How do I get an interested prospect to take action (= buy an online course)?

I love this topic and I know it all to well ;)
I work with small businesses Building Brand influence to increase sales on social media but I also Market info products like yours. I would ask: Do you have a specific process that people go through?

There are a few specific things I want to suggest off hand.
First and most importantly, though, is asking for the sale.
You have got to get comfortable stepping behind the cash register so to speak.
This question makes me smile and I had to reach out to you because I know exactly what you are talking about.

There are people that do well without having specific processes in place, they do it intuitively and without much skill. Those are few.

Most of us have to break through some self-limiting beliefs and hop behind the cash register and say/do some BOLD things simply because: People need to be told what to do.

It's great that you are talking to prospects and they are sounding eager. One small tweak that will most likely increase conversions is to simply say, "Okay great, are you by your computer now? I'll stay on the line to help you through the checkout process."

Schedule a follow up time or just call back in 3 days to "See how it's going." ;) Even if you KNOW they didn't buy. Sometimes people need reminded or something came up as soon as they hung up. If you look at it as a kind gesture, so will they. :) Have you tried this yet?

There are tons of directions we could go with this. I'll wait to see what your reply is.

Have a great day!

When people don't buy (even after they've expressed "interest") it generally means there's a problem with one or more of the following:
1. Product Positioning
2. Creation of a compelling (aka irresistible) Offer
3. Proper Pricing
4. Clear identification of your Market

To "sell" your product (i.e. to get more sales) you need the right message put in front of the right market with the right offer and priced properly in order to have the greatest probability of them buying.

There are always other factors (such as where they are in the buying cycle - for example perhaps they are just "shopping") but your strategy should take that into account.

And once you've figured out how much you can afford to acquire a customer (and other such key metrics) you are well on your way to growing your business.

My best advice is to consider that you don't "get" a prospect to buy. Get to know your market so well that you deeply understand what they want - then position your business and products to provide that to them.

In other words - Build a strategy around HOW your market buys and then make it easy for them to do so.

I'd be happy to walk you through the steps you need to take to create this strategy in a call.

In any case - I wish you the best of luck!

This is a super-broad question and there is enough to say about it to write entire books on.

That said, you've got a few basic tools at your disposal that, combined with some expertise in lead life cycle management, can really help you optimize your funnel and help you help your prospects help themselves.

The fundamental tools you have are messaging and your own ability to sell (even when it's a soft sell).

By getting smart about understanding the funnel, and using tools like marketing automation systems to implement lead nurturing and to start making sure that you're getting targeted content to prospects at the right time... And most importantly to make sure that you're always reminding your prospects why they signed up with you in the first place... You can seriously boost your engagement and help people get over their personal hurdles.

One of the biggest challenges in online marketing is the concept of friction vs momentum.

What you're talking about is leads who you felt had great momentum and were pushing towards the sale... What happens offline (where you can't see) is that life throws a bunch of friction at the which slows them down and they lose their momentum. When this happens the lead falls back into their routine and moves away from making a change (which is actually what you're hoping to get them to buy).

What you need to do is strategically apply some grease to your prospects to help them slide on through to the goal of changing their situation (by purchasing your course)

The good news is, the process if building this out will really help you understand your prospects, your customers, and as a byproduct your own business... Which is really cool :)

If you want to increase your conversion rate offer a buy now option. Or there could be some holes in your value proposition/offer.

I agree with the other folks here that something's likely wrong with your offer and you need to dig to figure out what that is.

BUT, I also sell online courses, and you should know that conversion rates here, like for everything we all sell, are low. You have to get a high number of people to a landing page to convert enough of them to make it worth your time. Even if you have a relatively high conversion rate, you need a lot of eyeballs to make it work. So just keep that in mind!