One package at Acquisition Ace has sold over 1,000 times in a little under a year. It started life as an upsell.
Ben Kelly's main offer already sold well. Behind it we built the back end from scratch in 30 days: client success managers, tracking, SOPs, the client path. Once clients were getting results, the question became what they would buy next. The answer ended up as the front end.
Where did the offer come from?
From the clients. We look at what people bought first and why, and what they could buy next: the same but different, the next step. In every offer we run a survey with two questions.
"If something could be done for you, what would it be?" "What do you wish this offer helped you with?" The answers are read per client, next to their milestone on the board. That is how the offers get better and where opportunities show up.
At Acquisition Ace the answers pointed at a premium version of the main offer, at almost double the price. It is the lobster on the menu. Same kitchen, one premium dish, and a share of every room orders it.
What did it cost to fulfil?
Nothing extra. That was the whole design brief. The premium version runs on the client success managers, the video training and the community that were already in place. Almost double the price and no extra fulfilment cost is an ideal package.
Fulfillment cost at Acquisition Ace is under 5% of revenue, with 600 to 800 active clients on three full-time client success managers plus fractional coaches. A premium package with no extra cost on top of that changes the margin on every sale. Ben was very happy.
Result from a named client with written permission. Typical clients of this cohort saw a range of outcomes; nothing here is a guarantee. How we handle claims.
Disclosure: Diego also builds Ben's website, so there is a material connection beyond this engagement.
I look at what people bought first and why, and what they could buy next: the same but different, the next step on their path. In every offer I run a survey: if something could be done for you, what would it be? That is where I saw this one. We added the lobster on the menu, a premium version at almost double the price that costs nothing extra to fulfil. Ideal package.
How did an upsell become the front end?
At Acquisition Ace it went on the menu next to the main offer, and new prospects chose it. When the premium version sells beside the main offer, a share of new clients picks the premium one at close. Over a little under a year that share turned into 1,000+ sales. The premium version became the main offer, and the old main offer now sits under it as the lighter option.
That is what we mean by Trojan-horsing an offer: sell one thing, deliver the thing that makes more sense, in a good way. The client who bought the premium package got the same client success managers, tracking and path as everyone else, plus what the premium version adds. Nobody was sold less than they paid for.
What comes after the premium version?
A premium version of the premium version. Once the lobster is the main course, the next level up goes on the menu, and the front end becomes a level system. Every offer is different, but that is how we look for the next opportunity, and the survey runs the whole time.
The back end keeps doing its job behind it. Winners are offered the next problem, and clients close to the goal an extension. Every one of those sales carries no ad cost. At Acquisition Ace the offers we built have added $5M+ in extra revenue.
Watch out. Do not build a premium package that needs a second team. The version at Acquisition Ace works because it costs nothing extra to deliver. A premium tier with its own coaches is a second offer with its own cost line, and it competes with the first.
Further reading: How one offer added $1M+ in eight months · How to build a resell offer from your existing coaching program
