Blow it!. I never hit the Save button. This post was going so well, and I popped out to run some errands thinking I had clicked Save but returned to my laptop that had powered off and not saved the doc. (Note to self, use Ctrl + S without thinking. Better still, put on auto backup.)

Anyway, this post has now been resurrected by starting afresh but with the message still crisp and on top of my mind. It's based on my experiences of running a training business for over two decades and having trained thousands of people pass through our courses. It goes like this:

Focus on what the student wants, not on what you want. Then go the extra mile when you deliver it.

It's easy to think that we only need to do what we have been asked to do, but what really gets you noticed is when you go the extra mile and deliver beyond expectations. That's when you get excellent reviews and students giving recommendations about what you offer to their friends and family.

Begin by Answering Their Questions

The way to go above and beyond is to begin by answering your customers (students) questions. They are all struggling with questions every day in both their professional and personal lives. These questions invariably arise because of a problem or challenge. They seek a feel-good factor that comes when problems are solved because a life without problems is generally one we all seek.

In my experience, the questions they ask most often are usually the "how to do I..." questions. We all have these throughout our lives, no matter how experienced we are. I recently experienced a torn retina in my right eye that needed immediate laser surgery. I had dozens of 'what' and 'how' questions that followed the initial diagnosis and treatment. Hence, I not only sought the services of an experienced eye surgeon, but I hunted sources of information on the Internet to get advice and answers to these questions. We have a constant stream of questions in both our personal and professional lives.

For example, take Belinda, a recent graduate from a degree course in Fashion Visual Merchandising and Branding. She has just finished university and is about to start a new career as a Visual Merchandiser with a well known high street brand. 

Her head is full of "How do I..." questions such as:

• "How do I start...?"
• "How do I reduce...?"
• "How do I increase...?"
• "How do I overcome...?"
• "How do I stop...?"
• "How do I achieve...?"
• "How do I avoid...?"
• Etc.

As Belinda progresses through her career, these questions will continue as she finds herself in new situations with new challenges as calling upon her past experiences and skills that have served her so well in the past, no longer deliver the results she needs. Even when she becomes sales director earning a six-figure income, she'll still have these "How do I...?" questions.

If you answer your prospective student's questions, you are the solution to their problems, whether that's through delivering a course online, coaching 1 to 1 or running mastermind workshops. I wrote in a previous blog post about finding people asking for help, which you might find useful. It's called 12 Places to Find Your Profitable Fashion Course Topic to Teach.

Make Sure You Go the Extra Mile

If you spend time finding questions to be answered and then willingly and freely answer them, you begin the process of getting people to notice you and trust you. When you willingly offer some simple advice for free and help people answer their questions, you position yourself as the go-to person with expertise in your field. 

But there is an effective way to accelerate this process, and that's to go the extra mile and do something beyond what they expected. This could be as simple as providing a link to some extra information, referring them to another resource, recommending where to get further help or offering to give some advice in a quick call. The point is that going the extra mile is a key factor in building trust, getting noticed and building a reputation of being someone that is both helpful and cares.

On the road to the extra mile there are no traffic jams. In other words most people don't go the extra mile so it's a path to follow that has less competition.

Tips for Going the Extra Mile

• Look for simple things that mean a lot to the student but don't involve a lot of work on your part.
• Give freely; the time to charge comes later.
• Aim to trigger emotions of happiness and gratefulness in the mind of your students.
• Keep a record of what people are asking about, and then prepare a useful resource that you can share to answer their questions.
• Aim to make a difference.

Students Buy from People They Trust

We all buy products and services based on several factors. In the case of your courses, students will ask themselves:

1. Does the course meet my needs?
2. Is it within my budget?
3. Is it available now?
4. Does it cover what I want?
5. Can I trust that the person teaching me knows their stuff, are the experts, do they have the experience?

And that's why we need to build trust before they make their purchase because if they have never taken one of our courses before, trust has to be built in some other way. This process is one where you deliberately take action and requires a willing and helpful attitude, that you look for opportunities to help, and you know your subject well enough to answer questions. I wrote about these three little components of AOK (attitude, opportunity, and knowledge) further here.

Actions to Take

1. Start finding the questions by looking in the places where your ideal student can be found, discussing their challenges and issues and record the questions you find.
2. Adopt an AOK approach and start answering questions.
3. Go the extra mile and start building a reputation as an expert that cares.
4. Use the questions, feedback, and insights you discover in the process as part of your courses' planning phase. 

Cheryl Gregory is the Founder of The Fashion Student Hub, a marketplace for selling online fashion courses. We Teach Fashion teaching fashion subject experts how to create and promote their own online courses, generate revenue and serve the growing need for online education in the fashion sector.