Facing the tough choice between high-ticket consulting and low-ticket courses?

You’re not alone.

Many entrepreneurs grapple with this dilemma, each path offering its unique blend of rewards and challenges.

But what if you don’t have to choose?

What if you can harness the best of both worlds?

Dive into this post as we explore how blending high-ticket consulting with low-ticket courses can be the game-changer you’ve been searching for.

Understanding high-ticket consulting

High-ticket consulting is all about delivering tailor-made, premium solutions to a select group of clients willing to pay top dollar for expertise that can significantly impact their business.

This is the case 70 percent of the time, efforts to change fundamentally the performance of an organization don’t work.

This level of service we give them is not just about broad strokes; it requires getting into the granular details, sometimes even coordinating with the client’s team to ensure seamless implementation of strategies, particularly when the consulting pertains to specialized fields like software.

For example, Dan Lok isn’t just selling consulting; he’s offering a golden key to scale your business. By zeroing in on the unique challenges of each client, his high-ticket approach isn’t just advice—it’s a custom-fit solution that turns potential into profit.

Prices typically start from $1,000, leaning heavily on the consultant’s deep dive into understanding the client’s specific needs and challenges.

Ideal audience for high-ticket courses

• Niche needs: Those facing acute, pressing issues within a specific niche and ready to invest in solutions. For example, in the SEO space, rather than offering broad-spectrum SEO services, a consultant might focus on “SEO for lawyers” or “SEO for crypto startups.”
• High value: This specialization, or micro-niching, allows the consultant to charge higher fees due to their in-depth expertise and problem-solving abilities.
• Building trust: Attracting high-ticket clients requires careful nurturing and building of trust so they consider your advisory services.

Strategies to market high-ticket courses

As you may have noticed, funnels are an effective way to structure your clients’ journey toward hiring you at a higher price.

So, adopting a sales funnel is crucial.

Here are funnels that you can choose:

1. Webinar funnel: Host informative webinars, pitching your consulting services at the end. Implement a pre-qualification process to handle serious inquiries efficiently.
2. Content funnel: Release educational content on platforms like YouTube and guide viewers to a pre-qualification form, assessing their readiness to invest in your services.
3. Mini-course funnel: Utilize mini-courses as lead magnets, guiding interested parties through a qualification process. Use targeted ads on social networks to direct potential clients to a pre-qualification form that aligns with your business values and offerings.
4. Direct ads funnel: With this, you can direct them to a video sales page where you establish your credibility through a video. If they are interested in your services, you can run them through a qualification process. This requires less effort on your end, but you need to build that authority for them to warm up easily.

In each funnel, we include a pre-qualification form or questionnaire. This process helps sift through potential clients to ensure they align with your guiding principles and personal values, fostering long-term cooperation.

The qualification process is critical. It not only establishes alignment with values and principles but also includes strategic questions to assess contract duration better.

This predictability is crucial in the retainer model, especially when serving only two to three clients, making each interaction highly significant.

👍 Pros of high-ticket consulting

• Highly personalized service: With fewer clients, you can afford to offer highly customized solutions, tailoring your strategies to meet the unique needs and challenges of each client.
• Higher profit margins: Premium pricing not only reflects the value you provide but also translates into significantly higher profit margins compared to low-ticket products.
• Better client relationships: Working closely with a select few allows for the development of stronger, more personal relationships, leading to higher satisfaction and loyalty.
• Focused expertise: Specializing in a micro-niche enables you to deepen your expertise, making you a sought-after authority in your field.
• Selective clientele: The qualification process ensures you work only with clients who are the best fit for your services, aligning with your values and committed to their own success.

👎 Cons of high-ticket consulting

• High pressure: The expectations for results are significantly higher when clients are paying premium prices, which can add pressure and stress.
• Intensive time and effort: The depth of involvement with each client’s project requires a substantial investment of time and personal energy, which can be draining.
• Risk of overreliance: Relying on a smaller client base for the bulk of your income can be risky. Losing even one client can have a noticeable impact on your revenue.
• Limited scalability: There’s a cap to how many high-ticket clients you can manage effectively, limiting how much you can scale your business without compromising the quality of your service.

By niching down and offering specialized knowledge, high-ticket consultants provide immense value to their clients, justifying the premium pricing. However, this business model demands a high level of commitment and a strategic approach to client acquisition and service delivery.

Understanding low-ticket courses

Generally in the sweet spot of $100 to $500, low-ticket courses provide a scalable avenue to reach a larger audience and impart knowledge without the need for extensive, individual attention that high-ticket consulting demands.

This strategy taps into the power of scale, with the goal of attracting a multitude of learners, thereby expanding its influence and fostering a community where learners uplift and inspire one another.

Let’s consider Peloton’s innovative approach to fitness training. At an affordable monthly fee of around $39 USD, users gain expert advice and personalized workout plans without the considerable expense of personal trainers.

Ideal audience for low-ticket courses

The target audience for low-ticket courses comprises individuals looking for affordable, accessible education in a broader field.

Unlike the high-ticket model, which focuses on deep, niche-specific problems, low-ticket courses appeal to those interested in foundational knowledge or skills across a wider spectrum.

This audience values the community aspect of learning, where they can connect with peers, share insights, and find accountability partners to help achieve their goals.

Strategies to market low-ticket courses

• Webinars: Hosting informative webinars that end with a pitch for your course is an effective way to engage and convert your audience. Unlike high-ticket products, these do not require a pre-qualification process, allowing for a wider reach.
• Content funnels: Utilizing platforms like YouTube and blogs to create content that warms up the audience to your teaching style and expertise can lead to upselling your course for those interested in diving deeper.
• Direct ads funnel: For audiences already familiar with your work (via retargeting), direct ads can funnel them straight to your course page. However, cold audiences benefit from an introduction through a webinar or a lead magnet first, warming them up before the pitch.

👍 Pros of low-ticket courses

• Scalability: The model is highly scalable, benefiting from economies of scale. Once the course is created, it can be sold to an unlimited number of students without additional delivery costs.
• Community building: Low-ticket courses offer the unique advantage of creating large, interactive communities where students can foster relationships and encourage each other’s growth.
• Less time-intensive: After the initial creation and setup, low-ticket courses require significantly less of your time, allowing you to focus on marketing and expanding your reach.
• Passive income potential: With the courses being pre-recorded, this model offers the potential for passive income, generating earnings without constant active involvement.

👎 Cons of low-ticket courses

• Continuous marketing: To maintain sales momentum and reach new students, constant marketing efforts are necessary, requiring both time and financial investment.
• Lower per-customer revenue: The lower price point means you need to sell to many more customers to generate the same revenue as you would from fewer high-ticket clients.
• Potential for lower engagement: Given the lower investment, some students might not be as committed or engaged as those who invest in high-ticket items, possibly affecting course completion rates and success stories.
• Competition: The market for low-ticket courses can be highly competitive, requiring you to update your courses and marketing strategies to stand out continually.

By offering low-ticket courses, educators and consultants can reach a wider audience and build a community of learners without the intensive, one-on-one time commitment required by high-ticket consulting.

However, this approach requires savvy marketing and the ability to create compelling, valuable content that resonates with a broad audience.

Combining high-ticket and low-ticket strategies

Here’s a quick rundown of what we discussed so far:

1. High-ticket consulting is ideal for those aiming to serve a limited number of clients with deep, personalized engagements, offering huge profit margins per client.
2. Low-ticket courses appeal to educators and consultants looking to reach a broader audience, building a large community while benefiting from the scalability of digital products.

Can we combine these two?

When it comes to scaling your business and maximizing impact, blending high-ticket consulting with low-ticket courses offers a strategic advantage.

To leverage the strengths of both high-ticket and low-ticket models, structuring your program into three levels (L1, L2, and L3) can create a pathway for clients to engage with your services at varying depths and price points.

1. Level 1: This is your entry point, designed to introduce new clients to your expertise at an accessible price range ($80 to $100). Here, you might offer a mix of pre-recorded videos and access to weekly live sessions—essentially a “tripwire” offer that provides immediate value and teases the depth of your knowledge.
2. Level 2: At this stage, you delve into more specific strategies and implementation techniques, possibly covering the technical aspects of your field. This level is priced higher than L1, preparing clients for the depth and value of your high-ticket offerings.
3. Level 3: This is the pinnacle of your funnel where high-ticket consulting shines. Clients receive one-on-one access, monthly audits, participation in masterminds, and entry into an inner-circle community. This level is for those ready to significantly invest in scaling their results and seeking the most direct access to your expertise.

A prime example of this approach is seen in the work of Marie Forleo. Marie is a business coach known for her program “B-School.”

She utilizes a lead magnet (free challenge) to attract potential clients, then offers a low-tier course (“Everything is Marketing”) followed by her high-ticket coaching program (“B-School”).

This funnel strategy effectively segments your audience, allowing you to serve a broad base while still offering high-value, personalized consulting to those ready to invest more significantly.

It ensures that:

• You don’t limit your reach: By starting with low-ticket items, you capture a wide audience, some of whom may eventually transition to your high-ticket services.
• You gradually build trust: As clients progress through each level, their trust in your expertise grows, making them more likely to invest in higher-ticket offers.
• You optimize your time: While providing high-value content and sessions at L1 and L2, you reserve your most intensive, personalized time and effort for high-ticket clients at L3.

When people purchase your pre-recorded courses at level 1, seamlessly guiding them through levels 2 and 3 is a skill in itself.

According to various statistics, course completion rates are at an all-time low. Therefore, to encourage them to progress to levels 2 and 3, your level 1 course must be highly interactive and require user engagement.

You may need to gamify the users’ entire journey by introducing points, accountability, and user interaction.

Building your own community is crucial. For this, you can utilize dedicated community platforms like Circle or Mighty Networks.

You can also use all-in-one platforms like Kajabi, which allows you to create not only online courses but also digital sales funnels and email marketing.

It also enables you to build gamified communities where you can host online challenges, award points, and more, helping you provide a transformational coaching experience.

It combines the best of both the worlds

When you combine high-ticket offers with low-ticket offers, it has a lot of benefits.

Like:

• Broad access offerings: Starting with broad, accessible offerings and narrowing down to exclusive, high-ticket consulting allows you to guide clients through a journey.
• Progressive client engagement levels: Each step not only offers them increasing value but also prepares and qualifies them for the next level of investment.
• High-ticket specialization: It eliminates repetitive explanations of common topics across different clients, enabling a focus on more critical and specialized topics in the L3 high-ticket program.
• Focused attention and efficiency: The funnel approach ensures you focus your personal time on those most committed to their growth and aligned with your high-ticket consulting after they are well-primed with the basics in the previous L1 and L2.
• Dynamic ecosystem creation: By blending these models, you create a dynamic ecosystem around your expertise, catering to various needs and investment levels, ultimately maximizing your reach, impact, and revenue.

Wrapping up

Choosing between high-ticket consulting and low-ticket courses doesn’t have to be a tough call.

You can have the best of both worlds!

By smartly integrating both into a tiered funnel system (L1, L2, L3), you’ll reach more people, create more impact, and even increase your income.

Start off by understanding what your audience needs at each level and shape your offerings to match.

Begin with wide-ranging, accessible content, and then gradually guide interested clients towards more personalized, high-value engagements.

Ready to step it up a notch?

Take a look at your current offerings, find where each piece fits within the L1 to L3 structure, and start making those changes today!

Your journey to uniting the best of both worlds starts right now.