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- 1. Ignore Them Approach
As a solopreneur, online coach, course creator, marketer and seller, your bandwidth (time, energy, money, focus) is limited. You have responsibilities, food to put on the table, a family to take care of and bills to pay.
You cannot invest (waste) time with people who are beggars (to start with). If they are begging now, it’s usually not the first time they’re doing this. They are habitual beggars. You are not in business to upgrade this mentality (unless you choose to be a beggar mentality shifting coach – a coach who specializes in “helping people overcome beggar mentality, stop seeking freebies and start paying for stuff in life”)
They’re not your ideal clients. Move on. Don’t waste your time with these people. Do not answer. Do not respond. As the name suggests, Ignore Them.
“Focus on providing value to people who value what you provide”
2. Straight Forward Approach
“It’s a Paid Course, this is the Price, if you want access, you have to pay for it.”
(No explanation required, a ton of time saved, a little better than the first one, you actually responded with a sentence, if they want to buy, good, if not, no worries, because they are still not your ideal clients)
3. Coaching Questions Approach
Since you are a coach, it makes perfect sense to help your prospects with the questioning approach.
Here are a few questions which can potentially lit a light bulb in your prospects mind:
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- Why should I give away my course to you for free? (they will come up with reasons, remember your job is to understand and help them reach a light bulb moment through this process)
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- Did you even think before asking me this question or were you just winging it in hopes of getting it for free?
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- What courses have you gotten for free in the past and what results have you been able to experience or achieve as a result, share the list with proof?
(I had a gentleman schedule a complementary coaching session with me as he wanted help with his e-commerce business, he never showed up and messaged me later that day saying that he was sleeping and couldn’t wake up earlier for the session. He wanted to schedule another session. In response, I sent him a list of 10 critical questions and asked him to first answer them. The gentleman never got back… to date. This approach is also applicable for your course offers as it filters out non-serious & unprofessional individuals from potential professional prospects)
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- Do you ask your favourite restaurant to give you food for free?
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- Or the Doctor to treat your health challenge for free? (Or the Pharmacist to give you medicine for free?)
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- Or your Children’s school, to teach them for free?
This will help you get more in depth understanding of the market you are catering, the kind of people in your target market/country for your specific offers and it may also enlighten you about the way you have structured your offers, your positioning, etc.
This is fine in the start of your business, however it’s not recommended because it’s time consuming and you should be investing your time on the top 20% needle moving activities in your business, rather than having these conversations. It’s better to have a professional attitude about your business right from the start.
Usually with the Coaching Approach, the people reaching out to you will get the answer through a self-discovery process.
It is time consuming, however you can create a template of questions for freebie seekers and just copy paste them in the conversations or coach your assistant to use them.
And still if people continue to ask/beg for giving your work for free, understand that they are not your ideal client, be blunt by saying: you have not evolved as a mature professional, there is no such thing as free lunch in life, I only do business with mature individuals
4. The Educational Approach
If you do not know about this industry, let me introduce you to it, maybe you have skills & experiences which can be converted into a coaching business.
“The global consulting market is valued at $250 billion”
“The global coaching industry is valued at $2.849 billion”
Source: https://blog.gitnux.com/consulting-and-coaching-industry-statistics/
Coaching & Consulting is a global halal industry and online courses are a part of the product service mix, if you want to learn more about this Industry, you can watch my video here (you can provide link of your video, if you have one or direct them to a video which explains this in detail).
And still if you do not want to understand, please do not contact me and beg for free stuff, because throughout my X years of professional journey what I’ve observed is that:
“People who pay, pay attention,
People who pay attention, take action,
People who take action, get results.”
You can swim on YouTube if you want free information, I am not offering my services as a charity, I pay taxes for the income I earn through this business.
I hope I’ve made myself clear.
5. Alternate Route Approach
I have a free course, which you can access here: (provide link).
You can learn from it and if you feel like proceeding with my paid programs, then you can purchase directly from here (provide link) or
Reach out to me when you’re ready to invest in yourself, to see if I am offering a discount at that time.
6. The Mirror Approach
Ok, so this last approach is not directed towards the people which is the effect, rather it’s geared towards the cause, which is you and your business.
Because what you are experiencing right now are the results, not the symptoms.
We cannot have a holistic solution if we fail to address the root cause, hence the Mirror Approach.
You are an expert at what you do and that’s why you have created a course around it to help many people without exchanging your time to repeat the same instructions again and again.
And it makes sense as a business owner. You are utilizing the power of video, automation and internet to grow your business. Perfect!
However, if you are frequently experiencing this issue, then it’s time to get back to the drawing board and see which piece of the machine needs improvement.
But before we get in to the details, I want you to think through the following questions and answer them to yourself (be honest):
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- Do you have a business plan? (or you too, are winging it?)
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- Do you have professional support & accountability on your journey? (the path of online coaching is essentially a path of a solopreneur which is very different than an entrepreneur with big teams)
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- Have you invested in your education? (related to this business)
The reason why I asked you these questions is because your audience is also going to be a reflection of yourself.
Now, you can think through, take note and whatever your answers are, either keep them to yourself or reach out to me in private and share your thoughts, it’s completely your choice.
With that being said, let’s get to the drawing board.
There are essentially 5 pieces to the puzzle (for resolving this particular issue)
1. Your Product
(your course, design, messaging, pricing, your entire business structure, it’s branding and marketing)
2. Your Personal Branding
(your online presence, your content, social profiles, website, etc.)
3. Traffic
(the potential customers you attract to your business and how you do it?)
4. Selling Strategy
(What’s your selling strategy? How do you sell?)
5. Follow up Strategy
(what’s your follow up strategy? Do you have a system for it?)
I’m not going to talk about each piece here, because it’s not practical to try and propose a solution without looking at each piece in detail.
You have to look at each piece objectively to see what might need to improve in order for you to resolve this issue of “attracting too many freebie seekers”
However, I want to help you think through the following 3 pieces:
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- When it comes to Branding…
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- Have you positioned your course (and yourself) in a way that attracts the right audience?
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- Does it build trust?
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- Is your message to market aligned?
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- Are you targeting the right audience through your content?
Your messaging may need improvement.
There is not one, but many factors when it comes to this part of your business, and it’s one of the most important foundational pillars of your entire online coaching business.
There is no one size fits all answer to this, it’s worth to get help from someone who has a proven track record backed by results in the digital space.
2. Selling Strategy
How you are selling your course?
(There are many ways to build a coaching business.)
Are you up to date with the latest selling strategies or following the old-school ways which don’t work in the new digital landscape?
Most coaches are great at their craft, however lack professional selling knowledge & skills, specially in the coaching space.
If you identify as one, set your ego aside and get professional assistance.
3. Mindset
This is the most critical of all.
How are you approaching your business (& yourself) in your mind?
Remember, the outer reality is only a reflection of your inner world.
Let’s recap the 6 approaches:
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- Ignore Them Approach
- Straight Forward Approach
- Coaching Questions Approach
- The Educational Approach
- Alternate Route Approach
- The Mirror Approach
Let me know what are your key takeaways from this.
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P.S. If you are a coach having difficulty selling your courses, I can help. Consider scheduling a 1:1 coach clarity session with me by clicking here, and I will review your current business model and then map out a strategic blueprint for the success of your business.