropping it off.”

You already know, of course, that that logic is not accurate. It’s part of the picture, but not all of it.

Your prospects and customers also respond to how knowledgeable they think you are (and if you don’t share your knowledge with them, they may not know), and how much you care about them as people.

One way to demonstrate both of those qualities is to create a “Solve Your Biggest Problems” Special Report to give away to prospects and customers.

You Already Know Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

Here are two significant things you already know that can easily start you down the path of becoming a “Recognized Authority.”

You know:

A. What your prospects’ and customers’ most pressing needs, largest problems, and biggest obstacles are. You know this through experience, through observation, through what they tell you without your prompting, and through what answers they give when you ask probing questions.

B. The answers to their questions. The solutions to their problems. The ways in which they can most easily overcome their obstacles.

You know their pain, and how they can ease it or get rid of it.

Now help them – out of the goodness of your heart and the desire to serve – to do just that. Let them know that you know who they are and what they’re experiencing, and you’re in the game to help them, however you can  – (and here’s the novel part…) whether or not you get their business.

One way to do this that will set you apart from your competitors – whether you’re an “information provider” or the local hardware store – is to create a “Special Report” about the problems faced by those in your market and the solutions that they can implement to solve them.

And give it away for free.

Remember, set the goal of providing ways for prospects and customers to know, love and trust you, regardless of whether everything you do results in an immediate sale. Build that field, and profits will come.

Your Homework Assignment: Create Your “Special Report”

Step One: Identify the “Pain Points” – the “Problems” and “Obstacles”

Identify the seven or 10 major problems / obstacles / pain points that your customers, clients or patients are experiencing right now.

Focus on the ONGOING pain – the things that your audience has to do with daily, or often, and contributes to any negative feelings on their part about having to do those things or being in business in general.

If you’re not sure what these are, then ASK your prospects and customers to tell you what their problems, obstacles and pain points are.

Write these down.

Step Two: Identify the Solutions

For each problem / obstacle / pain point, write down the solution in bullet-point format.

Step Three: Record Yourself Talking About the Problems and Solutions

Then sit down in front of your computer or a digital recorder, and talk in your own words about each problem and its solution, using the script below and your bullet-point outline as your guide. Just talk about all of this naturally, as you would if you were discussing these things over a nice dinner with a friend. “Putting on airs” or trying to show how much you know will result in exactly the opposite reaction you’re seeking. Just be yourself, and let your knowledge and how much you care about your subject matter and the people who need what you offer, shine through.

Begin by saying: “HI, I’m [NAME] from [or "Title," such as "Founder of] [your company]. And in this brief special report, I’m going to talk about the [number, e.g. "7'"] most burning problems, issues, and obstacles faced by people in our industry, and reveal the solutions to you, one-by-one. Some [or "many," or "all"] of these you can overcome or solve on your own, and I know how important that is to you during these times we’re all going through. OK, then, let’s get started!”

Don’t hold back! Give them the solution. If you can, tell them how they can solve it on their own, without need of any help from anyone else, including you. Tell them how to overcome that obstacle without having to pay someone to do it for them, if they want.

But if one or more of the solutions requires outside help, tell them in a straight-forward manner the kind of help they need, and the credentials and experience that the solution provider must bring to the table to be able to help them solve it. DON’T promote yourself in this answer. Let them know that they can hire anyone who meets those criteria.

Be as concise as you can. It doesn’t matter if this audio is 7 minutes long or if it takes a full hour. But don’t complicate things. Keep your answers as long as necessary to cover what needs to be said, but as short as possible so that you’re not rambling about something that’s not specifically related to solving the particular problem you’re talking about.

When you’re done with all of your problems/solutions. end by saying:

Once again, this is [NAME] ["from" or "Title," such as "Founder of"] [your company]. I certainly hope you’ve found this special report helpful. And I certainly welcome you to pass it along to anyone else you feel that it would benefit!

If after listening to this special report you already feel that I can be of greater service, or if you’d like to know more about how I can help you make your business more profitable with less cost and less effort, please [call xxx.xxx.xxxx] [or] [visit the Web site at www.abcde.com] [or] [send me an e-mail at info@abcde.com] and schedule your complimentary [15]-minute consultation. I look forward to hearing from you!

Distribute Your “Special Report” as Widely as Possible, In as Many Ways as Possible

Make sure that when you record your “Special Report” that you include information in the audio content about how to contact you.

When you distribute your audio, you CAN ask people to pay a small “price” – but not a monetary one. Whether you pass it out at your physical business location, or make it available for people to download from the Web, ask in return that those who wish to receive it for free give you their contact information (which could be as little as their first name and primary e-mail address – or even their e-mail address alone) and allow you to remain in contact with them until they “opt-out” (tell you they no longer want to receive information and offers from you).

Step Four: Distribute Your “Special Report” in Audio Format

Here are several ways to make your audio available:

“Stream” the audio from your Web site
Allow people to download it from your Web site as an mp3 audio file
Send the mp3 file to people via e-mail
Put the mp3 file on a computer CD disk
Make a “standard” audio CD that will play in any audio CD player

Step Five: Transcribe Your Audio and Turn it Into an Electronic and/or Print Document

People want to “consume” information however they want to consume it, and when they want to consume it.

So having an audio of your “Special Report” limits you, in that some people would rather read it on their computer or as a physical paper document.

Transcribe your audio (or have it transcribed).

Format it nicely in electronic format. If you don’t know how to do this yourself in Microsoft Word or another graphics/page formatting software program, you can have a competent document designer or graphic artist do this for you. Make sure to include your company logo and contact information at the beginning and the end of the document, and a “title page.”

A. Turn it into an Adobe Acrobat (pdf) file.

Once your “Special Report” is formatted in Microsoft Word or another graphic/page layout program, you or your service provider will know how to turn the original document into a pdf file, which can be read by virtually anyone on the widest variety of computers and operating systems (both Mac and Windows) and on mobile devices.

Once you’ve got your “Special Report” in pdf format, just like the digital audio, distribute it. Here are some ways:

Allow people to download it from your Web site
Send it to people via e-mail
Put it on a computer CD disk

Remember to ask for people’s contact information in return for their receiving your “Special Report” at no monetary cost.

B. Turn it into a Print Document

It never hurts to have a physical copy of your “Special Report.

Besides displaying it at the physical location of your business or putting a picture of it on your Web site or in your promotional and advertising literature, some people like “consuming” information in the form of print documents.

Print out the formatted text and graphic (pdf) document.

Distribute it. Here are some ways:

Give it away as a “white paper” printed “Special Report.”
Make it available at your business’ physical location.
Offer to send it when people request it from your Web site or via e-mail. (It’s quite appropriate to ask people to “only pay shipping and handling” when shipping a physical product, such as this “Special Report.”)
Carry it with you and give it out any time, any place as appropriate.
Offer your local Chamber of Commerce, business networking group, professional association, etc. the ability to distribute it to their members. (It’s quite appropriate to ask them to bear the cost of duplication, shipping and handling, or to offer to pay some or all of these costs.)

Stand Out:

This can’t be stated often enough, or strongly enough:

1. Set the goal for yourself to stand out as the obvious choice for your prospects and customers by giving them as many ways to know, love and trust you as possible.

2. Give, give, GIVE! If you haven’t yet heard the marketing advice: “Move the ‘free’ line,” you have now. Dedicate yourself to being of the greatest service possible to your prospects and customers, regardless of whether or not any specific thing you do results in an immediate sale.

Let people discover how much you know (consciously position yourself as a “Recognized Authority” about your area of expertise and service), who you are as a person (find ways to reveal yourself and your personality), and how much you care (the only way for them to know is to experience your demonstrations of your caring and generosity), and you will win in the game of business!

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All contents of this article are International Copyright 2009 Jay Aaron. All International Rights reserved. Like the content? Please link to it here at this Web site. Please contact the author through this Web site to request permission to reprint it elsewhere.

In order to have a successful business and satisfy your customers, clients or patients, you must have a variety of products, services and/or events at a variety of price points.

This will allow you to meet your prospects’ needs and desires at whatever price point they are comfortable making their intial purchase from you.

Having “upsells,” “downsells,” “cross-sells” and “back-end” offerings will ensure that you will be able to continue to serve and profit from your customer relationships long after the first sale.

Always Have More Than One Offering

For entrepreneurs and small businesses, it’s generally not enough to have just one offering, whether product, service or event. Your “inventory” needs to include offerings at a variety of price points, so that your customers, clients or patients can choose their “point of entry,” and so that you can continue to serve them after they make their first purchase.

Your offerings may all be representative of whatever is your main area of product or service. For example, if you offer training about a specific topic, your offerings might be comprised of a 60-minute audio program for $10, a live interview teleseminar for $20, an audio/pdf basic self-guided training for $97, a month-long teleconference group coaching program for $297, and a 6-hour live workshop for $497 – all on the same topic.

Or your offerings may be related to your main product offering, but diverse in their scope. If you serve cat owners, for example, your offerings might include a $10 pdf e-book containing “natural” cat recipes, a $20 assortment of cat “treats,” a $50 “soft cat bed, a $50 hand-made personalized cat ID collar, and a $100 fancy cat bed.

Your offerings don’t all have to be proprietary, and you don’t even have to be the supplier. In the example of the training company, your $497 offer might be a training on your topic not that you provide personally but that you recommend to your clients, for which you receive a referral commission when someone you refer purchases the training from your colleague. In the example of the cat-related business, you can make all of those items yourself, have some or all of them manufactured for you, and/or source other companies which may even process and drop-ship your customers orders, saving you the hassle of inventory and shipping and sending you the profits from your customers’ transactions.

Be Prepared With A Variety of Offers

You have a “primary offer” – the one you lead with to everybody, or in some businesses, the offer you make to any particular prospect or customer based on his/her/their specific circumstance.

Every time you prepare to make your primary offer (whatever you want him/her/them to buy NOW) to a prospect or an existing customer, be prepared with the following.

If they DON’T say “yes” to the purchase immediately:

A. “Down-sell”

If you offer a $97 training program and someone says “no” or “not now,” what else do you  have to offer them RIGHT NOW that will be of service to them, yet cost them less?

This COULD include discounting the initial offer, and/or having a less-expensive product or service that you suggest that they consider purchasing instead.

If they DO say “yes” to the purchase immediately:

B. “Cross-sell”

Think amazon.com “Customers who bought “this” [book] are also interested in this [book].

“Cross-sell” items COMPLEMENT the primary offer.

C. “Up-sell”

Customers who buy a hamburger at a fast-food restaurant are asked before paying: “Would you like fries with that?”

“Up-sell” items don’t just complement the initial offer, they are “add-ons” to it, that increase the value of the purchase to the buyer.

After the purchase has occurred:

D. “Back-End”

What’s the NEXT logical purchase that a customer who purchases any product or service should make?

If they bought your $97 training, perhaps it’s your $297 four-hour live workshop. If it’s a rug, perhaps it’s quarterly rug-cleaning services.

“Back-end” sales can be “down-sells,” “cross-sells” and “up-sells.”

Know What You’re Going to Offer Your Customer Next

Whether your customer is reticent to make his/her/their initial purchase, whether they’re just about to make a purchase from you, or whether they’ve already purchased from you, you need to have a  strategy for what you’ll offer them that will add value to them as part of their purchase, or after.

Know what you’re going to offer/suggest to a satisfied customer next, that makes sense in light of what he/she/they are ready to purchase, or have already purchased.

Your Assignment

Create (or review) your offers and options.

Develop a document for your own use and/or for your prospects and customers that includes your primary offer(s), down-sell(s), up-sell(s), cross-sell(s) and “back-end” products, services and/or events. Include a brief description of each, along with the price point.

Learn your offers and options inside and out. Memorize them. Be comfortable with knowing when to make them, and in what way (in person, on the phone, via fax or e-mail, on your Web site, etc.). Carefully craft the written and spoken language that explains the specific benefits your customer will experience with the purchase of each of your offerings.

When you’re confident that you’ve got this organized for yourself, begin sharing it immediately with prospects and existing customers.

Start yourself down the path of offering greater service and receiving greater profits from having your sales offers and options strategy firmly in place.

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Share Your Thoughts on This Article

What do you think? Do you have a question? Enter them into the “Comments” form associated with this post.

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All contents of this article are International Copyright 2009 Jay Aaron. All International Rights reserved. Like the content? Please link to it here at this Web site. Please contact the author through this Web site to request permission to reprint it elsewhere.