4 builders who never spoke to each other
Teach the subject and keep the pitch small
Run the session as a genuine lecture on something the audience cares about rather than a demo with a logo on it, useful even to people who never buy, and hold the product to the last fifth of the time. A short course that walks prospects through your process means buyers arrive understanding what they are commissioning, and workshops for the organisations upstream of your buyers validate you in front of many prospects at once. Show the work instead of listing what you have done.
The method
- 01
Consider a short course that walks prospects through your process, so buyers arrive already understanding what they are commissioning.
- 02
Run a prospect webinar that teaches the subject usefully even to people who never buy.
- 03
Design webinars as lectures on a subject the audience cares about instead of digital trade-show booths with a logo and a looping demo.
- 04
Run workshops for the organizations that sit upstream of your buyers to raise your standing and validate expertise with many prospects at once.
- 05
When you host a session for somebody else's audience, spend roughly four fifths of it teaching what you know and only the last fifth on your product.
What it returned
- 80
Ness Labs sets the split for guest learning sessions at 80 percent field knowledge and 20 percent product, in front of a private community of more than 2,000 members.
He ran growth workshops at two top VC firms; he also copied two peers, one whose firm thrives on selling a single framework and one who sells only workshops.
Neistat played three of his videos on stage rather than listing what he had done, and Haines rates it the most effective talk of the day.
He cites Feynman's gravitation lecture, which drew non-physicists and used stories, examples and humor rather than formulas, and points to Rick Reis's guide on delivering effective lectures.
Sources
- #HYPERGROWTH18: The Cheat Sheet | Corey HainesCorey Haines · corey.co · Casey Neistat · 2018-09-07
- [Coaching: Maia #5] — Booked Out a Month in Advance!!! 🎉 + Case Study Interview Updates + How to Delegate Tasks to Staff - Double Your FreelancingZach Swinehart · doubleyourfreelancing.com · AI-Generated Summary: · 2024-01-03
- Web App Challenge Update: The Final StretchNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The ConvertKit list · 2013-06-04
- Partner with Ness Labs - Partnerships & Sponsorships OpportunitiesAnne-Laure Le Cunff · nesslabs.com · 3. Learning sessions · 2021-08-03
- Year in Review: My Fifth Year of ConsultingGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · What went well · 2018-12-19
- Webinars Should Be LecturesGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · 2020-04-17
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in sales
- Charge for it before it exists6 unconnected
- Book the buyer calls before you write any code6 unconnected
- Package more of what you own into sellable slots6 unconnected
- Interview customers when sales stall, not buy traffic5 unconnected
- Borrow credibility from the customers you have5 unconnected
- Keep a named list of dream accounts and work it5 unconnected