280 - Pros and Cons of Pre-selling Your Membership

Turning your membership idea into a reality can take a lot of time and, often, a lot of money.

As such you might be trying to find a way to raise funds earlier in the process.

Some membership owners do this with a pre-sale.

A pre-sale works like this: you have a great idea for a membership, so you test its viability by taking it to your audience to see if they are willing to invest in your concept (even though it doesn't exist yet!).

If they are, then you can generate seed money to help finance the development of your membership.

However, before pre-selling your membership idea, it's important to know the pros and cons...

Essential Learning Points:

• How a pre-sale works, and how it relates to terms like "seed launch" or "founder launch"
• What the three main benefits to a promoting a pre-sale are
• Three big drawbacks to a pre-sale that you need to consider
• Our preferred alternative launch strategy with better chances of success

Important Links & Mentions:

• Pros and Cons of Offering Lifetime Memberships
• Creating an MVP to Test and Validate Your Membership Idea
• The Lean Live Launch Strategy
• The Membership Guys Facebook Group
• Membership Academy

Key Quotes:

“The vast majority of ideas don't go any further than just thoughts in a brain or scribbles on a page. This kind of pre-sell, having money change hands, makes you more committed.”

“If you don't get a good response to a seed launch, that doesn't tell you anything. That isn't a sign that your membership is not going to be successful.”