The Teaching Sells

20-Step
Process for Building
an Online Business
by BRIAN CLARK and SONIA SIMONE
www.TeachingSells.com
By Copyblogger Media
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 2
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Copyright 2012 Copyblogger Media.
Some rights reserved.
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 3
The 20-Step Roadmap to a Successful
Online Business
Teaching Sells is as comprehensive as a college-level course in the online
training business. But in case youre wondering, no university teaches this
topic.
And . unlike many college courses, this isnt abstract theory and fancy
ideas that dont work in the real world.
This is about building your online business, with step-by-step guidance
from people whove done it several times over.
On the next page is a diagram of the 20 steps youll complete to make
your online business happen (and detailed descriptions follow the graphical
process map).
2012 Copyblogger Media www.TeachingSells.com
Teaching Sells 20-Step Process
Designing Your Course
1
1. Understand
Key Concepts
2. Choose
In-Demand
Subject
3. Uniquely
Position Your
Oer
4. Create a
Learner or
Buyer Prole
5. Identify
Learner
6. Develop
Learning
Objectives
Developing Content
4
9. Research
Source Material
10. Identify
Potential
Activities
11. Identify
Course Topic
Areas
12. Develop
Curriculum
Launching & Marketing
5
16. Launch
Strategy
17. Prospect
Marketing
System
18. Joint
Ventures For
Launch
19. Community
Development
20. Ongoing
Marketing
Test With MVP
3
8. Test with a
Minimum Viable
Product
Build Your Site
15. Build
Membership Site
Multimedia Content
13. Select
Media
14. Develop
Introductory
Content
Ten Business Models
2
7. Tie Objectives
to Business Model
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 4
1. Understand key concepts
This hrst step is critical. Its important to know the core concepts in creating
content that sells. You need to understand the growing role e-learning is
playing in society, as well as the fundamental principles of creating products
people want to buy.
2. Choose an in-demand subject
When it comes to adult education, you cant force people to learn what you
think they should learn. Youve got to teach them what they want to learn.
3. Uniquely position your offer
Also critical is differentiating yourself with unique positioning in the
marketplace.
Whether you think about it as a USP or a purple cow, you must stand apart
from the competition and be remarkable.
4. CreaIe a Iearner/buyer proLIe
Who are these people youre trying to teach? What problem or pain exists
that a training program can hx? What learning styles are dominant among
this group? You cant get people to buy if you dont know who youre trying
to reach and teach.
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 5
S. !denIiIy Iearner beneLIs and uIIimaIe beneLIs
Adult learners are obsessed with "whats in it for them. You must identify
the real-world benehts that people are seeking, and the ultimate root
benehts that drive the desire to learn. Very few people are willing to pay
you just for the "love of learning.
6. Develop learning objectives
Once you understand the real-world benehts that your prospective learners
seek, you can then design your training program to satisfy specihc,
concrete objectives. These objectives should remain hrmly in mind while
you develop training content.
7. Tie learning objectives to a business model
Theres more than one way to create a business model around commercial
education. Actually, in the Teaching Sells course, we offer ten -- which can
be combined and tweaked almost endlessly.
When you understand learning objectives, you can hgure out what model
will work best for your specihc learners. For example, will educating your
members naturally lead to a purchase that you can make happen? If so,
you can charge less for the initial training and attract more customers.
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 6
8. Test your concept with a Minimum Viable Product
Once you understand your buyers, their learning needs, and your business
model, youre ready to create a small beta product. Not only is this a great
way to test your market, its also a valuable learning experience that will
give you conhdence and help you execute the next steps more smoothly.
9. Research and identify content source material for
your full site
Where will the content of your full training program come from? Is it based
on your expertise and experience? Is it based on researching, synthesizing
and re-formatting multiple existing sources? Do you need to partner with a
credentialed expert?
10. Identify potential activities and exercises
Activities and exercises are the tools youll use to make lessons concrete
and applicable to the real-world. Or, you can provide a real-world road map
that shows people how to apply the topics to achieve their goals.
11. Identify course topic areas
Now that you know what people are actually trying to achieve and become,
you know what you need to teach. Many people get this entire process
backwards and start with topics they assume people need to be taught.
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 7
12. Develop course curriculum
Now, take your topics and weave them into an overall curriculum. Not only
should your curriculum have a dominant theme, it should be telling a story
that leads to understanding and action.
13. Select media formats for initial content
Back when you developed a learner prohle based on your research of
the market, you will have explored the likely desired learning style of
your prospective learners. Do they prefer text, audio or video? Learning
psychology demonstrates that all people beneht from a blend of media
formats, so often youll use the format that best suits the content.
14. Develop introductory content
Now youre ready to develop your training content. Youll hnd it to be much
easier thanks to the work you did upfront, but you should also include
elements that attract and hold attention while engaging learners at both
an emotional and logical level in order to remain memorable. Now, will you
develop the content yourself, or strategically outsource it?
15. Build membership site
No matter your business model, youll need a website with a publicly-
accessible front end and a members-only back end.
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 8
16. Launch strategy and offer
This is the time to plan how youll introduce your site to the world. Whats
the most effective selling strategy to launch your site and convert prospects
into paid members?
Amazingly, the research youve already done on learner benehts can
be directly applied to your sales materials for the launch and ongoing
marketing - of your site.
17. Prospect marketing system
Youll need to develop an educational content marketing strategy that
attracts new prospects and builds a relationship with them over time. This
can be created once and automated with an email autoresponder.
18. Joint ventures for launch
No existing audience? Develop a killer program, and others will do the
pre-selling for you with an endorsement (and give you better results
than advertising). Youve located these prospective joint venture partners
through your initial market research, and now you just need to strategically
contact and negotiate with them.
By Copyblogger Media
www.TeachingSells.com PAGE 9
19. Community development
One of the benehts of interactive learning environments is the community
of learning that develops with the guidance of the instructor. Real-world
benehts are why people join, and community is why they stay.
20. Ongoing marketing
As mentioned above, any membership-based program can be "re-launched
over and over using free persuasive educational content. You can even
release parts of the course itself as an attraction strategy. Remember, if
your membership site is constantly adding new content, its constantly
getting more valuable.
Heres the good news ... the entire Teaching Sells training is designed to
teach you how to accomplish all 20 steps. Explore the Teaching Sells Teach
and Grow Rich course description for all the details.