Let’s zoom out real quick before we zoom in and talk about how you might use a signature thought leadership workshop to help grow your platform.

We need to zoom out and answer: what’s the purpose of an introductory product in your ecosystem to begin with?

And to answer that, we have to understand what type of thought leader you are. What’s your goal with your work? And what, if anything, are you selling?

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For an easy way to remember this, I’ll break it down like this:

Cash.

Card.

Invoice.

🤔

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Activating Thought Leaders = 💵

Certain thought leaders offer the majority of their programs to the public for free, or for a very small fee. In our 3-day course, we call these thought leaders activating thought leaders, but to give you a quick way to remember and categorize this type of work, I’ll use the keyword “Cash.”

Why? Well, with activating thought leaders, much of their financial support comes from grants, government entities, donors, fundraising, sponsorships, speaking engagements, books, or other very affordable products.

From the individual people they’re trying to help, they’re likely not collecting any money at all, but if they are, it’s small amounts (whether debit, credit, or cash, but I’ll summarize it as cash).

It’s important to note this because this directs what type of book/workshop/etc. you would create as an activating thought leader.

When you know your thought leadership type, and the financial system for supporting your work, you can better answer: what am I using an introductory product for?

Let’s take a real-life activating thought leader as an example: Ron Finley.

He works to transform our food systems and food access through community education and policy reform. He helps people learn to grow their own food in small/unconventional spaces so they can have access to fresh produce in areas where “fresh” and “healthy” are hard to come by.

For his Plant Some Money initiative, as an example, he developed seed packets as biodegradable "paper" that look like currency. People can plant them and grow real food 🌱. One goal here is to communicate that having fresh, healthy foods is like putting more money back in our pockets and our communities.

So, back to the discussion of workshops that can help your platform . . .

If you’re an activating thought leader ( 💵) like Ron Finley you might develop:

Workshops meant to educate and motivate donors—workshops with compelling stories crafted out of data and actual experiences
Presentations for government entities or other organizations with grants/resources to help you
Talks meant to grow awareness of the issues you're solving for (like Ron's TED Talk)
Affordable workshops to directly educate, inspire, and converse with the people you want your work to help

Systematic Thought Leaders = 💳

Other thought leaders are selling mid-ticket and high-ticket products or services directly to the people they want to help. We’ll use the key word “Card” here, as their clients are likely paying on their debit/credit card online.

Systematic thought leaders create perspective-shifting frameworks that they sell directly to individuals. These individuals are using the thought leader’s ideas and products to better their lives or businesses.

And whether it’s a wellness program or marketing intensive, the customer doesn’t have to get approval from a boss or board of directors to spend the money. They can pull out their card and press “pay.”

Again, this is important because it directs the type of workshop or other introductory product you might want to offer.

Let’s use Tara McMullin as a real-life example of a systematic thought leader.

Tara's work is focused on helping people work better and more sustainably. She has a long-running podcast (called What Works) that features audio essays/episodes on topics like "the politics of hustle culture" and "the economics of work relationships."

If you’re a systematic thought leader (💳) like Tara McMullin, you might develop:

Workshops you sell as primary products inside your business
A workshop you sell to attract people who might also be interested in your deeper services (for example: Tara co-owns a podcast production company)
Low-cost workshops featuring client case studies and stories (ex: a 1-day summit where you co-host sessions with clients who've implemented your frameworks, which offers a form of "proof" you know what you're doing) that help to grow your audience, make income, and get people excited about your deeper offers

Elite Service Thought Leaders = 🧾

Finally, there are thought leaders who want to bring change to the people inside corporations, nonprofits, universities, departments of governments, and other organizations . . . and they do that by selling their programs to the entity as a whole.

Or more accurately, multiple people inside the organization’s leadership likely have to sign off on the purchase, but the benefits of the program/service reach the whole organization or a department in the org.

Because elite service thought leaders are typically selling very high-ticket offers (5, 6, or 7 figures), they typically invoice their clients and get paid via check or electronic deposit.

So our keyword for this type of service is “Invoice.”

We can infer a few important things by using a thought leader such as Vernā Myers as an example.

She has a company that sells diversity and inclusion trainings and consulting to organizations. Whereas, yes, an individual can come buy a single training, she is really set up to sell "bulk seats" to entities that have 100, or 1,000 . . . or 10,000+ people they're buying for.

Note: some elite service thought leaders don't have any individual options and instead only sell bulk or company-wide programs. Or, they only sell high-level consulting/service packages to corporations, governments, etc.

If you’re an elite service thought leader (🧾) like Vernā Myers, you might design:

"Lunch and learn" style workshops for HR, managers, and executive leaders who make decisions on which outside consultants to hire or what trainings they'll pay for that year
Workshops that individual employees might be interested in, so that you have more of an "in" with getting someone else in the organization to understand the value of bringing your trainings to everyone
Workshops that you can deliver to the workplace as a whole that will serve as an introduction to your frameworks and what you can help the company/school/entity achieve if hired for a longer term; I have a client who will often sell ~$5,000 one-time trainings as just a taste of what she can really bring to the organization

You may be wondering . . . if you're an activating thought leader, does that mean you can’t ever offer a mid-ticket or high-ticket product? Or, if you're an elite service thought leader, can you never do (insert the thing you want to do here)?

No. You might mix in new offerings and ideas to your thought leadership that are still in your niche or area of expertise, even if they seem to align in price/strategy to another type of thought leadership.

Over time, you will likely attract a new segment of your audience and want to serve them with a new product, and that's okay.

It's to be expected actually. These are just guidelines to help you make decisions by.

There’s so much more to talk about as far as workshops go (there’s over an hour of content inside our 3-day course on workshops alone), so for now I’ll leave you with this:

When you design a workshop, you are basically coming up with the answer to five questions (outside of the main question: what do you want the attendee to leave with or be able to do after your workshop?):

What teaching, research, or training elements will you include?
What (if any) supplemental materials will help you help attendees?
Will you build in any practice or assignments into your workshop? Will the attendee leave with something completed?
What opportunities (if any) will attendees have to receive coaching or feedback?
What type of community will you create or encourage with your event?

So, your workshop decisions break down to 5 categories: training, supplementals, practice, coaching, and community.

Okay, that’s all fortoday. I’ll be back in your inbox soon to discuss a less common introductory product with you: a recurring subscription.

Until then,