$100 beer for a solid solution

[HipHop]

Ok, here's the context:

Me and my partner have been selling our 3 day boot camp from live stages for $5K.

We recently did a big online launch where we offered the live training as an upsell to our homestudy course and we priced the live training at only $750.

We sold a lot of them and we considered moving fully online for the live trainings and only sell our home study course during live events.

However, we just good hooked up with a promo company that wants to get us a ton of offline exposure but wants us to sell the $5K price point.

The problem is we don't want to mix a bootcamp with attendees that paid $5,000 and others that paid only $750.
They talk and we'll have some pissed off $5K buyers.

We also don't want to do separate events for both.

So we're considering making the $5K price point a VIP gig but we're not sure how to differentiate the 2.

So the main question is:

How can we hold an event with buyers from 2 significantly different price points and not make the high paying attendees feel screwed if they find out about the lower price??

LH

[Zeus66]

This may have occurred to you already, but why not offer the higher paying attendees some amount of one-on-one coaching after the event. You could either do that online post-event, or extend the event a day or two (if feasible) to give the face time to the higher paying attendees. Is it too late to extend? If so, go with the live online one-on-ones.

John

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Offer additional bonus materials, maybe with videos or audio CDs and other multimedia content, for the $5k attendees. Maybe you can get a live video stream of some big name gurus in your niche, providing additional information, that can be presented at the $5k bootcamps? Or, if a live stream is not possible, pre-record interviews with the gurus that only your $5k attendees will get to see.

You might also offer workshops at the bootcamp, where you break down and work with smaller groups, so that attendees get closer to one-on-one instruction. Go into more detail and give more in-depth instruction in the $5k bootcamps.

You might even include the $750 homestudy course as a take-away bonus with the bootcamp. That way, they have the bootcamp experience plus the take-home course they can reference any time.

[Adaptive]

If you haven't already published the workshop schedule, cut the number of seminar hours by 1/3.

For the $5k buyers, use the extra time as closed-door hands-on sessions with you and the other $5k buyers. After hours, hang out in the bar to chat with any of the $5k buyers who'd like to talk with you more informally.

Now you are selling both coach and first class on the same flight. And guess what, the new airline pricing is $100 for a beer.

Regards,
Allen

[artwebster]

Since it seems that you have sold the same package to both the $750 and $5,000 clients it would be rather difficult at a later stage to alter the packages.

Maybe you will have to bite the bullet and explain that you goofed on the $750 price but that the problem is of your own making and you will have to stand the loss. Just get it out in the open at the start.

If someone was prepared to pay $5,000 are they really likely to accept that they were too stupid to realise that the price was too high or are they more likely to be envious of the bargain ticket holders?

[Jeannie Crabtree]

Here is a thought...

Just like a tiered membership site, your $750 customers would be the bare bones offer.

Figure out what to add to that offer, the upsell: phone training, something offered through the mail, a year of consulting, the dvds of the event or what ever for the full
$5000.

Let your $750 customers know they got in on the beginning and that you are now offering more, at a bigger price. Ask them if they want to upgrade or stay with the bare bones package.

[VegasGreg]

The extra cost to see an event live is usually worth it as you will get to network with other attendees as well as being able to ask questions and get immediate answers. Also (as mentioned above) being able to break off into smaller individual workshop/groups and having hands on experience.

Then you offer the attendees the rights to sell the $750 home course as an affiliate, where no one else would have the rights to sell the product or the commission would be significantly higher.

[BigVin]

stack the perception so one agrees not to tell the other. Control the perception. Don't make the 2 seperate ones appear to be the same deal

[DeePower]

I'm not sure how much time you have before the event and I'm not sure which gurus you have participating, but here are a few ways to differentiate between the two price points.

The $5,000 attendees get a name badge that says Premier Member embossed in gold the others get a b&w badge.

$5,000 package includes

Goodie bag - cloth bag with Premier Member and the name of the event. You might even be able to get the Premier Member's name embossed as well on the bag. The badge and the bag immediately set the Premier members apart from the $750 members.

In the goodie bag:

All materials should be professionally designed and printed on good quality cardstock.

Welcome letter personalized to the Premier member and signed by all gurus.

Tickets to Premier Member only cocktail reception with gurus in attendance

Prepaid cell phone with 5 hours prepaid and the phone numbers of the gurus for one on one coaching. Include an explanation with the prepaid cell phone and a blurb about each guru.

Leather bound calendar and nice pen and pencil set.

Vouchers for DVDs of the entire bootcamp. These can be available the next day for the previous day's session. Sell the DVDs for $125 each to $750 members but Premier Members get them "free" with their voucher.

Transcribe the entire bootcamp and have it printed in notebook format and sent afterwards to the Premier members.

Private online membership site that only $5,000 members have access to for 90 days or so after the bootcamp. They can post their questions and get advice.

T-shirt that says "I survived bootcamp" or something similar.

Tickets to Premier Member only luncheon or dinner with speaker.

Hardcopy "inspirational - motivational" book. If there is time have them autographed by the author. It doesn't have to be personalized. There may be a fee but then again the publisher may be able to have the author autograph without an additional fee. If any of your gurus have a hard copy book that would be perfect.

Premier members get reserved seating at the front of the room. The reserved seating can be roped off, or just marked "reserved."

Include vouchers for selected services. Again this is difficult because I don't know what you're offering but the service might be professionally ghostwritten articles/ebook/report, SEO services, press release writing and distribution, website design, hosting, and/or sales letter. This will cost you but the service providers might be willing to give a discount. For example: a ghostwritten ebook of 20 pages at 250 words a page might cost you $200 but the member sees the price of $500.

I don't know how intent your bootcamp is but if there is free time in the evenings, the day before, or the day after, you might arrange for a concierge to be available for Premier members only.

Hope this helped.

Dee

[Jill Carpenter]

Where the heck did the rep button go on here?

My vote is on Dee's answer. What she said, and give them all a day at the spa

Seriously, she has a great list.

[Will Edwards]

Simple workable solution: make a Goodie Bag - an attractive physical product worth the money. Give it away at the event to the 5Kers; sell it to the $750ers at the difference.

Will

[YoYoPro]

Originally Posted by DeePower

I'm not sure how much time you have before the event and I'm not sure which gurus you have participating, but here are a few ways to differentiate between the two price points.

The $5,000 attendees get a name badge that says Premier Member embossed in gold the others get a b&w badge.

$5,000 package includes

Goodie bag - cloth bag with Premier Member and the name of the event. You might even be able to get the Premier Member's name embossed as well on the bag. The badge and the bag immediately set the Premier members apart from the $750 members.

In the goodie bag:

All materials should be professionally designed and printed on good quality cardstock.

Welcome letter personalized to the Premier member and signed by all gurus.

Tickets to Premier Member only cocktail reception with gurus in attendance

Prepaid cell phone with 5 hours prepaid and the phone numbers of the gurus for one on one coaching. Include an explanation with the prepaid cell phone and a blurb about each guru.

Leather bound calendar and nice pen and pencil set.

Vouchers for DVDs of the entire bootcamp. These can be available the next day for the previous day's session. Sell the DVDs for $125 each to $750 members but Premier Members get them "free" with their voucher.

Transcribe the entire bootcamp and have it printed in notebook format and sent afterwards to the Premier members.

Private online membership site that only $5,000 members have access to for 90 days or so after the bootcamp. They can post their questions and get advice.

T-shirt that says "I survived bootcamp" or something similar.

Tickets to Premier Member only luncheon or dinner with speaker.

Hardcopy "inspirational - motivational" book. If there is time have them autographed by the author. It doesn't have to be personalized. There may be a fee but then again the publisher may be able to have the author autograph without an additional fee. If any of your gurus have a hard copy book that would be perfect.

Premier members get reserved seating at the front of the room. The reserved seating can be roped off, or just marked "reserved."

Include vouchers for selected services. Again this is difficult because I don't know what you're offering but the service might be professionally ghostwritten articles/ebook/report, SEO services, press release writing and distribution, website design, hosting, and/or sales letter. This will cost you but the service providers might be willing to give a discount. For example: a ghostwritten ebook of 20 pages at 250 words a page might cost you $200 but the member sees the price of $500.

I don't know how intent your bootcamp is but if there is free time in the evenings, the day before, or the day after, you might arrange for a concierge to be available for Premier members only.

Hope this helped.

Dee

Doesn't get any better than this folks!

[Tyler Ellison]

Yeah I would definitely make some incredibly valuable offer to the people who pay $5,000 for free, and give the inexpensive attendees the opportunity to upgrade for the other $4,250. If you try to hide the fact that there are two dramatically different price points, it will only hurt your business and your reputation in the end. The $5K attendees are your platinum group and deserve a TON of extra benefits. Your lower-price bootcamp members get the event but don't get whatever super valuable benefits you include for the $5k members. It can be consulting, it can be a service, whatever. It just needs to be extremely valuable.

Other than that, I'd say you'd need two different events.

[DeePower]

The analogy between first class and coach is a good one. I've had some years experience in the hotel industry and I was thinking of the difference between the Presidential suite and a double.

Dee

[Michael Motley]

Originally Posted by HipHop

Ok, here's the context:

Me and my partner have been selling our 3 day boot camp from live stages for $5K.

We recently did a big online launch where we offered the live training as an upsell to our homestudy course and we priced the live training at only $750.

We sold a lot of them and we considered moving fully online for the live trainings and only sell our home study course during live events.

However, we just good hooked up with a promo company that wants to get us a ton of offline exposure but wants us to sell the $5K price point.

The problem is we don't want to mix a bootcamp with attendees that paid $5,000 and others that paid only $750.
They talk and we'll have some pissed off $5K buyers.

We also don't want to do separate events for both.

So we're considering making the $5K price point a VIP gig but we're not sure how to differentiate the 2.

So the main question is:

How can we hold an event with buyers from 2 significantly different price points and not make the high paying attendees feel screwed if they find out about the lower price??

LH

Have to make the 5k guys feel like they got something extra.

They need to get better food, or maybe a package that includes a room, some kind of promotional stuff (pens, hats-t-shirts kind of thing) or put together some kind of VIP MEMBERS ONLY site that gives them access to videos or podcasts or something like that.

They paid for a first class ticket on this flight, they dont want to sit shoulder to shoulder with the coach passengers.

OR...what DEE said

[Mubarak Waseem]

Increase the length of the 5K course...
Give them VIP benefits, and special 'reveal-all' classes.

And here's a thought...

Make it KNOWN that people have paid 5K for A VIP seminar...

Then almost at the end of the 750, say there are a few places remaining on th 5K, and you MAY get some people upgrading!

Mubarak