Hello there! I hope you’re enjoying this module so far. It’s time to talk about firming up your beta offer.
Because when all you’re asking people to do is jump on an interest list, you can be a little fuzzy about what your beta course will look like.
But if you want people to actually enrol, you’ll need to be more specific. Here’s why…
Why You Need a Super Clear Offer
Signing up for any beta program is a leap of faith.
The content’s not fully locked down, it’s too early to expect any success stories, and the underlying method may still need a few tweaks.
Given the uncertainty baked into a beta course, you can’t afford to be sketchy about other aspects of your program.
Imagine if you were looking to shed a few pounds and a nutritionist friend invited you to participate in a new program they were creating.
“I’m not sure what the recipes will be,” they say, “or how long the program will run or what it will cost, but would you like to buy it?”
Not a very compelling offer!
But if they say: “The recipes aren’t 100% finalised but it’ll run for 10 weeks, cost £99 and you should lose at least 10 lbs”, that’s more solid, right?
So, how do you lock things down?
5 Questions Most Prospects Will Have
Have you heard of a “key facts” document? When you buy insurance these days it’s a summary of what’s included to save you the mind-numbing tedium of reading through pages of small print.
Well, we’re going to create a key facts document for your course.
To kick us off, here are the question most prospects will have about your beta:
- “Who is it for?” They’ll want to know your course is designed for people just like them.
- “What does it do?” They’ll want to know what result they can expect.
- “How does it work?” They’ll want to know the format, the duration and what participation looks like.
- “What does it cost?” They’ll want to know the price.
- “Why should I trust it?” They’ll wonder why they should take this particular course with you as their teacher/ mentor.
Fortunately, you’ve already answered a good number of these questions in previous modules, but I’ll help you with the rest.
The Main Sections of Your “Key Facts” Document
I’ll give you a fill-in-the-blanks template later, but let’s see the main sections of your key facts document.
- The Promise – what your course does and for whom
- The Programme – what the course looks like and how it works
- The Price – how much it costs
- The Proof – evidence supporting you and your approach
- The (Small) Print – any final details, or terms and conditions
So, where does all this information come from?
The Promise
Your core promise is just the promise statement you created in an earlier module.
However, the promise for your beta may not be exactly the same as for your full course.
For instance, if you’re building a course where the end result takes months to achieve, you probably don’t want your beta to run that long.
So your revised promise would be more like: “the full course gets you from point X to point Z, but during the beta we’ll aim to get you at least to point Y.”
(By the way, this may be the first time you mention the name of your course. Naming is important and I’ll give you some help in the resource section.)
The Programme
The programme section should cover the following, hopefully familiar, areas:
- The Content – basically a high-level version of your curriculum and how it breaks up week-by-week
- The Coaching – what kind of support students will get as they go through your course (e.g., weekly group coaching calls)
- The Community – whether and how students will get to interact with other students in the group
People will also want to know when the programme starts and how long it runs, even if those details are provisional.
I recommend a fixed duration for your beta, e.g., four weeks or eight weeks and ideally no longer than 12.
This keeps students focused and makes sure that this phase of your course creation doesn’t drag on. But it’s okay if your full course is more open-ended.
The Price
The price section is simple but needs some thought. Pricing any course is tricky and pricing a beta course adds another dimension.
I recommend coming up with a target price for your full course, and then pricing your beta version in relation to that, for instance 50% off.
I’ll give you a separate resource to help with pricing your course.
The Proof
The proof section provides evidence that your course works, but this can be tricky for your first beta because you won’t have any testimonials yet.
However, you can still talk about your experience, any results you’ve achieved for yourself or others, and the effectiveness of the method behind the course.
The purpose of this section is simply to reduce the perceived risk of taking part.
The (Small) Print
This final section, the small print, is a chance to cover off smaller, but no less important, details about your beta.
You could talk about your refund policy, the level of participation you expect from students and the feedback they are required to provide about your course.
You can organise this section as a list of frequently asked questions and its purpose is to set clear expectations on both sides.
Ready to Move On?
Ultimately, how you use the key facts document is up to you. You can share it with interested students directly, or use it to guide one-to-one conversations with the people on your interest list.
What’s important is that you’re 100% clear and consistent about how everything will work.
Okay, that’s everything for now. See you in the next lesson!