The #1 marketing question we get is “How do I sell my cohort if I have no audience?” Our advice: stay scrappy and remember that every prospect matters.

One of the best ways to get students to enroll is to get them on the phone. You might be thinking, “But is that scalable?” It doesn’t matter because at the start, you just need to get butts in seats. You want to do things that aren’t scalable because it will help you stand out.

And guess what? Maven instructors have reported 70-80% conversion after talking to a student on the phone. If you have fewer than 30 leads, this is the highest ROI tactic to fill your cohort. Within 15 minutes, you can secure an enrollment, so it’s worth your time to take the call.

For example, Wes Kao, cofounder of Maven, did exactly this in the early days of the altMBA, the four-week cohort-based course she created with bestselling author Seth Godin. For the first two years, she hopped on calls with prospective students every week, and included her cell number in emails that went to tens of thousands of subscribers. Doing this helped close students and fueled their growth to thousands of alumni.

Not every prospective student will want to hop on a call, so be generous with sharing your calendar. If you do get bombarded with requests, that’s a good sign there’s demand for your course! We recommend blocking off 2-3 hours/week to meet with prospective students. Remember, if you have a $500 course and you convert 3 students in an hour, you’ve just made $1500. The ROI is excellent.

So, how do you get students on the phone? What should you say and how do you follow up?

Here's the step-by-step:

If you have a direct pay course (i.e. no application), add your Calendly link or cell number to your automated email campaigns.

For example, you could write:

Looks like you were considering joining [Course name]. I’d love to chat with you to answer any questions and share more re: what other [designers, marketers, etc] thought of the course. What’s your cell? I’ll text you to find a time. Mine is [insert number].

Or add this at the end of your email. This is the actual copy from Brandon Zhang and Aadit Sheth’s course, Makers Mark. Notice how they put their call-to-action in the P.S.

P.S. If you’d like to chat 1:1 about the program, text me at [cell number] and we can find a time. If it’s easier for you, feel free to see if any of these dates work for you: [Calendly link]

You can also offer a phone call to prospective students who message you on LinkedIn or Twitter. Remember that every lead matters when you're building your audience.

Your primary objective is to get your prospective student to enroll. But that doesn’t mean you should talk nonstop about your course. It’s not about you—it’s about them! So, listen to their challenges, offer guidance, and mention how your frameworks can help them. Your prospective student should leave the call feeling pumped that they got valuable advice in 15 min. It should make joining your cohort feel like a no-brainer. The implicit message they’ll get is: “That was so helpful. There must be lots more where that came from if I take this course.”

Here are some questions to ask:

This is 50% about the questions you might ask as conversation starters. The other 50% is about using the prospective students’ answers to move the conversation forward and tailor your pitch. You don’t need to list every framework and lesson from your course—stick to the ones that will be most impactful for this individual.

Your prospective student will be most energized immediately after the call. You should capitalize on that by sending a personalized text or email.

Text copy (sending a text is more personal than email and gets better read rates):

Hey [first name], I loved meeting you today. Let me know if my tips on [topic] were helpful. I mentioned briefly that I’m creating a cohort-based course on [topic] starting on [date]. You’d be an amazing addition to the cohort. I have a few people signed on who are dealing with the same issue. Here’s the link to sign up: [insert course pay link]. If you have any questions, just text me.