Get Paid Before You Build It: How to Pre-Sell a New Offer for Black Friday

It's November, and you want something new to sell Black Friday weekend. You have an idea. What you don't have is the motivation to sit down and build the whole thing first.

That's where pre-selling comes in.

What pre-selling is

Pre-selling means you sell an offer before it exists. You have the idea in your head, and instead of spending weeks making it and hoping someone buys, you put it up for sale first.

When one person says, "Yes, I'll pay for that," and then another person does, and another, that's a whole lot of motivation. Then you make the offer and deliver it on the day you promised.

I've done this many times over the years. It's the whole process inside my course How to Make 1K in a Jiffy, and I'm walking you through it here so you can do it this month.

Step 1: Pick one problem

Start with the end goal: making sales on an offer you can create and deliver within two or three weeks. Don't be the person promising it by summer 2027.

That means a low-ticket offer, like an e-book, a masterclass, or a resource that helps your people reach one goal. It doesn't have to be complicated. You're solving one problem.

For example: I'm going to show you exactly how to bring 500 new subscribers onto your email list.

Step 2: Build the checkout page

People need a way to buy your promise. Your checkout page needs a headline, a tagline, the promise, and the pieces inside that promise your buyer will get.

For the 500 subscribers example, that might be a 20-minute masterclass on using Pinterest to grow your list, templates for your pins, the easiest way to research your pin descriptions, and a bonus showing how I plan the same process months ahead.

Because the offer isn't made yet, your checkout page also needs a delivery date. Something like, "This will be released to you no later than November 28." Then explain how they'll get it, whether that's a student portal or a login.

Step 3: Keep your promise

You have to honor this.

If you pre-sell something and only a few people buy, you still make it. One person or 100, it doesn't matter. Somebody spent money with you. Lay out everything you would make if 100 people signed up, then make all of it and over-deliver.

Step 4: Sell it everywhere

Email your list about it at least twice a week until delivery day. If you have a three-week window, that's six or more emails. Talk about it on social media constantly, wherever your people are.

Go for sales, and skip the waitlist. I've done waitlists, and those people say, "That sounds cool," then rarely sign up. Someone who has already bought is far warmer.

Step 5: Reward early buyers

People who buy something that doesn't exist yet are trusting you to make it, so show your appreciation. Give them a pre-sell price.

If the offer will be $45 once it's done, let your pre-sell buyers get it for $9. Show it with a crossed-out price on the checkout page, a timer at the top, or plain text. Make sure people know the price goes up on delivery day, then keep that promise too.

Step 6: Add bonuses or bumps

Sometimes while I'm making the offer, I come up with more things I want to add. Then I decide if they're bonuses or bumps.

A bonus is included with the offer. A bump is an add-on at checkout that brings in extra income. Neither one should be a missing puzzle piece. They enhance the experience, but buyers don't need them to get the result.

I like to think of bumps as bubble gum or ChapStick at the checkout: "Ooh, that looks fun, throw it in." The other day, someone bought my $11 Daily Access Coaching and added a bunch of bumps, so their order came to $44. If that came from a $5 ad, that's a great return.

Price your bumps in a mix, some lower than the main offer and some higher, then watch which ones convert over time.

Step 7: Make it evergreen

After delivery day, don't tuck the offer away. Update the checkout page, take out the delivery date, and set it up so buyers get immediate access. Keep your bumps on it. Put it on your website and keep emailing your list about it.

I always tell my clients to sell to their email list until 100% of the list has bought. That will never happen, so you'll always be selling to your list.

Why pre-selling works

People hold off on making offers for two reasons. It takes a long time to make something, and there's a lot of doubt that anyone will buy it.

Once you accept that you can't control who buys and who doesn't, there's a whole lot of freedom in that. I don't care if people buy my stuff, and I mean that in the nicest way. My job is to experience something, learn from it, and teach it to you. People can feel that in your copy and your content.

Pre-selling also saves you from resenting your people after you spent three red-eyed nights making something nobody bought. Getting paid to make something feels a whole lot different than typing up an e-book at 9:00 at night, wondering if anyone will buy it.

So promise yourself this: whether zero, one, or 50 people buy, you'll make it with the same excitement as if 1,000 people did.

Want the full course?

How to Make 1K in a Jiffy walks you through this whole process, and it's $7. Grab it here.

When you've pre-sold your offer, tell me on Instagram so I can cheer you on.