George Kao argues that free 5- or 30-day challenges used to funnel people into paid programs breed resentment on both sides. He says creators should be upfront about what comes next instead of hiding the sales pitch, and that honest promotion works better than the bait-and-switch.
A question here about what I think about those five day challenges, or sometimes it's a 30 day challenge and usually like a Facebook group or something like that. Now, I have not done those. I think maybe years, a decade ago, I maybe did one, but I haven't done those in over 10 years because I guess I got turned off by them because I saw people who do them usually are. It's a sneaky way to sell a group program. It's like they bill it as a free challenge. Oh, so exciting. You get this for free. They don't tell you they're not transparent that we're launching this group program that's $2,000, and as a sample, you can participate in this 30 day challenge for free. Now, if they phrase it that way, I'd be cool with that. That's authentic. But so many people, like, they do this free challenge stuff and then there's resentment on both sides afterwards because it's like the resentment on the person who started the challenge because they're like, oh, man, I worked so damn hard on gathering all of you here in this Facebook group, answering all your questions, doing all these Facebook lives, and now there are not enough people buying into my group program. I literally had someone email me saying that, well, I've had many people email me over the years saying they work so hard on this free thing. And then not enough people bought. Like, did you. You went in without transparency and then now you're resentful that people didn't see your ulterior motive. Okay, so the resentment on the side of the creator and the resentment on the side sometimes, not always, but there's some resentment on the side of the consumer because they're like, oh, now you're pitching your group program really hard. And maybe sometimes you even make me feel bad that I'm not part of it because I took part in your free challenge. You work so hard on this thing. Okay, got it. So it's like, that's maybe why I never did the challenge thing. I'm like, I do challenges though, actually in my paid groups. But if you're going to do the challenges, don't learn from the people who do the bait and switch stuff, man. That stuff is just like, there's no need to, you know, it's like, just sell your thing up front. Be transparent. What's wrong with selling a $2,000 program? Nothing, whatever. However much you charge, I don't care how much you charge. Be transparent about it. Say, hey, we're launching. Aren't you proud of it? Aren't you excited by it? Of course you are. Shouldn't. Isn't it worth $2,000? $10,000. I don't care how much you charge. $200. I don't care how much your program charges. Isn't it worth it? Of course it's worth it. So why are you shy and doing a bait and switch? Stop it. Just be upfront super proud of my $10,000 for one day program. You know, I'm being ridiculous now about this thing. It's so worth it. You're going to have your life change. Isn't it worth $10,000? No. Whatever. However, you sell authentically. So as a sample, you get this five day challenge, you know, and then if you decide you want to join my $10,000 for a day program, you can do that afterwards. All right, let's get going on the challenge. If even you don't, it's all good because not for everybody, you know. So hope that helps with the transparency of it.
