Offer Teardown: the owner’s sheet

Goal. The sheet helps you look at one offer through the client’s eyes: what it promises, how it proves it and what the client is afraid of. It shows which elements of the package sell, which are just nice to have, and which hold the purchase back. At the end you have a new version of the offer and a short plan for the conversations you will use to test it.

In 15 minutes. After this you know the one move to make in your offer and how to test it in three conversations. The time is our estimate, not measured. An entry with no source stays “I’m guessing”: that is not a mistake, it is a list of questions for the conversations.

1. The offer (part A), 3 minutes. Write the offer and its price, what the client compares you with (a competitor, hiring someone, doing it themselves, nothing) and what the client has “after,” in their own words. Write a quote from an email or a conversation as the source. No quote means “I’m guessing.”
2. Four questions (part B), 4 minutes. For your offer, write 0 or 1 on each row. 1 means: it is there, and the client sees proof.
3. One move (part B), 3 minutes. Pick a row with a 0. Take time or effort first (“When will I see the first result?”, “How much effort?”), and a bigger promise only after that. Write one move that turns the 0 into a 1.
4. The result (part E), 2 minutes. Write the result in one sentence, in the client’s words, plus the first visible result and the day it arrives.
5. Conversations (part F), 2 minutes. Pick three people who bought or considered buying (not friends). Write down the rule before the first conversation: “If … of 3 people …, then …”.
6. Decision, 1 minute. Write one line: “I decide that … Who … By when … I will check …”. For example: “I decide that the offer will include a first report by the 10th of the month. Who: me. By when: in 2 weeks. I will check: in 3 conversations, whether at least 2 people see that deadline as a reason to buy.”

You rebuild the whole offer in the full version. After 15 minutes, don’t change the price or the package yet.

Instructions (full version) (about 90 minutes to fill in, an estimate; the conversations come separately, about 5 of them at 20 minutes each, over two weeks)

1. Choose one offer. Have the web page or the PDF of the offer next to you, along with the price and your notes from recent won and lost sales conversations.
2. Fill in parts A, B and C. On every row, write the source: a quote, an email, a review. No source means “I’m guessing,” and that row goes into the conversations in part F.
3. In part D, list at most 9 elements of the offer and make a decision on each one.
4. Put the card together in part E. Work out the worst case for the guarantee and the spot limit before you promise anything.
5. Hold the conversations from part F, correct the sheet, and only then change the offer.

Template fields

A. The offer and the client’s goal

B. The client’s four questions (0 = missing, 1 = there, and the client sees proof)

Improve time and effort first, and only then go for a bigger promise.

C. The client’s concerns (3 to 5 rows)

D. Offer elements (at most 9)

Cut what is expensive and low-value first, then what is cheap and low-value. An element that 2 of the 5 people you ask don’t want is a candidate to take out.

Warning signs: ☐ You keep adding elements, but you can’t say in one sentence why the client buys. ☐ Almost nobody haggles over the price, and your calendar is full. The price may be too low. ☐ The thing clients like most, you give away for free to close the sale. ☐ You hear “interesting, but not for us” and keep investing in it.

E. The new offer card

F. Conversation plan (5 people who bought or considered buying; not friends) Order: the problem first, then the value of each element, and the price last. Questions: What price would be acceptable? What price would be high? What price would be too high? After each one: “Why?” “If you could keep only 3 elements, which would they be?” Read the guarantee out loud and write down the reaction. Rule written down before the first conversation: ______ . Read each answer on its own, not the average.

Fictional example (the firm and the numbers are fictional, for this template)

An accounting firm, 9 people.

A. Offer: “Full accounting for companies,” 1 100 PLN net a month. The client compares it with a firm that charges 700 PLN and with “I’ll do it myself in software.” The “after”: “By the 10th, I know how much I made last month” (a conversation with a client).

B.

A score of 2 out of 4 against 1 out of 4 for the cheaper firm: certainty and time come first.

C.

D.

Sign ticked: the first one (for years they kept adding the newsletter and more services).

E. Name: “Accounting with a report by the 10th, for companies of up to 10 people.” Result: every month, by the 10th, you know how much you made, and you are not alone in an audit. First result: the report by the 10th of the second month. Guarantee: “If you pay interest or a penalty because of our mistake, we pay back the full amount.” Conditions: documents by the 5th of the month, answers to our questions within 3 business days. Worst case: about 2 000 PLN per case × 3 cases a year = 6 000 PLN; we can afford it: yes. Limit: 2 accountants × 120 h ÷ 5 h per client = 48 clients; today we have 41, so 7 open spots (we say so only when it is true). Not included: HR and payroll, advice on transactions. No-discount rule: when a client asks for a discount, we offer a version without audit support, or a 12-month contract with permission to post their review on our website.

F. 5 conversations: 2 current clients and 3 companies that asked about the offer this year and didn’t buy. Rule: if 3 of 5 find 1 100 PLN an acceptable price, the price stays; if 2 of 5 don’t want an element, it comes out of the package.

From us. The four questions in part B are the four drivers of value in Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers (the “Value Equation” section): the result, how believable it is, the time and the effort; he also writes that anyone can make a big promise, and that it is harder to win on time and effort. Talking to clients about what they will really pay for, and sorting elements into must-have and nice-to-have, come from Monetizing Innovation (Madhavan Ramanujam and Georg Tacke, ch. 4 and 6). What we added is working out the worst case of the guarantee and the spot limit before you promise, a rule written down before the conversations, and four warning signs.

When to call us. Call us if:

• after three conversations you hear three different reasons why clients didn’t buy, instead of one that repeats;
• the guarantee or the spot limit you want to promise would cost more than a month’s revenue from this offer in the worst case;
• you want to change the price or take an element out of the package and need someone to tell you “no” before your clients find out.

The first call with us is 30 minutes and free. Bring your offer card.

Prompt for your AI. This prompt works in your own ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini account and knows only what you tell it; our own method, built on what your company knows, is what we do in a Diagnosis.

You are a calm coach. Take me through the “Offer Teardown” card, the 15-minute version.
Rules:
1. Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer.
2. If an answer is vague, ask for a number, a client quote or an example.
3. Never invent anything about my company or clients. With no source, write “I'm guessing”.
4. Don't choose the move for me. You may offer two options; I choose.
At the start, tell me: “Do not paste passwords, account numbers or personal data.”
Questions: (1) offer, price, what the client compares me with, what they have “after”; (2) the client's four questions, each 0 or 1, with proof; (3) one move, time or effort first; (4) the result in one sentence; (5) three people to talk to, and a rule before the conversation.
At the end, write one line: “I decide that … Who … By when … I will check …”.