On Marketing with Teleclasses

Discover how to market more efficiently with a system that includes using teleclasses...

...even when it's one person at a time!

I think there's also one other misconception about doing teleclasses, because 'some' people make it sound so easy to recruit people.

My experience is this (and primiarily why I created the LeadU/teledevelop link) is that if you are unknown, do NOT have a large online, ACTIVE database, recruiting people to teleclasses is VERY difficult.

Because we have a community of learners in LeadU ( http://www.leadu.com ), establishing a link between LeadU learners and teledevelop ( http://www.teledevelop.com ) instructors is a natural fit and allows MOST people, who have at least an interesting/timely topic to recruit from our pool of learners.

However, there still remains an illusion--the mousetrap illusion I call it--build it and they will come.

This is just not the case normally, UNLESS you happen to hit a hot fad/trend and are a first-mover.

Therefore, what does one do?

First off, teach classes that are on your path, that you yourself want a deeper experience of and want to learn more by teaching. Then whether you have 2 or 20 in your class, you'll get psychic income and what's more, PROGRESS along your path.

It's impossible to lose in this formula.

If you don't make a lot or any money, it still makes sense for several reasons:

1. you get better at what you're doing...i.e. pay your dues!

2. you put into the universe your aim, which to me, may be the most important part of any success.

3. record the classes to audio and create products from your training.

4. Set up subscriptions and feed these people your materials, both audio and teleclass over time, aggregate a community of interest-->into a community of practice.

5. get other people to refer you to people they know--YOU NEVER KNOW where your next big deal is going to come from, it could come from a single contact you never realized you made, but you have to put it out there in order to make waves, so to speak in the universal field.

My story is that I started attending teleclasses in 1995 and started doing my own in 1996. In fact, I still have my original slides for my first class where I think two people attended. Over the years, I continued to do the work, do the teleclasses, I have done thousands since then, at least half of those for free.

I started out with nothing and built my system over the years, many times the slow way because of being hard-headed and not taking advice, just like some of you won't take this advice...so be it.

If you don't have a real clear idea of your path, then that's the first place to start, in my view, otherwise you won't be resilient when it comes time to overcome the barriers.

If you think competition is high now, wait a year, as people flood into doing this stuff virtually around the world.

Back in 2001, I attended one of the original marketing online conferences, NONE Of the people doing the training were doing teleclasses...Jonathan Mizel, Marlon Sanders, Yanik Silver, Dan Kennedy, Alex Mandossian, even Ken McCarthy who claims to be the original internet marketer. I told them all what we were doing and they were slow to enter...but now, they all do them...in fact, I interviewed each of them online in 2001 and 2002 about their online marketing systems...in a few months, I'll make all those interviews available to you because the info is just as relevant now as it was then. ( http://www.followmetoamillion )

The basics to getting people to attend teleclasses is the same as it is for anything else, marketing, promotions and sales. I'm not going to say I'm good at it, as I'm still learning myself, but I do okay for someone who is not trained or particularly enamored by the field.

The rules/basics are simple:

1. Stir it up, get yourself out there...some call this shameless promotion and some do it easier than others, but no matter what, you have to give the universe the clear signal you're in the game...if you want feedback.

2. Immediately set up a database marketing system which can be used to aggregate and convert interest into action. Even if you don't convert interest, you can aggregate it and start managing this interest. It's like creating a crop, first you need the farm where the soil is, before you plant seeds in order to claim your harvest. If you just throw seeds into the wind, you can't harvest them, unless you know where they are planted. My suggestion is an easy to run system called http://www.ecomincs.com

3. Once you aggregate people, ask them to tell you what they want, what they find valuable and what they would pay to get. This becomes simple as long as you have a system for collecting and managing the names/email/addresses of the people interested in you.

4. Once you know what people want, then if it's on your path, build sample products and try them out. If it's not on your path, refer them, they'll thank you for it and you'll become credible to them over time as a source of information, information they need and want and they'll stay with you.

5. When you have identified the interest and find people converting the samples, then expand your offerings, or try to recruit more people to the sample--aggregating as you go along.

As a side-note, I just read something from someone who followed this system and started a newletter back in 2001 when I trained my first group of people in Internet Marketing. This person now has a readership of almost 1000 people, even though his publication has been intermittant. The point...it's NEVER too late to start aggregating/farming with database marketing systems.

6. Put your contact info on everything you do, say, give away or send. It doesn't have to be gaudy or too complex, just a simple website: www.leadu.com will work.

7. Build a proposition for people, which starts with the very first thing...ask for their email and permission to include you in your mailings...like this site: http://www.b-coach.com . Notice that the first thing you see is the FREE Coaching Tips Subscription. Now that browser software has become sophisticated, it even colors the blanks to provide natural highlighting for the eyes to catch.

This simple form has captured 1000s of people over the years!

8. Once you capture them, build a stream of communication to get people more involved. I admit, the streams I have are not as good or as professional as they need to be and need work, but that doesn't stop me from getting the word out, nor "waiting" until I do it better. This kind of paralysis will keep you from failing, AND SUCCEEDING. Do something, do the best you can and keep doing it and improving it over time.

9. Continue a cycle of introducing people to things you do, say and write. Even if you're not a writer, an occassional tip or two, especially those that are well-targeted (the ones people have told you they want) become very effective at converting interest into action.

10. Teachable point of view. If you don't have one, get one and teach it every time you can, to anyone you can. As you teach it, it gets more clear, more refined and easier to understand and apply.

Those are the things that have led me to success. No one told me this that I remember, and if they didn't I didn't take their advice. Yet, this is a proven process I see being duplicated all over the world in every successful business.

When you do this, the money does follow, but more so, you grow as a human being in contributing your gifts to the world. Whatever happens from there...is probably just what needs to happen.

Good Luck with your efforts!