How to Keep Clients Longer
© 2006 - 2009 Kendall SummerHawk
If you're offering packages, multi-week or multi-month coaching groups, platinum style programs (what I call "PSPs"), consulting, or membership programs then keeping your clients motivated and accountable is something you want to pay close attention to.
One of the most fun ways to accomplish this is by creating friendly, healthy contests, or competitions that make it exciting for your clients to stretch beyond what they currently think is possible and create breakthrough results.
I've experimented with creating contests and "everyone can win" competitions in my Brand Authenticity "Multiple Streams of In-come Marketing, Mo-ney and Soul program and clients love it!
My contests are designed so that everyone has a chance to win, and each participant is competing WITH themselves, not against anyone else.
This is important because it honors my values that each of us is capable of achieving more than we think possible, that when each of us stretches and grows we allow others to do the same, and that there is abundant success available to each of us, without taking anything away from anyone else.
For example, one mini-contest Brand Authenticity clients just completed was to raise their gross in-come by 30% within a 60-day time period. The prize was a great ebook, written by Brand Authenticity member Sandra Martini titled, "How to Repurpose Your Work: Do It Once and Get Paid Again AND Again" that normally sells for $147.00.
At first, most didn't think they could win, especially since the 60-day time period was over the month of Dec and Jan (not usually great months to in-crease business).
But they took the challenge seriously! Before they knew it the sixty days were up and a whopping fifty percent of our participants had succeeded in winning the first prize!
And, they now know what it takes to in-crease their in-come by 30% in a short period of time, which means they'll be able to easily do it again.
Can any coaching, design, consulting, organizing, training or other service style business create a contest? Of course!
Here are a few simple ideas to spark your creative thinking:
For the Executive Coach - Create a challenge for your client to inc-rease their team's productivity by 20% in 30-days. The prize? A pair of tickets to their favorite professional league game or a private lesson with a semi-pro golf instructor at a local exclusive club.
For the Marketing Coach - Challenge your clients to inc-rease their mailing list by 20% or their inc-ome by 30% in a 60-day time frame. The prize? An information product they've been coveting.
For the Holistic Health Practitioner - Ask your clients to take three mini 5-minute "breathing" breaks at the same time each day for one month. The prize? An extra session with you!
For the Career Coach - Create a 2-week challenge that motivates your clients to complete their personal assessments and new career investigation assignments in record time. The prize? Dinner for two at a high-end restaurant.
For the Professional Organizer- Challenge your clients to clean out the clutter in five areas in five days. The prize? A one-day trip to a local day spa.
The trick to making your contest, or challenge work is to set the bar high enough that reaching it feels like a stretch and make the bar a specific number or dollar amount.
Be sure to keep the time-frame sixty days or less (else people will lose motivation) and finally, make the prize something they covet, even if they could buy it on their own (that's not the point!).
One other tip, you are supplying the prize but you don't always have to pay for it out of your own pocket. You can easily get another business to donate the prize, especially if you offer them publicity by mentioning them in your newsletter, writing a press release or giving them a glowing testimonial on their website.
It's our human nature to want to "best" ourselves so why not take advantage of this innate quality and use it to help your client create accountability, breakthrough perceived limits and create extraordinary results for themselves, thanks to your creative inspiration?
About the author:
Kendall SummerHawk, the "Horse Whisperer for Business" delivers smart, savvy ways entrepreneurs can turn their hectic business into a smooth-running, fun, 6-figure money-making dream. To learn more about her book, Brilliance Unbridled, and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.kendallsummerhawk.com
NOTE: You are welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end). I would also appreciate a copy of your reprint sent to kendall@kendallsummerhawk.com