Pop Culture

Me, You, and my Offer

By Hervé St-Louis
July 12, 2014 - 06:10

I am PhD student studying the architecture of information controls through user experiences. I finance my studies by teaching written and visual rhetoric to undergraduate students. You are a professional. One of your tasks when seeking new ventures is to approach potential leads and sell them your services and products. This can be difficult if you are not comfortable making effective pitches. In this short article, I will share with you a sales letter technique a sales coach taught me years ago. I teach my students this technique when they have to craft their own social media marketing campaigns. It is my hope that this technique will improve your sales.

The sales coach called this technique “Me (Us) — You — Offer.” This sales pitch technique is for an initial communication with a lead. You can also use it when writing the introduction of an executive summary. Start by telling your client about yourself. A sentence or two is enough. You can pad your profile later in the closing arguments. Follow this with a short description of your client and a problem that you will solve for them. Then, explain what you offer your client. Your offer solves their problem and that’s why they need to hire you.

Introduce yourself first so that your leads know whom they are interacting with. I have used this technique since starting my own start up, animation studio Toon Doctor®. As an animator, my core competency is outside of sales. But conveying the right information to a client about what I could do for them was always a challenge. I have adapted this simple sales pitch technique from emails and in person meetings for the classroom.

My students create a social media campaign in the rhetoric course that I teach. Me — You — Offer is a formula, but it’s just right for students and entrepreneurs needing to fill a blank page. Even dedicated sales and business development pros can use this technique. After introducing yourself, tell your leads about their problems. Identify their needs and what they do. It is to show your empathy and ability to provide the right expertise.

Your expertise or product is your offer. It is how you will solve your client’s problem. It shows clients the boundaries of what you offer them and sets the correct expectations. You can write more than one sentence here, but stay succinct. If it’s a prospective message, add specific information about your offer later. Don’t bury your lead under too much information. Follow the same practice for marketing plans or quotes. Put specific information about your offer below in the body of your document.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12