Teaching Sells ~ sell what you know

Teaching Sells.

Teaching people a skill or how to do something has always been a great business model.

Problem is, most people do not know how to teach – they may know the subject matter – but they lack the communication and organizational skills needed.

Case in point — I joined a membership site this past November. I wanted to learn how to do what this person was teaching using his step-by-step plan.

He obviously knew the subject matter very well. He gave proof of the earnings he made using his methods and strategies — I was game to give it a go.

So I signed up — logged in — took a look around and immediately realized I had made a mistake.

This guy — while maybe having the skills to do what he said, had zero skills when it came to communicating how he does it.

As I continued to look around – I also noticed there was not a flow to any of the information – there was not any structure to it.

But overall, the information seemed pretty good — but that did not matter.

It would take to much of my time to wade through the unorganized clutter.

Like everyone else, I am busy and do not have the time to try and figure out what I need to do. I joined the site to save time.

From the sales letter – I was expecting something more along the lines of “First, do this… once you have done that, do this and so forth“.

That’s what a step-by-step plan is to me.

Not a bunch of posts in a forum or pdf’s scattered all over the place – I did not know where to begin.

So I quit.

To give you an example of two “how to” membership sites that do it the right way — Social Power Linking (Jack Humphrey’s membership site) and Teaching Sells (Brian Clark of Copyblogger fame membership site).

When you first log into the Social Power Linking site – you will notice a link at the very top of the page;

Jack starts you out with a “First, do this – then do that and so forth“.

When You click on the New Member link, you are taken here;

Jack is moving you (and for a reason) through the site one step at a time before he turns you loose.

He knows it is important for you to learn some basic concepts before you move on to those that are more advanced.

This is done for a few reasons;

• Cuts down on support issues and questions
• One concept builds on the other in a hierarchical fashion
• Subject matter is easier to learn

Teaching Sells also uses a hierarchical learning format (they should know how to do it the right way since they teach it).

It is very apparent when you log in to either site for the first time – what exactly it is that you are supposed to do.

There is no guesswork involved or anything left to chance.

Both sites are teaching a specific subject matter; Teaching Sells shows you how to create a membership site and write content, while Social Power Linking teaches you how to use social marketing and social bookmarking strategies to increase web site traffic.

With both subject matters – you need to know the initial steps before moving on to the more advanced concepts. Just like you had to learn to add and subtract, before attempting division.

If the membership site I joined last November had taken the Teaching Sells approach, I’d probably still be a member today.

If you plan on starting a membership site — take a lesson from the three examples above.

You can make money selling what you know, if you do it the right way.