How Russell Brunson Uses The Same Knowledge and Information to Craft a $100M Value Ladder
By Connor
The first time I ever used a value ladder was when I was fitness coaching. It couldn’t have been more simple.
I did 2 things as a fitness coach:
- Diet plans
- Exercise programs
When I first started out, I sold them together. But I kept getting the following objections:
- “I don’t need an exercise program”
- “I don’t need a diet plan”
So I decided to pivot and start offering them separately. I wasn’t making $10k/mo or anywhere close, but that simple pivot made the sales process A LOT easier. I was able to give people exactly what they wanted right when they needed it.
A few months in to this new offer strategy, one of my exercise clients asked me if I did diet plans. I said “yes” and wrote one up for him.
A couple hundred extra per month on my side with basically ZERO selling. I had 4 other exercise clients at the time, so I made the same offer to them.2 of the 4 took me up on it. Again, with virtually ZERO selling on my part.
I was in college at the time. I was going to school and working part time at a tech startup. So I only had about 10 hours per week to do fitness coaching.
The only way for me to make more money was to take on more clients (which I couldn’t really do) or charge more money (which made sales A LOT more difficult).
But this value ladder approach completely changed the game. I didn’t have to sell more. I didn’t have to take on more clients. I didn’t have to make my sales process difficult.
But I could still add a few extra hundred dollars to each client’s value every month.
So that’s exactly what I started doing.
After 1 month, the exercise program clients got a quick diet pitch and the diet coaching clients got a quick exercise pitch. And when I say “pitch,” it was a VERY soft pitch:
“Hey, we’ve been doing really well with X. I also do Y, which can really help us kick this into high gear. Interested in chatting a little more about it?”
That’s basically all there was to it. It didn’t make me rich. But it helped me earn more while doing the SAME amount of work with the SAME exact knowledge.
It was another 3 years after I made this change before I ever heard the term “value ladder.”
But I haven’t looked at business the same since.
The GOAT of Value Ladders
I can’t say with 100% certainty if Russel Brunson came up with the idea of the value ladder (my gut tells me no), but he CERTAINLY made them popular.
And honestly, his discovery was very similar to mine – accidental. Russel first discovered the idea of a value ladder selling a “how-to” guide for potato guns.
It started with a simple DVD video. He was netting $17 a day. $37 for the video. $10 for ads.
Then Google changed their advertising costs. Overnight, he was losing money.
So he pivoted.
And created his first value ladder. A very simple upsell. When people bought the video, he offered them a chance to buy the entire kit they needed to build the gun at a heavily discounted price.
This covered his ad spend and let him start making money again. Obviously, the potato guns didn’t make him rich. But the CONCEPT he discovered is what has let him build Click Funnels into a $100M/year empire.
A $100M Discovery
So what did he ACTUALLY discover with the very simple potato gun ladder?
How to get PAID.
When I say PAID, it’s an acronym. Funny enough, it does lead to getting paid more money, but here’s exactly what it stands for:
Package
Access
Investment
Delivery method
That was the big discovery he made with his potato gun ladder.
You can take the exact same information.
And change how you package it, the level of access customers have to you or your team, the level of investment, the specific delivery method, and increase your profits.
For almost ZERO extra work on your part (aside from the initial setup).
He talks about this concept in his book Expert Secrets.
At a conference he went to early in his career, Russel knew he had to get his hands on a book called Think and Grow Rich. It was all anybody at the conference was talking about.
After night 1, he went back to his hotel room and ordered the book on Amazon so he would have it when he got home. It was only $9.97.
A few months went by and he never got around to opening the book. He kept telling himself he would start reading it “tomorrow.” But “tomorrow” quickly turned in to 6 months.
After 6 months, he went to another conference where people were talking about the book again.
He went back online and searched for Think and Grow Rich, but this time, an ad for the audio version of the book came up. It was before the time of audible, so it was $97 for a package of 10 CDs.
He gladly purchased it and tore through the audio version of the book.
What’s the difference between a book for $9.97 and the audio version of that same book for $97? Nothing.
Literally not a damn thing.
The content is exactly the same. All that’s different is the packaging. The same information was worth 10x the price because the packaging was different.
Value ladders can be THAT crazy.
Ok, back to potatoes.
Obviously, his value ladders are MUCH bigger for Click Funnels.
But he uses the same concept he did when he was selling potato guns.
He teaches the exact same thing on each rung of his ladder.
The KNOLWEDGE and offer doesn’t change at all.
He simply changes the packaging, access, investment, and delivery method.
And it’s a $100M value ladder.
Offer Creation
Before we dive into one of Russel’s value ladders (no way I could break down the whole thing. It’s MASSIVE), I want to make a brief reference to $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi:
If you’ve read the book, you’ll likely remember this picture.
The point he made was that the more you niche down, the higher prices you can charge because people will feel like your product/service is SPECIFICALLY for them.
It’s exactly what he did with Gym Launch. He had a very specific avatar in mind and ONLY catered to them.
In this example, he touches on a concept that is CRITICAL for creating good value ladders.
The actual CONTENT in a “Time Management” course vs. a “Time Management for Outbound B2B Power Tools and Gardening Sales Reps” course is essentially the same.
But you can increase the price by over 10,000% because of how you package the offer.
The perceived value goes through the roof simply by changing the wrapper on the same exact knowledge.
And that’s exactly what you do with value ladders.
The DotCom Secretes Value Ladder
At this point, Russel has created HUNDREDS of different value ladders and sales funnels.
Trying to break them all down would be impossible. Even trying to break down his overall, macro-value ladder would be ridiculous.
Instead, we’re going to focus on the micro-value ladder for his book DotCom Secrets.
The picture above shows you exactly how it’s broken down.
I think this is an old breakdown because he took out the free quiz component. The first step in the ladder now is the free-book + shipping.
The free book + shipping is a self-liquidating offer. That basically just means that Russel uses the book to cover his ad spend.
He gets people to the first rung on his ladder with ads. Then he covers the cost of the ad by making us pay for shipping.
He’s essentially getting customers for free.
Now we’re in his ecosystem, and he can start putting us through his value ladder.
Here’s the overall breakdown:
- Free book + shipping – self liquidating offer
- Invisible funnel webinar – this is a webinar that Russel runs talking about the invisible funnel. But it’s also Chapter 18 in his book!
- Home Study/Event – this is a virtual event where he teaches you the concepts in the book
- Inner Circle – this is the first level of access to Russel’s mastermind. He’s teaching you the same thing he does in the book, but with MUCH more hand holding.
More Value. Same Knowledge
Did you notice something in that ladder?
EVERYTHING he teaches is based off of the book. The information and knowledge NEVER change.
What he does change is the packaging, access, investment, and delivery method.
But it’s all based on his book.
You get more hand-holding in his inner circle than you do in the home study/event, but the information is no different. You might get a few more templates and plug and play formulas, but again, the knowledge he gives doesn’t change. It’s simply the level of access to him and his team that changes.
Don’t believe me?
Take a look at this testimonial from one of his customers:
Based on the price, I would assume Liz is in Russel’s inner circle.
She pays $25k to be a part of it.
And she is the first to tell you that you get the exact same stuff for FREE in his book.
This is a testimonial that Russel puts on his site!
It’s something he wants people to know.
And that’s the power of value ladders.
You can take the same offer, the same information, and the same concept, use the PAID formula, and create ladders that let you sell at every single stage of the customer journey.
How to Start Getting PAID
I think it’s pretty clear that value ladders are ESSENTIAL in your business.
It’s what allowed me to make a couple extra hundred bucks per month per client when I was fitness coaching.
And it’s what allowed Russel Brunson to sell $1M worth of his own products online within 1 year of graduating college and scale Click Funnels into a $100M year business.
So what can you start doing today to implement value ladders in your own business?
Study the PAID formula. And start implementing it into your own offer.
You have all the knowledge. You know the big transformation you promise. Now all you have to do is start breaking that offer down into stages.
Here’s a SUPER simple ladder that any coach can start using TODAY:
Free, 15 minute call → $247 power hour → $1427 for 5 coaching sessions
Think about how much easier it is to pitch a free, 15 minute call compared to a $1427 package of 5 coaching sessions.
Once you get them to say “yes” once, they’re 10x more likely to say “yes” again. It’s leveraging a key idea in business call prospect inertia (which I learned from JK Molina. You can check out that full breakdown here).
Plus, you’re able to give some value first. The service itself end ups being your biggest sales lever.
Then you simply use some special “one-time offer” pricing to close the deal and upsell them to the next rung on your coaching ladder.
If you want a behind the scenes look at the sales piece of how to close on a call like this, feel free to book a free 15 minute call with me!
That’s all I’ve got for you today.
Have a kickass rest of your day!