Something I’ve been saying to clients a lot over the past few months is “You can spin anything”.
Not in a negative, trying to twist things way, but in a positive way that supports clients.
It often comes up when I’m helping clients create their dream programme.
A dream programme is:
- one that excites you so much you cannot wait to share it with the world
- one that people say “yes” to because it’s so aligned to what they’re looking for
- one that you feel passionate about because it embodies all aspects of you
When I’m working on this, we tend to spend the first half of our time together looking at the bigger picture. I ask lots of questions. For example:
- How do you like working?
- Do you thrive on a weekly routine?
- Do you love new experiences?
- What experiences?
- Does the thought of doing anything “week-in, week-out” bore you to tears?
- Do you love connecting with people live and in person?
- Do you enjoy working with small groups?
- Do you love going deep and working 1-to-1 with people?
- Do you enjoy working with large groups?
- Do you long to be up on stage talking to hundreds of people at a time?
- Do you dream of hiding away, writing, creating courses and prefer to have lots of space for reflection and processing?
- Do you love networking?
- How much alone time do you need?
I want to get to know them so that who they are infuses everything they do.
Often in the creation of programmes, we ignore all of this. Instead, there’s a tendency to look at what is out there, what the people we admire are doing, what our “competitors” are doing – and model our programmes on these.
On the surface the programme looks great, it has all the “right” elements – yet when we start sharing, it doesn’t sell. We’re left confused – what’s going on – it’s the “perfect” programme, why isn’t it selling?
Often, it’s because there’s a key ingredient missing – our magic.
When our programmes are not infused with our own, unique, magical energy people don’t resonate with them – and they don’t buy.
So, it’s vital that you’re excited by it – that you think it’s the best thing ever and will totally transform people’s lives.
If you’re not excited by it, prospective clients won’t be either.
Which brings me on to “spinning”.
When we think of our dream programme – the one infused with your unique magic – it’s likely to be a little “out there”. Something different, maybe it’s never been done before. You might be afraid clients won’t go for it. Maybe there’s some aspects of it that could be potential objections.
However, it doesn’t matter what the objection is, there’s a way you can spin it to make it a desirable experience for your clients.
The easiest way for me to demonstrate this is to give you a few examples:
1. Hosting a retreat in your hometown and you’re concerned people won’t travel.
If you live somewhere that’s a bit out of the way, don’t assume people won’t want to travel. Rather than change the venue, or hope no-one brings it up as an objection, make a big deal of the location and let them know why it’s perfect. Maybe it’s in a beautiful setting, or it has easy access from major roads, or it’s a particular quirky venue that adds to the whole experience.
For example, I host VIP Private Intensives at my home and when I lived in Mid Wales it was a long way from pretty much everywhere. I would tell prospective clients right up front that my private intensives were held in a beautiful Tudor hotel in the heart of Mid Wales, surrounded by stunning scenery. I shared what a great opportunity it was to get away from it all. As part of the package, one night’s accommodation was included so they didn’t have to factor in any additional costs. They could therefore arrive the day before, taking advantage of some precious down-time before their intensive with me. I made a big deal of the beautiful venue to counteract the time it would take to get there.
Since we’ve moved to Shropshire, I now include 2 nights’ accommodation in our self-contained annexe at the bottom of our garden. This makes my Private Retreats even more transformational as it allows processing time after our deep dive, to assimilate the shifts.
2. Running an online programme and people don’t get results because they don’t do the work
If you have an online programme one of the downsides is, people don’t get round to doing the work. To counter-act this you could include a live element – a 1-2-1 call, a group call, some other form of accountability. Then when you’re telling them about it, you can say something like “we’ll meet the following week so I can answer any questions you have or give you feedback on your work so far”.
3. A high-end group programme and people are concerned they might not get enough support
Whilst group programmes are hugely transformative, people might be concerned that they might get “lost” or not get their needs met. So have ways that they can reach out if they get stuck. Maybe include hot seats each month so they can get laser coaching from you. Maybe you have another coach whose job is to support your clients with some 1-2-1 support. Maybe they complete an accountability report each week and you let them know that you’ll give them feedback on it each week.
Whatever the potential objection, think about ways to counteract this – and make a big point of sharing them as a reason to buy.
I’m fairly confident that there isn’t a single objection that cannot be spun to sound super exciting to potential clients.
Of course, not everyone will like what you create – but you’re not trying to get everyone on board. You want to work with dream clients – those that resonate with you. And I’m confident that if you love something – your dream clients will too.
So, be bold – what is it you’d LOVE to create?
If you’d like some help to create your dream programme that fly off the shelves, I offer a 30-day intensive to do exactly that.
Check it out here: https://www.melinaabbott.com/align/
