Product - Lump Sum or Ongoing Membership - What's Your Preference?

Hi Guys,

I am in the process of converting a product that I have to be sold online, its a training course for local offline marketing that I have taught privately for $10,000 per student, and my students have had great results when they have got out there and made money using the techniques I have taught.

The basis of the course is that it covers everything from start-up, how to find clients, what to sell them and 4 different ways to use the techniques that have been learned to make money. It's basis is my own web & local marketing business, so I provide all the sales materials & other background info that anyone would need to replicate my success.

The difference with the product and the original course is that instead of it being live seminars, I will provide step-by-step videos showing students exactly what they need to do to perform each element involved in the business (they can pick and choose to only sell certain products, if they wish)

My question is, in a JV, would you prefer to see this a membership site, with an ongoing monthly membership of say $97 a month, or would you prefer a one-off sale of $1997? Im going to provide 50% commission on all sales, but would just be interested as to your thoughts about what you/your associates would prefer to sell.

Your thoughts and input are much appreciated, as in the current economic climate I am in two minds about what to do to best benefit all those involved.

honestly Suzy (by the way nice to meet you), why not do both, i did a launch back in 09 for a DVD home study course and included a members only are. the prices were $497 for the DVD course + $97/mo for the members only area. I also offered 50% commisions to my affiliates and 75% to my personal JV's. ad i gotta say it went absolutely perfect. It gives your affiliates a nice front end check for the product sales + a nice residual income check.

think about it, and success for you always

Diego's suggestion is awesome. I never thought about doing both.

However, when I look for offers to promote, I always look for the ones that pay recurring commissions.

So, from a recruitment point of view, you may have more luck finding affiliates offering a recurring payout.

Again, if you can convey what Diego said in a simple way so potential partners quickly see the benefit, I bet you'd get a great response.

hey diego nice idea! I will definalty keep that strategy in mind ;)
cheers mate

If you have a product that can be sold high end on the front end, then I like Diego's idea of having a high ticket front end and the recurring membership as the upsell. This isn't anything new but it has done well. You can also do something recurring as a downsell.

Putting my JV prospect glasses on...I know I like that initial front end kick of the high ticket sale and assuming your conversion on the upsell is good (as well as the stick rate of members), I love the recurring portion. Personally I am a bit hesitant to do straight membership promos sometimes because many times there hasn't been enough testing on stick rate before the actual launch, so if the members aren't sticking it can be a huge bust. With the initial product front end, I will have a general idea of how my list will respond and then even if the stick rate on the recurring upsell isn't great, I at least know I will do okay from the front end. Of course that's just me.