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Seeking Feedback - Sales Course for Creatives

brian_west

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Hey fellow fastlaners! First time poster, long time listener.

So I've started making infrastructure for online sales course for creatives, after speaking with a few fellow creatives service entrepreneurs (photographers, stylists, etc). My background is in molecular diagnostic sales and wedding photography, so I feel like I can offer quite a bit of value in the way of education to creative business owners who don't have many sales skills. I have a strong course outline, professional landing page, and interest from close photographer friends, and other creative professional friends. I also had one stranger who said they would purchase the course after reaching out to about 100 people. And, I've received a lot of "no thank you-s" - which is totally fine.

There are so many courses out there right now, and some on the topic, but none are taught by an actual sales professional who also know the unique challenges of a creative service professional. I see this as a bit of a USP, as it has always been a bit of an edge in my photography business. I am wondering what kind of results I should be looking for as an affirmation that folks actually give a damn about learning this and see the value. I am concerned the market might be too saturated with courses - there are so many courses on even how to make courses :)

Would greatly appreciate any wisdom from the group on this idea & how to know if you're onto something with an idea. Thanks so much in advance!
 
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TheKingOfMadrid

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how to know if you're onto something with an idea.
There's a part I like in MJ's book about the Pizzeria that needs no advertisement because it's just SO good.

The same is true for most ideas.

If you put a course out there and but it doesn't get traction - it's usually because of two things;
1) No one really needs it
2) Your market isn't seeing it.

The only way to know if you have sales is to see if you have customers. For now what you have is people saying nice things to you but their money is firmly within their bank accounts and not in yours.

From what you say 1 person from 100 was a positive, which suggests niche market/poor execution/poor customer choice/not enough need/poor copy.

Essentially you need to find a way to take that money from their bank accounts and place it in yours whilst offering them the perception of value.

Personally I would just create the course and market it as it's a good learning experience to go through but two you can try;

1) Subscribers - Try to test the waters with an intro video and encourage the people saying nice things to you to register their interest in purchasing your course (you can offer a deal if you like)
2) Episodes - A relatively low commitment way is to test the waters by creating a free course that acts as your lead in and generates interest. It outlines the amazing value that your customers are going to get and makes them wonder why they spent their life without your knowledge inside of their brains.

Based on the feedback of these videos you will get an idea of if it's worth going through the motions of creating an entire course + you will have created a nice piece of marketing material.

From anecdotal experience amazing ideas get people wanting to collaborate and engage in anyway possible, good ideas get people saying nice things and giving some interest poor ideas get ignored and a few close friends wishing you well (and checking that you're mentally well).

At the end of the day this field is now in what I term 'cookie cutter' stage and you will need to be marketable and adept at selling your material to make decent money from this. You have to make people realise how much they've always needed your product and do this repeatedly on a wide enough scale otherwise you may not get the results you hope for.
 

Andy Black

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I have an INSIDERS progress thread where I’m documenting a new membership/courses I launched late last year.

In summary, I posted on my Facebook profile “I’m thinking of doing XYZ. <Brief description and price.> Anyone interested?”

I woke to 17 responses and took it from there.
 

brian_west

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Nov 29, 2020
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There's a part I like in MJ's book about the Pizzeria that needs no advertisement because it's just SO good.

The same is true for most ideas.

If you put a course out there and but it doesn't get traction - it's usually because of two things;
1) No one really needs it
2) Your market isn't seeing it.

The only way to know if you have sales is to see if you have customers. For now what you have is people saying nice things to you but their money is firmly within their bank accounts and not in yours.

From what you say 1 person from 100 was a positive, which suggests niche market/poor execution/poor customer choice/not enough need/poor copy.

Essentially you need to find a way to take that money from their bank accounts and place it in yours whilst offering them the perception of value.

Personally I would just create the course and market it as it's a good learning experience to go through but two you can try;

1) Subscribers - Try to test the waters with an intro video and encourage the people saying nice things to you to register their interest in purchasing your course (you can offer a deal if you like)
2) Episodes - A relatively low commitment way is to test the waters by creating a free course that acts as your lead in and generates interest. It outlines the amazing value that your customers are going to get and makes them wonder why they spent their life without your knowledge inside of their brains.

Based on the feedback of these videos you will get an idea of if it's worth going through the motions of creating an entire course + you will have created a nice piece of marketing material.

From anecdotal experience amazing ideas get people wanting to collaborate and engage in anyway possible, good ideas get people saying nice things and giving some interest poor ideas get ignored and a few close friends wishing you well (and checking that you're mentally well).

At the end of the day this field is now in what I term 'cookie cutter' stage and you will need to be marketable and adept at selling your material to make decent money from this. You have to make people realise how much they've always needed your product and do this repeatedly on a wide enough scale otherwise you may not get the results you hope for.
This is massively helpful, and all makes sense. Thanks so much for the great advice. I've created an intro video, but I think I might take the webinar / episodes approach as you mentioned to see if I can get some more interests rolling in. Thank you!!
 
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brian_west

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Nov 29, 2020
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I have an INSIDERS progress thread where I’m documenting a new membership/courses I launched late last year.

In summary, I posted on my Facebook profile “I’m thinking of doing XYZ. <Brief description and price.> Anyone interested?”

I woke to 17 responses and took it from there.
Thanks much, Andy. This is a great idea. I surveyed some photographers and asked them an open-ended question of how I could help. None of them said "I want a sales course" but when I mentioned the idea to a few, they were intrigued. If this one doesn't end up panning out, I'll give your approach a go. Thanks again!
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
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May 20, 2014
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Thanks much, Andy. This is a great idea. I surveyed some photographers and asked them an open-ended question of how I could help. None of them said "I want a sales course" but when I mentioned the idea to a few, they were intrigued. If this one doesn't end up panning out, I'll give your approach a go. Thanks again!
Here’s more details in a free issue of my paid email newsletter. I’ll create a separate thread for this in the forum so I don’t link out in future:
 

brian_west

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Nov 29, 2020
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Hi @brian_west ! How's this project coming along? As a part time wedding photographer I'd be happy to provide feedback on your course material if you want :)
Hey Hampus! Sorry for the late reply. I’ve really been keeping my head down and pouring myself into the course. I’m getting ready to launch on Aug. 19th. I’d love some additional feedback. You can find more details at BeyondBooked.co. Let me know if you’d be interested and I’ll creste a promo code for you since it’s still early days. It’ll be priced at $799 but happy to extend a 50% discount so long as you can share your honest feedback with me. How does this work for you?
 

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