August 29, 2023 • 14 mins
In this episode, Tara takes you behind the scenes of a coaching call to learn which delivery method (online course, online program, hybrid experience) actually sells better. This is a common issue that business owners face as they search for their perfect buyers.
About Me:
My name is Tara Bryan. I help business owners break into the next level of success by packaging their expertise into an online business. It's my passion to help you find the fastest path to results to create a greater impact and income for you and your tribe.
This podcast is 100% focused on support, tips and example sharing, and building a community of online business owners who are passionate about building awesome learning experiences.
We do that by building engaging, motivating, gamified, and learner-centered online experiences. We come up with ideas and strategies to ensure that our learners can thrive and succeed using our packaged products.
To learn more:
Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com
Here are two ways we can help you grow and scale your online course-powered business:
1. Want to package or pivot your business online? Download our free Step-by-Step guide to get the exact steps you need to create an online business.
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Download our free 50 Ways to Engage Your Customers guide or Schedule a 15 minute call with Tara to talk about our offers that will help you master the game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Hey, welcome to today's episode of the course building
secrets podcast. I am thrilledthat you're here today. In this
episode, I want to talk about aconversation I had with a client
today because I think it'stotally relevant for everyone
who is getting in the game, tostart to package your services
or your expertise. And it's areally common sort of challenge
(00:24):
that people have. And that is,how do you determine what is
going to sell best, and how tosort of package your program,
your course your offer in a waythat is going to make the most
impact. So here's the situation.We were on a coaching call
today. And she happened tomention that one of the people
(00:46):
that she follows or groups thatshe's in, they had a guest
speaker and this guest speakersaid that he actually sold more
when he packaged his expertiseinto an online course, an
evergreen online course, thenwhen he tried to sell it as a
coaching program. And so becauseof that, she determined that her
(01:09):
program would be better, andwould sell better as an an
online course. And that may bethe case, but it's not always
the case. And so today'sepisode, I want to break down,
kind of the key things to thinkabout when you are in this
position. Because the realityis, is that your offer is
(01:32):
whatever your offer is that youmake it and you're you're
attracting people to that offer.So you can attract people to an
online course. And they'll buythat online course, if it's a
compelling offer, you can alsobuild a coaching program, and
attract people to that coachingprogram. And they will buy, if
(01:55):
it's a compelling offer, you canalso do sort of a hybrid, right,
like you can do a hybrid programor hybrid experience, which is,
you know, a lot of the things alot of times what we're helping
people build, and that will sellif it's a compelling offer, and
you have the audience thatyou've attracted to it. So the
key point is that
(02:17):
it's not so much how you deliveryour methodology or your
framework, it is the fact thatyou have a packaged framework,
you are tackling a real problemthat you then an audience wants
to solve. And then the way thatyou're delivering it, is to
determine the best way forpeople to get results. So let me
(02:40):
give you a couple of examples.So the first example is, say
you're selling a weight lossprogram.
And so you could determine thatyou want to do an on demand,
you know, 12 week
fitness course, as an example,right? So somebody goes in, they
buy it, they do it themselves,they interact with the content
(03:03):
and your material. Maybe youhave some take actions, daily
accountability, those kinds ofthings. But it's all packed
prepackaged.
So therefore, you're going to goout, and you're going to attract
people who have the problem ofwanting to complete a weight
loss program completely ondemand, and on their own time,
(03:24):
right. So there's a market forthat. And they will buy that,
that program as long as you areable to find and attract people
who have that problem, who wantsolved in that delivery method.
You're gonna have other peoplewho want to solve that same
problem, but they needaccountability, they need you to
show up and guide them or holdthem accountable. Give them you
(03:49):
know, some recognition, some
just some more feedback, right?So there are going to be people
who are attracted to that model.And they want to go through the
experience in that way. Right.So it's two different people
that you're trying to attract.One who is totally internally
motivated, wants to do itthemselves and doesn't
(04:10):
necessarily need someone to holdthem accountable. And someone
who wants that accountabilitywants to have that personal kind
of interaction with a real humanright. Same same content, same
roadmap, right? So what you'reteaching is exactly the same,
but the way that it's beingdelivered has two different
(04:33):
audiences or two differentapproaches that you can sell it
in, right so it's not so muchone is going to sell better than
the other. It's that when you'reselling it, you're targeting,
you know, one audience versusthe other. Right. So when you're
selling a program lightweight,like weight loss, most people
have spent their entire livesdeveloping poor habits and poor
(04:57):
behaviors that they need.
Need some, some real helpunraveling? Right? They need
somebody to hold themaccountable. They need someone
to remind them to not eat thatbrownie because they have a
greater goal. And so is it abetter program? In that case to
have accountability or coachingalong with the education?
(05:20):
Potentially, right? You get tochoose that as the creator. And
as the person who's creatingthat experience, what is easier
for your people? What, whatguarantees them a better chance
of succeeding? Well, in thiscase, probably more of that
coaching, because you know, thatthat's necessary for somebody to
be able to change their, theirbehavior or their habits. Okay.
(05:42):
So in that case, then, if thatperson who was who was speaking,
when he said, My, my automatedcourse sells better than my
coaching program, maybe he wasselling some other type of
program, right, maybe he wasn'tselling one that you knew, would
get better results with?Coaching, right? So it all it's
(06:05):
not apples to apples in terms ofcomparing what somebody else has
done and how they've sold theirprogram. So another example
would be, say you want to teachsomebody the skill of building a
website?
Okay, well, let's look at that.So if you are trying to teach
somebody a skill of building awebsite, could they do that on
(06:27):
their own without accountabilityand guidance? Sure, right. You
could teach them the steps, theycould implement the steps, and
they could successfully build awebsite, that could be done as
an online program, right andautomated online program. Could
you also do that as a coachingprogram? Absolutely. Right. So
the coaching element to thatwould be, you're there to answer
(06:49):
questions, you're there to givefeedback on what they've
created, you're there to giveadditional tips or help them
overcome some obstacles orhurdles they may have, maybe
they're trying to do somecoding, and they get stuck, and
they don't know what to do, youbeing there in a coaching
capacity helps them guaranteetheir success, that they can
keep moving forward. So again,another scenario where both will
(07:15):
sell. But
you know, somebody has to beself motivated to go through it
in an automated fashion, versushaving a coach to the to be
there to guide them. So no, youknow, both scenarios are
correct. Both scenarios arehelpful, you will sell both
options. But your preference forhow you're teaching it and
(07:38):
delivering it is, is the firstcriteria to look at like do you
want to be actively involvedthrough people or not? Right,
you can create a virtual versionof yourself, and really simulate
a lot of the coaching that youwould do in an automated program
when you when you design theexperience correctly. So you
could provide them with thatopportunity to get that
(08:00):
feedback, to get the answers tothe questions when they need
them. Because you're able toanticipate those is that expert?
Or do you want to be there? Doyou want to walk them through
it? Do you want to develop arelationship with them? Do you
want to help them, maybe get ajob in web design or something
else that you're doing in acoaching capacity? First and
foremost, you get to decide thatsales and attracting people
(08:25):
isn't it's it happens once youdetermine what you're teaching,
the roadmap, and the deliverymethod. It's not a delivery
method is going to work betterthan the other in terms of
attracting new clients to you.So hopefully, this helps you
because it was a greatconversation. And again, it's
(08:45):
something that is common. Iheard somebody say, Well, we
have to do a course notnecessarily, or I heard somebody
say we have to do a coachingprogram, I heard somebody say we
have to do high ticket, we haveto do low ticket, we have to do
this, we have to do that. Right?So if you're following the
market, or what the gurus aresaying, and not sticking to your
business strategy based on whatyour goals are, and how do you
(09:07):
want to deliver your proprietaryframework, then you're going to
fall in this trap of well, soand so said this, and so and so
so that I don't have enoughsales. So I'm gonna flip this
and do this and change this,when the activity that you're
working on, around selling ishow are you finding the right
(09:28):
people that are are challengedwith the problem that you are
uniquely qualified to solve inyour program, your course your
coaching, whatever it is you'vegot going on, right, who want to
have that solution. That is thefocus is finding those people go
to where they are and establishyour authority and, and bring
(09:50):
them towards you to tell themthat you can solve their
problem. The way that you solvetheir problem. Depends on how
you think the best approaches
To solve that problem, or youknow how you're building your
business model, right?
It's not about just flippingfrom one to the other, because
you haven't been able tosuccessfully sell your program.
(10:14):
If you're not selling yourprogram, nobody's buying,
regardless of the way that youare delivering, then it's time
to look at the offer, right?Because you're either not
solving a compelling problemthat people want solved. Or you
are not finding the rightcustomers to come in. Right. So
so like, there's, there's aoffer problem, not a delivery
(10:37):
problem. So whether it's anonline course, whether it's an
online coaching, whether it's ahigh ticket workshop, whether
it's an in person mastermind,like it doesn't matter how
you're delivering it, that is,is secondary to are you bringing
the right people in who have aproblem that you can provide
them a solution to. And so don'tconfuse the two, because they're
(11:02):
not necessarily equal. So whenwhen we were talking about that
this morning, what was importantabout the conversation is when
you're listening to somebodytalk about, you know, what's
working for them, put it throughthe filter of your business
goals, right? If you can't, youcan't take what somebody else
(11:24):
has said, as fact, if it doesn'tmatch the your approach and the
way that you want to runbusiness, you run your business.
So that's the very first thingis always kind of look through
that lens of what your goal is.And then also think about, like,
how do you want to deliver it.And if, again, if you're not
(11:46):
selling, nobody's buying it,it's not usually a delivery
problem, you can deliver it as abook, you can deliver it as a
program, you can deliver it as aworkshop, like you can deliver
it however you want to, butthere's a million different ways
to deliver your program.Typically, that's not the
problem, people don't say, Well,I'm not gonna buy because I want
(12:07):
to in this modality, or in thisdelivery method, that's not
usually going to be the hiccupthat's going to get them to buy
or not buy.
And so what's going to get themto buy is that they have a pain,
and you have the solution,right? You have the painkiller
that's gonna get them out ofpain, or they want the solution
(12:27):
that you are able to get tothem. That is the critical sort
of factor that that startsfirst. And then you put them
into the best delivery methodthat works for them. And
typically, it's do it yourself,done with you or done for you,
right, those are kind of thethree big buckets and
(12:47):
and you'll have different peoplewho will prefer one, one versus
the other, but it's not drivingtheir decision making. So
hopefully this serves you
and provides you just a littlebit of clarity. I know that it
was a conversation that washelpful this morning, in terms
of just identifying where in theprocess you should be focused
(13:11):
and how do you create anexperience that incorporates the
the right things at the righttime, so that you can guarantee
results for your customers.Alright, there you go. Have a
great day.
Hey, welcome to today's episode of the course building
secrets podcast. I am thrilledthat you're here today. In this
episode, I want to talk about aconversation I had with a client
today because I think it'stotally relevant for everyone
who is getting in the game, tostart to package your services
or your expertise. And it's areally common sort of challenge
(00:24):
that people have. And that is,how do you determine what is
going to sell best, and how tosort of package your program,
your course your offer in a waythat is going to make the most
impact. So here's the situation.We were on a coaching call
today. And she happened tomention that one of the people
(00:46):
that she follows or groups thatshe's in, they had a guest
speaker and this guest speakersaid that he actually sold more
when he packaged his expertiseinto an online course, an
evergreen online course, thenwhen he tried to sell it as a
coaching program. And so becauseof that, she determined that her
(01:09):
program would be better, andwould sell better as an an
online course. And that may bethe case, but it's not always
the case. And so today'sepisode, I want to break down,
kind of the key things to thinkabout when you are in this
position. Because the realityis, is that your offer is
(01:32):
whatever your offer is that youmake it and you're you're
attracting people to that offer.So you can attract people to an
online course. And they'll buythat online course, if it's a
compelling offer, you can alsobuild a coaching program, and
attract people to that coachingprogram. And they will buy, if
(01:55):
it's a compelling offer, you canalso do sort of a hybrid, right,
like you can do a hybrid programor hybrid experience, which is,
you know, a lot of the things alot of times what we're helping
people build, and that will sellif it's a compelling offer, and
you have the audience thatyou've attracted to it. So the
key point is that
(02:17):
it's not so much how you deliveryour methodology or your
framework, it is the fact thatyou have a packaged framework,
you are tackling a real problemthat you then an audience wants
to solve. And then the way thatyou're delivering it, is to
determine the best way forpeople to get results. So let me
(02:40):
give you a couple of examples.So the first example is, say
you're selling a weight lossprogram.
And so you could determine thatyou want to do an on demand,
you know, 12 week
fitness course, as an example,right? So somebody goes in, they
buy it, they do it themselves,they interact with the content
(03:03):
and your material. Maybe youhave some take actions, daily
accountability, those kinds ofthings. But it's all packed
prepackaged.
So therefore, you're going to goout, and you're going to attract
people who have the problem ofwanting to complete a weight
loss program completely ondemand, and on their own time,
(03:24):
right. So there's a market forthat. And they will buy that,
that program as long as you areable to find and attract people
who have that problem, who wantsolved in that delivery method.
You're gonna have other peoplewho want to solve that same
problem, but they needaccountability, they need you to
show up and guide them or holdthem accountable. Give them you
(03:49):
know, some recognition, some
just some more feedback, right?So there are going to be people
who are attracted to that model.And they want to go through the
experience in that way. Right.So it's two different people
that you're trying to attract.One who is totally internally
motivated, wants to do itthemselves and doesn't
(04:10):
necessarily need someone to holdthem accountable. And someone
who wants that accountabilitywants to have that personal kind
of interaction with a real humanright. Same same content, same
roadmap, right? So what you'reteaching is exactly the same,
but the way that it's beingdelivered has two different
(04:33):
audiences or two differentapproaches that you can sell it
in, right so it's not so muchone is going to sell better than
the other. It's that when you'reselling it, you're targeting,
you know, one audience versusthe other. Right. So when you're
selling a program lightweight,like weight loss, most people
have spent their entire livesdeveloping poor habits and poor
(04:57):
behaviors that they need.
Need some, some real helpunraveling? Right? They need
somebody to hold themaccountable. They need someone
to remind them to not eat thatbrownie because they have a
greater goal. And so is it abetter program? In that case to
have accountability or coachingalong with the education?
(05:20):
Potentially, right? You get tochoose that as the creator. And
as the person who's creatingthat experience, what is easier
for your people? What, whatguarantees them a better chance
of succeeding? Well, in thiscase, probably more of that
coaching, because you know, thatthat's necessary for somebody to
be able to change their, theirbehavior or their habits. Okay.
(05:42):
So in that case, then, if thatperson who was who was speaking,
when he said, My, my automatedcourse sells better than my
coaching program, maybe he wasselling some other type of
program, right, maybe he wasn'tselling one that you knew, would
get better results with?Coaching, right? So it all it's
(06:05):
not apples to apples in terms ofcomparing what somebody else has
done and how they've sold theirprogram. So another example
would be, say you want to teachsomebody the skill of building a
website?
Okay, well, let's look at that.So if you are trying to teach
somebody a skill of building awebsite, could they do that on
(06:27):
their own without accountabilityand guidance? Sure, right. You
could teach them the steps, theycould implement the steps, and
they could successfully build awebsite, that could be done as
an online program, right andautomated online program. Could
you also do that as a coachingprogram? Absolutely. Right. So
the coaching element to thatwould be, you're there to answer
(06:49):
questions, you're there to givefeedback on what they've
created, you're there to giveadditional tips or help them
overcome some obstacles orhurdles they may have, maybe
they're trying to do somecoding, and they get stuck, and
they don't know what to do, youbeing there in a coaching
capacity helps them guaranteetheir success, that they can
keep moving forward. So again,another scenario where both will
(07:15):
sell. But
you know, somebody has to beself motivated to go through it
in an automated fashion, versushaving a coach to the to be
there to guide them. So no, youknow, both scenarios are
correct. Both scenarios arehelpful, you will sell both
options. But your preference forhow you're teaching it and
(07:38):
delivering it is, is the firstcriteria to look at like do you
want to be actively involvedthrough people or not? Right,
you can create a virtual versionof yourself, and really simulate
a lot of the coaching that youwould do in an automated program
when you when you design theexperience correctly. So you
could provide them with thatopportunity to get that
(08:00):
feedback, to get the answers tothe questions when they need
them. Because you're able toanticipate those is that expert?
Or do you want to be there? Doyou want to walk them through
it? Do you want to develop arelationship with them? Do you
want to help them, maybe get ajob in web design or something
else that you're doing in acoaching capacity? First and
foremost, you get to decide thatsales and attracting people
(08:25):
isn't it's it happens once youdetermine what you're teaching,
the roadmap, and the deliverymethod. It's not a delivery
method is going to work betterthan the other in terms of
attracting new clients to you.So hopefully, this helps you
because it was a greatconversation. And again, it's
(08:45):
something that is common. Iheard somebody say, Well, we
have to do a course notnecessarily, or I heard somebody
say we have to do a coachingprogram, I heard somebody say we
have to do high ticket, we haveto do low ticket, we have to do
this, we have to do that. Right?So if you're following the
market, or what the gurus aresaying, and not sticking to your
business strategy based on whatyour goals are, and how do you
(09:07):
want to deliver your proprietaryframework, then you're going to
fall in this trap of well, soand so said this, and so and so
so that I don't have enoughsales. So I'm gonna flip this
and do this and change this,when the activity that you're
working on, around selling ishow are you finding the right
(09:28):
people that are are challengedwith the problem that you are
uniquely qualified to solve inyour program, your course your
coaching, whatever it is you'vegot going on, right, who want to
have that solution. That is thefocus is finding those people go
to where they are and establishyour authority and, and bring
(09:50):
them towards you to tell themthat you can solve their
problem. The way that you solvetheir problem. Depends on how
you think the best approaches
To solve that problem, or youknow how you're building your
business model, right?
It's not about just flippingfrom one to the other, because
you haven't been able tosuccessfully sell your program.
(10:14):
If you're not selling yourprogram, nobody's buying,
regardless of the way that youare delivering, then it's time
to look at the offer, right?Because you're either not
solving a compelling problemthat people want solved. Or you
are not finding the rightcustomers to come in. Right. So
so like, there's, there's aoffer problem, not a delivery
(10:37):
problem. So whether it's anonline course, whether it's an
online coaching, whether it's ahigh ticket workshop, whether
it's an in person mastermind,like it doesn't matter how
you're delivering it, that is,is secondary to are you bringing
the right people in who have aproblem that you can provide
them a solution to. And so don'tconfuse the two, because they're
(11:02):
not necessarily equal. So whenwhen we were talking about that
this morning, what was importantabout the conversation is when
you're listening to somebodytalk about, you know, what's
working for them, put it throughthe filter of your business
goals, right? If you can't, youcan't take what somebody else
(11:24):
has said, as fact, if it doesn'tmatch the your approach and the
way that you want to runbusiness, you run your business.
So that's the very first thingis always kind of look through
that lens of what your goal is.And then also think about, like,
how do you want to deliver it.And if, again, if you're not
(11:46):
selling, nobody's buying it,it's not usually a delivery
problem, you can deliver it as abook, you can deliver it as a
program, you can deliver it as aworkshop, like you can deliver
it however you want to, butthere's a million different ways
to deliver your program.Typically, that's not the
problem, people don't say, Well,I'm not gonna buy because I want
(12:07):
to in this modality, or in thisdelivery method, that's not
usually going to be the hiccupthat's going to get them to buy
or not buy.
And so what's going to get themto buy is that they have a pain,
and you have the solution,right? You have the painkiller
that's gonna get them out ofpain, or they want the solution
(12:27):
that you are able to get tothem. That is the critical sort
of factor that that startsfirst. And then you put them
into the best delivery methodthat works for them. And
typically, it's do it yourself,done with you or done for you,
right, those are kind of thethree big buckets and
(12:47):
and you'll have different peoplewho will prefer one, one versus
the other, but it's not drivingtheir decision making. So
hopefully this serves you
and provides you just a littlebit of clarity. I know that it
was a conversation that washelpful this morning, in terms
of just identifying where in theprocess you should be focused
(13:11):
and how do you create anexperience that incorporates the
the right things at the righttime, so that you can guarantee
results for your customers.Alright, there you go. Have a
great day.
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