How I Diagnose Offer Fit, Acquisition Work and Buyer Assumptions

On this coaching call, I kept bringing the questions back to the problem underneath the proposed fix. Working for free does not automatically solve a technical delivery problem. Making a lead magnet does not automatically solve a weak assumption about what buyers want.

The useful work is identifying which part needs to change: the offer, the audience, the execution or the understanding of the customer. Those are different problems, even when they all show up as difficulty getting clients.

Separate delivery competence from the price being charged

A participant asked about returning to free work after struggling with client results. I said that the technical cold-email work still needed to improve. Removing the price did not remove the deliverability and execution problem.

The conversation also raised the client's own offer. A campaign can bring a business into view without making its proposition attractive. I advised looking at whether the client was suitable for the service, not only whether the agency could sign them.

Account for what the client relationship costs

I argued against accepting a client at cost merely to have another client. The relationship still takes time, attention and small decisions. I wanted those costs considered rather than treating the absence of a visible cash loss as free experience.

I made a related point about acquisition: organic content also consumes time, while paid acquisition, commissions and fulfillment consume money. Different offer structures move the burden around; they do not make the work disappear.

Client Ascension related reading: the offer formulation guide discusses buyer problems, delivery mechanisms and sustainable terms.

Test a market and offer combination against actual response

My simple example was a setup offer for cold email: make a page explaining it, put it in front of a market and see whether people book calls. If the response is not there, change the audience or the offer and test again.

I connected that with my own history of looking for an existing indication that a service was already being bought. I learned Instagram growth and acquired clients for that business through cold email. After that business was disrupted, I sold cold email as a service to other agencies.

Let different buyers choose the appropriate format

Another participant offered ad-creative services and asked whether their YouTube should point toward done-for-you production or help building an in-house team. I said both options could be available through separate links.

I said that I outsourced editing. The format someone wants can be part of the buying decision, rather than something that has to be identical for every customer.

Check whether the lead magnet attracts the right request

I described a personal cold-email case study used as a lead magnet in ads. It booked calls, but the problem I noticed was that people wanted a done-for-you offer rather than the coaching offer I was selling.

That is a useful distinction: getting a response and attracting the right purchase are not the same thing. The case-study example helped me discuss the fit between the free material and the next offer, rather than only whether people requested it.

Ask the actual customers why they buy

For a chemical manufacturer, a participant was considering a lead magnet around the company's claimed speed and reliable fulfillment. I questioned whether supply-chain problems were actually the important buying issue for that audience.

I suggested talking to existing customers about why they bought, including whether they had used another supplier before. The customer's answer can reveal something that is missing from the company's own explanation of why it wins business.

Client Ascension related reading: the client acquisition guide discusses offer tests, channel choices and cost per client.

Adapted by Client Ascension with AI assistance from Daniel Fazio's interview. The first-person narrative follows the source speaker’s account. Watch the original video