Easy creative tips

How do you market 100+ seats in your Online Course to One Corporate Customer

Sep 26, 2024

This year, over $8 billion is already allocated for courses, coaching and consulting in small to large size associations, nonprofits, and corporations.

  56% of this training is delivered by facilitators and instructors outside the organization (experts exactly like the ones you).  

And, here's what's really intriguing: more than 50% of the training that's being offered will be delivered on the web.

  What I Learned Being the Decision Maker for a 7-Figure Training Budget  

My previous life was when I was the Chief Learning Officer at large-scale organization. The annual budget for my spending was in excess of 7 figures.

I have purchased all kinds of classes including NLP for our sales team to diets that are alkaline to our retreat for the executive team to drumming circles for our company event, plus all the standard stuff like leadership production, sales etc.

What I've learned is: If you can tie what you're doing with the outcome a business is looking for, businesses will be more inclined to work with them.

  How to sell your online courses to corporate clients is a Great Idea  

Since launching my personal business instructing experts and business on how to design courses and courses, I've racked up millions in online coaching and consulting sales, from individuals and corporate customers. There are several strategies to achieve the same:

1. You are able to offer multiple "seats" in your course to one client. Corporate clients have been able to purchase 10, 20 50, 100 and even 250 seats in my courses at prices ranging between $179-$1997.

2. You can blend the online courses you offer by offering up-sells such as online group coaching, or an on-site online or virtual session for implementation.

3. You are able to easily modify an existing online course for a corporate customer. The course can be customized to give more access for your customers by having an exclusive implementation call to everyone in the hosting company. Or, you can make an application in line with the current initiatives based on what you teach within your class. There are endless options.

4. Corporate clients may help you get even more individual clients. The fact that you have worked with corporate customers can give your business an instant boost of credibility when selling your products to single customers.

  Selling an Online Course to a Corporate Client Before you Create It  

If you don't already have an online course created to sell? Selling a client a pre-sales online course prior to creating it is a great way to get clear on what you should include in the course and also to fund course's development.

It's much simpler than you think. When I meet with corporate clients, I systematically guide them through a research process, and then ask them to say what they would love to see as an online training course.

Then you can turn it around and sell that material to your other corporate clients or even launch it for individual customers.

  What Do You Know About HTML0? Corporate Clients Purchase Your Products  

There are two questions you can ask to know if corporate clients will buy the offers you make.

  Question 1. Is your class topic one that companies would be interested in?  

Here are some examples of the types of training corporate clients invest in each year:

  • Accounting and Finance
  • Administrative Training
  • Customer Service
  • Health and Wellness
  • Human Resources
  • Specific Training for the Industry Specific Instruction
  • Information Technology
  • Leadership and Management
  • Marketing
  • Personal Development
  • Organization and Productivity
  • Sales Training
  • Software
  • Strategy, Creativity, Innovation
  • Team Development
  • Training and Facilitation

One easy way to get corporate clients to recognize the value in your course is to connect the benefits that your program generates to the profit you earn.

It's easy to see the connection to profit with courses on topics such as selling skills and marketing via social media, doesn't it?

What if, however, you're teaching about a subject that has a lesser-known connection for example, the field of sleep therapy?

It is possible to ask the following 2 questions:

What are the results my proposal will bring?

What does this mean in relation to profitability?

For example, here are some topics my clients have suggested to the corporate client market:

Class Topic What's the outcome you are delivering? What does this outcome relate to profit?
Sleep Therapy Helping infants go to sleep
  • Employers with babies and children are sleep deprived
  • Sleep deprivation results in lower productivity
  • Sleep deprivation can lead to a new parent reconsidering whether they want to go back to work
Boundaries What can you do to avoid having conversations that hinder your team
  • People put off having hard discussions
  • A lack of difficult conversations can hold the team from meeting deadlines and achieving goals
Writing How to write persuasive copy
  • Marketing copy that is more effective increases sales
  • Written online content that is well-crafted through blogs, emails, or technical guides increase the engagement of customers.
Storytelling How do you share your "Hero's Journey" tale
  • Storytelling creates emotional connection
  • Customers make their money from brands that they have emotional attachment to
  • Emotional attachment to the brand increases the sales

If you're an expert or coach, freelancer, speaker, author or small business you can find a huge opportunity for you in serving smaller businesses, large companies, non-profits and associations.

In the next free webinar to the public, I'll be walking through the ways to get corporate clients including:

  • Who purchases who, what are they purchasing as well as what they pay for on, and the best way to determine whether they purchase what you provide
  • The most important thing to never say in a meeting with potential clients from corporate (this will send you into the dark hole of "We'll return to you later" ..." that is almost never the sales)
  • How to move away from selling online classes, programs and other offers by enrolling one student at a time to selling bundles that include 50, 100 or even more to a single business
  • What you must to do before you pick up the phone or send an email so that your clients can see the value in what you offer and invest in your programs (most experts miss this, and don't even reach the point of starting)
  • A powerful 4-Part Conversation Frame to facilitate a dialogue with a customer to bring them close to a sale

  Do you want to know if small, medium or big companies are willing to pay for your expertise? Click here to download the "How to Determine whether Corporate Clients will Pay for Expertise 100 Training Topics that Corporate Clients are likely to purchase in the coming year" Guide.

Jeanine Blackwell is creator of Create 6 Figure Courses(r) as well as The Launch Lab. She has helped thousands of professionals create and launch successful online courses. She also designed worldwide model learning courses online for major brands such as Estee Lauder, Aveda, 3M, Disney, Samsung, Princess Cruises, Boeing, Sotheby's, and Smithsonian Institute. Jeanine is a speaker on online learning strategy and digital marketing and has shared the stage with many prominent influencers like Marianne Williamson, Daniel Pink, Marcus Buckingham, and Deepak Chopra.