Grow a Premium Membership Tier for Your Best Customers
November 1st, 2012 // 2:47 pm @ Scott
Last month I gave you some quick, sure-fire ways to grow your business and make you more money. How many of them have you implemented and counted the dollars for so far?
This month, I want to share with you the ultimate combination and big money play that brings you more money, more often, from the top of your business pyramid and will result in the highest quality referrals possible.
I call it the Premium Priced Membership Tier. This is for your best customers. Here’s the thing, there are always people at the top that want to buy the very best of whatever it is that you’ve got to sell. These people appreciate a unique experience with your product or service, but also appreciate a unique buying experience. They want buying to be fun; something to brag about, something interesting, more of an event.
By creating a top tier membership level, more like a loyalty program, you can organize your best buyers and get them to pay for the privilege of being at the top.
Often things like customer events, special product showings, private VIP sales, benefits, networking, advanced resources and/or face time with you, the owner or other gurus in your area of interest, field trips together, and the list goes on, are great ways to engage and entertain your best customers to buy in at a premium level membership.
You want these people to feel like they are part of a “society.” That makes belonging very significant. Normally you can position this as an annual fee buy- in or sometimes monthly or quarterly.
It is also possible to make the membership free, just as a result of them doing or spending a certain amount of money. The result of organizing your customer in this
format will be…
• Increased revenue. Basically new revenue out of thin air, because it is all new things that you are creating and charging money for the right to buy, expenses will be minimal.
• Increased loyalty. They will always want to buy whatever it is from you because they “belong.” They will also look to you for advice and other things and for recommendations because of your positioning.
• Increased referrals, high quality referrals. These people want to tell others about you and about their status and involvement. You want to make that easy and facilitate ways to do it.
• Increased frequency of purchase. For the same reason as loyalty, they are always looking for what’s next from you. This is the case with loyal and premium buyers for any retail brand or other collectibles.
• Increased size of transaction. This is simply a result of all of the above. They will have less resistance to price. Period.
• Make it limited, scarce, prized
• Make them feel as special as they already think they are
• Emphasize their access to things before others get access
• Emphasize the prestige and status of belonging
• Show them that they will be among friends, and elite friends at that
• Plan to feature them in your newsletter, do interviews with your best customers, find ways to surprise them with interesting and thoughtful gifts and goodies
• Make the fee a right of passage.
Retention of these people is best based on relationships, new experiences, and keeping things interesting. You want to always be showing and reinforcing value. I always say who shows up the most makes the most money. That’s especially true with a group like this.
I’ve given you a secret to doubling your business: Mainly, you can dramatically increase your profits and stability with your best buyers. See what you can come up with, build the program, create the marketing, do the math. But first and foremost, set a date to launch, sell and introduce it to your customer base. I’ve done dozens of these for clients and would be happy to take a look at what you come up with, maybe we’ll share it with others as a little case study example. If your opportunity fits we might just help promote it, If it’s really interesting, lucrative, or intrigues me, maybe I’ll want to jump in, help out, team up or just become a customer. That’d be cool.
Challenge yourself. This type of thing keeps you excited about your business too. Go back and review last week, get to work, because you need customers to sell to in order to make this work.
Last thing I want to say is that with a program like this, you are becoming a boutique within a business. That’s where the power of small numbers comes into play.
Category : Blog
