Caitlin Bacher:
Hey there, you’re listening to Scale with Success®: The Podcast Built for Course Creators™. And in today’s episode, we’re talking about a key challenge that you may be struggling with as you try to scale your online course business – low lead flow. If you’re not getting enough leads to your automated webinar each month, or you’re getting people to the landing page but they’re not signing up, those could be symptoms of a deeper problem in your business. Today, we’re diving deeper into the common mistakes to avoid when it comes to improving your lead flow and what actions you can take that don’t require you to post on social media all day long. So if you feel like you are struggling with low lead flow, then pull up a chair because we have a lot to talk about, so stay tuned.
Caitlin Bacher:
My name is Caitlin Bacher, founder and CEO of Scale with Success®, and I’m on a mission to help course creators all over the world grow their business in a way that is profitable and scalable. Together with my co-host and director of marketing, Karie Price, we’re sharing revealing conversations about what it really takes to scale an online course business to millions of dollars per year. Join us here to discover the tough decisions we’ve had to make, the biggest failures we’ve had to bounce back from, and the learnings that emerged every step of the way. We are so grateful that we have the chance to share it all with you right here on Scale with Success®: The Podcast Built for Course Creators™. Let’s get started.
Caitlin Bacher:
One of the ways to know if you have a lead generation problem is if your automated webinar works great, but you need way more people to go through your funnel in order to hit your revenue goals. One of the things that we’re big fans of is tracking all of our metrics. We teach all our clients how to track everything, and actually not how to track everything, but how to track the right things. Because one of the downsides about running a funnel is metric overwhelm, and you can start tracking things that don’t really matter, aren’t going to move the needle, and that’s just a waste of time. But one of the things that you want to be tracking is the conversion rate of your webinar. And if your webinar is converting really well, but you’re not meeting your revenue goals, chances are you need to get some more people inside of that evergreen funnel.
Karie Price:
Yeah, and I think this is where some people start to get really maybe a little frantic in their attention. They’re like, “I know I need more people. What are all the things I need to do? All the different ways, because it works, but I can’t keep showing the same thing to the same people. So how do I get more?” Then people get a little scattered, I think, trying to solve this problem.
Caitlin Bacher:
Make sure that you stay tuned because we have some really good tips coming up on how to overcome that. The other kind of problem that you might be having is that maybe you actually are getting a lot of traffic. Maybe you’re getting a ton of people that are landing on that webinar registration page, but you’re not hitting the metric that you should be hitting when it comes to getting people to sign up for that webinar. So maybe people are clicking through, whether it’s some sort of organic content that you posted on social media, or maybe it’s a paid ad, they’re landing on your webinar registration page. And for whatever reason, they’re just not taking the plunge to click that button to hand over their email and register for your webinar.
Karie Price:
Yeah, those feel like two completely opposite sides of the same problem. And I’m thinking like, “Wow, I wonder which one’s more frustrating?” They’re both frustrating for people, right? Thankfully, easily solvable, so like Caitlin says, stay tuned. We’re going to talk about that. But yeah, you do all this work to get people there and then you don’t convert. Man, that’s frustrating.
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah. I almost feel like this is also, like when we talked about going off on tangents, I could see someone even being like, “Oh my gosh, what does this mean? Does this mean nobody wants my course? Does this mean that I need to pick a whole new niche? Does this mean whatever?” No, it doesn’t mean any of those things. You’re not going to have to start over from scratch. That is for sure. The other way that you’ll know if you are really struggling with a lead generation issue is number one, if you need more people to go through your funnel, number two, you’re getting lots of people to hit that webinar registration page, but they’re not opting in.
Caitlin Bacher:
And the third thing, and this is a big one, is leads and sales are great, but if you are exhausted, then your current system is just not sustainable. And that’s something that a lot of people don’t talk about. They like to share the big numbers of like, “I’m getting all of these leads and sales are through the window,” but you might be doing that in a way that is actually really negatively affecting your quality of life.
Karie Price:
Yeah, which is the opposite of the reason most people get into creating an online course business. We’re trying to get time freedom, right? We want it to be leveraged or have our knowledge be leveraged to serve more people. So if what you’re doing right now, like you said, Caitlin, is having successful results but you’re exhausted, you’re probably scared to death to scale because you’re like, “Oh my gosh, how do I do more of this? I’m already not seeing my family. I’m already feeling like I’m working around the clock.”
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah. A hundred percent. And I see discussions of that sometimes in free Facebook groups and whatnot, where people are saying, “You know what? I really don’t want a big business.” And sometimes what they mean when they say that is, “I’m really tired, I’m working my buns off. There’s no way that I can work any more, and the only way for me to make more money is to work more so therefore, I want a business that is small.” And I totally get that, so let’s talk about some common mistakes to avoid when it comes to improving your lead generation system and really enrolling more students. The first thing that I really want you to walk away from this episode with is that if you have a lead generation issue, you will not scale your business until you fix that issue.
Caitlin Bacher:
You can try to avoid that problem as much as possible, you can create a brand new course so that you don’t have to generate more leads. You just keep creating new courses and you keep selling them to the same people over and over and over. Eventually, you’re going to burn out. You can’t just keep creating a brand new course every single year and launching it to the exact same people. That’s not solving your lead generation problem. You have found a way around temporarily with a bandaid to solve your lead generation problem by saying, “Well, you know what? My audience is not growing the way I need it to, but I’m not going to fix that problem. I’m just going to create more products to sell over and over again.”
Caitlin Bacher:
When it comes to scaling a business, it’s about being able to meet those challenges, those hard things head on, and figuring out a plan to overcome them. And you might think this too if you have ever been in a situation where, and I think it’s happened a lot, to be honest, when people kind of get stuck around 200K per year. And when they’re at that 200K per year mark, and a lot of times, those people have done a great job of building an audience, but they’re struggling to continue to grow it at the rate that they need to grow it in order to meet the revenue goals that they want. And it feels very frustrating to them because they’re like, “I just don’t get it.”
Caitlin Bacher:
In some cases, they’re able to get to that 200K fairly quickly, and so they’re like, “I’m here, why am I stuck here? Why am I not growing?” And I guarantee, if I look at their product suite, I’m going to see a gajillion different offers, they have a good coaching program, they have a masterclass, they have all these courses, they have an ebook, they have this, that, and the other, they do some one-on-one work. It’s just all over the place. And what I really encourage you to do is to actually focus in as opposed to avoiding it, to solve that lead generation problem so that you can move forward and kind of get over that revenue hump.
Karie Price:
Yeah. Hearing you talk about creating new products all the time to increase your revenue, I’m exhausted just thinking about that. It takes a lot of effort to put together a course and to constantly be in the course creation mode. Talk about just burning out, and so I love this idea of really focusing and learning how to fix the lead generation problem, instead of circumventing it and thinking, “Oh, well, the only way to make money is spin up another course, spin up another course.” Because really, if you can solve this problem, sky’s the limit.
Caitlin Bacher:
A hundred percent. And the other thing that I see people kind of do is they start to look for some kind of a silver bullet social media strategy. They’re struggling with lead generation, and so they’re like, “What I need is one magical strategy that’s going to fix everything and make it better.” And I can assure you that when it comes to increasing revenue from 200K a year to 400K a year and from 400K year to a million dollars a year, that’s not going to happen with a hashtag strategy. A hashtag strategy is not the answer to a major lead generation problem.
Karie Price:
I kind of have a feeling that I can understand why people think that’s what they need, because they probably tried a few different marketing strategies and they found, “Oh, I latched onto this new thing, that totally worked. Okay. Then maybe that thing has run its course, so now I need to go try and find another new thing.” So I can kind of understand that mentality, but I also just think about all the time it takes to try all these different strategies, and look, marketing is all about testing. We know that, but if you’re constantly in this like, “Does this work, does that work?” It takes time to get good at any of those strategies.
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah. That’s why we really kind of focus on, with our clients, not just streamlining the strategies that you’re using and making sure that you’re only using proven strategies that are designed to work for your specific online course business. But another thing that people kind of start to do with, right along the lines of kind of looking around for that next big social media strategy is the next big social media platform, right? And so it’s like people kind of fall into this trap of, “Oh, okay. Got it. So it’s not all about a hashtag strategy or something specific, but what I really need to do is start a YouTube channel, and what I really need to do is be on Clubhouse and host a summit. And what I really need to do is start a TikTok account.”
Caitlin Bacher:
And again, it’s just like you’re spreading yourself too thin, you need to be able to fix your lead generation issue with one platform, and when you figure that out, you can take it to other platforms, but you’re just creating more problems for yourself because no matter where you go, your problems are going to follow you. You have a lead generation problem. So you take it to TikTok, you’re going to hit the same thing. Take it to Instagram, same thing. No matter where you are, it’s going to be there.
Karie Price:
Yeah, and so trying to be everywhere all of the time and feel like you’re in the cutting edge wherever you think people are hanging out, again, that just takes so much time and energy to figure out those new things. So here you are bringing that lead generation problem with trying to figure out how to make that work on a new platform that’s new to everybody and nobody really knows how to make that effective. You’re just spreading yourself too thin.
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah. A hundred percent. Another mistake that I see a lot of people make is they feel like it’s just a problem they can throw money at it. They think, “Oh, what I really need is just to turn on the ads machine and start pumping money in there.” Now, I love paid advertising. I’m a big fan of it.
Karie Price:
I love it too.
Caitlin Bacher:
However, there is a right time to use paid advertising, and we don’t want you to start using paid ads before you are ready. Ads are great, but there is a right time to use them, and if you’re using them too soon, it’s not going to help. It’s kind of like how we talked about, if you have that lead generation issue on Instagram, you’re going to have that same problem come up with your on TikTok or YouTube or whatever. Well, if you have a lead generation issue with organic social media, instead of solving that problem, you just start pumping money into it, it’s just exacerbating the problem. It’s just amplifying it. It’s making it worse.
Caitlin Bacher:
And so one of the things that we really do when it comes to tracking data is showing our clients how to track data and how to make sure that certain benchmarks are being met organically before taking the plunge to really amplify those results with paid advertising, because it’s an amazing feeling when you’re able to nail it organically and then you’re like, “Okay, now we’re just going to add fuel to the fire, put some money in this,” and then you’re able to really get that leveraged lead generation that you want. But this is not something that you can… Lead generation is not always as simple as just throwing money at it.
Karie Price:
Yeah. In fact, I feel like this is why a lot of online course creators think, “Facebook ads won’t work for me.” Because they’ve dabbled in it and they’ve tried it. They’re like, “I’ve wasted so much money on Facebook ads and it doesn’t work.” And it’s not that Facebook ads can’t work for you. It’s that you just don’t have everything dialed in so that, just like you said, Caitlin, it amplifies the good and the bad. It amplifies what’s not working, but it also amplifies what is working. So use that money really strategically and smart when it’s the right time where it’s going to amplify the good.
Caitlin Bacher:
Let’s talk about that some more. Let’s talk about, what are some things to do, we know what not to do. What are some things that our listeners can be focusing on in order to really improve their lead generation and enroll more students?
Karie Price:
I think one of the key things is simplification in your strategy and focusing on proven systems that work. It’s really easy to get caught up on the new flashy things that are coming up. Online course creators, we’re in the online space, so we’re exposed to lots of new things, and sometimes a strategy that works might not feel sexy. It might not feel hip and cutting edge, but I don’t know about you, as a business, I’d rather something that works and gets me profitability than chasing what makes me feel cool or in the know.
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah. And honestly, it’s kind of, I think it’s complexity bias, when people actually prefer something that appears to be complex. And so they’re like, “Oh, there’s that shiny new strategy or thing that I need to be doing.” It’s like, don’t go into those complicated, just like you said, they might sound really sexy and exciting, but what you need to be focusing on is simple strategies that have been proven to work and be consistent with those simple strategies.
Karie Price:
Yeah. I think the strength of a solid marketing system is in the simplicity. The more complicated you make it, you’re just inviting more challenges than are necessary.
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah. A hundred percent. So when it comes to simplicity, one of the ways that we like to kind of help our clients simplify things is to master and then automate one platform before moving on to the next. So it’s all about practice and iteration and figuring out what really works with that one platform so you can build momentum with that, and then take that momentum and apply it to another platform, another channel, whatever.
Karie Price:
Yeah. And I think that what that causes all of us to do is slow down and get really methodical in our approach, and fine tuning and tweaking and getting that automation in place, because now, that does give you time to go try the next thing. Because it’s not like you’ll never try other things, because you’ll do that eventually, but by focusing and mastering that first platform, getting that system automated, dialed in, helping you make consistent income, well now you’ve got the time and money to go explore and know that you can do that.
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah, totally. And once you’re able to do that, once you really have honed it and really perfected it, and you’re able to generate that revenue from those organic social media strategy, then you can work towards amplifying that later with paid advertising. Because you figured out what your audience needs to hear, you’re really clear on the value proposition, know how to talk to people, and it’s really just at that point, it is just a matter of putting a dollar in and getting money back.
Karie Price:
And for those people that maybe you’ve had the experience with Facebook ads, you feel like you’ve wasted money, if you wait until that right time and you’re willing to test and just like you did in building your organic system, you’re willing to test and look at your data and see what needs to be tweaked, why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t you if you knew that for every dollar you put in, you would get more than a dollar out? I’d do that all day long.
Caitlin Bacher:
Yeah, totally. Well, and that’s just it. The goal is to get it working organically first so that you are able to have some sales coming in, and then you have some time and revenue freed up to experiment a little bit, which can be really fun. So today, we talked a lot about lead generation, but I’d love to know your biggest challenge when it comes to scaling your online course business. So send me a DM over on Instagram or join my free Facebook group and let me know. I’ll see you soon.
Caitlin Bacher:
Are you ready to scale your online course business so you can impact the lives of more people and create real change in the world? Join us inside our signature program, Scale with Success®, where you’ll get the content, coaching, and community you need to successfully implement our proven process to help you scale. So you can start reaping the rewards of running a highly profitable online course business. Scale with Success® is a multi-year group coaching experience built for online course creators who are ready to scale their business to and through $1 million with certainty as a result of having the right support at the right time. What are you waiting for? Click over to scalewithsuccess.com and apply now.
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