from George Ten | by George Ten

How to SELL a product BEFORE you build it: Look. I’m not the best copywriter. Or product-launcher. And far from being the best product builder. But if there’s one thing I believe I’ve nailed… Is how to sell BEFORE you build. Here’s how and WHY: >>> A Thread 🧵 <<<

3 years ago I participated in a cohort (group coaching). It was amazing. I loved it. But the product creator had a dirty secret which she shared with us only on the last call. She SOLD the cohort BEFORE she built it. She explained how. And I followed her footsteps:

There are 3 steps to this. 1. Know A LITTLE bit about your audience: Have a general understanding of what your audience wants. Now this is counter-intuitive to what most copywriters will tell you. I get that. But hear me out…

2. Have a LITTLE understanding of a structure of a cohort. Participate in one. Or ask someone whose been in one. • How many calls? • What time intervals between calls? • What happens while they’re not on a call? • Q&As - when? Got that? Good.

3. Use your experience. Instead of offering your audience BENEFITS (which you might not understand yet)… Offer YOURSELF. • Your experience • Your information • Your results. And that’s it for the prep stage. Here’s what you do:

You understand that you’ll convert less. That’s a given. You don’t yet fully understand your audience. But you have a vague idea of these 3 facts: • They want what you have • You know what a cohort looks like • You have a collection of YOUR experiences. Yes? Then…

You build a sales page with the understanding: You will NOT be able to convert as many people as you’d like. And that’s okay. Accept that fact. Then build a sales page that’s AROUND YOU. Not THEM. Yes. I know. Counter-intuitive. I know. Hear me out:

Some people will buy simply because they’re impulse buyers. Others will buy because they trust you. And more people will buy because they want your expertise. Yes? So you’d convert SOME of your list/audience. Some. Not a lot. And here’s what happens next…

You build ONE live call beforehand. The introduction. The small part of the first call. Then… You announce: “I want to hear what you’re struggling with so that I can give you the best value I can.” And that’s it. Let them speak. Or…

Present the first call as a Q&A. Introduce yourself and the cohort. And then let them ask questions. And shut up. Let them speak. Hear them out. Record. Write down. They’ll give you EVERYTHING you need to build out the rest of the cohort. And…

If done right and with confidence? Nobody will ever notice. But… I’m a big believer in transparency. And that’s how I launched my first cohort. The sales message was “this is beta and that’s why the price is low.” Got 100+ applications. Chose 10. Ran the cohort. One rule:

Know thyself. Are you confident? Can you build content QUICKLY? No? Don’t do two calls per week. Do one per week. Or less. Give yourself time to prepare for the next call without stressing out. This will not work for everyone. Don’t do this unless:

• You can handle some pressure • Your an EXPERT • You’re confident • You’re not afraid to frick up. Don’t do this unless you have all four. But if you do… Let me tell you why this is the best thing you’ll ever do for your business:

1. Quick execution 2. Eliminate procrastination 3. Kill your perfectionism… And more importantly… 4. Start selling 5. Understand your audience 6. Make some money… And even more importantly… 7. Get testimonials 8. Get insights 9. Launch second round and sell MORE. Also…

Do you want to… • 3 ways to SELL before you BUILD for COLD traffic? • Two EASIER and more RISK-FREE ways to SELL before you BUILD for WARM traffic? • How to handle customers when you’ve sold them AIR without them getting angry? Do you? If so then read more…

That’s exactly the email I just sent to the list. You can join right now and get the email immediately in your inbox. Here’s the link: t.co/c1HgZ2gYhH

Oh hey. And please don’t forget to… • Follow me @GrammarHippy to never again miss threads like this one. • Reply with your 2 cents and… • Make sure to retweet this thread if it made sense to you. I’d appreciate it a lot :) t.co/LvqCloMmqT

P.S. Link to sign up and get the email didn’t work. Fixed now :) Here it is again in case it didn’t work for you and you gave up trying. I’m the least technical person on this side of Twitter. Guaranteed. 😅 t.co/c1HgZ2gYhH