StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Mar 3, 2016 · 17m · top-founders

How to Sell an Expensive Course FAST with Sue Zimmerman Episode 24

Sue B. Zimmerman · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews Instagram marketing expert Sue Zimmerman to dissect how she builds, prices, and scales premium online courses. Zimmerman breaks down the marketing funnels, technical infrastructure, and relationship-driven acquisition strategies behind her high-ticket education business.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 42.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.5 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:001:59–6:13 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Scaling and Pricing High-Ticket Online Courses Nathan steers the conversation specifically toward info product unit economics, calculating revenue figures on the fly. Sue refines the context, clarifying the timeline and the difference between total units sold at lower pricing versus the high-ticket tier.6:13–10:12 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Course Creation Tools and Team Execution Nathan demonstrates familiarity with software stacks by immediately categorizing the purpose of Wistia, Ontraport, and OptimizePress, and inspects Sue's opt-in page live during the recording. Sue shares her funnel statistics and lead magnet conversion metrics.10:12–12:56 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Nurturing Leads and Price-Point Conversion Dynamics Nathan presses repeatedly on how Sue closes sales for her high-ticket course via email. Sue corrects his assumption by explaining that high-ticket items rely on stage trust and relationship building rather than direct email pitches.12:57–16:40 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Mid-Roll Promotion and Podcast Community Giveaway This segment consists of a mid-roll promotional contest read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, maintaining an amicable and brisk pace.1:59–6:13 · Guest teaching 4/10 Scaling and Pricing High-Ticket Online Courses Nathan steers the conversation specifically toward info product unit economics, calculating revenue figures on the fly. Sue refines the context, clarifying the timeline and the difference between total units sold at lower pricing versus the high-ticket tier.6:13–10:12 · Guest teaching 3/10 Course Creation Tools and Team Execution Nathan demonstrates familiarity with software stacks by immediately categorizing the purpose of Wistia, Ontraport, and OptimizePress, and inspects Sue's opt-in page live during the recording. Sue shares her funnel statistics and lead magnet conversion metrics.10:12–12:56 · Guest teaching 6/10 Nurturing Leads and Price-Point Conversion Dynamics Nathan presses repeatedly on how Sue closes sales for her high-ticket course via email. Sue corrects his assumption by explaining that high-ticket items rely on stage trust and relationship building rather than direct email pitches.12:57–16:40 · Guest teaching 1/10 Mid-Roll Promotion and Podcast Community Giveaway This segment consists of a mid-roll promotional contest read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, maintaining an amicable and brisk pace.1:59–6:13 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Scaling and Pricing High-Ticket Online Courses Nathan steers the conversation specifically toward info product unit economics, calculating revenue figures on the fly. Sue refines the context, clarifying the timeline and the difference between total units sold at lower pricing versus the high-ticket tier.6:13–10:12 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Course Creation Tools and Team Execution Nathan demonstrates familiarity with software stacks by immediately categorizing the purpose of Wistia, Ontraport, and OptimizePress, and inspects Sue's opt-in page live during the recording. Sue shares her funnel statistics and lead magnet conversion metrics.10:12–12:56 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Nurturing Leads and Price-Point Conversion Dynamics Nathan presses repeatedly on how Sue closes sales for her high-ticket course via email. Sue corrects his assumption by explaining that high-ticket items rely on stage trust and relationship building rather than direct email pitches.12:57–16:40 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Mid-Roll Promotion and Podcast Community Giveaway This segment consists of a mid-roll promotional contest read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, maintaining an amicable and brisk pace.1:59–6:13 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Scaling and Pricing High-Ticket Online Courses Nathan steers the conversation specifically toward info product unit economics, calculating revenue figures on the fly. Sue refines the context, clarifying the timeline and the difference between total units sold at lower pricing versus the high-ticket tier.6:13–10:12 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Course Creation Tools and Team Execution Nathan demonstrates familiarity with software stacks by immediately categorizing the purpose of Wistia, Ontraport, and OptimizePress, and inspects Sue's opt-in page live during the recording. Sue shares her funnel statistics and lead magnet conversion metrics.10:12–12:56 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Nurturing Leads and Price-Point Conversion Dynamics Nathan presses repeatedly on how Sue closes sales for her high-ticket course via email. Sue corrects his assumption by explaining that high-ticket items rely on stage trust and relationship building rather than direct email pitches.12:57–16:40 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Mid-Roll Promotion and Podcast Community Giveaway This segment consists of a mid-roll promotional contest read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, maintaining an amicable and brisk pace.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 68.5% · guest 31.5%0:00 · Nathan 68.5% · guest 31.5%3:00 · Nathan 32% · guest 68%3:00 · Nathan 32% · guest 68%6:00 · Nathan 27.1% · guest 72.9%6:00 · Nathan 27.1% · guest 72.9%9:00 · Nathan 40.5% · guest 59.5%9:00 · Nathan 40.5% · guest 59.5%12:00 · Nathan 30.1% · guest 69.9%12:00 · Nathan 30.1% · guest 69.9%15:00 · Nathan 56.1% · guest 43.9%15:00 · Nathan 56.1% · guest 43.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:57 Sue firmly rejects email pitch premise

Sue resists Nathan's repeated prompt to explain her sales pitch email, firmly clarifying that she never directly pitches high-ticket courses in email blasts.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 11:11 Nathan presses on stage-side closing tactics

Nathan challenges the vagueness of Sue's post-stage interactions by drilling into whether she pitches the $997 product directly or routes people back into the strategy guide.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:05 Sue contrasts high-ticket and low-ticket sales funnels

Sue educates Nathan on why low-ticket offers convert cold via email and ads while $997 courses require live personal rapport and long-term trust building.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:02 Nathan identifies software stack live

Nathan navigates directly to the live URL in real-time, instantly identifying LeadPages and detailing the functional role of each software tool.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Scaling and Pricing High-Ticket Online Courses 5412 Nathan steers the conversation specifically toward info product unit economics, calculating revenue figures on the fly. Sue refines the context, clarifying the timeline and the difference between total units sold at lower pricing versus the high-ticket tier.
Course Creation Tools and Team Execution 6301 Nathan demonstrates familiarity with software stacks by immediately categorizing the purpose of Wistia, Ontraport, and OptimizePress, and inspects Sue's opt-in page live during the recording. Sue shares her funnel statistics and lead magnet conversion metrics.
Nurturing Leads and Price-Point Conversion Dynamics 5624 Nathan presses repeatedly on how Sue closes sales for her high-ticket course via email. Sue corrects his assumption by explaining that high-ticket items rely on stage trust and relationship building rather than direct email pitches.
Mid-Roll Promotion and Podcast Community Giveaway 2101 This segment consists of a mid-roll promotional contest read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, maintaining an amicable and brisk pace.

Statements from this episode (8)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Latka: Sue Zimmerman Built Million-Dollar Boxer Rebellion Out of College
“Now, out of college, Sue built a million-dollar business selling boxers under the company name Boxer Rebellion.”
Nathan Latka Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 0:46
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zimmerman: Info Products Are Primary Revenue Driver, Coaching Close Second
“It's definitely the info products to date. Coaching is a close second, but we've definitely made a lot of revenue from our info products.”
Sue B. Zimmerman Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 2:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zimmerman: Sold 67 InstaResults Courses at $997 and 300+ at $197
“The 67 courses were sold since last October, and prior to that, just want to put this in perspective, because we've been selling courses for two years, we've sold over 300 in total when it was at that one 97 price point. So the 67 has come from the nine 97 pri…”
Sue B. Zimmerman Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 5:14
Disclosure
Zimmerman: Ontraport, Wistia, and OptimizePress Power Her Online Course
“In fact, Morgan is the brains behind building out this course, and we built it, Nate, using Entreport. We house the videos on Wistia, and we also use OptimizePress.”
Sue B. Zimmerman Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 6:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zimmerman: Facebook ads do not convert directly to $997 course
“We are not finding a huge conversion to the nine 97 directly from a Facebook ad per se, but we send them to one of our smaller eBooks and build and take them through this.”
Sue B. Zimmerman Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 8:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zimmerman added 6,000 subscribers since January, 4,900 from one guide
“Since January, we've increased our email list by 6000 new email subscribers, but 4900 came over from this strategy guide.”
Sue B. Zimmerman Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 8:48
Disclosure
Zimmerman: Most $997 course buyers purchase after seeing her speak or meeting her
“Most people that have purchased the course, and I'm going to be very transparent here, has, have purchased it after meeting me, hearing me talk on a podcast, or more importantly, seeing me on stage, and kind of swarming at me after I get off stage, and they wa…”
Sue B. Zimmerman Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 10:54
Assertion Partly supported
Latka: Ron Lynch grew GoPro from $600K to $225M in sales
“He is the guy behind GoPro. Took them to 600 K in annual sales to two hundred twenty five million, and he said the opposite of you.”
Nathan Latka Mar 3, 2016 ▶ 15:50
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more