SFR 140: Value Isn't the Offer...

Let's dive into WHAT gets you paid. It's not the offer!...

Hey. What's going on, everyone? This is Steve Larsen. You're listening to probably one of my favorite episodes of Sales Funnel Radio so far. I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today.

Now, I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business. The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt? Completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best internet sales funnels. My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio...

What's up, guys? Hey, I know probably every episode is my favorite episode when I'm doing it. Anyway, this is one of the core reasons and ways to actually make more money...

What? Hopefully, that's an exciting topic for you. Hey. Next to me to my right right now, it's a chest. I've got a bunch of random stuff in there. Some guns in there. Frankly, it's extremely very thin, brittle chest. It's slightly painted green. There's these little latches on it that are all rusted out.

Frankly, it looks like a piece of junk. It does. For right now in today's value, you probably wouldn't get much for this, which is interesting. How many guys want to buy it? I would love to maybe ship it out to you if you guys want to buy it.

Anyway, that'd be really, really awesome if you guys want to purchase it. You're like, "What, Steve? Are you kidding me?" All right. Let me shift it up for you now. Let me tell you that this chest belonged to Captain Wayne Kartchner, an ancestor of mine.

This thing is old, guys. This is an heirloom. It's next to me. it's rusted out. I do keep a few things in it but it's next to me here. Captain Wayne Kartchner.

I've got several military members that have been in my bloodline, which is part of why I went into as well for myself.

Interesting. How many guys want to buy it now? Would you be shocked if the price that I sold this for after telling you that story would be a little bit higher? No. It wouldn't shock you, would it? It would not shock you at all that I'd actually charge more money for that.

Hey. I've got some pieces of dead tree over here. It's awesome. There's some blank ink on them. It's a book. Anyway, how many guys want it? Sweet. Sweet. Cool. You know, I'm going to sell it for 100 bucks. If you guys want it, just message me right now. Is that cool? All right.

What if I was to tell you that this one book has made me a butt ton of money and has actually given me the life that I have been wanting really, really bad? Cool. Is it worth 795? You guys get what I'm getting at? Hopefully, you are.

One of the questions I've been getting a lot lately...

Some guy wrote out and he said, "Hey. This is one of the topics I've been pounding on a lot lately for my coaching students." I wanted to be able to go in and I wanted to teach you guys the same thing. This is important.

This is very important...

What I want you to know is we're about offer creation. Offer creation and storytelling. Those are the only two things that I really care about anymore. Okay? Those are the two most lucrative skillsets I can even think of.

The farther I follow this rabbit hole down, the farther I've realized, the more I've realized that that's really it.

That's really it...

I don't have to be an amazing, creative individual with Photoshop. I like Photoshop. I don't have to be an amazing, creative individual with ... I don't have to know how to code. There's a lot of people that know how to do this. Okay.

I can outsource all that stuff but the thing that I cannot outsource very well is this whole storytelling offer creation piece. Why?

Why?..

Let me tell you a story real quick. A man walks down the street. It's actually an alley. He walks down the street. He's creeping. He gets shot and dies. Okay? Let me switch it up for you though and give you some context. It's a war zone and he's a soldier.

Okay? Huh? Right? In one second, you might think that someone was murdered. In another, you might think that they were just killed in the battle zone. Fascinating context. Context is everything. Context is what actually delivers value. Okay?

Offers is not where value is created...

I want you to know that. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to help you guys. Look around at these objects that are around you. One of my favorite stories is a story of this violin. I don't know if it's true or not. It's a movie. You guys might know it.

This movie where this violin is being shown. It's at an auction. They're auctioning off this super old violin. Somebody's like, "Yeah. I don't remember the price once were but it was super low." Everyone's like, "Really?"

The auctioneer's like, "You only paid that much for it and no one would go any higher." Suddenly, this old gentleman just starts walking up to the front of the room. He takes the violin. In front of everybody, he starts to clean it.

He cleans the violin. He polishes it. He tunes it. He plays the most incredible song and just hands it back to the auctioneers and goes and sits back down. The offers for the violin go through the roof. Why? Context, guys. Story.

A story creates context for things. Okay? When we're thinking about offer creation and products and value and how to make more money, you have to understand.

Your offer is not what creates value. Offers do not create value. They deliver it. They don't make it. Okay.

They deliver it...

They scratch the edge but they don't make value. What makes value is the sales message. Okay? For example, a lot of you guys know that I'm religious. Here's a biblical example. There's a woman. She goes and she pays tithing. She gives away just two pieces of coin, whatever it was. I can't remember how much.

Some rich people next to her make fun of her because she only gave just a little. Okay? Now, from a monetary standpoint, she gave just a little bit. These other people give a ton because they have a lot of money. Christ, he's sitting on the side.

He says, "Who gave more?" Everyone said, "Well, the rich people." Actually, let's get some context here. That was almost all of her money. How much more worth were those coins that she gave?

Think about it in those kinds of terms. Think about it. Okay? There's a lot of things, objects, heirlooms you may be even given. For example, I go over to Cache Valley every once in a while. I've got family over there. I had no idea that one of my ancestors in I think, Sweden or Denmark.

I can't remember now...

I could say this if I wasn't recording an episode right now. One of my ancestors got on a ship and lived on a ship going back and forth between. This is in the mid 1800s. Going back and forth between America and England until he had enough money to get off the ship and he walked across America seven times helping people from the East Coast all the way over to the West Coast.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. He did it seven times...

The guy was so intense and such a leader but a humble leader. No one else really knew. Anyway, they wanted him to settle in this area, Cache Valley. They wanted him to be the mayor. He said no. He did not want to be the mayor. They went in and they literally voted him to be the mayor without him wanting to be the mayor.

They made him the mayor. Okay?...

They called him to be the leadership and he did not want to be in it. He constantly fought back. The only way is because by public vote, they just chose him to be and they decided to be. He ran from it. He didn't want to be.

Now that I go into Cache Valley, that place means more to me. That means more to me. He settled part of that area over there. He helped create the towns and everything. When I go in there, it means more to me now.
Why? Context. Okay? Story.

I know the story now. I went and I saw his gravestone. That guy was a crazy entrepreneur. I had no idea until I learned that. That gravestone means a lot more to me now because I know the story. I know the context.

Value is created in story...

Story changes context.

Context is what creates value. When I sit back and I say, "Hey. Go get this thing called ClickFunnels. Go get this product over here.

I've got this cool product over here called Secret MLM Hacks. It's killing it. It's awesome. We have a lot of cool success stories. People are doing great in it." If I just go say that, you'd be like, "Oh, sweet. An opportunity for Steven to take my money." Right?...

If I start telling my actual story though, if I develop a sales message, if I use some frameworks that's meant to change the way that the people see the world, that people see the product, value is created in a sales message, not an offer. It's the reason I laugh so hard.

People are like, "Well, I would go selling it but I'm not done creating the offer. I don't think anybody will pay for the offer yet." I'm always like, "My gosh. That is not how value is created." Okay? Value is not created through the offer.

It is delivered through it but it's not created in it. It's created inside the sales message. Because the sales message delivers context. The sales message changes frames. It changes the blueprint of how we see the world, of how we see the object, of how we see the offer. Okay?

Get good at developing those stories. Get good at telling those stories. That's the whole reason why I keep trying to preach that just a little bit. I know I've pounded it hard in the past little bit but it's the reason why, too. I was telling them to go publish. Publish, publish, publish.

I know I'm a broken record with the publishing thing. Okay? I know I am but it's because when you publish, people see you differently. You are changing the context that they're looking at you with. How many of you guys when you first saw me, you're like, "Oh, yeah. That's the lead funnel brother ClickFunnels."

Without listening to this podcast, how many of you guys ... You guys didn't know much about me. You didn't have affinity for my brand and what I'm doing. You didn't. That's fine. I know that. I knew that.

Therefore, I publish. Does that make sense? Now, when I say, "Hey. I'm out at an event. Hey. I'm out on a mastermind. Hey. This is a sweet book." By the way, I'm writing a book right now about all the lessons I learned next to the desk of Russell Brunson.

Okay? It's freaking awesome. Okay? I'm so excited. My gosh, it's so good. It's 300 pages. It's really, really good. Anyway, you guys don't care about that though until I deliver context. Until I deliver context. I need you to know that. I'm just trying to help you understand that.

When you are developing your offers, when you're coming up with something new to sell, that's the reason why first, you start with the sales message piece...

You're going to have to figure out on a very rough draft 30,000 foot view level of what your offer is or an idea of what it's going to be. They don't make the thing until you know that actually turns money. It's not the offer that's turning money, okay? You don't get paid because of an offer. You don't. Okay?

You get paid because of a sales message, because of a sales letter. That's what gets you paid. That's the thing to obsess over. If there's any skillset I can beg you guys to go learn and be obsessive over, it is the skillset of telling stories.

Okay? It is the skillset of selling stuff. It's the skillset. Thankfully, one more step back on that ladder is becoming a good marketer. Because being a good marketer, you don't have to sell as hard, which is awesome.

At the core of marketing, it's storytelling. It's educating. It's educating with the intent that they go and purchase something. Okay? That's what marketing is. You're changing belief patterns. How do you do that? You're changing context.

You're adding context. You're taking away context. You're adding things to it so they look differently at an object that might otherwise be four pieces of thin wood next to me on the side, right here on the floor. You know what I mean? There's context with it now. I know that there's a story behind it.

I know that there is a story... People will pay more because now, they know the story. They know the context. They see the value. It's four pieces of wood that's pretty destroyed. You know what I mean?

Did the monetary actual value of this chest right next to me changed when I told you that story? Not really. No, it did. It's the same pieces of wood. It's not like it's an appreciating asset. It's this piece of wood right here. Why does it have a lot of value? Because of the context, because of the story that you now know.

When you're developing your offers, please know that that's not where you get paid. You get paid because of story, which ultimately is your sales message. Anyway, that's the whole point I'm trying to help you guys.

The products and offers, it's not where the value is created. It's in the sales message. The product and offer just delivers. It delivers on the value but that's not where the value is created. If you're having a hard time selling your stuff, number one, yeah, definitely.

Look at your offer. Maybe there's certain things in there that ... I don't know. It just sucks. The reality is, is that you could go in and have a crappy offer with a fantastic sales message. It's a classic example when you go and buy something on the internet and it shows up and it's pure garbage.

Why did that work? It worked because the sales message was amazing. It was incredible. The actual product itself was terrible. Okay? That's a two-step method of getting paid more. Just number one, bring it from a product and turn it into an offer. Don't sell products. Sell offers.

Number two. Man, make this incredible story. Make an amazing sales message because that's really what assigns value. I will never get rid of my ClickFunnels account. Never. Ever.

Why? Not just because of the money that comes from it, because of all the story. The stories that Russell tells where he goes out and he says, "Hey, look." I even saw it. When people, they had never used their ClickFunnels account ever. They just like the t-shirt because they liked the culture that's behind it.

They've got t-shirts. They've got the context behind why that t-shirt matters. Does that make sense? I'm trying to close you, guys. You guys getting this? Anyway, I hope that that is hitting home for you. This is such a huge topic and I'm trying to hit it straight between the eyes. Because there's a lot of people who've been saying this stuff to me lately.

They're saying this to me lately. All right?...

"Hey. I'm not done with my offer yet. Therefore, I cannot sell anything." It's like, "Well, that's not how things are sold. Yes, you can." All right? Someone reached out to me today and I can't remember who said it. Snippy is not the right word. They're very forward though.

How would somebody purchase something that's not created yet? When I say, "Hey. Go create a sales message and start selling before the actual offer and products are created." Somebody's like, "Who would do that?" Like, "Well, a lot of people do that that's why I've launched everything."

When we launched Funnel Builder Secrets, that whole offer went out there. Incredible offer. The offer wasn't made yet. We knew what it was but it wasn't created. We actually didn't put it together yet.

An amazing sales message put this together. We made millions of dollars off that thing before it was even done. Lots of money. The original Two Comma Club Coaching program secrets master class, when I was putting that together, we're selling that thing.

It wasn't a Two Comma Club before the thing was even done. Why? Because the value was already assigned. Now, the value was assigned, people were paying for it because the value was higher in perceived value than they were actually paying for it.

Then I could go in and I could just create it. I literally created it one week ahead of them. Who does that? A lot of people. I just listened to a sweet interview with Ezra Firestone and Ryan Moran. Actually, Russell sent it over to me. He was saying this exact type of thing.

Ezra Firestone does the same exact thing. He creates this cool sales message, makes sure that it sells. He sells to his Beta users for $1,000. The future people have to purchase it for $1500. That first Beta group helps him create the product that they purchased. That makes sense?

Anyway, I think I said that, does that make sense too many times. I got to start breaking up more trial closes. Anyway, I hope though that like I said, that's hitting home. That you guys are getting it. Okay? The ability to develop a marketing and sales message is so powerful. That is where value is created.

That is where value is assigned because it's where context is delivered. Okay? It's where context is given. We see the blueprint of the object differently.

Even though this water bottle in front of me, I used to backpack a lot growing up. There was this Nalgene water bottle that I had. That thing went with me everywhere. I took that water bottle. I don't know how many hundreds of miles I backpacked with that water bottle.

I would never get rid of it...

There was this value I had assigned to it. When we were backpacking to different areas, we ran out of water. We had to ration water and be a little bit scary actually. Different creek. That's the water bottle. For some reason, I don't know why. I won't get rid of that water bottle. I can't find it now.

That was a lot of years ago. Okay? For a long time, that was it. It was not just a piece of plastic to me. There was a story, lots of them behind that very water bottle.

Does that make sense? Sounds cheesy. Totally true though.

Completely accurate and applies to every object that you're selling. Okay? Find ways to deliver new context. Another way to say that. Find ways to break and rebuild belief patterns. That's what that is. Anyway, all right.

For fear of saying the same thing over and over again, just probably in this episode. All right, guys. You're all awesome. Appreciate you.

Go forth ahead and tell them a profitable story. Bye. Hey. Thanks for listening.

Hey, look. Can't decide what funnel you need or need more in-depth training on how to use your current funnel, find out which funnel you need at salesfunnelbroker.com and get your premium pre-built funnels and training today.