We hear it all the time, “I heard you can make money selling online courses, but how do I know what course I should create?”
Or what about, “I created an online course but how do you get people to actually buy it?”
Or perhaps, “people keep telling me they don't have enough money to pay for my online course”
The truth is, there's a big difference between creating a course vs knowing how to sell online courses.
It's the reason why most people fail to get any sales at all and end up quitting.
The good news is, there is a RIGHT way to sell online courses without resorting to using places like Udemy or spending your entire waking day promoting yourself on social media.
The strategy you're about to learn will show you how to sell online courses in a non-pushy way and without coming across as desperate.
You'll learn how to sell a no-brainer mini course to get more people in the door before upgrading them into other courses and coaching in the future.
Full transparency: We didn't invent this strategy because it's the thing all fortune 500 companies to do get new customers.
We also use it to bring in over 1000 new students every month for our own online courses.
And I believe we've fine-tuned it for the course creator who:
- Is struggling to get people to say “yes” to their programs OR…
- They're at the start and trying to choose the right topic for their first online course
So if you like the idea of getting new students every day, then read on…
Step 1: Find A SINGLE Pain Point
Most people when creating their first online course try to solve every possible problem for their students and that's a mistake.
Instead, the better approach is to find out what the ONE thing is THEY think they need help with right NOW and then help them with that.
Let me state that again because it's important…
“What do your target customers/students think they need help with the MOST right now?”
For example…
Let's say you're like a client of ours who helps men above the age of 40 find their perfect partner through online dating.
After asking some of these men, we discovered the immediate thing they wanted help with was getting more dates.
So using this information we now know the topic for the first mini course should be…how to land more dates.
Or maybe you're an empty nester mother who had to make the transition and find a new purpose in life and you want to help other women do the same.
We've worked with a number of clients who are attempting to solve this problem for people and there's a lot of opportunity.
What we found is that someone in this position doesn't know what their purpose is outside of being a parent.
Helping people find their new purpose then becomes the topic of the mini course.
“But what if I don't know what their biggest pain point is?”
Great question and there is an answer.
We mention a few strategies for uncovering the most important pain point inside this mini course, however I HIGHLY recommend getting on the phone or meeting up in person and talking to as many people as you can.
As a general rule of thumb, you NEVER want to guess their biggest pain point.
You want to know for sure and the best way is to ask them what they are struggling with the most right now.
Once you're clear on the number one pain point, you're now ready to create the offer…
Step 2: Create The Offer
Notice how the title of this step isn't just “create the course“?
That's because you're not just creating a course, you're creating an offer that is so irresistible that people will feel like they have no choice but to say yes!
When you do this step right, we've seen conversion rates for our clients as high as 20%.
That means roughly 1 in 5 people who land on the sales page end up making a purchase!
Before I talk about pricing we have to break down the offer into 2 parts:
- The Mini Course
- The Bonuses
The Mini Course
Most people when creating a course think that the bigger it is, the better it is.
Fun fact though: when it comes to creating a mini course…size does NOT matter!
In fact it's quite the opposite.
The more modules and lessons you add into a mini course, the more overwhelming it will seem to your prospects.
That's why we recommend keeping your mini course to less than 5 lessons or workshops. In fact our course is broken down into 3 easy to watch workshops that shows you how to create a sales funnel selling mini courses.
The goal of the mini course is simple…
To solve a SINGLE pain point as quickly and effortlessly as possible.
So if you create a course that is too long, it will come across like a lot of work and nobody wants that.
Keep it short so they actually complete it and use it to get results.
The Bonuses
It might be hard to believe, but the most important part of the offer are the bonuses!
The reason comes down to getting people to say yes to your offer.
Sure, you may have created a great mini course that people want, but it alone won't be enough to get them off the fence and making a purchase.
It's kinda like selling a car.
Sure you could sell a plain car with 4 doors, 5 seats and it will get you from point A to point B, but that's not very exciting and it won't stand out in the market.
That's why car companies add in features (AKA. bonuses!) like: heated seats, backup camera, remote start, etc, etc.
It's the bonuses that get people excited and off the fence.
Some great examples of bonuses include:
- Templates (eg. graphics, emails, etc)
- Scripts (eg. conversation starters for first dates)
- Resources (eg. toolkits, recommended products)
- PDF guides
- Worksheets (to go along with the lessons)
- Tools (eg. spreadsheets, calculators, apps, etc)
- Bonus video lessons
We recommend coming up with at least 3 bonuses to go along with your mini course. Preferably, if you can come up with 5-10, you will see greater results.
Pricing
If you're like most people then you probably struggle when it comes to pricing an online course.
It's totally understandable because there's no cost of materials and so how do you value something that is free to produce and distribute?
Now normally what we try and determine is the value of the results the course can help them achieve.
Say for example you were teaching someone who was brand new, how to place the guitar.
And let's say the objective of the mini course is to help them learn and play their first ever full length song.
If that person were to pay a teacher to help them with this, how much would it cost?
Considering the average cost of a guitar lesson is about $50 an hour, we could assume it would take at least 1 and possibly up to 3 lessons before they could play a single song.
So total cost there is between $50-$150.
But there are other additional benefits to joining a self study course like:
- They can do it at their own pace
- They can do it from the comfort of their own home
- It comes with a whole host additional bonuses
There is a downside in that you can't deliver personal support and so considering all this, the price point we normally recommend to our student is less than $50, with the majority of people charging around $37.
This price point seems to match what most people are willing to pay in every market.
And remember, the point of this mini course is to get people in the door and working with you. What you sell to them after the fact is totally up to you.
What our clients tend to do is sell either 1-on-1 consulting after getting a new customer or offer a more in depth and higher priced course off the back.
And that's where step 3 comes into play…
Step 3: Create Your Upsells
If the point of the mini course is to bring in new customers, then the point of the upsell is to maximise your profits!
Chances are you're not going to make a ton of money selling a $37 mini course and so after someone has made a purchase, it's a good idea to offer them other products and programs off the back.
A key factor when it comes to being able to do this is to use the right marketing tool and for that we like to use ClickFunnels.
It allows you to create a sales funnel and make additional offers like order bumps and one time offers AFTER someone has purchased your mini course.
Honestly, ClickFunnels is not perfect but it does the job.
What Are Order Bumps?
You've probably seen them around a lot, but basically they act as an optional upgrade on the checkout page (see example below).
So using the example of teaching the guitar, you could also offer a 1-on-1 call or even something as simple as a branded guitar pick.
The options are endless, but we normally see about 50% of people who join our mini course go on to buy at least one of our order bumps.
All someone has to do is check the box available to add it to their order before checking out.
One Time Offers
The other option to add to your sales funnel is a one time offer AFTER they finish ordering their mini course.
So instead of sending people directly to an order confirmation page, they are sent to a one time offer page where you can let them know about an additional upgrade they can make to their order.
This could be as simple as an extended course for say $97-$497, private coaching or even access to a monthly membership site.
A lot of people get upset when we talk about order bumps and upsells, but if you think about it, you're actually creating a better customer experience.
Some people are cool with just paying $37 for a mini course, whereas other people want more and are willing to pay for it.
And from our experience, the more people tend to pay, the more they pay attention and do the work necessary to get results.
After all, how many free ebooks have you signed up and ignored that are now taking up space on your hard drive?
If you're reading this page, then I'm guessing a lot!
In fact you may notice that we don't offer people things for free just by putting in their email address.
Sure we have free content like this article as well as our podcast and YouTube channel, but I fervently believe that giving people free courses just ends with them not completing the course and then feeling like a failure.
When you sign up for a course and then don't do it, you feel bad and then you end up giving up.
It's no secret that the students who have invested the most in courses and coaching with us are the ones who have the best results.
The same is true for me. I have invested over $500,000 in courses and coaching, which has given me the confidence to be able to charge money for what I teach.
If you agree with this and you're serious about creating a sales funnel that captures new customers every single day, then grab our program The Course Creators Funnel for just $37 and let's get you up and running fast.