Case Study – $7000/mo Giving Free Consultations

Can you give away something for free and then make $7000 a month without selling anything?

Sounds crazy, I know.

But that’s exactly what this guy is doing, and here’s how it all started.

Bob (not his real name) wanted to enter online marketing but he knew next to nothing about how to get started.

Like many new marketers, he bought a few products, devoured them, and then bought into a high-end group coaching program. The gist of the program was teaching him exactly how to do a major 6 or 7 figure launch.

Bob learned a ton about launching a product, but he also learned that he had no interest in doing it himself.

Yet he’d paid $4000 for the course… how was he going to make his money back?

He didn’t have a clue, but he did know that he wanted to build a list, and that’s what he started doing. And since he knew something about product launches, that’s what his list was all about.

Bob was selling products to his list and knew that if he wanted to make a lot of sales promoting a launch, he’d have to offer his own bonus.

What was the most valuable, personal thing Bob could offer? He decided to do a personal one-on-one consultation on launching a product.

Lo and behold Bob made sales and booked the free consultations with his customers.

And his customers said something interesting to Bob… “You know so much about this, how did you learn how to do product launches?”

The first time this happened Bob simply explained that he took an expensive coaching program and it taught him everything he knew.

But the second time one of his customers asked him how he knew so much, Bob got an idea.

He called the coaching center where he took his class. They have their own call center to sell the coaching, and Bob talked to the guy who ran it.

‘Could he get a 50% commission for referring students to the coaching?’

Yes, he could!

Bob called back his two customers and told them more about how great this coaching program was and asked if they wanted to know more. They both purchased the coaching and Bob instantly made back his $4000 and more.

Long story short, Bob now makes a full-time income by giving away free coaching sessions the talking up the program he took.

This particular program sells for $5000, but when a prospect pleads poverty, they reduce the price. Since it’s group coaching, it doesn’t really matter whether people pay $5000 or $4000 or whatever, since the workload isn’t all that different between 10 students and 100 students.

Things to know if you want to do this:

Choose a great coaching program that comes with a ton of benefits and extras and is sold by professional salespeople one to one over the phone. This way you feel good about promoting the coaching but you don’t have to do the actual selling if you don’t want to.

Take the program yourself. Yes, you need to do this. How are you going to speak intelligently about what the program is like if you don’t take it yourself?

Know that these high-end group coaching programs are flexible on price. When you’re on the phone with the salesperson, plead poverty until they come down to a price you can afford.

Create free content, reports, videos, etc., based on the aspects of the coaching you’ve received and use them to build your list.

Promote slightly higher-ticket products such as software and courses, then offer your free consultation as a bonus. Don’t try this with a $7 ebook, for example, because you want to know you’re speaking to people who are willing to pay real money for information and coaching.

Make your consultation 30 minutes and be prepared to go a little longer if your customer seems like a good fit for the high-end coaching.

Be as helpful and knowledgeable as you can on the call to show what you’ve learned in the course, but keep in mind that building rapport is even more important than showing off what you know.

You might arrange for a discount for your customers, so the starting price of a $5000 program, for example, might be $4000.

Let your customers know there might be terms or special offers available if money is tight, but that they’ll need to talk to the representative to find out what those currently are. You’re letting them know the price might be flexible without immediately giving away the farm, so to speak.

Start creating your own products and offer them at reasonable prices to build a buyers list.

Send an email to your buyers list offering them a free consultation for their business.

Gently find out on the call if they have an interest in coaching. Realize that many won’t, some will and it’s all good. Let’s say that you talk to 10 customers for 30 minutes each (5 hours) and 2 are interested in coaching. One of the two buys the coaching and pays $3000 for it. You earn a 50% commission ($1500) which works out to $300 an hour for your free consultations. Not bad.

What do you tell your customers? Mention how valuable the coaching was for you, how it turned your business around, how it’s the most profitable investment you’ve ever made and so forth. (Assuming this is all true, of course.)

And tell them you can get them a BIG discount if they are interested.

Optional: You sell the coaching yourself, take the credit card info and pass it on to the sales office.

Also optional: When your customer is ready and has agreed, get the salesperson on the call with the two of you.

Don’t forget to listen to your customer, see what his goals are, give him some good information and advice and so forth. 80% of your call should be focused on you helping the customer with only 20% or less of it devoted to you talking up the coaching.

If they are not interested, don’t pester them. Drop it. You’ll never get them interested by annoying them.

Have fun. The majority of the calls won’t result in an immediate coaching sale. But if you’re having fun then the customer is having fun. It’s entirely possible they will be ready for the coaching next month or next year, and you want to leave that door open for them to buy the coaching through you. In other words, be the person they want to talk to again.

If you have a customer who keeps wanting your free advice, let them know they need to get the coaching or start paying you for coaching. That’s right! If they don’t buy the high-end coaching, you could always offer your own coaching services to them. They already feel comfortable with you.

Think of your own personal coaching as a downsell from the coaching program you’re promoting. If they won’t take the expensive coaching, they might be willing to let you coach them if it costs less.

If you do take on your own coaching students, let them know it’s a steppingstone and they may find in a few weeks or months that they are now ready for the high-end coaching.

If you don’t want your own coaching to be the ‘downsell’ to the high-end coaching, have an affiliate program or your own program ready to offer them to take them to the next step. It’s all a matter of evaluating their needs and then offering them the best solution for them.

If you feel it might be worth it, schedule a follow up with them in a couple of weeks. It’s possible they might be ready then for the next step, whatever that might be.