There’s a lot of benefit to creating a membership program for your business. (And NEARLY every business can and should do it. (Examples can be found HERE.) The benefits include:
- financial growth and leverage (do something once, get paid many times over.)
- high-profit margins
- flexibility and portability (work when and how you want)
- a deeper connection with your market
- an ability to live and work on your own terms, without compromising your own values and priorities.
It also — as I’ve said before — can streamline and simplify your current business… bringing everyone under one umbrella and serving them from there. You can read more about the incredible BENEFITS of a membership HERE.
BUT, here’s the thing: A LOT of people fail at FILLING group programs or membership… and here is what they all have in common:
They FIRST fail to sell their “other” product or service to private, individual clients… and so they approach a group program as a way to offer people a group rate and hope to get a lot more YESes.
Wrong move.
First, this applies a PRICE solution to a NON-price problem. Do not assume that because people didn’t buy, it was because your pricing was too high. Price is just ONE factor of your offer. If you fear your private fees are “too high,” first consider further building out what you offer…. upping the perceived (and real) value of what the offer includes.
Second, offering a group program when you haven’t yet figured out the “private client thing” — i.e. how to sell 1:1 — actually COMPLICATES the sales process for you. Not ONLY do you still have to learn how to package your offers so they are a HELL YES (as you do when selling a private 1:1 service) you must also clear the hurdles inherent in group programs:
- a group dynamic
- how much individual attention will people receive
- how effective will a group program be, and possibly
- a DATE / LOCATION hurdle if your offer includes anything LIVE.
No matter where you are in your business, you CAN and SHOULD consider expanding into group, digital and/or membership programs. It’s just smart business, a savvy time leverage and an unparalleled income multiplier. BUT….
But,
But,
But….
It MUST be about them. The group offer MUST be BETTER because it’s NOT private. It must make SENSE. You must build out the group offer — NOT simply as some “discount group rate,” — but ALSO as something that offers your market something DIFFERENT, something with more layers, something more dynamic than private work alone.
If you’d like MY PERSONAL help building out YOUR leveraged income, PLEASE check out The Membership Miracle and join our BETA group of 20 do-ers, with incredible bonuses.
