The Dark Side of Our Industry
This month I’m completing my 16th year as a business owner teaching marketing to entrepreneurs. I’ve grown so much as a leader, mentor and marketer. I’ve seen BIG changes in our industry. Some of them are positive signs of evolution. And some of them are depressing signs of deterioration.
Technology is an area of great forward-moving change. I’m in the process of moving to the Gold Star Pro white label of High Level, and it’s such an incredible value. It provides almost everything you need to run your online business at just $97 a month (by the way that price won’t be available after December 31, so if you’re interested hop on it here).
I didn’t have access to advanced technology that was so easy to use and so affordable in the early years of my business. Now that these tools are massively more accessible for entrepreneurs at any level, there’s no excuse to hold back from growing online. So, on one hand, this is encouraging.
More people are starting online businesses and gaining the freedom to create income and impact on their own terms. On the other hand, the market is becoming more and more crowded in every niche I’ve seen (and I’ve helped over 5,000 clients in many different niches). With an abundance mindset, you can appreciate that more people are getting helped.
Where there’s competition, there’s demand. The world becomes a better place when more entrepreneurs are growing and making a positive difference.
Yet, there’s a dark side to this maturation of the industry.
The reality is, not all entrepreneurs are making a positive difference. Some are copycats, plagiarizing intellectual property and touting it as their own. Some are outright pirating other people’s courses (yes this has happened to me).
What’s even more dangerous is that in the realm of teaching entrepreneurs how to improve their marketing and sales, there are too many unqualified “teachers” and “coaches” pretending to be experts.
They are claiming to help people create financial freedom and abundance, while they themselves are either struggling to make ends meet or have little to no experience helping others achieve this outcome. A consistent pattern I’m seeing talking with entrepreneurs is the extremely BAD advice they are getting from these so-called “experts.” One woman I recently spoke with said she paid $6,000 for 3 months of coaching.
When she asked for feedback on her marketing content, the “coach” told her, “Just be yourself and write from the heart.” That’s it. That’s all they could contribute. And this woman needed WAY MORE HELP.
One look at her marketing and I could see it was missing pretty much every fundamental element for success. The heartbreaking truth is, this happens too often.
Entrepreneurs trust the wrong so-called “expert,” get horrible or incomplete advice and continue to struggle.
They end up feeling even more discouraged because they’re still not getting the results they want, and now they’re burned financially. So, if you’re in the business of helping entrepreneurs grow, you’ve probably noticed more and more jaded people showing up with a lack of trust and openness to receiving help.
It’s sad, really. Because these entrepreneurs are blocking themselves from getting the help they need from genuinely qualified experts. Things used to be SO different!
I remember doing simple launches for my high-ticket program (which was often around $10,000) in the 2010 to 2012 time period. I spoke with potential clients on the phone after they saw a 60-minute educational webinar with me.
People were hungry for help with growing their business online. Despite the normal nervousness or resistance about investing, they were excited to receive the mentoring to move forward. I could regularly earn $50,000 to $100,000 in a month from high-ticket sales without having that many conversations.
I’ve always done right by my clients. I provide high quality and effective mentoring. I have the testimonials to prove it and many repeat clients who come back for more.
The only way I could last in this business for 16 years is by being the REAL DEAL!
I feel angry and frustrated when I see crappy business “experts” taking advantage of people. The overall quality of support in our industry is extremely watered down. This has resulted in the most challenging change I’ve seen - the lack of trust in business experts. Many jaded entrepreneurs who got burned by bad coaches now feel like they don’t know who to believe.
So, when they meet someone like me, who is genuinely top notch and trustworthy, they still hesitate. Even though now in my 16th year of business, I’m way better at authentically enrolling clients. Even though I’m massively better at teaching, and my marketing is so much more sophisticated… It’s harder to close high-ticket sales on 1-1 conversations than it was 10-16 years ago.
It’s even harder to get qualified potential clients to have those conversations. Don’t get me wrong, I love enrolling the right-fit clients into my programs. I just enrolled an awesome woman yesterday, and I’m so excited to support her. But I also spoke with a woman who just couldn’t say yes despite talking with me for 90 minutes, watching my webinar and having a follow up meeting.
She needed what I had to offer and she knew it. She just couldn’t get over her lack of trust from being misled by her previous coach. She didn’t even trust herself to make the right choice. So perhaps she just needs more time to get to know me.
This is a big reason why I host 2-day online events.
They give people a substantial experience of the value I provide and then enroll into my high-end group coaching program (which is $8,000 - $15,000 depending on the level and payment plan).
I made $250,000 in sales in my spring launch this year, thanks to the power of one online event! It was so much more fun and effective than spending hundreds of hours having sales conversations. I enrolled one woman recently who had a similar story of investing lots of money on mentors who didn’t help her get anywhere.
The advice and support they gave her was shoddy, and she was very skeptical. But she still enrolled in my high-ticket program because I had created deep trust and connection with her during my 2-day online event. This is my favorite method to teach my clients when it comes to filling their high-ticket programs.
And it works even if you don’t have a big email list. Just last year, my client Tammy DeMirza hosted an event with just 20 people and made $240,000!
The main takeaway from this shift is this: you need to create more trust with potential clients in order to sell high-ticket.
That means providing more value and connection before making your invitation. Programs in the mid-ticket range of $2,000 to $5,000 can be sold effectively on 1-1 conversations after a single webinar to establish value. As you get closer to $10,000 and above, you need to provide a richer experience so potential clients get to know you and the quality of your teaching.
That requires MORE than a webinar. A 2-day online event can enroll clients into high-ticket offers without even needing 1-1 conversations. A 1-day online event can warm potential clients up to be much more qualified and “leaning in” on the private conversation that follows. Similarly, a 5-day challenge or similar type of interactive training where there’s live engagement daily for a week or so, can get potential clients ready for a high-ticket offer.
And this pricing is all relative. If you’re struggling to sell programs in the mid-ticket $2,000 - $5,000 range, you probably need to cultivate more trust with your leads before inviting them into your program. Try providing more value before you have the conversations, like a full-day online event or a multi-day challenge.
And don’t lose hope when things get tough in this crowded online world.
It’s harder to market in any niche these days, so your marketing needs to stand out and captivate more than ever before. As long as you’re committed to showing up and serving with substance and alignment, you’ll find your way to growing an online business that thrives.
If you’re interested in learning more about Irresistible Marketing to fill premium programs and grow a leveraged, profitable business online, check out my Scale with Ease training video here.
