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The What, The Why and the How of your Beta

Learn why you would create a beta version of your program – plus how to run it, how to price it, and why it matters.

Plus watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mY9YLJuFsOw

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Transcript
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Hey everybody, in today's episode, I want to get

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back to basics. So it's been a while since I've talked about

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your beta, and your beta is actually the very first

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iteration of your digital experience that you are creating

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for your customers. And think of it like a prototype or MVP. So

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when you think about like a physical product, right, so, so

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you have, you've invented some physical product, you don't just

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go out and, and create, like, you know, 10,000 units of this

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product.

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This widget, whatever it is that you've invented, and put it on

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Amazon and try and sell it, right, it's not how the process

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works, you first, do some market research, right, you make sure

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that it's a viable,

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you know, it's solving a viable problem out in the in the

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market, right, that's the very first thing that you do. The

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second thing that you do is you actually create a test version

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of it. So people can try it and practice it and play with it and

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break it and do all of the things so that you know, how

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other people are using it, how, what's working, what's not

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working, what needs to be tweaked

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all the different parts and pieces of what goes into

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actually creating a physical product. And your program, your

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digital experience is no different. And so just like you

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wouldn't go out and

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like put your shingle up and say, I'm available and get

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10,000 customers at one time, you would start by testing your

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material testing what you've created, doing, doing

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some prototyping and doing a beta. And so that's what we're

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doing. So you're pre selling your program before you've

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created it. And when you're doing your beta program, what

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you're trying to do is you're testing your signature

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framework, you're testing, the methodology that you've come up

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with,

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that will help people get results, right, because

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remember, you've chosen your avatar you've chosen who you

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want to work with, you found a viable problem in the market

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that you can solve. And so your job is to come up with a

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proprietary framework, that is the way the fastest path that

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you take somebody from where they are today, the problem that

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they have to getting that solution, that that process is

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your proprietary methodology, the way that you do it, you're

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gonna show up different than I'm going to show up in order to

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teach something, right. So the steps may be similar, they may

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be called something different, but they may be similar, but the

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way that you and I are going to do it is different because of

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our unique take on our expertise. So the whole goal for

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your beta is to test that methodology. Where do you need

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to add something? Where do you need to take something out?

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Where do you need to switch it around? You know, how do you add

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more interactivity? How do you get people engaged? When are

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they asking questions? What are they getting stuck? What's

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happening throughout the process, that is your beta. And

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that is the very first thing that you need to do is to test

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your program. So so often I have people come to me, they're like,

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Oh, I created a bunch of videos, I'm gonna, I've seen him in a

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platform, and then I'm going to throw ads at the program, and

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I'm going to sell it, it's going to be great. And I'm like, wait

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a minute, you're missing the testing phase. Because you don't

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know what's gonna work, you don't know what's gonna sell,

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you don't know what people what questions people are gonna have,

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or where they're gonna get stuck, or where all of the

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issues that are going to come up as you go through the process.

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And so when we're working with our clients, this is a very,

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like, first thing that we do in order to test your framework.

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And, and so when you're doing your beta, the goal is to not

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like go out and sell to the masses and like have a bunch of

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random people in your beta the goal is to is to test it, right?

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So just like you would, if you had a prototype of a physical

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product, you would invite people in and kind of watch how they're

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going through it or what questions they're having, or you

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know, what's happening as they're, as they're doing it,

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you're observing and you're watching and you're seeing what

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they're doing that you don't want to have 100 people in the

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room at one time because you can't get that that experience,

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right, unless you had a huge team of people who you know,

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each had a little segment of people. You want the you know,

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representative group of your ideal clients to be a part of

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it. And so in our our whole process that we teach, we we

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have you get five superfans into your beta program and your five

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super fans are the ones who are like representative of your

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ideal clients, and they're going to be the ones who are going to

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test it and and you know, you're going to be able to observe

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what's happening as you're teaching it.

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And, and where they're getting stuck and, and where they're

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succeeding and how they're getting results. And then you

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guarantee and you can get them to a result. And sometimes it's

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a clean path. Other times, it's like, okay, this isn't working,

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I gotta shift, I've got a pivot. That's why when you're doing a

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beta, it's not like, you know, pre producing your videos pre

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producing your course assets, you're,

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you're working from your framework, and not producing

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everything yet, before you get started. Because you, you want

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to do that prototype or that test take. And then from there,

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you can take it and go, Okay, this worked really well, I'm

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going to lock and load it. And this is what I'm going to have

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for my signature program. This one I need to work on a little

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bit. So I'm going to go through and make some adjustments, maybe

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you test it again. Or maybe you have the information that you

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need to put it in and lock and load it right but, but you're

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constantly going through and doing that, you may do a one

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beta, you may do multiple betas, it just depends on where you're

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landing with your people. So we recommend that you do a beta, we

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recommend that you pre sell your betas, so you're not, you know,

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creating it first. And we recommend that you get five

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superfans, and you don't need a bunch of random people who

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aren't going to participate. You need the right people who are

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going to get in there and and give you the information that

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you need to be able to create and produce that more polished

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product. Alright, that was a quick one. But hopefully that

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helped serve you in terms of like, where do I start, right.

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So the first thing is you're creating your framework, then

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you're testing your framework, and then you're able to take

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that and make that into a digital experience that then

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serves

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and scales to more people, right. One thing that I always

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get around the beta, and I just want to quickly address it

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before I sign off today is a beta is not a lesser product,

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it's not a lesser program, you are showing up, you're running

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through your framework, and you are serving your people at a

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high level. Now you could do that one on one, you could do

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that in person in a workshop. Or you could do it in a digital

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experience. That's the first time that you've done the

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digital experience. But you don't need to discount it. So

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think about like if somebody sells you a workshop and in

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person workshop, right? Like, I'm you know, we're doing a

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three day workshop at this college or at this conference

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room or whatever. And it's, you know, a certain amount of money.

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You don't like pay for it after or they you don't say, oh,

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because I'm coming in person, and I haven't seen you teach it

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yet, then I'm not going to pay until after or I should have a

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discount? Because I haven't haven't seen you teach it yet.

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That doesn't happen. Right? So why do we have a tendency to

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think that when we do something for the first time in a virtual

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format, that it would be a discounted program. And so I

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just want to validate that for you that this isn't about the

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first time that you do something isn't like, Oh, I'm discounting

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it. So

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because I haven't done it before. If you choose to

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discount it, that should be from a strategic standpoint, it

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shouldn't just be like I'm gonna get people in and I have to tell

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them, It's my first time doing it. So therefore, I should

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discount it. That's not actually the case. Right? And so,

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consider, consider it if like you were going to do it in

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person and have people in the room they don't need to know or

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necessarily do they care that you are doing it for the first

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time or the 100th time.

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Because what's happening is you're teaching from your

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framework that you know, has gotten your results, or your

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customers results or other people results, right. And so

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be confident in your expertise, be confident in your ability to

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put together your proprietary framework based on how you know

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that that is the fastest path to success, and then just own it

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right, it's not going to be perfect, but that doesn't mean

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that it's a lesser program, right? Because the goal is to

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get them results. The goal is not for them to have, you know,

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all the videos produced perfectly. All the worksheets

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produce perfectly yet, they just need what they need to get to

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that result. So they're that's what they're paying for. They're

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not paying for the polish.

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And so you just have to own that you have to lead with that. And

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you put together a minimum viable product that allows

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people to be able to interact with you and get the results

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that they need. When you're first doing your beta you're

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you're doing it live you're doing it live virtual you're

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doing it live

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Have in person, however you decide you want to test your

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framework. And so they're actually getting the highest

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level because they're getting you live there at able to have a

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conversation with you don't just count that,

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when they're taking it in a digital experience, it's going

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to be tested, it's going to be something that you know is

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working, don't just count that either. Right, this is your body

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of work, this is your proprietary framework, own it,

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feel comfortable with it, if it's the first time or the

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500 100, at the time that you've done it, be confident in what

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you're producing. If you're not confident, you need to go back

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and you need to work on your signature framework until you're

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confident that you're getting getting results. And sometimes

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that means you need to help people just one on one, right?

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You need to test in a one on one environment before you can move

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it into something that you're teaching.

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or providing to a group. You could do that too, right?

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Sometimes it's like, okay, wait, let me just make sure that that

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this is the right formula. Can I go through this in your

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business? Can I help? Can I test this? Can I look at how this

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would work? Do that. Right? Do that until you feel confident

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that the framework is correct. But don't get hung up on the

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assets and all the things that need to be created and all the

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things need to be perfect. In your beta. You have plenty of

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time for that, once you've tested that step in the

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framework, and then you're able to lock and load it into a

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digital experience. So again, hopefully this serves you let me

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know if you have any questions about the beta and and why and

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how and all the parts and pieces of it happy to answer those for

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you as you go in and start testing your proprietary

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framework. All right, there you go. Have a great day.