Seven Fatal Mistakes With Adding E-Learning To Your Business

Many speakers and trainers want to deliver their material on-line, but don't know how to do it effectively. Let's look at some of the most common mistakes I've seen speakers, trainers and other infopreneurs make when they start thinking about e-learning.

Mistake #1. Trying to sell to strangers.

If you're a successful speaker or trainer, it's tempting to think it will be easy to translate that success into on-line success. After all, your face-to-face audiences love you, so why shouldn't you expect a flood of sales on your Web site? Well, it's just not that easy. Your audiences know you, like you and trust you. Internet users don't.

Mistake #2. Casting your net too wide.

As a rule, the more narrowly you define your market, the more valuable your e-learning programs will be. Unfortunately, it's tempting to do the exact opposite, and create something that "everybody needs". The trouble is, when it's aimed at everybody, it's valuable to nobody. So aim for a niche market, and make that niche as small as possible.

Mistake #3. Not doing enough.

A few years ago, just having an e-learning program was a significant selling point. In those days, you could get away with just sending an on-line course by e-mail with just plain text. Now, clients and participants expect much more. A single e-course, webinar or e-book doesn't give you "an e-learning program". You need more - much more.

Mistake #4. Too much sizzle, not enough steak.

People take part in e-learning programs to learn. Sounds obvious, right? But this isn't always the case in face-to-face presentations - e.g. a keynote might be just to entertain, inspire or energise. This isn't true for e-learning programs. You can't get by with just pretty pictures and low-value content.

Mistake #5. Not taking it seriously enough.

It's difficult to create an effective e-learning program on weekends, tea breaks and while waiting for taxis. You really do need to plan it out carefully. One of my clients even took three full months away from his business to develop his e-learning programs. This move paid dividends, though - it's clearly the best in his target market.

Mistake #6. Not having a clear strategy.

This follows from the previous point. It's not enough to just spend time on it; it's also about planning it appropriately. And the strategy that works for your face-to-face presentations doesn't necessarily work for e-learning.

Mistake #7. Not doing it!

Finally, the biggest mistake I've seen is that most speakers and trainers don't have any e-learning programs at all. This is a serious mistake.

There was a time not so long ago that it didn't matter, but that's no longer the case. Modern clients, audiences and Internet users expect you to include technology - including e-learning - in your delivery. Just as they expect you to use leading-edge presentation technology, they expect you to use leading-edge e-learning tools as well.


So are you making any of these mistakes? Use this as a checklist to assess your readiness for e-learning.

Are you keeping up your "match fitness"?

One of my clients has been on a self-imposed writing sabbatical. She recently got back into giving a presentation, and confessed that she was lacking "match fitness". In other words, despite being an experienced presenter, the lack of practice surprised her, and she wasn't as fluent as elegant as usual.

Are you in the same boat? If you're not presenting regularly - by choice or otherwise - what are you doing to keep up your match fitness? Here are some ways to ensure you keep in practice, while delivering value as well:

• Phone a regular client and offer to do a complimentary presentation for them.
• Phone a long-list client and offer the same.
• Create a presentation topic different from your main topic (so you don't harm that topic), and offer a community presentation free of charge.
• Run a public webinar - which you can do at any time, at no cost.
• Run a public seminar and invite a group of friends who would benefit from your message.

Whatever you do, stay match fit - and keep spreading your message.

Where do you draw the line between free and paid services?

Somebody recently asked this question on LinkedIn (edited version here):

"I'm putting together some brand new packages and would love some advice from the group. I currently give away a 10-page e-zine (10 editions per year), a weekly motivational email and offer a free trial coaching session. I have developed a new online survey, which I would like to offer for free, with the analysed results and other goodies being available in a package for purchase.

Where do others draw the line between offering good-quality free services to entice new clients - and giving away too much?"

I suggest you work backwards. Rather than asking how much to give away free, start by looking at your paid services and figure out a marketing and sales strategy for them.

For example, you might decide that a free trial coaching session is the best way to get coaching clients. Fair enough, but it's not the only option. A really good testimonial from a happy client might also work. Or a direct referral from a happy client. Or an endorsement from your mentor to their network. Or an introductory seminar or webinar. Or a great book you've written. Or the diagnostic tool you're planning. Or a special report that's been passed around virally. Or a YouTube video.

Some of these might be free; others might be for a fee. But don't judge their effectiveness on the price alone.

For example, I run regular webinars. Members of my (paid) membership site get the webinars free; and I'll sometimes open them up to non-members as well, but usually for a fee. Some of those non-members are attending the webinar to get a taste of my expertise before becoming a member or buying consulting services. They are happy to pay the one-off webinar fee before making a bigger commitment.

Internet marketing is not just a numbers game!

I was speaking with somebody recently about their Internet marketing, and he said something like, "But I don't want to get 10,000 visitors a month to our site. We just want a few clients every month, and we'll be happy".

Exactly! He was rejecting Internet marketing ideas because he thought they were all about numbers. But they're not - especially now. It's all about getting the right sort of people to visit your Web site. Who cares if you only get, say, 10 site visitors a week, provided they're the right visitors to do business with you!

This is why it's so important to be marketing in places other than Google. Google will get you the numbers, but it won't directly get you the site visitor who saw you mentioned in somebody else's newsletter. Or who heard you interviewed on somebody else's podcast. Or is a friend of a friend on Facebook. Or who had your tweet re-tweeted to them by somebody in their network. Or - best of all - who got an e-mail from a friend who recommended you.

Set Goals That Are Enjoyable

Most goal-setting programs are hard. The system might sound easy, but achieving the goals is difficult. It usually takes discipline, willpower, a strong mindset, hard work, sacrifice and struggle.

No wonder most people fail at their goals or New Year's Resolutions!

I've got a different approach to goal setting: This year, choose, plan and achieve goals that bring you joy, ease and happiness - not only when you achieve them, but along the way as well.

Now I know this flies in the face of many (most?) goal-setting programs! So be warned that what I'm going to share here might be controversial, confronting or conflicting with other advice you've seen. But hey - if you do embrace my advice, you will enjoy the next twelve months. So what have you got to lose?

We spend way too much time in our life doing things we don't want, that we're not good at, with people we don't like, and without getting any reward. Why not do something different this year?

Heck, there'll be plenty of times when life isn't perfect. Sure, you might get stuck in traffic, fight with your partner, struggle getting the kids to sleep, do work that you don't want to do just because it's in your job description, or force yourself to be more disciplined at work. But those things are going to happen anyway. Why would you deliberately schedule more of those things in your goal setting as well?

Using other people's material (with permission)

When you're scouring the Internet for material, you'll find different phrases describing how you're allowed to use that material. Here's a list of the most common:

• Public domain: The material is freely available for you to use in any way you like – including changing it and selling it.

• Free: As it says, you don't have to pay! Unlike public domain material, though, you don't automatically have permission to change it. And the copyright owner might add other restrictions (e.g. Some free e-books can only be given away, while others can only be included in paid product bundles).

  Be sure the owner does have the right to offer it free, though. I've come across some Web sites that offer, say, a collection of clip art with the notice that they “believe these are free for you to use”. That's not good enough, and could get you in legal hot water in the future!

• Royalty free: This means you only pay once for buying the licence, but don't pay each time you use it (unlike, say, a radio station that pays a royalty every time they play an artist's song). All the material we're covering in this program is royalty free.

• Reprint licence: This is just the name given to the copyright owner's wording that spells out your rights in using the material. Generally, if you've “got a reprint licence” for something, it means you've got the right to pass it on freely – but possibly under certain conditions.

  For example, if I find an e-book that I think my clients will find useful as well, I'm happy to pay money to buy it, as long as it has a reprint licence, which gives me permission to pass it on to my clients. Without that licence, I only have permission to recommend it to them, and they then have to buy it themselves.

• Resale licence: This usually means you don't have the right to copy the product, but you can re-sell it on the owner's behalf, and keep a share of the sale income. This can create a useful income stream, but it's not relevant for this program, so we won't go into this in any more detail.

• Private label rights: This usually means you have the right to take the content and re-publish it under your own brand. This most often applies to some e-books, where the author gives you the original Microsoft Word document, so you can edit it in any way you like.

• Master reprint licence: This means you've not only got permission to pass on the material, you've also got permission to pass on the licence.

  For example, if you're involved in network marketing, you might want a master reprint licence to an e-book, so you can not only pass it on to your downline, but they can pass it on to their downline in turn.

These various terms might have your head spinning. But in practice, it's just a matter of carefully reading the copyright owner's wording.

Give more to get more

What you teach is no longer valuable purely because it's rare or unique. Somebody else somewhere else is teaching the same thing, for a lower fee and possibly even doing it better than you.

You're not going to win by hoarding, protecting or tightly holding on to your intellectual property. In the next 12 months, give away more than you've ever given away before. Make money from the experiences you provide - experiences that can't be duplicated or found on Google.

Offer a rock-solid guarantee

Give a rock-solid, iron-clad, easy-to-invoke, no-questions-asked 100% money-back guarantee.

Most customers are honest people who'd just like some reassurance that they are making a good buying decision. So they appreciate the fact that you're reversing the risk, and that makes them more likely to buy in the first place.

Sure, you will get the occasional person who exploits your guarantee. But in most markets, they are the exception, not the norm. You'll get far more sales and greater profits from your guarantee than you'll lose by those who exploit it.

How to get more visitors to your blog

One of my colleagues recently asked me:

"I am getting into my blog. I need assistance in ways I can really "make this fly" as I am realising that it is a great way for me to put my IP into practical use for people. So, I'd like you to visit the blog and then help me find ways to drive people to it."

I replied with a series of suggestions, which I'll share here with some minor editing to preserve confidentiality:

• Every time you write a blog post, tweet it.
• Subscribe to other blogs about [your topic area] and comment on them whenever they mention your topic.
• Find and participate in on-line communities on these topic areas.
• Add the blog address (INSTEAD of your Web site address) to the bottom of your one-page "tip sheets".
• Give these tip sheets away to selected colleagues for them to distribute.
• Link to it from your Web site.
• Make it appear automatically in your Facebook profile.
• Make it appear automatically in your Thought Leaders Central profile.
• Make it appear automatically on your First Step Community profile.
• Add a link to it in your LinkedIn profile.
• Start a group in Thought Leaders Central.
• Incorporate it into some interesting group activity for [a regular networking group he facilitates] (e.g. Print 10 blog posts and use them as starting points for ... ???)
• Go back to recent clients and offer them something similar (probably online).
• Find/start a group about [your topic area] at SpeakerSite.com.

The point is, it's not just one thing. It's about being passionate about your area of expertise, and then you'll naturally find ways to promote your blog.

Manage the information overload with blogging

I was talking to a client recently about managing the information overload. She - like many people - is feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information she has to absorb in order to keep up to date with her area of expertise.

I offered her one suggestion that works for me: I blog a lot.

So how does that help manage the incoming information? (I hear you cry) Well, here's why ...

When I'm reading things, not only am I thinking of improving my own knowledge, I'm thinking of ways to blog about it so other people get the value of that knowledge as well. This means the information is twice as valuable as before. So I'm more motivated to read it, and there's more of an incentive to do so.

One of our jobs as experts is to filter stuff for our clients, discarding most of it and re-packaging what's left in a relevant, meaningful way for them. So look for ways to share whatever you learn with your clients. If you can get paid for doing this, so much the better!

Membership Sites: What's In It for You?

What are the benefits of a membership site? I'll give you six key benefits here.

1. Recurring Income

If you're charging a monthly or annual subscription fee for your membership site, of course one of the biggest benefits is that it gives you a source of recurring income.

2. Market once

When you convince somebody to sign up for your membership site, you can then charge their credit card every month or every year over and over again without having to convince them to re-sign each time. Of course, you have to give them enough value so they won't cancel their subscription. However, the marketing only takes place the first time they sign up.

3. A vehicle for value

If you're an expert in your area, you're always finding new material - reading books and e-books, finding blog posts, finding articles, listening to podcasts, and so on. The membership site gives you a place where you can share that material with your members.

4. Build loyalty

Your membership site builds loyalty because the members remain as your clients and customers. I remember somebody saying once, "The only time clients hear from you is when you send them an invoice". Is that true for you and your clients? If so, a membership site is a wonderful gift to clients, so they look forward to hearing from you regularly.

5. Reward loyalty

Your membership site also rewards loyalty. Members get access to things that non-members don't.

6. Maintain relationships

A membership site helps you maintain relationships. You might consider giving all your clients - or at least your top clients - free membership, just so you can maintain that relationship with them.

The World is Flat - Three Threats and an Opportunity

In Thomas Friedman's book "The World Is Flat", he talks about the growth of the upwardly-mobile middle class, particularly in places like India and China, where millions of people now have the skills, education, money, technology and desire to raise their standard of living. In short, they want what we've got.

This probably isn't news to you. But if you're a professional speaker, trainer, coach or consultant, have you really considered what impact it will have on your business? I reckon it presents three threats and one (big) opportunity.

Threat #1: Your competition just got bigger.

Your competitors are no longer only the people in your own city, state or country. could be experts from anywhere, beamed into conferences, training rooms, networking events and board rooms from the other side of the world.

Threat #2: Your clients just got smarter.

The flip side of this is that your clients are more demanding - and with good reason. Not only do they have a bigger range of speakers to choose from, they also have many other ways of getting the value you deliver. After all, why should they pay for a one-off speech or training course from a local speaker, when for the same money they might be able to watch three TED.com videos, use Open Space Technology to embed the learning, and then use a collaborative workspace to create meaningful action?

Threat #3: Your business probably won't exist in a decade.

Well, not in its current form. There will always be a place for face-to-face communication, of course. And the more you create unique experiences, the more you'll carve out a place for yourself. But your competition will be other experts delivering the same message - and the same value - using e-learning over the Internet. They'll be doing keynotes by video; training by webinars and on-line courses; facilitation through collaborative workspaces; coaching and mentoring by Skype; and consulting using all of the above.

That's the bad news ...

The Big Opportunity: YOU can own this space.

The good news, of course, is that you don't have to take any of this lying down.

You're the expert.
You've got valuable information to share.
You know how to structure it effectively.

Now you just need to learn how to deliver that expertise differently.

E-learning isn't just about automating the delivery of your programs. It's about adding electronic teaching tools to your current offerings.

If you embrace this rather than rejecting it, it opens up - literally - a world of opportunity.

Opportunities for new ways to deliver your message.
Opportunities to reach more people.
And yes, opportunities for greater business success.

The opportunity is there. The choice is yours.

Don't Make It Difficult For Them To Buy

Imagine going to your local supermarket and watching the shoppers. They pick up a shopping cart, wander around the aisles collecting their groceries, and eventually take them to the checkout to pay.

But imagine if two out of three shoppers got to the checkout queue, then suddenly changed their mind and left the store, abandoning their shopping cart full of products.

In the real world, this would be bizarre. Sure, there are valid reasons for this behavior - the queues might be too long, they realized that they've overspent their budget, and so on. But these are the exception rather than the rule.

In most cases, shoppers will dutifully fill their shopping carts and complete the transaction at the checkout.

But it's the other way around in the on-line world. Studies have shown that most shoppers who start buying on a Web site abandon the process before completing it.

Why? The reasons vary, but in most cases it can be summarized as: The Web site makes it too difficult to buy.

Remember that the Internet is probably the least-trusted shopping medium in history. Lots of people are making lots of money from it, but many others lose potential sales because of a poorly-designed ordering system.

Here are some of the dumb things that Web site owners do to annoy, upset and even scare their users:

• Force them to "register" as members before they can buy anything
• Not using a secure server.
• Adding unnecessary steps to what should be a straightforward process.
• Not publishing a clear privacy policy on their Web site.
• Not providing a variety of payment options, especially for people who are worried about giving their credit card details on the Internet.
• Not publishing a telephone number that allows a wary customer to talk to a real person.
• Not publishing a full street address that reassures the customer that this is a legitimate business.
• Assuming that all customers are from the same country, and not providing a handy currency converter for international customers.
• Making it difficult to determine postage and handling costs, or not even publishing them at all.
• Including a whole block of incomprehensible fine print for Terms and Conditions, instead of writing them out in plain, easy-to-read language.
• Not publishing a refund policy, or making it so heavily weighted against the customer that it's a deterrent rather than an incentive.

You've probably seen some of these mistakes already on other Web sites. Make sure that you don't make the same mistakes.

What are your customers really searching for?

When promoting something on the Internet, are you doing it in the way your customers expect it (good) or the way that only suits you (not so good)? I've talked about this before, but it bears repeating because it's a common mistake people make.

Here's a simple and dramatic example: If you teach people how to speak in public, you're more likely to call it "presentation skills" than "public speaking", right? Yet if you compare the two phrases, "public speaking" gets way more searches:



So even if you think "public speaking" sounds too amateurish, swallow your pride and use it - at least in your initial contact with customers. This doesn't apply only to Google searching; it's also the phrase to use on your YouTube videos, your blog posts, your podcast episodes, your Slideshare presentations, and so on.

More importantly, do the research first.

What is impossible to do today in your business?

I recently co-facilitated a strategic planning session for a group of thought leaders, to help them plan for 2010.

I started by asking them a question that leadership consultant Joel Barker asks all his clients (Thanks to my sales mentor David Penglase for bringing this to my attention):

"What is impossible to do today in your business, but, if it could be done, would fundamentally change it for the better?"

It's a powerful question, and one I asked myself as well during the year.

For me, the impossible thing was to take my Web design business in a new direction, while still maintaining the strong relationship I've established with current clients. It was a real dilemma for me - and certainly seemed impossible. But asking this question turned it from an obstacle into a possibility. And that was enough to trigger an idea that I think will make a significant difference in 2010. Watch this space!