One day, I was launching my Freedom Masterclass.
I know it sounds corny…
Later, you will find out that my clients felt the same way.
That’s why they didn’t buy one Freedom Masterclass.
How’s that for a spoiler alert?
But I finished the story anyway because I love to share how stupid I was for NOT validating my idea.
It made sense.
Everybody bought our E-commerce course.
So, the natural thing to believe was that our clients needed a freedom masterclass.
We shot on location in Ibiza. We rented a catamaran and a nice villa.
Oh, and did I mention we rented a Mercedes G wagon that never made it through the edit?
I had a good time, though.
After Project Stupidity finished, we ended up with a nice 4.5-hour video course with 200 pages of support documents.
Production costs: $20K
We sold it for a whopping $997, and you already know the outcome because I was too excited to share how stupid I was at the beginning of this letter.
But in case you skimmed the intro…
We sold $0
So are the lessons?
Don’t start building a big-ass course or launch a multi-week cohort. (You can always do that in the future.)
Always validate your micro-course before you build it.
And this is how you do it:
Post a message on your avatar’s favourite social media channel.
Send out a message saying: I’m giving away 20 FREE 15-minute consultations to the first 20 comments.
I will help you with X. (X is the common problem in your market.)
And no, I won’t be selling you anything.
Invite former clients on a call.
Send a message saying something like this:
I was overlooking the Indian Ocean, and I thought of you.
I have a question. I’m working on a new problem to solve (X), And I would like to ask you some questions about it.
In return, I’ll give you a free 30-minute consultation. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Virgil
Go through your most recent emails.
Send the same message as in point two to those who fit your avatar profile.
The more creative you get with planning these calls, the better.
You only need 10 of them.
What do you ask? The structure of the call is very simple. You don’t want to waste any of your avatar’s time. So this is how you do it:
Small talk.
How is the weather on your end? Etc.
Set the stage.
The reason why I asked you on this call is that I’m working on something exciting.
I’m releasing a course that helps people like yourself to solve X.
Is it ok if I ask you some questions at the end of our call?
Lead with value
Give them 3 tips to solve the problem around X.
Answer some questions and go to the final step:
Your questions.
Your questions: What is your biggest struggle regarding X?
Have you ever tried to find a solution?
Would you be interested if I offered my course that solves X?
How much would you pay for such a course?
Prep the sale.
Thank you so much for your time. That was so helpful.
Because you helped me so much, I’d love to invite you to be a VIP member of my Super executive extra special inner circle. 🙂
Would you like to be on the waiting list?
Send them a link to your email waiting list and close the call.
The Mini Survey
Now, it’s time to gather data on a massive scale. Create a survey with the FREE Google Forms tool.
Ask a few more questions:
What is your monthly income?
What is your biggest struggle regarding (X?
Have you ever tried to find a solution?
What is your employment status?
Would you like to buy my course that solves X?
How much would you pay for such a course?
Because you helped me so much, I’d love to invite you to be a super executive VIP member of my * extra special inner circle. 🙂
Send the survey out to your newsletter. Share it on social media.
Your goal is to gather as much data as you can.
Your action steps:
1. Get people on a quick call.
2. Run a survey with the same questions as the interviews.
3. Ask the questions mentioned above.
Now, you might have a ton of questions.
See you on the other side.
Peace out.
Virgil “ Evergreen Selling Machine “ Brewster