How should I sell my course online?

Welcome to The Empowered Edupreneur Podcast. My name is Michelle Smit, and I am an ex-teacher turned online business coach for Edupreneurs, the owner of Digiteach and a six-figure entrepreneur. I am in love with empowering educators just like you to create freedom filled online businesses and lives they love.

If you are looking to up level your skills, your finances, your mindset, and change the trajectory of your life as an educator in business, then you are in the right place. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of business and mindset development to help unlock the infinite potential within you. To play bigger with your life and go after your dreams. 

We are going to have so much fun together. So thank you so much for pushing play today. Now let's dive in. 

Hello, hello, happy, whatever day it is today for you. And when you're listening to this, I hope you're having a great day. And today I'm talking to you about how should you sell your course? How does one sell their course? How do they fill it with students? Because. Obviously, if you've got an offer, and this is not when I say course, I'm talking about anything.

It could be a group program, course membership, whatever offer you have, how do you sell it? Because obviously that's the tricky part. Everyone thinks creating the thing is hard, but really, selling the thing is the tricky part. It's the thing that most educators and teaching business owners and people in general don't really know how to do.

And it's the part that requires the most upscaling, the most learning and the most energy investment. I would say if you really do want to have a business that sells courses and makes money in that way. So if you've been in my world for a while, you'll know that a great way, and especially a great way for when you are early on in your business. Actually at any point in your business, this is a great way, but especially if it's a new offer and you need to sell it for the first time selling it through a live launch event is the way to go about it. So a live launch event.

And if you Want to learn about launching and how to sell with launching and how to like literally make more money than you ever thought possible by launching. And especially the sales system behind little launch then, I really recommend you Watch my free training. You can click the link underneath this episode which is all about my four step launch success system, where I share that system with you on how you can launch your course and fill it with dreamy students who you love to work with.

So you can actually make more money, impact more people, get your course into the hands of more people change lives, build out more freedom for yourself. So you don't have to teach all day. That training is literally made for you and it is amazing. So hit the link below. As soon as you click that link, you can just register and you can watch the training immediately.

So please soak it up. It's really, really good. Today I'm going to share with you a couple of different live launch events that you can it actually might be in service of you to go watch that training and then you can also listen to this episode. But, a different couple of different types of launch events, which you can sell your course through.

And, it's like, okay which event do I choose? Which way do I choose? And that's what I'm going to talk to you about today as well. I'm going to talk about the three probably most common launch styles and launch events that you see people do and that people use to sell their courses. 

The first one is a video series. The second one is a webinar or a masterclass. And the third one is a challenge or a bootcamp. So I'll go through all three of them and I'll share a light version of the strategy behind them. And then I'll share who this kind of strategy is best for and things like that, and how to choose which one is the right one for you.

The first one I'm going to share with you is like a video series launch event. You can also call it a free training week. This is the one that I teach in detail inside of the Digiteachers Biz Academy. And I think personally That this is the best route to go for when you are new to online business and new to launching, and you've not really sold anything before, or you could have a online teaching business, but you haven't really launched a course before or a group program.

I think this is a great starting point where the, even if you're just an educator, who's just starting their online business and launching their first program. And this is why I teach it in DBA because I think it is it's a great strategy for more of a beginner. Who's not really sold live before. And it's like the first time.

So what the video series launch style looks like, the way that I teach it is it's three videos that are drip fed over a Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Typically that's what I say, but you don't have to do it like that. But you have three videos that you release to your audience that is teaching and giving value and showing yourself in this authority and sharing your method and showing your trans, the transformation and showing social proof of who you've helped.

And then you have those three videos doing all of those things. And obviously giving value values are very important and they're not long videos. They should be like 15 minutes at most each and they get released on one day and then there's a break and then another day and there's a break and then another day and they get released to either.

You'll send them to your email list and you'll also do. You can also drop them in your Facebook group if you have one. And then after that, you have a fourth video that releases. And that fourth video is all about your offer. And it's basically pitching your offer and having a link to sign up to your offer.

And on the third video, you also introduce them to your offer. So it's a very strategic set of videos. You don't just willy nilly run, the videos. They have to be strategically built. And that's what I share inside of the Digiteachers Biz Academy is the step by step strategy and the scripts and everything you need to build out those videos so that they do tick the box and move people to making a buying decision.

And hopefully joining a program. So that's the video series. A lot of people in DBA have a lot of success with it. And the reason I do it as the reason I choose to teach that, cause I've done so many different types of launch events, but I choose to teach that one is I think it's more Forgiving, you can make a little bit more mistakes, I feel.

And also because you can do it completely prerecorded. So a lot of people, when they knew to like launching and selling and stuff, they're really scared to go live in front of an audience and sell their stuff or do stuff live. Like you're happy to teach live, but then as soon as it comes to the selling part, you like terrified.

And so with this video series, you pre record the stuff. So you don't actually have to do it live in front of a live audience. You don't get put on the spot. You can really pre record everything. So it's I don't know, more comfortable for you. And when I started in the beginning, I was really anxious about going in front of people.

I was like, my biggest fear by far was getting in front of all like people live and talking in front of people, i would get so anxious. So for me, the video series was great because I would pre record the stuff and then I would just release it to my audience and they would watch it. And all I needed to do is remind them to watch it and, make sure that it was really enticing and worth their time.

But you've got time to build those things. So that's why I teach it to my DBA students as their first kind of launch process. And the other reason is because this video series is like over a week. So you've got seven days where you are delivering value and showing up in your in your audience and in your community.

So you've got seven days to connect to your people, to build up trust, to create authority, to showcase the transformation. You've got a whole week to be with these people and to create that kind of trust and give value and help someone achieve something and then when you do open up your program, they're a lot warmer to you they've they got a sense of who you are as a person and how you teach things. And they've made the decision whether they want to continue working with you or not And it's just easier to have a sales conversion when you have more time to do that and build up that trust. 

And that is also why it's more forgiving. I believe it's like a sales strategy is because you have that time versus a webinar, which you have an hour, so a week versus an hour, it's a little bit challenging. So obviously it's takes energy to build it out once, but then you just rinse and repeat and refine and improve.

And that's the thing with all of these launch things. It's the first time you do it. It's going to take time to build it out. Once it's built out, it's just about refining and tweaking and improving on what you've got. And it gets a lot easier. So video series you can really sell, i mean, you can sell something up to like 2000. 

I've seen people use this kind of style of launch selling like three thousand dollar products, but they're like very advanced in business and they have the most epic video series and they actually do it live. And they can sell, I think it's three five, I think I saw someone do it for, and so you can sell a program of three five just on the back of that.

But in general, I wouldn't recommend selling something super low ticket. There's no point it needs to be like a cool offer, a signature program, something that's going to make you money. So like 500 bucks and up hopefully. But I have students who do an offer for 250 and then they just sell lots of them and they do really well. Especially in the language business and stuff. 

So there's no like hard rule of what the prices of the offer needs to be, but I just wouldn't bother anything under than 250 at all. I would say ideally if it can be like above that, 500 and up, but if your course is only 300 bucks or whatever. And if that felt aligned, you can offer some calls within that week as well.

Once your course has been offered, you can offer some 30 minute calls to see if people want to chat about if it's a good fit for them. But I'd only do that if your offer is on like the higher ticket side, 2000 and up. I don't think it's necessary for you to do calls underneath that. But if it feels aligned to you and you want to do it, then sure, you can offer some calls. 

But yeah, that's basically it. It's a free training week or video series. It's in consists of three videos and a fourth sales video. And yeah, you then on the back of that, you'll open the doors for your program for about five to seven days where you sell your course for five to seven days after that.

And that's when you just send emails, show up live. You can do calls with people if you want to have those calls to help people make those decisions. So that's what it looks like. It's a list building phase. Then you have your excitement phase. Then you have your actual education phase, which is where you deliver the training, and then you have your launching phase, which is when you open the doors to your program. 

And yeah, I've seen one of my DBA students have made 20,000 euros in one of them before and has basically grown her business. I don't know how much by doing just these launch events. Many, many of them. Do really, really well and they build out this machine and then they just keep reusing it.

Like maybe twice, three times a year, they'll launch like this and make a lot of profit. So that's a great way to sell your course. And obviously if you want the step by step, this is how you do this on this day with all the scripts, with all the emails, with everything. Done for you basically, then definitely don't join the Digiteachers Biz Academy because I have given it all in detail. 

All right, the next way to sell a course is through a webinar. So I'm sure you guys have been part of many webinars before. Just be sure to sitting in on a webinar can also be positioned as a masterclass or a workshop. Typically it's free. You can also do paid ones, but all of the things I'm talking to you today are generally going to be free because it's just an easier once you have a paid launch event, it gets a bit more.

Advanced but yeah, webinars, it's about a 60 minute live thing that you do with people where you deliver training and you do everything you do in the lawn, in the video series. But you just compress it into 60 minutes. So you just got less time and you just need to be very effective with that time.

So you've got 60 minutes and then normally you'll have a Q&A of 15 minutes or maybe half an hour on the back of that. And this is really a great way to sell something online. It's a little bit faster as well. You would list build for two weeks, then you would host your webinar.

And then on the back of that, you would sell your offer for three to five to seven days. So it's almost like a three week launch event versus the video series, which is a bit longer, but. You have less time with the people to build up that trust. And so people often need, depending on what your price point is, people do sometimes need more time to make the buying decision.

And so webinars are still incredibly effective. People sell all the time using webinars. And I love them as well. I love doing them, but it does, I believe, require more skill. Firstly, you need to be live. You have to do it live with the audience there. Some people just are not very effective live, or they just don't have the energy or, they're terrified.

And I used to be that person. So by the way, you can just learn, you just got to do it enough times to get better at it. And I've done a lot of stuff to build up a skill at it. But you need to be engaging. You need to have very good slides and captivate them with your energy.

Otherwise people just don't want to stick around for it. And obviously then when you pitch your offer, you need to be comfortable pitching and selling something live, which is the part that freaks people out. But it can be very effective. And so normally you just give value, share your authority.

Teach on the transformation that you're offering people showcase that transformation, at least. Showcase social proof and how you've helped people, showcase your story. A lot of different things you can do in that way, but on then give value, especially give a aha moments where people are like, oh, wow.

Really shift their beliefs, make them see something in a new way. And then in the last 20 minutes or so, you will offer your program as the next step into people, if people want to continue working with you. And then after that, you would then sell your offer for three to five to seven days after that.

And yeah, people make a lot of money doing webinars and I personally love them because I have a lot of fun with them now. I just really like engaging with a live audience. Much preferred than prerecorded. And I used to be different, but I've obviously overcome my fears and built confidence. So if you are someone who just thrives off live energy and you're like excited about, you're very good at speaking and you captivate people and you've got the energy. Then webinars are just the right choice I would say.

If that thought freaks you out, then you can go for a video series pre recorded. The other thing with the webinars, like you can sell up to I'd say 2,000 off a webinar. But when you hit the 2,000 point, instead of just selling directly off the webinar, you actually need to have an application and then you need to have a call.

So that's the difference. The more high ticket you go, you can't just immediately sell your offer on the webinar because it's just not enough time to build up trust for people to buy like a 2,000 product off a webinar. People need more time than an hour, right? But what you can do is have an application at the end of the webinar that they then have to apply and then you get on a call with him and you can continue delivering some value and figuring out what's going to serve them.

And then you would sell your course on the call or your program on the call. So if your offer is like 2000 and up, then you're going to need to have an application at the end of the webinar and a call. That's going to be how you would sell that offer. If it's underneath that, then you can typically just have the pitch and then a direct link to buying, buying the offer as well.

And you can still set up calls if that's in alignment, but what you don't want is to just give everyone free calls because. Like you're going to just waste so much time. So if you do want to have a call, definitely have an application first. So you can weed out the people who are just not the right people before you get on calls with them.

So yeah, webinars really get great to sell something like I would say 300 dollars and up. Ideally, I would say if you can do a minimum of 500, but I know a lot of people, especially educators and teaching business owners that often make programs are 300 and things like that. Then you can still do a webinar with that.

It's still good. You just need to make sure that you've, you're pricing your offer correctly and that you're going to have profit by the end of it. Just make sure of that. But yeah, that's the webinar launch style. And typically you would build your webinar lists promote your webinar for two weeks.

Then you'd host the webinar deliver a really great live event. And then on the back of that, sell your course. And then the last one that I'll talk to you about is the challenge in the bootcamp. You can call it a challenge. You can call it a bootcamp, whatever you want. Typically this is five days.

I know people do 28 day challenges and stuff, but honestly, that just sounds better. exhausting and I don't see anyone very hard to commit unless it's like in the gym or health space where it's 28 day, gym challenge. Maybe people can make that work, but I feel like it's too long. So, I would just say a five day challenge and or a five day bootcamp.

And basically this is where every day you give Value you teach on something and then they need to do some sort of homework, some sort of action step every day over five days. And then by the end of the fight on the fifth day, you would have your you'd have like almost like a webinar on the fifth day where you then sell your offer on the back of that.

But a challenge is great for if you want someone to actually take action and do something. Like decluttering, for example, you could have a five day decluttering challenge where on day one we are decluttering this draw on day two, we're decluttering our pantry on day three, maybe that's a bit much to every day declutter something, but you know what I mean?

This is my value and here's an action step, take this action. And then over the five days, hopefully they have gotten wins. They are feeling they've got momentum. They're really seeing like the value in what you're providing. And you then offer your group program or your course as the next step for them to continue working with you and continue getting that transformation.

Very effective, very high energy also required but with challenges and bootcamps, you can definitely sell much higher price offers on them because they are so hands on. And you've got a lot of time to build up that trust and momentum with them. You've got like five days with them.

So similar to a video series in that way is that you have more time to build up that trust and give that value and to just serve. And so when you are selling on the back of that, It's often feels better for people. And it can often convert really high, a challenge as well. But it just depends on your personality as well.

And what feels in alignment with you and also your price point and stuff. Don't bother doing a really low ticket offer for a challenge or any of these launch events. I wouldn't even bother. Like it needs to be something that's going to make you money and make you profit. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother because all of these take time and energy.

And if it's not going to make you money, then just don't even bother doing it. So it needs to be at a decent price point that you know, is going to make profits. All of them can have really good conversions. I would say if you're great live and you've got that crazy energy, you're just really good at storytelling and engaging with people.

Then webinars are excellent. If you prefer prerecorded stuff, cause you're just not that comfortable with the live yet, you can do a video series. And you can also do your video series live if you wanted to it's a million ways to skin a cat and a challenge in bootcamp is also, great for a kind of topic where you want people to take action and do something every day and get a certain little result.

And then on the back of that, you would sell something. So those are probably the most common, like free launch style events that exist. And you just also have to try it out to see which one suits you and that's the thing you're not going to know unless you try, but if you're interested in a video series, then that is the way that I teach it inside of DBA.

It's really effective. It might not be the one that you see most commonly. But it is very effective and also, it's been effective for many, many, many, many years. The strategy doesn't change, maybe the tactics or the little things within it changes, but really it's a core way to sell something online.

And I've shown our students have done so well using this way to sell a course. So if that is something that you want help with DBA is it for sure. 

All right. I hope this was helpful. Remember when you are selling something, you want to have some sort of launch event to sell it to build up that value, build up that trust, deliver value showcase your authority to people online. 

Otherwise, how people are going to know about your stuff. And then on the back of that, you would sell your offer and things like that. This is why people launch all the time. Big businesses launch at least one to two times a year. It's because it is such an effective way to sell something online.

Is it the only way to sell something online? No, but it's very effective. And if it's a new offer that hasn't been sold before, then always live launch at first. Always live launch it first get people in it, improve the offer, improve the process, improve the sales process. And then once you've got that working, you can turn it evergreen where it sells all the time. 

Alrighty. So I hope this was helpful. And if you want help with the. If you want to learn more about my four step launch success system, hit the link below, watch that free on demand training. It is juicy, juicy, juicy. And if you want help and mentorship to sell your course, someone to walk that journey with you, give you the step by step.

This is what you do on this day. This is how you do it. This is how you say it. This is what the way you do all of the things. So you don't have to feel the overwhelm and guess your way through it and waste hours of time and just end up launching something to crickets and having no one by and just being a mess.

Then please join me in the Digiteachers Biz Academy. This is my signature program. It is literally my baby and it will teach you on how to launch any offer online, really. Membership group program, something that's a core offer, like a decent priced something that makes you money. And sell it and fill it with students that you love and basically grow your online education business or online business, right?

With live launching, because it really amplifies your earning potential. It really boosts the amount you can earn. Live launching is the way to do it. And that is what I teach you inside of DBA. Also how to build your email list, how to choose your niche. I teach you everything. Everything from start to finish.

I've got people who've come straight from the classroom with zero marketing and sales experience come into DBA. And then they just do it. They just follow the steps. And then, one of them has literally retired from the classroom. She's had such successful launches and she just now works full time in her business.

It doesn't matter where your knowledge is at right now with launching, with selling, with marketing. I believe all of these skills are learnable because I've done it myself. I'm living proof of that. And if you are willing and hungry for change and you're ready to learn, you're ready to upskill massively and just learn bad ass money making skills, then I believe you belong in DBA because that is what it's all about.

Upleveling, upleveling yourself upskilling yourself, building these money making skills, building your email list, which is such an asset that will make you money for years to come. Building your actual course or group program, which is another huge asset. That's what I teach you inside of DBA. So I would love to have you inside.

Otherwise, I hope you have a splendid day. And I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you have any questions or you want to share something with me or anything about DBA or anything, just email me or send me a message on Instagram. I would love to hear from you. Have an amazing rest of your day and I'll chat to you soon. 

Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. I have an amazing on demand training that will show you my proven strategy for launching a course of group program online and filling it with students. 

So you can drastically increase your income and impact without trading all your time for money. You can hit the link below and register for free, and you'll get access to that training immediately.

I appreciate you so much, and I can't wait to connect with you in the next episode. In the meantime, go create a business and life you love.