Scott Whitaker is an author and membership business guru. You will learn in depth, the seven systems of growing a membership site business. He is the author of “Why People Quit Your Membership Program & What You Can Do About It” and an online course “Seven Systems of a Growing Membership Business.”
Scott has led membership organizations in both non-profit and for profit companies since 1997. He’s noted for having built the largest for profit coaching network for pastors of churches; growing from just 72 pastors a year to over 3,000 pastors a year.
Main Questions Asked:
- What got you into the membership site business?
- What are the main benefits of offering a membership program?
- What are the Seven Systems?
Key Lessons Learned:
Membership Business
- After building up the network for pastors, Scott learned a number of lessons that apply to nearly every kind of business. Almost every business owner should become an expert in the idea of membership.
- A membership business is a model that works in many different industries including coaching, real estate, travel, and more.
- A membership program is unique because your customers are giving you the authority to reinvest into them as members of your community.
- A membership program creates an affinity relationship between the members themselves and not just the content creator.
Growing Your Membership Business
- A system is not just software, it’s anything that saves you stress, time, energy, and money.
- If you find yourself losing money or wasting time, you have to look at the systems you have in place and improve them.
- There a seven systems that exist in every membership business:
- Content - Everything that you provide, broken down into categories and put onto a content calendar.
- Assimilation - How you take someone who has just become a member and get them to the point where they feel like they own the membership. What do you want your members to believe, achieve, and receive?
- Marketing - You should have your market, message, and media match and you have to constantly reevaluate what’s working. Look at the source of your leads and whether or not they are high quality over the long term.
- Retention - There are two key words when it comes to retention, results and relationship. You need to have both aspects in your want your members to stick around. There should be a pain of disconnect, which is ultimately tied to the results and the relationship.
- Ascension - You should have at least three levels to your membership business. There will always be someone who wants the highest level of service. You want to maximize and leverage the different levels. Multiple levels also allow a member to descend instead of cancel.
- Strategy - A process for constant improvement and optimization of all your key metrics.
- Leadership - A business can’t grow beyond the abilities of its leader. What are you learning and applying that will help your membership business grow?
- Thinking about your membership business, what system or area of your membership business are you most concerned about?
Final Tips
- Check out Scott’s website and his course if you are serious about growing your membership business.
- Make learning a priority, your business will now grow beyond what you are capable of so you have to grow too!
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Links to Resources Mentioned
http://Whypeoplequit.com
https://scottwhitakerconsulting.com