#179: How to Make Sure Your People Are Ready to Buy

Welcome to another edition of the Course Creation Incubator podcast. I’m your host, Gina Onativia, here to help you take action to build up your online course or your program and help you build the online-based business of your dreams. And I’m back, baby! I went on hiatus because of eye surgery. If you’re new to this podcast, you might not have known that I took a hiatus a few months ago for a big eye surgery and a bigger recovery.

I’ll be honest, the recovery took much longer than I thought. It took me months, and I believe we have seasons of life, and that was a winter season for me where I needed to give my body and mind time to recover and heal. I’m feeling so much better now. The eye is going strong, and more than that, I had to build my body back up, build my strength and endurance. I’m running again and feeling like my old self. So I feel like I’m in spring.

Some of you may feel like you’re in winter right now, maybe not doing your course like you want, or you have it on pause. I have another client who paused his podcast, and now it’s back and better than ever. Whatever you had to put on pause, it’s okay. You can bring it back. Part of me wondered if I was really going to bring the podcast back, but I was inspired, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

If you don’t bring the podcast back, focus on your course, your offer, or your business. I want you to come back to it because I want you to achieve your dreams, build that lifestyle you’re looking for, and get the clients you want. Sometimes we have to pause in our businesses, and that’s okay, but I want you to pick it back up. I’m here in your ear to make sure you’re taking action and building momentum. I want you to hopefully pick it back up and enter spring.

You may have had to pause because of family or something in your business. Whatever it is, it’s okay, but think about when you can bring it back. Think about when you can rev back up again and enter spring. I want you to be consistent, but I also want you to embrace recovery, healing, and time away. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? I realized how much I love doing this and how much I wanted to share.

A few things made me want to come back to the podcast. One was the Essence Personal Story Power Event, where I spoke on a panel and then we had a dinner where we gave advice. I workshop marketing to my heart’s content, talking about lead magnets and customer journeys. This brainstorming made my brain feel alive after months of recovery. Working with clients and students energized me, and I told my husband, Alex, that I needed to bring the podcast back. I’ve got ideas to share and want to help people.

Seeing people’s eyes light up when they get excited about what they’re learning is just so exciting to me. So I said to Alex, “I’ve got to start the podcast back up. I’m excited and juiced.” We’re going to a bi-monthly schedule, with two podcasts a month, every other week. We’ll start with workshops and guest episodes, and then I might go back to weekly, but I might not. I’m giving myself space to continue to recover.

I used to push through everything ten years ago, but now I have a family and need to take care of myself. I encourage you to take care of yourself as well, depending on what season you’re in. We’ll see how it goes. Another reason I wanted to bring the podcast back is that I’m always talking about putting out consistent content, and I want to be a model for you. I want to show you that I’m putting out consistent content.

I tried to put together some blogs for you guys in a different format, but it all came back to the podcast. I wanted to script and record something, and I kept falling back to this old love of talking to you. I had this community that I built up and loved over the years, and I wanted to love them again. That’s important to me. That’s my mission.

So, let me shut up about being back. Let’s talk about some content. Today, I want to talk about how to make sure your people are ready to buy. There’s an objection that’s been coming up the last couple of months as I talk to students and clients. We’re always dealing with objections like time and money. A big one is, “How is this course or program going to help me when so many others haven’t?” Another one is, “I’m tied up with other courses or programs and can’t invest right now.” But one that’s been coming up lately is, “I’m not worthy; I’m not ready for this.”

This is tricky because your ideal clients or students won’t tell you they’re not worthy. It’s an underlying issue. They’ll read your sales page and emails and count themselves out. It’s not about your offer; it’s about how your ideal clients see themselves and if they think your offer is a fit for them.

A lot of times, this happens when we put out a higher price point, like a thousand or two thousand dollars, and they feel they’re not ready. For example, I’m working with a group of women who have a $3,000 business program. They do well selling it to businesses, but not as well to a smaller segment of their list. I told them that their business program is incredible, but their other segment isn’t ready for it; they feel unworthy.

So, we’ve been going back to their lead magnets and opt-ins. We need to go to the very beginning of the customer journey. How are you attracting the audience you want to sell to? Are you getting them in shape to be the person they need to be to buy? Your material needs to get them ready mentally and spiritually.

For example, some of you are putting on health programs. If you’re showing someone who lost 100 pounds, they might feel they’re not worthy of that. They might need to get mentally prepared before they’re ready to buy from you. If you’re concerned about this or putting out a more expensive program, work your way back. What steps do they need to feel ready?

It’s really about permission. In your guide, opt-in, or video series, you’re giving them permission to take the next step, to grow, to progress. Some people might not feel worthy of learning something new or doing something new with their bodies. How are you going to make it okay for them? The next step might be a lower price point course. Maybe you’re going from the guide to a lower price point instead of jumping to the $3,000 course.

I have another client who goes from a free guide to a book to a $1,000 or $2,000 program. It’s too big of a leap for his audience. So, maybe it’s a $97 or $147 course that leads to the bigger course. At each stage, you have to give them permission again. This is something we forget. Every stage of your offerings, whether free or paid, you have to give them permission and lead them.

So, from your free piece, you say, “Okay, you got this. You’re ready for the next piece.” For example, I’ve talked about medical practitioners on this podcast. I was talking to a naturopath, and her first step is to consider there’s an alternative to traditional care. That’s what her lead magnet needs to do, give permission to explore an alternative kind of care, show them what’s possible, and make them feel they can trust her. This can be wrapped up in a free video series, quiz, or checklist.

Before jumping into the thousand-dollar program, maybe they have a $97 course, a small win that leads to the bigger course and makes them feel worthy. Here’s another example. I’ve been looking at a rosacea course that’s $697. There’s a freebie, then the $697 course, but I have no idea what she’s going to offer in that $697 course, so I’ve been hesitant to buy it.

If she had a low-ticket, like a $50 or $100 course, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I haven’t talked about this on the podcast before because I just want to get to know her paid teaching and see if I get the small win. Once I get the small win, I’m happy to pay for the $600 or $700 course. Even I want proof that I can get something from a smaller offer before jumping to a high ticket.

It also comes back to your people feeling worthy. If I’m going from a free guide to a $97 course, I’m more likely to feel worthy and invest in myself because it doesn’t feel like such a leap. Whether it’s medicine, business, parenting, or learning how to hula hoop, we need to feel worthy. I know some of you are laughing about the hula hoop, but I have trust in learning how to jump rope right now for tennis training. I wish I were a better jump roper. I would totally buy a smaller course based on that, but I kind of feel like I’m not worthy too, like I’m out of shape and can’t jump rope. Silly things like that come up, but that’s where imposter syndrome comes in.

We need to feel worthy of love, progress, and growth. You have to make them feel worthy, give them permission along the way with free offers and lower price point offers. They can’t expect to be ready to buy. It’s your responsibility to make them feel ready and that the next step is a no-brainer.

Let me know what you think about this. I’d love to hear what you’d like to hear on the podcast. I’m happy to bring back coaching podcasts where you come on and talk about what’s happening with your course and marketing. I’m excited that now I’m offering a one-on-one audit and coaching in the online course and marketing incubator. I review all your course and marketing materials and then sit down with you to create a customized plan.

There’s a lot of DIY when it comes to courses and marketing, and I want you to get out there and get your hands dirty. But it’s really helpful to have someone give you a personalized plan of attack for building and marketing your course. If you’re interested in that, visit coursecreationboutique.com/audit. I’ll link to it in the show notes as well. I meet with one expert a quarter, so not too many people a year, just a couple, because it’s truly intensive.

If you’re interested, check it out. Again, it’s coursecreationboutique.com/audit.

Thank you for listening and for being so patient with me during my pause. I’ll be back in two weeks. Oh, it feels so good to say that! Until next time, go create, be you, be brilliant, and get it done.