Or at least, try to
I don’t believe I have ever created an offer that I wasn’t afraid of selling. Just like you, I have dealt with a fair share of being frightened to death at the thought of showing up to sell. It is precisely because of this fear of selling that I push myself head-first into telling people about my product and getting them to pay me even before I have ever created the thing. It could be an eBook, an online course, a new coaching idea or offer that I am literally just mapping out.
I never wait to be ready to sell the thing.
If I got a really good idea for a new workshop or webinar, an eBook, online course or group coaching offer, I simply would shift into mapping out a sales strategy that I needed to implement within a week and I’ll begin my marketing campaign to sell the thing.
Has it worked every time? Yes. Do I absolutely, 100% sell out my offers? No. But I make sales.
I pretty much get paid for the digital product by real people before I set down to create the product fully.
Here’s why this is important and why it works.
Perhaps the biggest win for me is that I am able to validate that I have a working, profitable idea. If my digital product is going to do well, then it has to do well with a tiny group of people in the initial sales process. I have come to understand that if people are not willing to pay for your digital product even without seeing proof of it’s existence, then chances are you have chosen the wrong product or idea.
I have had several conversations with creators and coaches that always go something like this, “Eva, I have created my eBook but selling it has been difficult, nobody wants to buy.”
Or..
“I spent three months creating this course and I believe it has a lot of value but my followers are not buying.”
I know what this is like because I have been there myself with my first online course.
Thinking that when you create the product, the buyers will come, is a thought that has thwarted the entrepreneurial dreams of so many digital creators.
Selling the idea before the product is ready, and possibly getting people to buy into that idea by putting their money down for it, will not only motivate you to create a great product, it will also earn you some income in the start.
And earning is important. The reason you are creating a digital product in the first place is to turn your knowledge into income and spread your ideas to educate and inspire people. If your idea is a profitable one, it has to make you money before it becomes a real thing.
Depending on your offer and what the actual product is, the sales strategy that you employ will vary.
ALSO READ: Step by Step: How I made my first $10,000 on Instagram
How To Sell With Instagram Stories: 4 Powerful Hacks
‘;
How to Sell an eBook
/before it’s ready
When I am selling an eBook for instance, one of the easiest ways to sell an book before I ever put a word down is to first, create the eBook cover in a simple app like Canva.
This cover does not have to be the final cover but it does have to be good enough as a first cover. Next I’ll create all the digital mockups and graphics for the cover so I can share it on Instagram, or via email. I show you this entire process in The Profitable Digital Product workshop which you can watch here.
In a very quick post in my stories or on my feed, I’ll then announce the eBook using this dummy book cover I created in Canva and I’ll make a call to action to my audience for any one of these:
- Get the first chapter free (using this to grow a waitlist)
- Announce the book and ask to get on a waitlist
- Announce an initial offering for a discounted pre-order
- Announce that I am writing the book and the first 100 people to pre-order can get it for $1 or something ridiculous
- Announce a QnA relating to the eBook title and engage my audience
How to Sell a Masterclass
/before it’s ready
If I were selling a workshop or live masterclass, it gets even easier to sell before the slides are ready.
I simply would create a banner image with the title of the workshop, create the sales page very quickly in wordpress, set up the tickets for sale on Kobocourse and begin to tell my audience to buy tickets.
If I don’t get any ticket sales or enquiries in my DMs about the workshop, then I know something is wrong. Usually it could be the title or headline of the class, or the topic generally just doesn’t work for my audience.
This is why being able to uncover exactly what your audience needs help with and what they want to pay for is important before you ever create the digital product or coaching offer. In The Digital Product Workshop, I share 4 Powerful tactics you must follow in order to find out what your audience want, plus I also break down strategies to help you sell and make money before you create the product.
This class is not free but you’ll get approximately 2 Hours to watch the Training for free instantly when you follow this link.
How to Sell an Online Course
/before it’s ready
Usually I’ll sell an online course with a webinar, and that webinar could be Live or automated. Also, depending on the price of the course, if it is above $300, I would very easily opt to sell it with a Live webinar /workshop presentation. The very first time I test out a new course idea or begin the process of creating the course, I will host a live webinar and get people to register for it.
Next, just like in the case of an eBook or Masterclass, I would create the banners and mockups and all digital images for the course and the course content and this would be my sales assets during my presentation.
For a pre-sale like this, it is important that your audience know that the release date of your course is far ahead into the future, preferably one month or more ahead but they can possibly get access to some bonus material or free offers in the meantime.
Many coaches choose to teach their courses live in the beginning. They test out their methodologies and concepts with Live training participants and students, host the course Live through the period of a few weeks and very often, later down the line the course is then packaged as an instant access course.
Whatever you choose to create, you can sell it all before it is ready and you should aim to do that.
The very first step however is to invest time towards creating products that people need, not just products you think sound great on paper.
So to avoid the hassle and headache of working on a digital product that no one cares about, watch the digital product workshop now to learn exactly how I come up with ideas for products that sell all the time.
Now, here’s the hard part and why this may be a bad or horrible idea for you
If you are unable to handle the sudden rush of anxiety from jumping straight into something you haven’t fully planned and mapped out, the resulting spike in your anxiety levels may trip you up.
In simple terms, this is not for the faint hearted.
For many people, it is easy to go crazy and begin to rush to complete a product haphazardly because you don’t have enough time. If this is you, then you want to make sure you have at least gotten the product /idea to at least 40% completion before you try to announce it.
Selling an idea, literally air to people and having only your own word to keep you accountable is quite a task. You can either use the resulting fear and the warming of your hands as your nerves race, as a confidence booster.
Confidence in your own independent ideas. Confidence in the fact that yes indeed you really can sell this thing. Confidence in knowing that even one single person paying for your idea before you create it is proof that your knowledge is worth getting paid for.
And knowing exactly how to get people to pay you for what you know is what I am about and that’s what I aim to help you do.
If you are ready to finally put your ideas into the world and get paid for what you know, go watch The Profitable Digital Product workshop to learn how to come up with the best ideas for products that people need and want to pay for.
Here’s what students who attended this class Live are saying 👇🏽
