- Hey, you want to learn how to sell online courses?
Maybe they're your own courses
or you're an affiliate for somebody else's courses.
Either way, make sure you watch
this video all the way through,
because if you don't get these three things right,
well, you're not gonna be selling anything.
Hey, my name is Pat Flynn, here to help you make more money,
save more time, and help more people too.
And I'm really excited for you,
because there's a lot of opportunities with online courses.
I've sold millions of dollars
worth of online courses of my own
and as an affiliate for other people's courses too.
And over the years, I've learned a ton by experimenting with
different types of ways to promote online courses
and I'm stoked, because today I'm going to share with you
the three things you need to know
in order to really make this all work for you.
Now there's lots of tactics for you to choose from
when it comes to how to promote an online course,
from emails to funnels to Facebook ads
to podcast, blogging, videos, all kinds of things,
but the tactics don't matter
unless you get these three principles right.
You could have the best Tic Tacs in the world.
(laughing)
The tactics, oh my gosh.
You could have the best tactics in the world,
if you don't get these three principles right,
then, well, you're just amplifying a big mistake.
Alright, let's dive in with number one.
People don't want to buy online courses.
Wait, what?
It's true though.
Think about it, nobody wakes up like this.
(yawning)
Yeah.
You know, I think I'm gonna buy an online course today.
Nobody.
What people really want are the outcomes and the results
that an online course could potentially give them.
That's the secret to selling anything.
People want the results, the outcome,
the how life is gonna be different after using that product.
And it just so happens, the product we're
talking about right now are online courses.
If the results, if the outcome
that that course promises is not clear,
well, then it's not going to be a clear
buying decision for potential customers
and your work promoting that course,
your own or as an affiliate, is gonna be much harder.
This is why sales pages that focus
primarily on the features of a product,
for example, five modules with 30 videos and office hours,
far underperform versus products that promote the outcome,
for example, with my course Power-Up Podcasting,
you'll have a podcast up and running with listeners
on the day that you publish your podcast.
As you promote online courses, keep in mind
the desired outcome that your target audience has
and if that desired outcome is not desirable,
well, then you probably shouldn't be promoting
or selling that course anyway.
Number two, when it comes to selling online courses,
trust and proof are gonna be your best friends.
Selling an online course is not easy.
Let's take in contrast, for example,
something like a software that does a specific job
for somebody in a very, very convenient way.
A potential customer can easily imagine using that software
if they have that problem that that software solves
and they can imagine getting that result
immediately out of the box.
With online courses, which is usually information,
you can't really demonstrate that
and the results aren't clear
and people aren't going to get results the moment they buy.
They have to actually take action
to get through that process and then see the results.
Now if you're selling your online course,
the trust should have been built
before selling that course in some way.
You can do it over a long period of time
through content marketing and such
or you could perhaps do it,
hopefully in a short period of time,
through perhaps starting with an ad,
going into some value that's added
in some way, shape, or form,
even a webinar can work very well,
to build that trust up so that
a person can trust that you are the instructor
to lead them into that solution.
And, of course, all throughout this process,
the proof is really important, proof coming in the form of
actually showing how this thing can actually work
or better yet, testimonials of other people,
previous students sharing their success
with your online course.
Now the hardest part about selling
an online course as an affiliate,
and for those of you with your own online courses,
keep this in mind when you have
affiliates promoting your online course,
the hardest part is building that trust,
because you're not promoting your own course.
When you build trust with an audience
and then send them over to somebody else,
it's almost like saying, "Hey, so now that
"we've gotten to know each other pretty well,
"you know, which is really cool,
"I'd love to introduce you to my friend over here.
"You've never met him before,
"but he's gonna actually ask you to buy something."
In real life, that's not going to come across very well
and the same thing happens online too.
Beyond the desired outcome, the most important thing to do
is to have your audience be convinced
that the person creating the course
is the right person to teach them that material.
So how do you do that?
Well some ways that I've done it is actually interviewing
the founders or creators of those online courses
and bringing them on my podcast,
which is a great relationship building tool.
Most of the time, I promote courses that I've used myself
and I just talk about my own experience
and what I loved about it and why I appreciate
the care that the course grader gave to me
to help me achieve certain success.
And again, proof, testimonials, right?
Not just from you, but from other people too,
specifically those in your audience, if possible.
Trust and proof, don't forget those things.
Number three, and this might sound kind of ridiculous
when you hear it and don't be scared, I'll explain.
Realize that, in most cases,
for most online courses that exists out there,
the information that exists in those courses
can be already found for free on the internet.
The information inside them could potentially be found
for free on places like Google or YouTube
or even on social media posts.
and when you really think about it, it's kind of obvious.
There's not really any brand-new,
never ever said in the history of time
information in any of these courses.
So why do we even,
or why would even people buy these courses?
How do they even sell?
I learned this important lesson back in 2008
when I sold my first online product,
which was an e-book study guide
to help people pass the LEED exam,
a very specific exam in the architecture space.
That e-book was comprised of 95% of the same material
that could be found for free on my blog.
In fact, right before I sold that product,
I remember being scared to death
thinking that every person who bought would ask for a refund
and complain about that very fact.
Not one.
Not one person out of tens of thousands of copies sold
had ever, ever complained about that.
So do we sell anyway knowing people
are too lazy to complain and ask for a refund?
No, no, that's not what we're talking about here.
And trust me, if people who aren't happy with their purchase
they're gonna be quick to ask you for a refund.
We're not running a gym membership here.
(men shouting)
The reason people buy online courses,
beyond the desired outcome,
beyond the person who is the one who created that course,
people are buying it because it's simply convenient.
You're saving people time
by having all that information they need,
and only the information they need,
compressed into that one spot for them
to take action on and get results.
You're helping people save time.
Uber, think about it.
What does it do?
It helps you get rides wherever you want.
No, it helps you save time.
Upgrading the EarlyBird seating
on Southwest so you can sit up front.
Is it because you like the front seats?
No, it's because you like to save time.
Online course, because people love to sit down
in front of a computer and take an online course?
No, it's because people hate having to look for all
the information they need to have that desired outcome.
It saves people time.
And beyond that, there's no additional help that comes
when people find all this information for free online.
People want their hand held,
they want that accountability through that process,
whether it's through something
like what I offer in my courses,
which are like office hours every week,
or perhaps just structurally
through the framework of that course.
When a purchase is made and dollars are spent,
it's a decision that that person makes
that yes, I want to do this,
I've put skin in the game, and I'm gonna make it happen.
And it's your responsibility, as a course creator
or as the person who's promoting another person's course,
to make sure that they get that result.
Cool?
Cool.
Now I really want to make sure you get this
and to prove it to me,
I want you to do a couple things for me.
One, hook me up with a thumbs up
and number two, comment below with an I get it.
I just really want to make sure
you understand these principles,
because they are the underlying foundation
behind all the sales that you make.
So comment below with I get it.
Use the hashtag #TeamFlynn if you're a part of Team Flynn
and subscribe to the channel here.
What's up Team Flynn?
So go out there and make some sales, be confident,
and realize that you can sell and serve at the same time.
So yeah, make sure you catch some of
the other videos that are over here.
We got some good stuff coming your way,
so make sure you subscribe below, but also right here.
Make sure that you click on some of these videos
to see what else I got for you.
So thanks again, click over here to keep going.