5 Claude Code Prompts to Sell Your Course Before You Build It
Most people spend months making a course nobody asked for. These are the exact prompts for all 5 steps, in order: find the idea, build the sales page and waitlist, make a week of content, sell it, then make it.
Most people do it in the wrong order. They build the course first. Months of slides and videos. Then they try to sell it, and nobody buys.
Flip it. Sell it first, then build it.
Here are the exact prompts for all 5 steps, in order. Make one new folder on your computer for your course, and open Claude Code in it. Do every step in that same folder. Each step saves a file, and the next step reads it. So you can stop after any step and pick up days later.
Step 1. Find the product idea
Fill in the 3 lines in [brackets] first. For the last one, go look: what courses, coaches, programs and books do people in your niche already pay for? Write down what you find.
Step 1 of 5. Help me find the course I should sell first. About me: - What I know: [what you know, from your job, your life or your hobbies] - Who I want to help: [who] - What people in my niche already buy: [courses, coaching, programs or books you've seen people pay for] Before you give me ideas, ask me up to 6 short questions in one message, and wait for my answers. Ask about: results I've gotten for myself or for others, what people ask me for help with, what I know that most people don't, what the things people already buy are missing, and what proof I can show. Then give me 5 small course ideas from my answers. For each one: - Who it's for: one specific kind of person. - The problem it fixes, in their words. - The result they get. - Proof people already pay: which thing on my "already buy" list it sits next to. If nothing on my list is close, say so. - Why I'm the right person, using only what I told you. Pick the one people already pay for that I can teach best. Tell me why in 2 or 3 lines. Then write product.md in this folder with: a plain course name that says what it is, who it's for, the problem in their words, the result, 4 to 6 lessons it would cover, why me, and what people already buy that's close to it. Rules: - Use only what I tell you. Never invent results, numbers or stories about me. - "In their words" means words I gave you. If I didn't give you any for an idea, write [their words] instead of making them up. - A course, not an ebook or a PDF. Keep it small: a few short lessons. - No price yet. Write [my price].
Claude asks you a few questions, then gives you 5 course ideas and picks the one people already pay for. It saves it in product.md.
If you already ran my interview prompt and have a course idea, put it in the first line and say "start from this idea".
Step 2. Build the sales page and the waitlist
Now you have a website. Paste this:
Step 2 of 5. Build the sales page for my course, with a waitlist. Read product.md first. Then ask me up to 4 short questions in one message, and wait for my answers. Ask: - the price I'm thinking about, and the date I can have it ready - the email autoresponder I use to send emails to my list, if I have one - where I want the page to live: my own website, or I don't have one - my brand colors, if I have them Then make the page as one file: site/index.html. Put everything inside that one file, so it opens by double-clicking it. On the page: 1. A headline that names the result, for the person in product.md. 2. The problem, in their words. 3. What's inside: the lessons from product.md, one line each. 4. Who it's for, and who it's not for. 5. Why me, using only what's in product.md. 6. The waitlist: a big button that says "Join the waitlist". Tell them they'll hear first when the doors open, and get the founding price. 7. A short FAQ with the 4 questions a buyer would ask. For the waitlist, connect the page to my email autoresponder, so everyone who joins lands on my list: - If I told you my autoresponder, tell me step by step where to find its signup form code, and leave a clear spot in the page marked PASTE YOUR FORM HERE. When I paste the code in, check it's in the right spot. - If I don't have one, tell me I need an email autoresponder (the tool that stores my list and sends my emails), and that most have a free plan to start. Don't pick one for me. Leave the PASTE YOUR FORM HERE spot and tell me what to look for in whichever one I pick. Then tell me, step by step in plain words, how to put this page online in the place I told you. Rules: - No fake testimonials, student results, numbers or countdown timers. If a spot needs proof I don't have, leave it out. - No promises about income or results. - Don't put claims about me on the page that aren't in product.md or my answers. - Plain words, short sections, easy to read on a phone.
You get a sales page in one file, site/index.html. Double-click it to see it.
Then connect it to your email autoresponder, the tool that stores your list and sends your emails. Use whichever one you like. Claude tells you where to find its signup form code. Paste it into the page, and everyone who joins the waitlist lands on your list. Claude also tells you how to put the page online.
Step 3. Make a week of content that points to the waitlist
Step 3 of 5. Make me a week of content that points to my waitlist. Read product.md and site/index.html first. Then give me 7 short videos, one for each day. Each video teaches one small piece of the problem in product.md for free, and points people to the waitlist. For each day: - The first line I say on camera: plain, specific, under 15 words. - What I teach: 3 to 5 short lines, written the way I'd say them out loud. - Where a story from me goes, if it needs one: [my story: ...]. - The call to action: comment one word to get the waitlist link. Use the same word all week. If I didn't give you one, pick one short word from the course topic and tell me. - A caption, 1 to 3 lines. Mix the week: some mistakes, some myths, some quick wins, and one about why I'm making this course. End every video with a question, so people comment about their own situation. Save it as content-week.md. Rules: - Don't give away the whole course. - Use the words the buyer would use, from product.md. - Never invent stories, numbers or results. Use [my story: ...] blanks. - Don't put claims about my experience in my mouth, like "I see this all the time", unless it's in my files. - No hype and no income or results promises.
You get 7 videos in content-week.md. Fill in the [my story] blanks with your real stories. Then post one every day.
When people comment the word, send them the waitlist link. Write down every comment and every message. You'll need them in Step 4.
Step 4. Sell it before it's built
Only sell to people who raised their hand: the people on your waitlist and the people who commented or messaged you. Never message strangers.
Fill in the [brackets], and paste in the people who commented and what they said.
Step 4 of 5. Help me open the doors and sell my course before it's built. Read product.md, site/index.html and content-week.md first. My launch details: - Founding price: [founding price]. Full price later: [full price]. - Ready by: [the date you'll deliver it] - Payment link: [your payment link, or "not yet"] - How many people are on my waitlist: [number] - The people who commented or messaged me, and what they said: [paste them here: name, then what they said, one per line] Only write to people who already raised their hand: people on my waitlist, and people who commented or messaged me. Never write messages to strangers or bought lists. Give me: 1. The people who commented, sorted: who to message first and why, using their own words. 2. A short DM for each of the top people. Start from what they said in their comment. Ask first, don't pitch first. 3. A reply for when they say yes: the founding price, the date it's ready, and the payment link. 4. A reply for "not now": thank them, and ask what it would need to have for them to say yes. 5. 3 emails to my waitlist: doors open, a reminder, and last call. Only a real deadline. 6. Update site/index.html: swap the waitlist button for "Get it at the founding price" with my payment link, the date it's ready, and this promise: if it isn't ready by that date, everyone gets a full refund. 7. Save the DMs, replies and emails in launch.md, with a table at the bottom for me to track who I messaged, who paid, and what they said. Rules: - Warm messages only, to people who commented, messaged me or joined my waitlist. No cold DMs. - Sound like a person, not an ad. Keep it short. - Never invent numbers, results or scarcity. If there's no real limit on spots, don't say there is. - Don't put claims about my experience in my mouth, like "I see this a lot", unless it's in my files.
You get a DM for each person, starting from what they said, plus your replies for yes and for not now, 3 emails to your waitlist, and a sales page with a buy button. Everything is saved in launch.md, with a table to track who paid.
Only sell what you can deliver by your date. If you don't build it, refund everyone.
Step 5. Make the product
Now you build it, for the people who already paid. Paste this:
Step 5 of 5. Now help me make the course I sold. Read product.md and launch.md first. Use what buyers said in launch.md: their questions and their words. 1. Write course/outline.md: the lessons in order. For each lesson: the title, what they learn, what they do, and what they leave with. Show where each buyer question gets answered. 2. Then write each lesson as its own file: course/lesson-1.md, course/lesson-2.md and so on. Each one has: - A script I can read on camera, about 3 to 6 minutes, written the way I'd say it. - A worksheet at the end: a few questions or a checklist they fill in. 3. Leave [my story: ...] wherever a story or example from me would help. Never make one up. 4. When you're done, list anything you needed from me and didn't have. Rules: - Use only what's in my files and what I tell you. Never invent results, numbers, stories or quotes. - Don't put claims about my experience in my mouth, like "people tell me this all the time", unless it's in my files. - Keep it as small as the course I sold. Don't add lessons I didn't promise. - Plain words.
You get an outline and every lesson as its own file, each with a script and a worksheet. Claude uses your buyers' own questions, so the course answers what they really asked.
The limits, honestly
- It's still work. You still have to post every day, and you still have to send the messages. AI doesn't do that part for you.
- Claude only knows what you tell it. If your Step 1 answers are thin, the idea will be too.
- Putting the page online and collecting emails is your step. Claude walks you through it, but you click the buttons.
- A yes in a comment isn't a sale. Only a payment is.
- It leaves [my story] blanks instead of making up stories or results. Fill them in with what really happened.