Today’s conversation about membership programs for humane businesses fits under the P of Product of the Humane Marketing Mandala.
We’re talking about the membership business model today. I recently recorded a muse episode about two books I re-read regarding this same topic, so if you missed that solo episode go back and take a listen. But today I brought in an expert of this topic, whom I just heard on my friend Leisa Peterson’s podcast and loved her ‘realness’. So today I bring to you Lisa Princic.
Lisa is the owner of Scaling Deep. Over the last 12 years, she has helped 100’s impact-driven business owners dive deep into their unique value and business models to build sustainable & profitable brands.
Lisa helps coaches, consultants and professionals become thought leaders and increase their impact and wealth with membership programs. A staunch believer in business simplicity and intention, she helps her clients accomplish their goals by focusing on what to do AND what to ignore.
Lisa loves a challenge with adventure and can often be found skiing or biking in the coastal mountains of BC.
"When we can figure out how to do business in a way that has more impact or that feels richer and feels more rewarding, then we're honoring our desire to grow and still doing something good." – Lisa Princic @sarahsantacroce… Share on XIn this episode, you’ll learn about membership programs for humane businesses as well as…
- Memberships in 2022 and what people want now (compared to 10 years ago)
- Difference between a community and a membership?
- the different types of memberships
- Pricing of memberships
- How to get members to stay
- And much more…
Lisa’s Resources
The Membership Success Blueprint Bootcamp
Connect with Lisa on:
Sarah’s Resources
(FREE) Sarah’s One Page Marketing Plan
(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter
(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto
(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course
Marketing Like We’re Human – Sarah’s book
Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course
We use Descript to edit our episodes and it’s fantastic!
Email Sarah at sarah@sarahsantacroce.com
Thanks for listening!
After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There’s no opt-in. Just an instant download.
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Warmly,
Sarah
Imperfect Transcript of the show
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Sarah: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] [00:02:00] [00:03:00] [00:04:00] [00:05:00] [00:06:00] [00:07:00] Hey, Lisa. So good to talk to you today. Thanks.
Lisa: So great to be here.
Sarah: Awesome. Yeah, we just recently connected and I love these connections where you’re like, oh yeah, I have to have you on the show. And now you get all these pitches in your inbox. You have. So you, you must no, thanks. No, thanks. I just rather reach out to people that I really want to have on.
So when I heard you on Lisa, the other Lisa, a podcast, I’m like, oh yeah, that sounded real authentic. Even though authentic is such a buzzword, but that’s what I felt like when I listened to you. So
Lisa: it’s still a good word. I still like the word. Cool.
Sarah: Good to have you. I’m looking forward to talking about memberships and how to kind of create a membership site or whatever community, whatever you want to call it, but build it in a [00:08:00] humane way, because that’s what we’re all about here on this show in a way that is probably not just all about.
Scaling and going big or going home. And that’s kind of the feeling that I got. I got when I heard you talk. And then I went over to your website and then your website is called scaling deep and I’m like, oh yeah. Tell me more. Yeah. Tell, tell me a bit about scaling deep. And then we dive into. Membership sites.
Lisa: Yeah. Well, scaling team really means a lot to me and I probably don’t talk about it enough. So thanks for, thanks for asking, because it really is about honoring our nature of wanting to, to grow and evolve. And we’re not people who just, I mean, most people don’t just want to get to a point and they’re like, I’m done, I’ve stopped striving or trying things.
I mean, because again, it’s, it’s our makeup, right? So denying that it [00:09:00] does get us into. It’s like trouble. When we say we don’t want to earn, or we say we don’t want to grow, or we don’t want to make something big because it’s, it’s what we’re wired for all of us to different extents. So I think when we can figure out how to do it in a way that has more impact or that feels richer and feels more rewarding, then we’re honoring that and we’re still doing something good.
And we don’t necessarily have to do things that are changing the world overnight because that’s a lot of pressure also, and we’re able to just honor that, but then also just do more good with it. And I think that’s a lot of people who I work with too. They are people who aren’t necessarily motivated all by money and it’s and yet earnings is a way to evaluate.
Our success, our impact, and just how we’re performing as humans. So it’s a really challenging [00:10:00] balance and I really liked just the concept of, well, what would you do if you did grow naturally, would you be setting goals? Like I need to make this, this next year and setting huge team goals, or would you be also saying, well, how can we have like a greater impact?
Like how can we make the experience better for everyone? If there’s profit, for example, rather than just thinking about it as a, as an egocentric milestone that we’re bragging to the world. And I think there’s a lot more businesses out there like that than we know, but they’re just not telling us how huge they are, because they’re just growing naturally from doing good work.
And there’s a lot of memberships out there doing that. And they are the ones that are doing like loads and loads of ads or on every, or doing huge podcast tours and all that. And so they’re growing in a meaningful way. So I think that that’s just really what I stand for. And I want more people to recognize that you can have both.
And if you deny growth, [00:11:00] It’s frustrating also, because then we know we’re not living our potential just because we say, well, I’m not interested in money. So there’s this whole rabbit hole there of, I can really, what’s gone on in my mind for how many years really that I won’t get into.
Sarah: Yeah, yeah. To two things come to mind.
First of all, the ego. Yeah. It’s like the ego keeps talking to us and say, But, you know, you should really go bigger and bigger and bigger. And what I’ve learned over the years, even though, like you said, I’m not motivated by money to the extent where it’s almost like
Lisa: becomes a problem. Yeah. And that’s what I’m trying to get at.
It does become a problem because then we’re then in a way, we’re like, what are we doing, working with? All this hard for free and not really earning a lot or earning enough from what we’re putting out into the world. So monetizing the content and all that stuff has to, has to happen. And unless you’re just not in that position and then that’s a different, that’s a different thing altogether.
So I think that’s where you [00:12:00] there’s that balance. Because again, that can just be sabotage in some ways, like why aren’t we spending more time? I’m feeling relaxed and peaceful around her family or something, then hammering towards something and then not earning enough. So again, it’s a bit problematic. So that’s why I think if we get into purpose, And we feel like we working as a good thing to do.
Like it’s, it’s part of a a good way to live. I, we, we weren’t really built for leisure, you know, all the time and we want to work towards good things. So if we can do that and then find the join, it put a reasonable amount of time in, and then. The rewards come together from fulfillment, also the earnings, because we’re really in our, in our space.
And I think that’s really the answer. Yeah.
Sarah: Yeah. And you’re right. That the society does always put success together with money, but. We’re actually, I’m really challenging that I don’t think that [00:13:00] needs to be the definition of success. I’d rather have a business where I’m not working all the time and, you know, making less money, but enough money for myself.
And so I think that’s also what you’re saying with these membership that the membership business model, that’s something that is actually. Feasible it’s doable. Right. And it, it’s not, it doesn’t need to be in that slimy way where it’s like, oh, I’m spending all my time at the beach while making loads and loads of money.
That’s not, that’s not because that’s kind of what the membership site model used to be in the days. It was like this lifestyle,
Lisa: you know, all of online business, 10 years ago. All of them. When I first started really seeing everything online, it really was the laptop at the beach, like in the, in the early 2010 kind of era.
I mean, that’s what everyone was, was encouraging. So yeah. And members and any scalable model. I mean, I think what we’re seeing [00:14:00] is that in general, in online business, people are, are kind of dropped that because they know that that’s not real. And, and yet they’re just saying. Grow in a way that allows you to kind of sell one to many.
And, and then there are, you know, there’s, trade-offs, there’s, there’s intense moments when you’re growing a business based on some level of volume, there is launching, you know, there is, there are some there moments where you are going to work extra hard, but I think it’s all about trying to find a sustainable balance because, you know, and truthfully.
Most people are not sustainable. Like there, they are putting more in than they’re earning in a membership model at the beginning. And that’s kind of where I really want to come in and help people figure that out because we also don’t want to be working for years and not earning enough and putting too much time into it.
And you know, it’s really got to work. It’s got to work. After a certain period, like any startup, like [00:15:00] any business has got, there’s gotta be a tipping point where there are more profit and it comes at easier, you know, at a greater ease. Sure. And we’ll get into
Sarah: that. I want to start kind of like what we said before, maybe, you know, 10 years ago, what a membership site was and what people want today and how that has maybe changed over time.
I remember being a member of some of these sites. Sites or whether they recalled and it just downloads tons and tons of information downloads. And in the end, everybody just felt, and that’s a big topic for me. Everybody felt more anxious. There was more anxiety because there was a huge overload of information and people are like, ah, now I feel still like a loser because I don’t
Lisa: know what to tell with that.
And that was back in the day when we used to let people know. Tell us what success was and we did it discern. And because that was again, early days of online everything. And I think that’s when we would say, [00:16:00] well, if we don’t do all this, whereas now I think people are more savvy, no matter who they are and what sophistication they’re coming into the space, they are saying like this isn’t working for me or this, this isn’t despite the fact that you’re telling me, I need to follow these steps.
Like I’m stuck here and it’s not working. So I think we are, people are more vocal. So there’s no one really able to get away with just saying I’m going to overwhelm them and then they will, they will stay because they’ll feel like they should be doing something. I think the consumer is more savvy now, so that’s changed.
And that’s why we really have to be a very. Mindful of sort of what we deliver as membership, business owners as well.
Sarah: So more savvy. I would also add probably more conscious in terms of, you know, what I talk about, but I know you talk about it as well. The marketing piece it’s like, how do we get people into our membership?
Well, they’re more savvy, but they’re also more conscious. So they’re going to know when you’re. BSC me with all [00:17:00] this stuff that it’s, it’s just not realistic and feasible. So the consciousness has, has to me, has risen over the last few years as well. So yeah,
Lisa: I’m connection. I think people, well, I mean, I’m, I’m hoping, so, I mean, I’m really hoping that people are.
Buying for the right reasons. And I think that’s the part that I find the biggest problem is one is how things are positioned in marketing. When we hear example after example, after success, story of success stories in a program that’s had thousands and thousands and thousands of people in them. And then they’re cherry picking like.
A few people who were in the right place at the right time with the right niche and the right everything to, to have increased, like have done really well, really fast. And that’s positioned like, that’s the typical result when it’s actually, yes, it’s a testimonial, but it’s all it’s rather than saying, well, that only happened to like a half a percent of the people who’ve ever taken this program.
So I think there is [00:18:00] still lack of ethics there around that, because. You when you were selling something that nobody can like look at touch, see, feel, and try on, and then return you. I think you need to actually, you can use real examples of this person got this benefit and allowed them to do this thing, but not blanketing it in a, we’re not going to tell you the details.
They just came, joined this thing. Got this miraculous result, you can do it too. So I think that’s where I’m hoping people get still even more critical and, and discern what they’re really actually getting because this smoke and mirrors thing is still happens all the time. Yeah. It’s still
Sarah: happening. Yeah.
Yeah. Let’s talk about the different types of memberships, because I talked to you about kind of like a community. Membership sites. What’s the difference. Oh, okay. Okay. I think you have three types
Lisa: or, well, okay, so there’s three. Okay. There’s three models and three types. And I [00:19:00] know I could come up with some better language, but the three, so the three models I like talking about, and I’ll just show you karaoke briefly, or this sort of idea of like, where does it fit within your business model?
So there’s like the warmup. Which it’s the lead usually lower ticket, but I’ve got bigger ticket programs that I want to sell to these people. And that works really well. When you have a lot of people who come into your world or find out about you and just want to join something right away. There’s the flagship model, which is kind of your all in one.
Like this is the thing that you want to grow. And the only thing you want to grow, and you want to have all your deliverables in one place, like you want one program, and then there’s the follow-up. Easy, easier, because if you’ve got a lot of one-on-one clients or people you’ve worked with in programs, you can simply invite them to continue doing the learning and the growth over time together that you started working on and more privately together.
And then it just keeps them. Threaded to you. So tethered, I should say to you, so that, that those are like, those are ways to [00:20:00] think about it. Like how does it fit within your business model and what can you expect around like planning? Like what are you going to charge for it? I mean, if you’ve been charging expensive VIP days with clients, you can probably charge, you don’t have to charge a super low, low amount when you for up work, because it’s going to be a lot less than how they bought from you privately.
So I just, I do like to put that out there because I want people to see. Why they’re doing it, like, how does it fit within their model and the first place? And then second of
Sarah: all, can I, can I just go in there, warm up is, is kind of an audience building almost, right? Yeah.
Lisa: Okay. And he can work well for audience building if it’s lower ticket and yeah.
I mean, yeah. Cause it can be something that we could also be a loss leader. Like meaning if we have these amazing programs that we want people to do intensive work in, then we can have people come in to that. And if they don’t, it doesn’t even have to be profitable [00:21:00] if we’re really getting our clients, our main earnings from the membership who buy into different programs.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Good and interesting model. Yeah. And then I think you were asking sort of about like how to structure the membership when you have a membership and you’re asking, okay, what are the components of it? And I think that’s, what is that what you’re asking? Like, what does, like, what really determines what’s the membership?
Yeah. Kinda
Sarah: like, you know, is it content-based, is it community-based I remember those two types that you were mentioning, I just finished watching your four day. What is it called? Bootcamp? Yeah. Unfortunately that’s over, but hopefully it’ll do it again. So we’ll link to a waiting list or
Lisa: something like that.
Yeah. But yeah,
Sarah: you mentioned that the, those different structures, I don’t know what you
Lisa: call them. It’s structure for deliverables. And this is the [00:22:00] sustainability piece actually, which is good to talk about because a lot of people, again, feel overwhelmed by what they think they have to create for their members every month.
And then usually when they feel that way, they overwhelm their members by just trying to stuff too much. And so when I, when I look at what the three ways of delivering are in a membership, It, especially for a service provider, there is a mentorship. So I consider that live calls. It could also be a Facebook Q and a live all the way.
I that, to me borders a little bit less on, on mentorship, because it’s, it’s hard to get Q and a, it’s hard to ask the questions and have conversation in a chat when they’re live. And then there’s the education model, which really is content. I mean, there was someone in. That we had some VIP calls in the bootcamp this week, and there’s someone who has templates and training.
So every month she wants to deliver templates and trainings. So that is more of an education model. It may [00:23:00] have a community aspect of it. It may that the mentorships in the training, but it’s less about being coached. And then there’s a community aspect. And then I have someone in the inside the profitable membership club who has a live event every year and the people really want to stay the attendees, want to stay connected.
So she has. Community-based membership that that goes throughout the year and that is, she’s not providing, she’s doing prompts and events and things inside that, but it’s really about people staying connected and, and being inspired by the connections to take action and, and do the things that she’s encouraging them to do for themselves.
So those are three types and you can have all three. I just want people to really know what is your strength? Like? What is your strong. Suit in those three. And if you need to gradually build up because you don’t have loads and loads of members you’re, cause you’ll have a lot more in a membership of a thousand people than you will have 10, because if you’ve got [00:24:00] 10, people are getting access to you and they’re getting.
Handheld a bit more. So you don’t have to put in all the things that a thousand person membership would need to be successful because they’re going to be a little more on their own and lost. If you don’t have a few things, they can access in different ways. So that that’s really just. How do you focus on the one thing that you will do consistently every month?
Even if he changed like times call times and types of content and all that, it’s just rather than feeling you have to stuff everything in and have everything firing because it doesn’t have to, like I said, I don’t mind because I have calls and I do. Guest experts and like, I’ve got good content in there.
I don’t feel like if everyone doesn’t want to chit chat in the community all the time, I’m not necessarily going to put a prompt in every single day.
Sarah: I love that. I just started a a Trello board for our community because I just really, really did not want to do Facebook, did [00:25:00] not want to do mighty networks.
Did not want to do discord or slack. And yet the community wanted a way to be able to engage, which makes sense in between the calls. But I made it very clear that this is not going to be the place where I’m going to ask, you know, what did you have for dinner lights tonight, or what’s your favorite, blah, blah, blah.
And. And my people, they know that about we’re all the same. We’re like, no, no, no, we want a focused thing. And so Trello works really well for that. And I think that’s also what you’re telling your clients. It’s like, choose what you’re already good at and, and, and yeah. Make that even better. So
Lisa: yeah, like to try to find what you like, if you don’t want to be on Facebook.
Don’t get on Facebook unless you’ve got something so obvious that if you not on Facebook, because it’s like, your interest is like people who love certain kinds of dogs that do certain kind of dog things, and you want to have everyone in the whole world [00:26:00] be part of it that you know, that, that don’t have a lot of technical savvy.
Sarah: So difficult on LinkedIn.
Lisa: Yeah. Or, well, there’s not, I don’t even know if there’s a proper group. Yeah, there is. But it doesn’t work very well. You do want people just to show up and consume the content. And so. Even if I have a, have a slot community and it works really well, cause it’s really organized. I love how organized it is.
Probably similar to Trello in that it’s kind of got some linear Ines to it and it’s like, it’s not I don’t expect everyone to get all their information from there. I still email everybody every week with, and they all open their emails and that’s still going to be probably. Full stop. Like every, every week, if you really want to know what’s going on and don’t want to miss something, then that going to go there.
So I think that’s just how you can run it until conversations can begin more organically and then you don’t even have to be prompting. So if the goal isn’t to get everyone to connect and get to know each other, On and [00:27:00] communicate regularly. If the goal is a different transformation, like I want you to be successful in this thing, then it doesn’t have to be your number one focus because that’s going to overwhelm you.
And it’s also going to overwhelm you. If you feel like people should be chatting it all the time when there’s, when there’s not very many people. I mean, there’s a, there’s a number that. One of my members actually shared with me. She said something about the rule of 99 and one you’ll have one ambassador, really engaged person.
Who’s always in there and always talking, you’ll have nine who are in, in and out, and then you’ll have 90 who are alert and they’re still not having small membership. That’s what your probability of engagement is going to be.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing. What I love, what you’re saying is like don’t overwhelm yourself thinking that a membership site has to have thousands and thousands of videos already as you start.
Right? Because obviously if we look [00:28:00] at some of the big membership sites that’s.
Lisa: There’s history, right? There’s a lot in there from the past.
Sarah: Yeah. And so people can feel like, oh my God, I can never start one because I don’t have all of this content. And so you’re saying, well, then don’t make it a content-based membership.
Lisa: Well, or start with them. Like I actually am. We just have this call yesterday. And I actually have had couple content calls this week with bootcamp, people and members of the proper membership club. And. I like, I just say, look, layer, like, start with them. Like if you have month one, and you’re just starting with your founding members and deliver a month of one, and if you have months to, because you’re standing, starting with your foundational content, the things that are the most important, the things that you know best and that you believe people need first.
So rather than opening it up like a. Choose your own adventure. I would say, look at it more like where do they need to begin and how do you take them together on it rather [00:29:00] than feel like you have a smorgasbord? Because I don’t think people really want to dabble and you know, let’s face it. Most things people can learn for free somewhere out there on the internet.
So they’re paying you for curation. They’re paying you for a system to some extent to say like, or even just. Helping them remind them that they need to go back to the beginning. Like I always say that a lot of my members it’s like, can you just go back to module one because they’re still not doing the module one.
Like they still won’t go back to the foundation course or they’re there. So I’m always reminding them to go back to that thing that they last said that they would do if there’s. Launched their membership yet. Right. So I think that’s where we have the, they’re paying us in a way for that guide for that.
It, it guidance. And even if we are like a large membership, there’s still ways that people can ask I’m stuck. Where should I go? That’s part of the benefit. And that is really the value rather than going out there on the internet and scouring it and trying to piece together a plan. Right. So I think that’s where we don’t.
We can start just with. [00:30:00] Hey, here’s a, I have a foundational course. That’s nine modules. So I’ve started two cohorts of here’s what we’re going to work through this together week by week. And that’s been how two enrollments worked in my membership program. I walked them through the modules and that was really helpful for them.
So I think that’s where you don’t have to do that. But I also feel like if people are starting and you just have a hundred things, They’re not going to want to go through a hundred things, right?
Sarah: Yeah. It’s just too, again, it’s just overwhelmed. It’s like, oh, where do I start? Why did I sign up for this I’m feeling?
Lisa: Yeah. They get one thing a month. They get one focus a month that they’re not paying unless, you know, well, and actually even at high ticket, depends on the value of that to them, but I, you don’t have to give them. You know, a thousand dollars of value in the first month, if you’re charging less than that.
So you have to realize that that if it’s a hundred dollars a month, then it’s 10 months and they can pick up as they go. [00:31:00] And, and then if they have a founding members rate there, they’re paying less than say someone else who comes in later and might be paying double per month. And they might have access to some past things, but they probably won’t even go in there and look for it.
I mean, people still don’t even know how to get around mine and I don’t have that much in there, but they still, I have the still direct them to what I think I want them to watch. Yeah. Or like, or looking at. Yeah, no, they,
Sarah: they come for the ongoing, they don’t come for
Lisa: all this stuff. That’s exactly. Most people that don’t have the capacity to, to look through everything.
Yeah. Otherwise you’re
video1044023036: spending
Sarah: your time managing, say, you know, pointing people to where it is and that can. Cumbersome once you have a lot of members,
Lisa: I end dimension. So you just need a really good roadmap when you start
Sarah: or, or a help desk or
Lisa: something. Yeah, absolutely. That’s a good problem that we can deal with.
Good problems. We just want to make sure that. We are not operating that way when we’re not that big.
Sarah: [00:32:00] Yeah. Let’s talk about how do you keep members because, you know, first, I guess we’re struggling. Okay. How do we get members? But really what we’re wanting to do is it’s a sustainable concept that people aren’t going to stay and, you know, hopefully for a year, maybe even longer, depending on, I guess, depending on the type of membership site But how do we get people
Lisa: to stay?
So to me, it’s a funny one. I really just think it comes down to be awesome and be a great deal, like really good value. Like people, whatever you’re offering does need to be a good value exchange for them. I mean, people who use things even in a small way, Or appreciate that the resources there when they need it, like they will, they will stay because it’s, it’s a good value.
And so that’s why people often do a founding member rate because people are like, Hmm, [00:33:00] I might not use this next month, but I’m still paying half the price of people now or something like that. And they’re like, okay. So if I skip every other month of actually doing something, it’s still worth it to me or.
They get on a call, they learn one really, really important thing that changes how they do things. And that ROI is huge. So I think first of all, you’d know who your ideal member is, and you have to be clear that if someone, like, for example, someone’s in the profit membership club and they, they changed their mind about memberships or they’re like, I’m not going to do, I’m not going to, this is not, not long, no longer my goal or I’m, I’m putting off indefinitely then.
There, and then why would they stay? I mean, although if they’re growing any kind of business, I still can help them in a way, but in their head they’re like, oh, I’m here to learn about memberships there for, even if I’m learning about marketing and positioning and all the things you need to do for any program, it still means that it doesn’t feel like it’s the right fit for them.
Or they’re just [00:34:00] like, yeah. Or they’re just taking a massive break and they’re just going back to a one-on-one client. So they don’t have to do any marketing or anything. So the point of that is that yes, I’ve picked that lane and saying I help membership business owners and people who want to launch them.
That clarity brings people to me, easier her, like I’m here because I want this, this outcome. And then the trade-off is that you are not attractive to those who don’t want that outcome, even though you could help them. But then that would water down the conversations and the focus and the sharing. And you just get really clear on who you help and what the transformation is.
And then. That grows naturally because it’s easy to share something that’s easy to share. Right? So if you’re clear about who you help and in what way, and you always talk to those people and you always produce content that would appeal to those people and et cetera, that’s how you, that’s, how you be relevant to them.
And if [00:35:00] you’re, if you’re not. Sorry. It’s the positioning really? That, yeah, all the positioning. I think it’s all the positioning. And then as your membership matures, it is a little bit about the community and connection, because there are people who will stay because they just love you, or they love the other people they’ve met and they want to stay connected.
And it is the mentor. There’s some kind of mentorship connect community thing that is working for them. Helping them. Do more, better or less, you know, in an easier way. Like, it just, it does add value to them and you know, that stuff is priceless. Right. And people will know it. They will know if they’re like, oh, I’ve networked.
Or I met somebody and they, they, they gave me an opportunity that led to a client. And now I’ve paid for my membership for the year. I mean that, those relationships really do matter. So I think that that’s why I’m not into all the tactics. Like you can do this thing and get them to do this [00:36:00] thing. I just want people to stay because it’s the right for them, right?
Yeah. And I want people who are committed, honestly. Like I, I know not, everyone’s always committed to their goals all the time, but when you do get a group of people who are really committed and are following through and are taking action, you’ve got a really great place to be. And that’s really the foundation of what you want for your membership.
When you start our. Even if it builds slowly, you build that fire that can actually last and sustain because it keeps, you know, people who keep getting, like, adding to it who are, are, are also committed and then has sort of a life force of its own. That people can, that will see and feel, even if they’re just lurking and saying, I’m not doing this thing yet, but I want to because look at all these other people, so they might be there for inspiration.
Yeah. That brings me
Sarah: to another question because usually the membership model is like pay monthly and [00:37:00] cancel whenever you want. Yeah. And that kind of contradicts to committed, you know, it’s like, yes, we want you to commit, but yes, you can also cancel every month. So do we have to follow this model where it’s like, you can cancel anytime or, or do we say we’d love for you to stay for three months at least, or,
Lisa: or, yeah, I, I would, I mean, I even suggest that when you’re launching.
I suggest that because sometimes it might take a while to get your feet, you know, grounded and with what you’re offering and how, and learning a few things. Then you do need to have a few months where you can. Yeah, a little bit of stuff worked out. So I would, yeah, I would, I would agree that it’s good to get people.
Like I had a few times where it was three months to start and then some people do a year. I mean, some people do longer and I think that’s fine too. I think it’s up to you. Because, yes, you’ll get more committed. You’ll get less. Like looky-loos like, you will get less people [00:38:00] who aren’t committed and they won’t join and then you just get more people.
So there is a religious that trade off about what is the membership about to you anyway? Is it access to anyone at any time for when they need it or is it, is it really meant for people who are. Committed only and in a smaller group. And I think that’s what you just have to decide. And what, what matters to you?
Like what, what, and how kind of big your, your reaches and how much you’re charging? Like could you, you know, could, could you sustain it if you didn’t have some people here joining for maybe three to six months? Yeah, it’s a, it’s a personal choice. I mean, what really, to me, divine defines a membership is that you lose access when you cancel.
So regardless you cancel you, you don’t have the materials on like a course that you might have. And you’ve got lifetime access to it, which I think everything’s starting to change a little bit on that. [00:39:00] And a lot of people are letting me losing, I guess, still stopping access to things when the time is up and they want them to keep paying, have continued access.
So a lot of things are changing to subscription in general. However you know, you just decide on, on, what’s going to get you a secure foothold to get started. And if you have a group of founding members and they’re paying an irresistible price, that’ll also keep them.
Sarah: I do think, yeah, obviously everything is going much more in the direction of subscription, but living in the times that we are in right now, people are also kind of starting to count their subscriptions because you know, used to be new, to have a subscription now is like, Everything is subscription.
And so people are really more mindful. Okay. Again, do I get value out of
Lisa: this? Am I using
Sarah: it? Yeah. So,
Lisa: so you’re, again, retention is about getting people to use it. Yeah. And, and, [00:40:00] and like, there’s only so much within your control because if they’re just not interested in the results any more than there. Then then they shouldn’t be using it.
And if they still are interested in the result, how do you bring them back in and remind them? What’s what’s here. That’s, that’s the communication piece. And it is okay to check in once in a while, if you haven’t heard from a member and you’re still small and be like, Hey, do you want to do a quick chat? I mean, I did one recently with someone who hadn’t joined the community and hadn’t showed up in a call and she’s like, I’ve been really busy working in my.
And in her career and, but I’ve been working through the course and I loving it and she’s built through the whole court and she went through it kind of she’s in academia very academically and went through all the modules. And I had no idea. So we make assumptions that people aren’t using it to when they actually are.
They’re just not, we’re just not seeing them use it. Yeah.
Sarah: That’s funny. Cause I. Community to humane marketing circle is more about community and it’s a think tank to figure out and talk to each other about [00:41:00] what works in marketing and what doesn’t work. So and it’s interesting that, you know, there’s members that are never on the call.
And yet I see, because I use Kajabi, I see that they’re watching all the replays and one of them is sending me an email every time after the call. And she’s like, I get a lot out of it, you know, even though I’m not on the live calls, so you can’t assume what people want. So if it works for
Lisa: her, it works for me.
Exactly, exactly. That’s that’s the other thing we have to recognize is that we can. We’re not as in much control as another program where it’s like, here’s the, the set out, like we’re going to meet three times a month. This is the time everyone has to show up because it’s a mastermind. We’re not running that kind of program.
So we do have to let go a little bit and trust that people are going to self lead because that’s what they’re there for and make decisions that are right for them. And so that’s so really just becomes about who are the people who are in the community. Sitting on the fence, not taking [00:42:00] action because they need, they need a little bit more guidance than that’s.
That’s really who you have an ability to help, because really you do want people to get results too. You don’t want people that are in there and happy to also keep paying, but then doing nothing. I mean, you do the swine. It’s like, it’s their choice, but the more of them that you can actually start to.
Take action and be grateful for it and be good examples. That’s really how you will become successful naturally in this model.
Sarah: Yeah. It nurtures you as the host of the, of the membership or
Lisa: the community. Totally, totally.
Sarah: So good. I’m looking at the time and I think it’s starting to get time to wrap up, even though I have tons of other questions we might have to do around two
Lisa: anytime.
Sarah: Yeah. Do you, do you tell them. Where people can find you maybe have something free that you want to [00:43:00] share, but tell us all about,
Lisa: yeah. Well, the coolest thing I have is an app. So I have a scaling deep app, which you can go onto and get all the, like, get all the trainings that I have scattered around the globe.
There there’s some of them aren’t even available. So there’s a scaling team app that is, is there that you can access that. Cool stuff. And if you’re not an app person, you can go head on over to my website, scaling deep.com. I have like a, a free download on how to set up, how to scale your business with a membership site.
You can get that at scaling gate.com/playbook and yeah. Or just come find me. I’ve got a Facebook group. I’ve got all kinds of ways, but you can see all that. If you land on my homepage on my website. Wonderful.
Sarah: I have one last question and that’s what are you grateful for today or this week?
Lisa: I think I just grateful right now for my energy because of how to an energetic week running the bootcamp.
And I’ve just felt really good. I’m grateful that I’ve feel like I’m in purpose and I’ve been having so much fun [00:44:00] that I’ve been focused on serving sustainably in a way, and also building assets. So I’m less, I’m less, I’m doing it for reasons of like needing to meet. Hit certain goals or certain outcomes.
So just really feeling grateful for the, for the momentum I’m creating in my business. And the trust that I know that things are going in the right direction, then that’s just a really good feeling. We don’t always have it. So I’m super grateful for that.
Sarah: Yeah. And that’s such a good, last word on, on memberships because we can get lost in those launches and just focus on numbers and how many new members do I need.
So I think it’s such a beautiful way to wrap this up and say, well, yeah, Enjoy the energy and, and enjoy serving the people who are there. So
Lisa: we got a lot of the work or else we, yeah, it’s not the right word.
Sarah: Amazing. Thank you so much for being a guest on the humane marketing podcast.
Lisa: You’re so welcome.
Thanks for having me.[00:45:00] [00:46:00]