Your expertise converts into profit in business. Once you have recognised expertise in a field, it’s rarely difficult to find clients. As your reputation grows, so does your ability to command higher fees.
But there’s always a cap on what you can earn.
Even the seriously big-hitters, who can command tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single consult, have a limit on the number of clients they can handle in a day. (No one has yet figured out a way to work more than 24 hours a day.)
There are only so many times you can jack up your prices. And only so many clients who can afford the premium fees.
The natural next step is to move into (or add) information products. Books, videos, recorded webinars and the like can be produced once and endlessly resold at a price that makes them accessible to large, and even multiple, audiences.
So, why isn’t every expert doing this?
Putting aside those individuals who are happy with having an earning limit or don’t have the imagination to turn their expertise into a product, the primary hurdle is…
TIME!
When you’re an expert with multiple clients all clamoring for your attention, who has the time to plan, produce and market an entire training product?
Sure, you can hire smart people to take on the legwork but it’s YOUR expertise which means you have to be involved. And what if you invest a significant sum in the venture only to find that no one wants to buy what you’ve produced?
Ah… maybe it’s just better to be content with being a six-figure consultant.
If that didn’t feel good to read, there is another way… you can see if your content will actually sell before you make a significant commitment of time and resources. Here is a simple business formula to help you effectively convert your expertise into profit.
A Business Formula: The Test Drive
It’s natural to fear the idea of investing time and money into a new venture, only to find that no one wants to buy into it. Or maybe it’s less about losing resources and more about the potential for embarrassment…
Either way, this business formula will allow you to assess interest in the idea of your product AND build a pool of interested customers BEFORE you commit your full resources to the project.
And you don’t need to be working in a glamorous profession to turn your expertise into a profitable info-product. Perhaps you’re a seasoned vegetable gardener. Or a whiz at creating tasty family meals on a budget. Or a genius at constructing model airplanes. If there’s enough people out there with similar interests, many of them will value your knowledge and experience to help them get new results or learn something new.
Step One: Create Your First Module
Let’s imagine you’re a world-class cosmetic dentist, and you want to make a good living teaching other dentists how to add to and improve the services they offer their clients.
Perhaps you take a look at the core elements of the things you teach, and you can envision turning that into an online training course consisting of 12 modules.
That’s a big job so, instead, create just the first module or chapter. It doesn’t have to be epic. A 15-20 minute video with an accompanying PDF summarizing the main teaching points should suffice.
You could hire a freelancer to pretty the whole thing up, but there’s no need to go over the top. The main thing is to make sure that, within that module, you share some really valuable information.
Don’t hold back. This isn’t a teaser or a preview. Put a handful of high-quality teaching points in your module that are proven to increase your dentist readers’ annual profits by at least 40%.
Something like that gives your reader immediate value and provokes curiosity about the value the full course would give them.
Step Two: Give Away Your First Chapter
Your first module is going to be your proverbial toe in the water. It will help you establish how much demand there is for your product and, when all goes well, produce a mailing list of potential buyers.
All you need at this point is a landing page with a bold headline, and a paragraph of explanatory text advising your visitors that they can get the first chapter of your amazing guide to improving dentistry profits, in exchange for a name and email address.
How to use Kartra Pages
Step Three: Create a Tease Page
At the end of your video (and downloadable PDF), talk about the second module. Tease your readers about some of the amazing things they can learn in this second module and the fantastic, positive impact it will have on their business.
You don’t need to have created the second module yet – right now, all you’re doing is talking about it and evaluating market interest.
Finally, advise your reader that to get the next module, they need to purchase the full course. Provide them with a nice big “Buy Now” link. (Or, if you aren’t sure when you will have it ready, make a ‘first to know’ list so you can launch the course when ready to a hungry audience.)
When your readers click on the link (identifying themselves as potential customers), direct them to a “tease” page that says something along the lines of…
“The Cosmetic Dentistry Superstars Course is not currently accepting new members. To be notified when the next class begins, enter your name and email address in the form below.”
Or if you want to be more transparent…
“We’re putting the finishing touches on the Cosmetic Dentistry Superstars Course right now and will be admitting students very soon! Enter your name and email address below to be notified the moment this course is available online AND to receive an exclusive discount.”
The purpose of this exercise is simply to establish the levels of interest in your course without having to create more than the first installment of your course.
How to Put a Capture Form on a Kartra Page
Step Four: Promote Your Landing Page
Start driving traffic to your landing page. LinkedIn and Facebook will allow you to create ads that target people that specifically work in your industry. Or you could purchase advertising space in an industry magazine.
If you’re not keen to spend money on advertising at this stage, you could try and do a joint venture with other players in your market.
Step Five: Create a Membership Site
Once you have enough people on your second mailing list to give you confidence in the profitability of your venture, create the second module of your course.
Another video and PDF is fine but you could also add to it some quizzes or bonus videos in which you demonstrate some of your techniques.
The key with this step is to put your second chapter inside a private membership site. This allows you to sell access to your private, protected content.
Creating a Membership Site in Kartra
Step Six: Create a Sales Page
If you’re not a confident copywriter, consider bringing in some help. But if you’re keen to go it alone, focus on creating a really powerful headline and writing a description of your course that focuses on the benefits of what you teach.
Even though you haven’t written them yet, your sales page should include a complete list of every module, what each contains, the benefits that they’ll provide and the release schedule.
Naturally, you’ll want to add a payment button to your sales page that connects to your membership site.
Creating a Membership “Product” For Sale
Step Seven: Open the Doors
Announce to your mailing list that your course is now accepting students. You should add some urgency, at least at the beginning, by using a limiter like the number of “special” bonuses available, temporarily reducing the price or even capping the number of students that you take on in your program.
Don’t make the mistake of redirecting your traffic to your sales page. First-time visitors should always arrive on your landing page first.
Step Eight: Complete the Remaining Modules
Your first group of customers will receive access to your membership site containing modules 1 and 2 of your course. Create the remaining modules at the rate at which your course is set.
For example, if you’ve sold the course on the basis that a new module will be released every two weeks, then you only have to create one new module every two weeks. If you need more time than this, set a new module to be released every month.
Your membership site (aka, info product) can be configured to drip the content out over a period of time. This means that, regardless of when a new customer joins, they’ll receive your content gradually, at the rate – and in the order – that you set.
Creating Your Membership Content Sequence
Step Nine: Keep Promoting
Once you’ve completed all of your modules, the hard work is done. Keep promoting your product and directing traffic to your landing page.
The beauty of selling info products is that, aside from occasionally updating your content, you can sell your product for as long as there continues to be an interested market. And, for the most part, this is passive income with very little direct student interaction required.
Bonus Step: Increase Your Profits
There are a number of things you can do to increase the profitability of your info product.
Improve conversions: Study your analytics and look for areas where conversion rates can be improved. Even a small tweak can improve your results and create a cumulative effect that significantly expands your income.
Use Analytics To Improve Conversions and Performance
Add an upsell: Make a second offer immediately after a new customer purchases your course, while they’re still in “buying mode.” This could be a bonus module, a one-off webinar, an advanced course, a private mastermind group or anything else you can think of that provides additional value.
Promote your core business: Some of your info product customers will be prime candidates for your regular consulting program, so be sure to offer them access.
If you don’t have a consulting program, consider creating one. There will always be a percentage of your customers who will be willing to pay a substantial fee for private, one-to-one guidance.
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Scaling your business through an info product can only add to your core business. Create one module, test it with your market and see what kind of response you get.
Interestingly enough, once you know you already have a sizeable pool of potential customers on your mailing list, it’s easy to find the time and money to get your info product off the ground.
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