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Who buys 100 seats in one online course, you might ask? Corporate clients do.

In the coming year, over $8 billion is already approved for spending on courses, coaching and consulting in small to large size corporations, non-profits and association.

56% of that training is delivered by outside instructors and facilitators (experts just like you).

And, here’s what’s really interesting: more than half of this training is being delivered online.

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

In my former life, I was the Chief Learning Officer for a large organization. My annual spending budget was well over 7-figures.

I bought all kinds of training from NLP for our sales team to alkaline diets for our executive team retreat to drumming circles for our company event, plus all the standard stuff like leadership, productivity, sales, etc.

What I learned is this: If you can link what you do to a result a company wants, companies want to do business with you.

Why Selling Your Online Courses to Corporate Clients is a Good Idea

Since I launched my own company teaching experts and businesses how to create courses, I’ve attracted millions in online course, coaching and consulting sales from both solopreneurs and bigger corporate clients. Here are a few ways you  can do the same:

1. You can sell multiple “seats” in your course to one client. I have had corporate clients buy 10, 20, 50, 100 and even 250 seats in my courses at prices ranging from $179 to $1997.

2. You can blend your online course offer with up-sell offers like online group coaching or on-site custom or virtual implementation session.

3. You can easily customize an existing online course for a corporate customer. You can add more access to you with a private implementation call for all participants from the host company. Or, you can create an application project related to the company’s current initiatives based on what you are teaching in your course. There are endless possibilities.

4. Getting corporate clients can help you get even more individual clients. Sharing that you work with corporate clients can add instant credibility when you are marketing your offers to individual clients.


Pre-Selling an Online Course to a Corporate Client Before You Create It

What if you don’t have an online course created to sell? Pre-selling a corporate client an online course before you create it can be a powerful way to get clear on what to include in your course AND fund your development time.

This is easier than it sounds. In meetings with corporate clients, I systematically lead clients through a discovery process and have them tell me what they would love to have in an online course offer.

Once you know this, you can write a proposal to develop the course and provide access for their team. You are essentially pre-selling the online course to the corporation before you develop it. The client pays no “design” fees, which they love. They only pay for the seats in the program. And, you get pre-sold seats in your course, which you love.

You can then turn around and market that content to other corporate clients or launch it to individual clients.

How to Know If Corporate Clients Buy What You Offer

Corporate clients are likely a great opportunity for you if you are an expert in your field.

There are 2 questions you can ask to know if corporate clients will buy your offers.

Question 1:  Is your course topic something corporations would be interested in?

Here are just a few of the training categories that corporate clients invest in year after year:

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

And, if you’d like to see over 100 topics corporate clients are buying, save your spot for our upcoming workshop for the Thinkific community:

Question 2: How does my course topic link to a result a company would invest in?

Wait, before you say, “Oh no, my course topic isn’t on that list…”

One easy way to get corporate clients to see the value in your course is by linking the results your course generates to profit.

It’s easy to see the connection to profit with course topics like sales skills or social media marketing, right?

But, what if you are teaching a topic with a less obvious connection such as sleep therapy?

You can ask these 2 questions:

What is the result my offer will deliver?

How does this result connect to profitability?

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

Course TopicWhat is the result you are delivering?How does this result connect to profitability?
Sleep TherapyGetting infants to sleep
  • Employees with infants and young children are sleep deprived
  • Sleep deprivation results in lower productivity
  • Sleep deprivation can lead to a new parent rethinking their decision to return back to work
BoundariesHow to have conversations that hold your team back
  • Employees procrastinate on having tough conversations
  • Not having tough conversations holds the team back from meeting deadlines and achieving goals
WritingHow to write persuasive copy
  • Better marketing copy increases sales
  • Well-written online content in emails, blogs or technical guides increase customer engagement
StorytellingHow to share your “Hero’s Journey” tale
  • Storytelling creates emotional connection
  • Customers invest with brands they have emotional attachment to
  • Emotional attachment to the brand increases sales

 

If you are an expert, coach, consultant, freelancer, speaker, author or small business, there is a big opportunity for you in serving small businesses, big businesses, non-profits and associations.

In the upcoming free webinar for the Thinkific community, I’ll be walking through how you can get corporate clients including:

  • Who buys, what they are buying, what they spend, and how to know if they buy what YOU offer
  • The one thing you should never say in a meeting with a potential corporate client (this will send you into the black hole of “We’ll get back to you…” which almost never results in a sale)
  • How to move from selling your online courses, programs and other offers one enrolment at a time to selling packages of 50, 100, or more to one business
  • The critical thing you need to do before you pick up the phone or email to have clients see value in what you offer and invest in your programs (most experts miss this and never get to first base)
  • A powerful 4-Part Conversation Frame for leading a conversation with a client to get to the sale

Wondering if small, medium, or large businesses will pay for your expertise? Click here to download the “How to Know if Corporate Clients Will Pay for Your Expertise: 100 Training Topics Corporations Will Buy This Year” Guide.


How to Sell 100 Seats In Your Online Course to One Corporate Client @jeanineob Share on X

Jeanine Blackwell is creator of Create 6-Figure Courses® and The Launch Lab. She has helped thousands of experts create and launch profitable online courses and designed global online course learning models for brands like Estee Lauder, Aveda, 3M, Disney, Samsung, Princess Cruises, Boeing, Sotheby’s, and Smithsonian Institute. Jeanine speaks on online learning strategy and digital marketing and has shared the stage with many powerful influencers including Marianne Williamson, Daniel Pink, Marcus Buckingham, and Deepak Chopra.