MBA1310 Q&A Wednesday: Can I sell my course without being an overhyped sales personality?

Dear McDonald's, your breakfast menu fire tens across the board. I could be happy with anything even though I order the same thing every time. Thanks for not judging me. I'll try something new next time.

Maybe score a two for five dollar deal on a sausage McMuffin with egg and more. Limited time only. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Single item at regular price.

Ready to save on new tech? It's time for Dell Tech Day's annual sales event celebrating our customers with fantastic deals and benefits. Perks include Dell Rewards, free shipping, premium Support and more. PCs like the Dell 14 with Intel Core Ultra processors will help you do more faster and with a premium suite of monitors and accessories, you can upgrade your whole setup with amazing savings. Visit Dell.com deals.

Foreign. Welcome to the Hundred Dollar MBA Show. Practical business lessons for busy entrepreneurs. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar is at home. I'm also the co founder of the $100 MBA, a complete business training and community online and today's episode is a Q and A Wednesday episode on Q and A Wednesdays. I answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you have a question you want to ask, just email me over at omar@100mba.net Today's question is from Jerry and Jerry asks can I sell my online courses without being a overhyped sales personality? Awesome question Jerry. Why? Because unfortunately there are few people out there online that sell these mega expensive courses. They make these huge, huge deals out of their launches, they make big promises, they bombard you with Facebook ads. It just seems like you have to do these video sales letters that are very, very salesy, high pressure and all that kind of stuff. I'm here to tell you that you do not need to do that. In fact, that is becoming very very ineffective marketing these days. Today I'm going to share with you to answer your question Jerry, four really good examples of online course creators that are creating great courses, great products, they have a great brand, a great business and they do not overhype things. I'm going to share with you their websites or courses, what they do, how they do it so you could do the same. And I'll give you some varied examples depending on your price point. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Selling information is nothing new. People have been selling books and courses in person courses. Education has been a business forever and people have paid to learn something over and over and over. If the need to learn something is strong enough, people will pay for it. If it's delivered in a way that's easy and comprehensible and enjoyable, they'll be happy to pay for it. So this is why I really question when people overhype their online courses. It makes me feel like maybe there's more sizzle than steak. So today I want to show you some great examples of people that don't do that and are highly successful at selling their courses. The first example I want to share with you is probably my favorite for several reasons and I feel like this example really encapsulates a long term view on selling your online courses that is effective not only in the long term, but also in the short term. And that's Brian Dean from Backlinko.com if you go to Backlinko.com while you're listening to this right now, you'll notice that in his menu tab there are no courses for sale. Everything on the site is free. He has incredible blog posts on the subject of SEO, search engine optimization, YouTube optimization, starting a YouTube channel. He has a wealth of knowledge. There's so much great content on that site and it's free. So you're like, how does this guy make money? Well, he creates some really, really successful courses. When I say successful, I'm saying the students that take the course have great success stories. But he doesn't display these courses on the site. And this is quite smart. Why? Because he doesn't know anything about the visitor yet. He doesn't want to pitch them a product or a course that's not a good fit for them. He rather pitch them based on the information he gathers, like what free PDFs they download or free blog posts they read or the videos they watch. So he generates a lot of traffic and a lot of buzz for his brand, his business, his information, his credibility, through his blog, through his videos, through his YouTube channel. Because he has great content. Now people join his email list so they can be in the know when they know when the next blog post comes out. I'm on his list. Super happy subscriber. And as a subscriber you are in the know when he releases a new course. There's no reason for him to sell on his website to somebody if he doesn't know if they're interested in the information yet. At least he knows a subscriber is interested enough to give their name and email address, to get some more information, to get his latest articles, to get his latest tips so when Brian releases a course, he actually creates its own kind of mini website landing page. He creates a very to the point, non hypey overview video of what the course is all about, what problem it solves, and then he releases. Okay, this is what the course includes. These are the price points, these are the packages. And the course is only available for a certain period of time. There's only an enrollment period. Now this is not some sort of scarcity tactic. This is real. He doesn't want to enroll too many people because he wants to be able to support them, answer their questions, things like this. And he doesn't want to have to be launching his course constantly. It's a lot of work to create a in depth course. Now his price point is quite high for his courses. Uh, I believe it's around 2 to $3,000. Uh, I, I could be wrong, but I remember last time I saw his last course, the packages around that price, um, I say it's high, but it's really a pretty good price. If you were to take a semester in SEO at a community college, you'd probably pay more and you probably get a whole lot less back and you wouldn't have access to that course afterwards. It'd just be the semester and it's over. But the point here is, is that Brian really methodically tries to sell courses to people that are buyers. He doesn't overhype it. He gives you great information before you start, during the launch, when he's doing the video and all the description of what you're going to get with the course. And then he follow ups with some emails, with some testimonials, with some case studies. It's just really to the point, very transparent, very giving. So I highly recommend you subscribe to backlinko.com so you can check out what I'm talking about beyond his email list and see all the things that he does to sell his courses, staying with the higher price point for courses around that price point. Another entrepreneur named Ramit Sethi, he's the author of I Will Teach youh to Be Rich, a New York Times bestselling book. He sells his courses on his website I Will Teach youh to Be. And he sells courses on personal finance as well as building a side business. He has a very elegant website. It looks highly professional, zero hype, no scamminess. He has plenty of materials for you to check out, plenty of free stuff to check out to build a relationship with him and understand if this person is legit or not. And then when he releases his course, the same thing he sends out to his email list. This course is open X amount of spots is going to close this date. So Ramit is also a very good example. He also has different price points. So for example, his best selling book, you can pick it up for like 10, 15 bucks so you can get a taste of his knowledge of his information, his credibility. And you can be like, okay, I really like the way he teaches in this book. I really like the way he communicates. I'm interested in learning more. Let me check out one of his courses. So that's a really good example. So while Brian has that blog with great materials, you know, so does Ramit. But he also has, you know, an entry level kind of area here where it's like, hey, pay 10 bucks, buy a book and you know, see if I'm worth that 10 bucks first. And let's see if we want to invest more into learning more about your financial growth. But I want you to check out his site just so you could see how he delivers his information. He has tons of credibility. He's mentioned on all these different blogs and magazines. He has great testimonials and it's just done really well. And he wants to convey as much quality as possible because hey, it's a high price point and you want to make sure you feel like, okay, this is legit. This is actually a site I can trust. The third example I want to give you is discover doublebase.com I know the founder, Jeff. Back in the day we worked together on a project, we're talking maybe five plus years ago, but he has a great site called discover double bass.com and he teaches people how to play the double bass, you know, the very, very big instrument. Now his price point is lower. It's about, you know, $100. Of course he has very specific courses on how to get started and how to perfect your playing on the double bass. And you could see he has a very calm demeanor. And what I like to say about Jeff is that he has the kind of teacher demeanor you want. And what I love about him is he realizes that, hey, people want to know who is this teacher? How is this experience going to be? Am I going to like the teacher? This is really just rooted in our own experience in school. You know, we want to know if we're going to have a good teacher this year for second grade or whatever it is. So his preview videos for his courses, it's very pleasant, it's very friendly. Watch him and see what I mean. And it feels like, okay, this is very low pressure. I don't feel like I'm gonna get frustrated. Cause learning how to play an instrument is frustrating. And he just has this kind of way about him that's like, hey, this guy's a nice guy. I want to learn from this person. And he puts that on display on his website, which is great. It's the opposite of hype. It's the opposite of, you know, boasting and that whole sales personality. But having said that, everybody I'm mentioning here sells their product. They mention the problem they're solving, how they sell or provide the solution uniquely, and what differentiates them. But they just do it in an honest and transparent and friendly way. My final example is Watch and Ride. WatchAndRide.com is a website I discovered on how to learn how to snowboard. Now you might think, wow, snowboarding. Don't you take lessons in person for that? Well, there's also lots of people that deliver snow sport lessons online. And you can take these lessons with you on your phone. You can try them out when you're on the hill. It's incredibly affordable compared to private lessons. And a lot of people say it's just as effective. Now, Watch and Ride has courses for beginners. It has a course to kind of conquer the whole mountain. And it's pretty reasonably priced, around $100 a year to have access to the course, because you also have access to the instructor to ask questions and get corrections and things like that. What I really like about Watch and Ride is when you go there, he gives you sample lessons for free. You can opt in, give your name and email address, and get a few lessons for free. Which is really cool because you get a taste of what the course is like. You get the first couple modules and you're like, all right, this is really cool. This is really interesting. I feel like I'm progressing already. Again, if you watch his videos, it's low hype. It's friendly. He gives his credentials, hey, I've been training people how to snowboard for years. I've trained over a thousand people. I'm gonna, you know, get you through those humps and those bumps along the way. And he actually just opens up his, you know, members area and shows you, hey, this is what it looks like when you sign up and buy the course. These are the modules you're gonna get. These are the different PDFs you're gonna get. These are the different infogr you're going to see. And it really makes you feel, okay, cool. This person is not hiding behind the marketing. They're like, hey, this is what you're going to get. What's wrong with doing that? Giving them a demo. I love that. And it sells the course. It gives it credibility. It shows he's not hiding behind the product. You know, he's really showing the product off and believes in what he has. And I really like that. And I'm really encouraged to sign up.

Okay. Does this happen to anybody else? You sit down with a juicy QPC, some McNuggets and those golden fries from McDonald's. Then you take a long sip of your Sprite because you can still hear your mama saying, don't fill up on that drink before you eat your food. But you're grown now, so you do what you want.

Share and share alike with the 20 piece McNuggets from McDonald's for just $6 limited time only. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer.

Ba da ba ba ba.

Looking for a Valentine's gift she'll truly love? 1800-flowers.com knows what she wants. For 50 years 1-800-flowers.com has helped guys get it right. Delivering millions of fresh Valentine's roses nationwide with high quality bouquets guaranteed to last. Right now when you buy one dozen premium roses, they'll double your bouquet to two dozen for free. Valentine's is coming fast, so don't wait until the last minute. Double your blooms today at 1-800-flowers.com sxm. That's 1-800-flowers. Com sxm.

Alright, so what did we learn from these examples? To not over hype and not oversell your courses and just be normal and have success. Number one, use content. Don't be stingy by your information. Give so you can get. Have a great blog, publish great videos, entice people to subscribe to your newsletter so then you can then tell them when you have a course that just got launched or you want to tell them more about your products and services. Don't be afraid to show off your product. Show the members area, show what people will get. Show the modules, show the outcome. Show the success stories. That's how you sell by giving them the data, giving them information. Number three, show off your quality through your website. Have a quality looking website. Every example I showed you has a good looking website. It conveys value. It conveys that you're going to be around for a while, you're not going to like go bust tomorrow and you can't support your customers or your students. So invest in good design. And lastly, don't be afraid to get in front of the camera and show people who's behind all these beautiful courses. People love an origin story. They want to know who's behind it all, and they want to be inspired by you. So give them what they want. Well, that wraps up Teddy's lesson. That wraps up Teddy's Q and A Wednesday. I hope they answered your question. Jerry, if you have a question, if you're listening right now and you say I have a question for my business, don't hesitate to email me over@omar00mba.net. I'll make sure we answer right here on Q and A Wednesday. Thank you so much for listening to the show. If you love what you hear, hit subscribe right now. Before I go, I want to leave you with this Selling a course is one of the best ways to earn an independent income. It's one of the things I did to earn an income myself is how I got started online in a lot of ways. It's kind of where my trajectory changed and I started to have some real good success. I started leveraging my experience as a teacher for 13 years and taught, you know, courses through the $100 MBA. I created a course called Easy Course and I teach all the time through webinars. And if you have something that you can teach, something of value, something that you have experience in, something that you are particularly passionate about, it's a good way to get started online with your business. Thank you so much for tuning in today on the $100 MBA Show. I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

You've made it on time for the McDonald's breakfast menu. You think to yourself, finally, I can start my day. But what if breakfast could be even more perfect with the hot honey sausage egg biscuit? It finally is. Go to McDonald's and get it while you can.