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I haven’t minced words over my opinion, thoughts and feelings about ‘forced continuity’ selling. It’s a fantastic concept. But there are great ways to implement it – and some stupid ones too.
I’m a Jay Abraham student. Jay teaches, as one of 3 ways to grow a business, the desirability of ‘repeat transactions’. And forced continuity is one way of getting them – automatically.
- If you trim borders and trees, you could set up an arrangement with clients to work on their garden every month – and bill them for it automatically.
- If you’re a hair-dresser, offer customers a special discount if they’ll commit to having a haircut every month or 3 weeks.
- If you’re a carpet-cleaner, tell your clients you’ll come to their home every 6 weeks and clean their carpets – and charge their card automatically.
All these are value-added services to your clients – because you are offering them MORE of what they already purchased from you.
And doing it conveniently, so they won’t have to remember to call you each time.
Plus you give them a discount, to reward them for their loyalty.
Yes, continuity selling can explode your business profitability.
On the digital web, the concept of continuity selling takes on a slightly different and unique shape – one such is a MEMBERSHIP SITE model.
The idea is similar. Sign up to a program. Pay monthly (or yearly, even maybe weekly) dues. Get access to valuable content, resources, tools or other. And continue receiving it for as long as you’re a member.
Simple. Yet not EASY. Unless you know what to do. And when.
That’s what I learned today in an excellent report by my friend and expert blogger Yaro Starak. And that’s what sparked off this post.
The Membership Site Master Plan by Yaro Starak is a free 72-page ebook. The provocative promise is voiced in the tag line: “How To Make $250,000 By Launching Your Own Membership Site”.
Well, that’s the only bit of the report that gave me pause. It didn’t pass my “Yeah, right!” test. (Y’know, that’s the one where you read the promise and go “Yeah, right!” – and shake your head in disbelief before clicking away to something else!)
But the rest of the report was pure gold. So let’s give Yaro the benefit of doubt, and not blame him for using a hypey headline to attract eyeballs, ok? 
And if you’re still cynical, just do this. Download the report and read Page 6. If that doesn’t convince you about the kind of person Yaro Starak is, then nothing I say will.
Ok, so if you’re still with me, you’ve decided to learn from Yaro’s rich experience with continuity selling. And the free report gets right into the meat of the content without much fluff.
At the very beginning, you’ll hear about “Business Models” for membership sites – and see how you can have members paying $27 a month, or $999 a month – your choice! You might be surprised at an ‘insider secret’ Yaro reveals on page 9 which I have employed very effectively for many years!
After that, the report gets into the step by step approach to creating a membership site. It will come as no surprise that you need positioning and pre-eminence to run a successful membership site and attract new members to it. But what will amaze you is how simple it is to GAIN pre-eminence using a simple approach Yaro Starak shares in the report.
And yes, ANYONE can do it. All it takes is a free blog, some of your time, and focused effort on reaching that goal. Oh, and no… it is NOT ‘instant’!
Things like blogging, list building, and the natural consequence – reputation building – take time. And Yaro’s report shows that there are some tricks experts use to grease the slide, turbo-boost the engine, speed up the pace.
Though not daunting, the technology required to set up a membership site on the Internet is a barrier for many entrepreneurs. And in this report, Yaro takes readers through the process of finding suitable software – by telling the story of how he struggled, made mistakes and finally settled upon a free software tool to use for his membership site!
(Side note: Having bought several membership site scripts, and spent hundreds of dollars on them before realizing their drawbacks, I deeply appreciate this section in Yaro’s free report!)
Another section comparing the various payment processors that can handle recurring billing for membership sites is worth reading over and over again – because taking heed will save you endless problems when you get started with your own membership site.
Just when I thought this was way too much information to be giving away, and that Yaro was probably going to withhold the rest for a paid program, I saw the chapter titled “Affiliate Management” – and that one is ‘required reading’ too for any serious student considering a membership site promoted through affiliate partners.
By now, I’ve hopefully made a convincing case for you to take the time and effort to:
* download Yaro Starak’s 72 page FREE report
* invest the 45 minutes or so that it’ll take to read it
* use the information to plan your next membership site
But in case I haven’t, here’s a quick overview of what else is included in the report.
There’s advice about planning your membership site content – what to use, and how to present it.
There’s guidance about pricing your program for maximum impact.
(Another Side Note: Yaro says: “Pricing too low can end up killing your membership site because everyone perceives your offer as low quality.” Reading that bit was an ‘Aha’ moment for me, and I’m reconsidering my price for “The Smilenaire Way“ membership program.
Almost every single member who has joined is surprised at how much value is provided for the very modest membership price – which means many who did NOT JOIN probably think there can’t be much on offer for such a low price!
Hmm… I’ll seriously think about hiking it up a notch, so join today if you want to beat me to it!)
And then, there’s a section in this free report that I do NOT think should be there – simply because it’s like putting a hand grenade into the hands of a little boy! He won’t know how powerful it is – but can pull out the pin easily.
That’s the section Yaro has put in about “Psychological Triggers” for selling.
And this section segues nicely into the pre-launch and launch suggestions that he so liberally and generously shares. Remember, these are tested and proven techniques that Yaro has himself used to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars – and they work.
What is unusual is that it’s all included in a free report – that’s rare in this niche!
But then, that’s probably why I’m taking so much time – and over one thousand words – to wax lyrical over a free report!
There’s a lesson in itself. Many more of his affiliates will to the same, and then readers who download and see the report itself will talk about it. That creates a ripple effect that spreads far and wide – showcasing the power of quality content to get passed along.
Anyway, even with only this much inside, the report could sell for $27 or more. And yet Yaro appears to be just getting warmed up!
The next chapter is about handling attrition – one of the BIGGEST problems membership site owners face, and one that is often completely ignored or brushed away by everyone teaching how to build membership sites.
Like I said before, I’m a Jay Abraham trainee. Jay teaches attrition control as one of the most powerful levers to boost profitability. And that’s because every member reclaimed is the equivalent of attracting a new member to join!
While it doesn’t go deep into the specifics of beating attrition, The Membership Site Master Plan does provide some helpful tips to minimize loss of members, and strategies to re-fill the empty slots so that your income from a membership site remains constant.
Finally, Yaro addresses the Holy Grail of all information marketers – how to get paid for NOT working! In other words, how to set your membership site on auto-pilot so that your content continues to earn money even without any extra work or effort going into it.
Once again, in keeping with the fact that this is an overview and not an in-depth guide on the subject, he doesn’t dig deep into specifics but paints an overall picture that’ll give you a bird’s eye view of how to structure your membership site for the greatest impact.
There’s also a short chapter about selling your membership site, with details like where to find buyers, how to present your offer, and even guidelines on how much you can expect to make from selling your membership site.
The Membership Site Master Plan is well-worth reading if you have even a remote idea of setting up a membership program, either now or even in the future.
I don’t know for how long this will be available as a free download – and recommend that you pick up your copy right away.
And then, please read it. Think about it. And act on it.
That’s the way to reap rich rewards from Yaro’s experience, expertise and generosity in sharing these powerful membership site secrets.
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