Learn to Solve the #1 Mistake That People Make With Their Online Courses

Hey everybody, it's Tara Bryan. And you are listening to the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical real life tips that you can use today to build your online experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding more time or team to your business. If you're looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in.

Hey, everybody, I wanted to talk today about one of the biggest mistakes that I see most course creators create when they are trying to determine how to create their signature program, or their membership site or their course or whatever it is that people are trying to create. The biggest challenge that ISC people have is thinking that all of their buyers or prospects are having the same experience. So I want to break that down a little bit for you today, because there are some really easy ways to think about how to streamline this process. And in the one thing that I will say about it is the earlier in your game, that you can actually get clarity on this, the easier it will be for your prospects, who turned into buyers who turned into students to actually get the results that they're looking for. And for you to have sort of control over what will happen in your business. Once it grows, once you have a ton of people coming in. And they're all asking for different things, instead of reacting to everything that they're asking for, you have already determined sort of some strong paths that each of the different buyers that come in, need to have in order to get results.

So let me just break this down for you a little bit further. So first of all you have, when you're first thinking about, you know, putting together your offer and who you want to serve, there, you have a person who is going to be your avatar, and they're going to have two immediate journeys with you. The first one is as a prospect. So when you start attracting these people to you, they haven't bought anything yet from you. And so your offer and the free content, and free training and your website, and all of these things are all geared to get somebody into your experience. So you can help serve them and help them get results. Right. So so the very first thing that I do is, is I map out, you know, what is the journey that that prospect has to have to know like, and trust me, so they will be part of my program. And so at that point in time, it's really all about giving them the the hope, the idea that they that this could be a good fit for them, right, the program could be a good fit, that there's a match in terms of, you know, how, how, you know, how someone is working, and so they want to come in to that world, right? So then there's a line that sort of drawn in the middle. And on the other side is when they become a participant, right? So they buy then they become a customer, and then they are participating in the journey that you're giving them. So that is the very first thing is is don't try and sell them after they've bought unless you're selling them something new, right? Like something that that continues them forward on their path that's different. But don't try and keep selling them once they've purchased. Right? So so often I go in courses or I'm auditing a course or whatever, and people spend a lot of time instead of showing them the path and getting into the how they still spend a lot of time convincing them that they're in the right program. And, and so that isn't really effective, right? Somebody has already said yes, I'm in you. So you don't need to keep convincing them. So take all the sales stuff out. This translates a lot into people saying, well, I just want to put my webinars out into my membership site so people can go through the webinars. Well, the purpose of a webinar, in most cases is to is to educate and get people to know like and trust you and know that it's the right program for them. And so it's the beginning of the process, right it's more in that sales process. It's not actually they after They've raised their hand. They're like, Yep, I'm good. Now I just need the path. And I didn't know how to do it, I need to focus more on the action steps. And I need the checklist, the process the how does this all fit together? You're getting into the brass tacks after they've purchased. So most of the time when somebody says, Well, I'm gonna throw all my webinars, and I say no, because it's not actually relevant to where they are in their journey anymore. Because they've already past that point, the better place to put your webinars is out on your website, right? Do it on the front end. So anyone who is curious or wants to learn about what you do, they are going through those webinars before they even come into your program. So that's a great example of just because you have the content, just because it's something that you've done doesn't necessarily mean that it fits with the the people that have already purchased your program, right.

So that's the first thing so I so take that take the the, you know, pre purchasing path, which is, you know, there again, the goal is to get them to raise their hand and say, Yes, I have this problem. And yes, I know, like and trust you. So I want to be part of your world, then they purchase, and then now they're in your world. So then the next step of this is saying, Okay, well, so where are they on the path? Are they beginners? Are they do they have experience, they just haven't been successful? Right? So they just need more of like how to do it, or maybe the Fit wasn't there with who they worked for before? Or they've done a lot of research, and now they're ready to implement, like, where are they right, they're kind of in that intermediate place, or the advanced, are they just looking to grow and scale? Are they just looking to like, put jet fuel on what they're doing already. Because each one of those the beginner, the intermediate and the advanced person, each one of those needs something different. And eventually your beginners will turn into intermediate, your intermediate will turn into advanced, your advanced will turn into, you know, your, you know, trusted advisors, or something else that that, that you can keep sending people to, but where you put them on the path is really important, because you look at the experience that each one of them needs. So let me give you two examples.

The first one I would say is, say you're learning how to swim. When you're learning how to swim, if you are a beginner, meaning you've never been in a pool or lake before or an ocean before. Versus if you're you know, if you're intermediate, you know how to doggy paddle, you know how to keep yourself alive, you just don't really know how to swim. And then advanced is like you're on the swim team and, or your lifeguard or whatever, right? Where, where you come in. And what you need at each of those stages, is very, very different. And so the one thing that I recommend that people do is they think about who their learners are and how they're coming in, and then create a path create a journey for each one of those learners. So they know how to navigate and then how to get to the next step. The other example I'll give you is if you're starting an exercise program for the very first time, right, maybe you want to your goal is to run a marathon, you cannot get off the couch and run a marathon, you have to, you know, first run a 5k and then run maybe a 10k. And then you can move into a marathon. Very rarely can you go from your couch, to running a marathon. And, and so the paths are different, the needs are different. The clarity, or the the the big picture that somebody needs is different. If I'm a beginner and I am starting from scratch, and I have no idea what's happening, I need to have a very clear path and direction of where I need to go with step by step, checklists and process and all sorts of other things. When I'm advanced, I need to have more conversations, I need to have more tips and tricks and work with people who have been in the trenches and who are able to give me some of those insider things that I may not know, because I'm not quite as advanced, right? So the needs are totally different. And you need to map that out and need to be aware of what people need in each each area. Because here's what's going to happen is when you start getting a significant amount of people in and you're trying to manage an experience that's a little haphazard and you have people all over the place is that people are going to get confused. You're going to get a ton of support calls or emails or whatever else. Nobody knows where to go to find anything and nobody knows what they're supposed to be doing. And then what happens you lose customers, right? So the lifetime value of your customers goes down. You You're not retaining customers, because they're not getting results. And then honestly, you're not able to ascend them into other programs or other back end offers, because you haven't nailed that whole journey for all of those different. Those different learners are users, right?

So again, if you just even think about it as basic, as beginner, intermediate, and advanced, and you'll know your learners and kind of where they are, but but what's your plan for each of those? How do you keep people going? How do you help them jump over the roadblocks that they're going to have as they're learning? Obviously, the learning curve for a beginner to get to results is a lot greater than somebody who's already there who wants to just put jet fuel on what they're doing. And really think about that as you're mapping that out. But that is one of the key tips that I can give you, that I coach people on all the time is they sort of create this Franken course, if you will, it's sort of this hodgepodge of things that they want to teach. And literally, if you just have those paths mapped out, they will change and evolve over time as you learn more as you work with with people. And as you ask for feedback of what's working, what's not working, what do you need to be successful, all of those things. But try and map it out at the beginning, just even from a three different paths perspective, once they become a customer. So leave all your sales stuff on your website, on your landing pages. In Clickfunnels, however, you're doing it right, leave all that sales stuff behind once somebody has become a customer, they don't need it anymore. You don't have to convince them of who you are. And you don't have to convince them to know like and trust you, they have already raised their hand and said, Yep, I'm in. So once they become a customer, it's time to get in and give them that path. And and allow them to, you know, go through this journey with you.

The other important tip I will give you around this is it's your responsibility to map it out from your expert perspective, right, you have to really take a solid look at putting yourself in, in your learner's shoes. And I would say again, in the beginner, intermediate and advanced shoes, right? Like have three pas take a really solid look at what that looks like. And then start asking your customers what they need, what's missing, what would be helpful, you know, where do you feel like, you know, there are some things that are missing, that are missing or aren't there or, or whatever else. And they will tell you, and then that helps you evolve what you're doing. Because, again, this isn't when you are building a membership and a course site and your signature program and whatever else you want to call it, when you are building it, it's not a one and done. This is a living and breathing product for you that you are going to evolve over time as you learn more as you have more people in. And you start getting an idea of what is really working and resonating with people who have that beginner mindset who have that intermediate mindset and who have that advanced mindset, that's how you learn all of the different things that really make your program come to life. And so just start mapping it out. So it doesn't become sort of that mess that you have to manage after you have a certain amount of people who are in. Alright, that is my course building tip for the day. hopefully that is helpful for you. Because, again, the more you can plan this out, and I don't even I don't even mean in in any software, right? Like I would not even stress about that I would take you know, a sketchpad or even you know, piece of computer paper or whatever. And and just draw it out draw some boxes with a clear path for each one of those users. And and just really see what what that looks like to draw out how you how will you would take them through an experience, what kinds of things do you think that they need right now, in order to be successful in order to get to that, that end result? Alright, there you go.