#49 - Can you over-deliver with your free stuff?

Information is everywhere. And let's be honest, most things, most information is simply a Google away.

This is the Doing It Online podcast with your host, serial entrepreneur, 6 and 7 figure funnel strategist and super nerd Kate McKibben. Where every week we're here talking nerdy and sharing the things that actually work to help you do what you do online. But better, easier and with a ton more profit too. Are you ready? Let's do it.

Hey, hey everybody. It is Kate here from hellofunnels and welcome to episode number 49 of the Doing It Online podcast. Today I wanted to dive into something that was actually sparked by a harmless little post that we put up on Instagram that got crazy engagement. And it was know, looking at that I was like, hmm, perhaps there is something deeper to this. I want to dive into it more, I want to chat about it more. And that is what this episode is all about. So today I wanted to talk about the, I almost want to call it like an urban legend or urban myth around for online entrepreneurs, particularly in the infopreneur space or education space and that is that you can't over deliver or this, this sort of notion that you have to, you know, the over delivering is bad or that you have to find this little balance between, you know, sharing just enough, like just finding that exact right amount to share publicly and in your free content so that you give enough away to entice people in and to prove that you actually know what you're talking about and to show your expertise, but not too much because you don't want to, you know, solve everyone's problems and then they don't come and buy from you. And I know so many people kind of feel like this is like this pressure to get this right, like to not to give away just the right amount and, and how do you even know what that, that right amount is? So I kind of wanted to come in and blow all of that out of the water today on this episode because it's my belief and this is something that I've really put to practice in the last 12 months and tested pretty thoroughly and proven that you actually can't over deliver. And I want to tell you why and what I mean by that. So first of all, I think that the theory around over delivering really probably was something that kind of popped up in the early days of the infopreneur space and the space of sharing information for money. But these days information is everywhere and let's be honest, most things, most information is simply a Google away. So if you think about it, if all information is out there on Google really, or at least I would say the majority of it is, what, why are people still buying courses? Why are people still investing in programs if they can just go out and Google everything? And there's, there are a lot of reasons here, and I think this is the thing that we kind of need to understand. So initially, like I said, when information products first came out, this is probably 20 years ago, back in the days when people would ride away and get like DVDs or CDs with information or these massive big binders full of printed off stuff. Like that's how the first info products kind of existed. And then they've developed since then. You know, back then there was, the Internet sucked. There wasn't. You had to go to the library if you wanted to find anything out. So just having that information, being able to access it easily was super, super valuable. However, over time, technology has caught up. Like I said, most things are covered on the Internet. You'll find it on YouTube, you'll find someone's run a blog post or a podcast or something on it. If it's just purely the information you want, you'll find it out there. So the, the key now is, as people who are, it is our industry to teach and to share information. How do we then, you know, keep our products valuable, keep us offerings valuable? And it actually comes down to like, yes, of course the information you have to give has to be great, but it now comes down to it being about more than that. So when it comes, when you're worrying now about, and I'll talk about some ways that you can, you can do that in a sec. But for those of you who are currently going, oh my gosh, I can't give away too much information, I can't share too many things. You know, look, most of us aren't special snowflakes. Yes, we do. Obviously we have our own systems, we have our own ways of doing things. But when it comes down to the information that we're sharing, like I said, most of it to a certain point is Googleable. So don't stress about therefore going out and sharing, you know, your information, because like I said, if people were just after the information, they would just Google it and no one would ever buy anything. So instead if you, if you kind of think of it like that, think about like, hey, I'm just sharing stuff that's free anyway, but I'm sharing the best of it and I'm sharing my version of it, and I'M sharing my curated edit of it then really, that active sharing that you're doing, what that is doing is helping, you know, it's helping the people in your audience. It's like I said, it's helping them to trust you, helping them to see you as an expert, all of those things. But you don't have to worry about overdoing it because their reason that they buy is actually not just the information. Yes, they're, you know, they do want the information and they want your information, they want your version of the information, but they want a lot more too. So almost take a bit of freedom in that. Like, hey, you can go out there and you can serve, you can deliver and you don't have to worry about censoring yourself. And you know, and if you think about it as well as like from a customer experience perspective, like if someone just finds you on the Internet and you're doing, you know, you've got a Facebook group or you know, you're doing podcasts or you've got like a great freebie download that you're promoting for them to go and check out and they go and they jump into that thing because they see this big promise and they're all excited and they get in there and then you under deliver or underwhelm. What kind of experience is that for them? Is it not better to actually blow their minds? Like that was literally, I had this on a post it note. So we tried a whole different type of promotion just recently. You guys would have seen it. We actually did a, rather than a free challenge, we tried a paid workshop. So we wanted to just really be able to like I said over delivering and I had it on a post it and I like blow their minds. And like every day when I was laying out the, you know, what was going to go into each of the lessons, I'm like, okay, how can I make sure, like how can I just drop the value bombs and make sure that they are getting aha, aha, aha, one after the other. Because that is how I get to not only deliver great value, but also get to really, really, you know, prove myself and be a point of difference. Because so many people have gone through these things that have been massively underwhelming. So this is how you get to show up and be different and stand out. Because you're going to actually over deliver even on your free stuff. And that is going to blow their minds and then they're going to have this positive association with you. And yes, some people won't buy there's always the majority of people who consume your content won't buy that's okay. Remember that. You know there's, you know, we all know as you know humans who have done probably our own programs and our own courses and have tried to learn different things that there's almost like this stages people go through, right? Like the, some people they're going to come in and they're just in like that information like got to have all the info, got to have all the info phase and they just out there consume, consume, consume, consume. They're not ready to take action yet. They, they're going to get to a point where they're going to want to take action and because you've been the one to blow their minds, hopefully they'll come and take action with you. But some never, some never get past that. I'm just going to consume all of the things point they say stuck. They're generally it's perfectionism or fear or whatever that just keeps them out there consuming, consuming, consuming. But for those who kind of make it through that initial like hunter gatherer must have all the info phase and get to that next phase of okay, well I've tried doing this the Google and guesswork way. I've tried going out there consuming all the information and try, you know, trying to then figure it out myself kind of way. And I've gotten so far but I'd like to get further and I'd like to do it quicker and I'd like for it to be easier. Those people at that point, they're the ones who come and invest in your product and like I said, they've been out there, they've been on everyone's workshop, they've downloaded everyone's opt in and everyone's freebie and the ones that are going to stick in their mind are the ones that blew it. So don't be afraid to over deliver. So there's a few ways again. And for those of you who are still panicking and going okay well I have an info product and I want it like if people aren't just buying the information, why would they buy from me? I wanted to just cover off, you know, some of the reasons and some of the things that really do add value to the programs that you have created and things you can add in if you don't have them. Not all of these need to have all of these things but these are beyond the information. The reasons why people will invest in a program or a course or coaching or you know, to work with you so first of all is they're investing in access to the right information. Like I said, most of them have been out there on an information binge. They've consumed so much they're probably overwhelmed. They've heard a lot of conflicting things and a lot of things that probably aren't right for them. Like, you know, it's always, my example is always the weight loss industry because I just feel like it's, it's one that most people can kind of understand in that, you know, there's a thousand different types of diets and eating plans and exercise plans and most of them conflict with each other. So what they're looking for is that one that is right for them. And you know, if you are right, you and your system, your information is right for them, then that's going to be your particular information then becomes more valuable. So it's not about having all of the information, it's about having the right information, the one that's going to best suit them. Like where they're at in what their journey, whatever that is, their lifestyle, the things that they do want to still be able to do or they don't want to have to do. So you know, that's how you kind of make your information more valuable is when you niche down, you get specific, you don't try and solve everyone's problem, you just pick one problem and try and solve it really, really well and then communicate that. The second thing is, and it's kind of goes hand in hand is your unique system or process. So yes, there's information, but with beyond that information is how do people action it, how do people work through it, what particular order of steps, what benchmarks do you have? Like how do people know that they've completed step one and it's time to go on step two? Those kind of things like what sort of feedback loops are there for people to know that they're on the right track or that, you know, they might need to make some changements, changes or adjustments to be able to, you know, get the results they want. So turning your, you know, downloading the relevant parts of your brain and putting it into a step by step system and this is something you evolve over time. Okay guys, so usually the first time, you know, if this is your very first product and you haven't, you know, been necessarily doing a whole lot of one to one work, figuring out exactly what your unique system is, that is something you're going to adapt over time. It's something going to add onto, refine. Perfect. So don't stress if you don't have this like super locked in yet. This took me, it takes most people years and it is something you'll continue to refine as you go. But just know that that is something that is worth taking the time to, you know, check back in on every three to six months and seeing how you can tweak that, how you can simplify it, how you can really, really get solid on the key steps that people have to go through and, and your unique ways of doing those. Because that's going to make your information again, it's going to make it different, it's going to, which therefore makes it more valuable than just the, you know, the readily available stuff they can find on Google Next. And this is beyond so the information stuff now, but it's things like accountability like, like I said, most people, they know that using weight loss again as an example, if someone wants to lose weight, just jump onto Google, you will get hundreds of millions of hits on how to do that. So why isn't everyone out there with, you know, with six pack abs, why is there not many six pack abs walking around? Why do I not have six pack abs? Because well, for starters, it's not something that's ever been a goal of mine. But secondly, it takes more than the information, particularly for things which are something that's a bit more challenging, something that's outside of someone's comfort zone, something where they're going to have to maybe do things which aren't their favorite. Might be a bit unpleasant for a while. Like, you know, someone is trying to go hardcore and shred down and get a six pack generally doesn't look enjoyable and those people are going to need some accountability. Another one is customization guys. So like I said, it's you know, finding that right information that, that's right for them, that particular curation of steps and things they need to do. Your particular system, having all that in a system is great. However, we can't ever try and force people too much to be, you know, into a cookie, something that's 100% cookie cutter. Because everyone is unique, everyone's business is unique. There needs to be the room for customization. There needs to be a place to go, okay, yeah, we're going to follow these steps but in step A we stop and we look and go, is this better for you or is this. And then, you know, and it's just allowing people to have to, like I said, to customize to, you know, makes the right tweaks to allow for their own Circumstances and their own personalities or their own wants, needs, you know, things like that. Like, that is super valuable. And again, it's stuff that they can't necessarily do just from hitting up Google. Because if they are, you know, gonna say, okay, well again, diet example. But like, hey, all right, I really wanna do Atkins. That sounds like the best one for me. I think Atkins is the one where you don't eat carbs. Right? Again, this is not my industry. Like, I wanna do Atkins, but I don't wanna have to give up eating, you know, drinking wine on the weekends and having toast for breakfast. But I'm still going to do Atkins. So, you know, that would be them trying to customize something on their own. And it's doomed to fail, however, if they are inside a program, working with someone who has expertise, who might be able to advise them on which customizations they can and can't make and help them to weigh up the pros and cons based on what, you know, they really want. That again, is totally invaluable and you cannot get it from Google the next one. And this is like one that is one of my favorite things to do because I love geeking out on this stuff, but adding in tools and templates that are gonna save them time and money. Like one of the, one of my clients and students, the favorite things, the thing, sorry, words, the things that they always rave about is the templates they get inside a program. So we have website templates, we have sales page templates, we have email templates, we have one click install funnel templates. I love going and creating this stuff, but I know it's a really time consuming thing for people to do. And I also know that for most people that, you know, it's not necessarily a zone of genius to be out there doing copywriting, to be out there being, trying to be a web designer. And it also doesn't usually come super easily for people to be able to set up this tech stuff. Like it can take time, it can cause stress. So, you know, I always sit down and go, how can I make this easier for people? Where can we add things in that are going to help to, you know, add a shortcut for them or save them that time, save them the money, stop them from needing to go and pay $5,000 for someone to design their sales page. So where, you know, being able to add things like that in to your programs is going to. Again, it adds this extra value beyond just Googling. And sure, they can go out and find generic templates, but yours are going to be better and yours again. Like they're going to be fitting in with that right thing for them and that, you know, that customer. So it all comes together and just makes and adds on and makes the program and the experience of a program so much more valuable. The next thing is the fact that if you don't invest or like if you don't put anything in, you don't get anything out. Like that seems to be a pretty universal law and it's why so many people like especially with freebies and things and why like we wanted to test and we did test having a paid workshop rather than a free one is that when people have invested money they, you know, they've got some skin in the game and they're more likely to then, you know, actually go in and consume the content and take the steps because they've already committed, they've already invested and they don't want to sort of lose that investment. Whereas all if all they've invested is like I said, the 10 seconds to pop something into Google or they've popped their email address in and they've got sent a free thing. Like the number of people who won't even open your freebie is insane. So you know, this is what makes your program, your paid program more valuable than your free program and, or your free information. So again, why it's totally fine for you to go out in case anyone's kind of going, what was this topic again? What's she talking about? But all these things show is why your, you know, your paid programs are more valuable than just the information. So therefore it's totally fine to go out and give away a lot of great information and don't be scared about it. Feel free to over deliver last two ones super quick. People get, you know, extra things that they get from an actual program is community and belonging. Don't ever underestimate how powerful that is, particularly with a program that has, you know, as you've been running it for a bit longer and it's got some, you know, people who've been in it for a while and they start to share feedback and start to cheer each other on. We had this absolutely magic moment in our Ecourse Empire program the other day. Like literally brought a tear to my eye where someone posted they were brand new in and they were. It's a little bit of a baptism of fire. Our first people who are, you know, are brand new to creating courses and things and we totally acknowledge that in there and we try and support people as much as we can but it is a very common reaction. People be a couple of weeks in and just go oh my God. Like this is you know, like you know they have, they have a freak out because it's, we're getting them to do new things where we're pushing them outside their comfort zone and it's totally normal. And most people go through this and someone had, you know, they had that freak out moment in the group, they're like, but they're just like going oh my gosh, I'm just feeling a little bit overwhelmed and I don't know what to do next. I'm a bit scared. And, and all these people jumped in underneath and were like don't worry, that was me like a couple of months ago. And now I've got my funnel up and it's making sales and it's all going to come together and just do it one step at a time. You'll get like they were cheering her on and it was beautiful. Like I was like, it was one of my, probably one of my proudest business moments ever that we have this space where people do that and you know that you can't put a dollar value on that. That's so much more valuable than anything they'll ever find on Google. And lastly of course feedback and advice. So you go out there and you can read the best information in the world but then when you go and implement it obviously everyone is going to have slightly different results or they're going to have slightly different circumstances and they want to know if their application was the right one or if this could be better or if they change this would it? You know and these things come up that they going to need to tweak things and they want that like I said, customized, personalized, someone actually gives a shit about me advice and that again is also invaluable. And that makes your paid programs information or not. Like even if you had zero training in your programs the ability to do that, it makes it so much more valuable. So long story short, too late. It is, it is totally okay. You cannot actually go out there and over deliver with your free content. Now I'm just gonna put one teeny last minute caveat on that and that is there is a difference between in certain circumstances like I said, over delivering and overwhelming and you have to be sort of aware of that and how it is that you are structuring your information and, and just how much you are fire hosing people. So we normally try and keep it as a rule when we're creating content so even if it's like podcast content or if it's a training or a workshop, whether it's free or it's paid, is I always have to go through and pull myself back and just be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You can't just download your entire brain here. It is going to overwhelm people. And overwhelming people doesn't serve anybody. Overwhelmed people just, they freeze. They're like, oh my God, I don't. This, this is too much. This is going to be too hard. I can't do this. You're going to, they're not going to get any results, they're not going to take action. You know, they're not going to invest in your programs or in any further. You're probably going to scare them away. So try to remember that. The only place where I do encourage you, try and find balance is if you know, for example, if you're doing a webinar or something like that. And this is not about like holding back for the sake of making more sales, it's about holding back or like trying to keep changing your, your delivery method from, like I said, from a fire hose to what's going to be digestible, what's going to be useful. Because people can't remember more than, like they can't remember more than, I think it's five to nine things at a time. So if you give them more than 10 things really to go away and remember they're not, they could probably. So if you are planning a webinar or a workshop or a challenge or something like that, we normally try our sort of, kind of. And again, it depends on how long it is, how many days it is, whatever it is. But we normally try and make sure for every little touch point. So if, say it was a 60 minute webinar, we try and aim for three to five aha moments. So that's three to five things where. And aha moments are valuable. Guys don't ever underestimate that, like clarity is gold. And then three to five actionable takeaways. So three to five things they can actually go and do. So the aha moments, they're going to change how they think about things, how they approach things, how they prioritize things. They're kind of like bigger picture stuff, but actionable takeaways. Like three to five little things that you can just teach them. Like a little snackable, just one little, like, you know, how to make their sales page, how to write a good heading that's a little snackable thing. Like if you go this is my formula for a heading that converts. That's one snackable thing. It doesn't show them how to do the entire sales page, but that's going to make a big ass difference to their sales page. So if you are planning on, you know, a bigger, chunkier kind of free delivery thing, whether like it could be an opt in, like a workshop, whatever it is, no more than three to five AHA's or three to five sort of actionable takeaways. That's kind of usually our guideline. So I hope this has been helpful, guys. I hope I haven't just fire hosed you. Like I said, that is an illness that I have is that I'm just like here have my entire brain. But I hope that, you know, I hope that this makes sense and I hope this will give you a bit of sense of empowerment that you can go away. And when you are thinking about creating stuff for your audience that you're not gonna, you're scared about sharing some of your best shit because you do that, you're going to impress them, you're going to connect with them. It's your people in your programs aren't going to be mad about it because once they're in the programs, they're getting all this other stuff that's super valuable and way more valuable than just the information anyway. And yeah, so anyway, guys, I feel like I'm rambling so I'm going to go. I hope this has been useful. If it has been. If you've loved this episode, if you've had some aha's or some actionable takeaways, make sure you hit me up on Instagram at hellofunnels, let us know. And please, please, please if you have found this valuable, if you have any business BFFs, we would love it if you could share it. Help us get this message out. Otherwise guys, I will let you get on with the rest of your week. Keep doing what you do guys and I will see you all online. Bye.

Thanks so much for listening to the Doing It Online podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe. Subscribe and leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your online course sales to the next level with your own six or seven figure funnel. Let Kate show you exactly how today@Stealmyfunnel.com.