No matter what title you subscribe to… author, speaker, trainer, coach or consultant… you are very likely in the business of impacting positive change in the lives of your clients. Whether your work inspires a shift in behavior, imparts new skills or alters one’s perception leading to positive change, we all share a common desire to make a lasting and meaningful difference in the lives of others by sharing our gifts, talents and expertise. Pretty cool stuff, isn’t it?
But there’s a problem that’s been brewing for years now – one that we “experts” don’t dare acknowledge for it threatens the very fabric of our work in the world. Put bluntly, we are in the midst of a “Content Delivery Crisis” and it’s hindering our ability to impact lasting, positive change in the lives of our clients, not to mention stunting the growth of our beloved bottom line.
So brace yourself my friend. It’s true, but it’s not so pretty. It is estimated that less than 20% of all clients who invested in your personal development programs made it past the second step of your process or consumed more than 20% of your program. This estimate applies to CDs, tele-series, webinars, home study programs and membership sites alike.
Think about this for a moment. If your clients don’t consume your life-altering content, they can’t apply your proven process to their life. If they don’t apply your process, they will never experience the benefits you promise and in the end… they don’t experience the shift they desire. This “pattern of non-completion” has now prompted feelings of guilt and remorse or simply affirmed their previous feelings of “not enoughness.” UGH! That’s not at all what we wanted for them, yet sadly it is happening everywhere at this very moment as clients drop off, participation dwindles, and more and more clients throw in the towel.
So how do we – as I’ve suggested in the title of this blog – become the solution rather than the problem and inspire our clients to stay in the game long enough to experience the transformation we promise?
It requires a commitment to ENGAGE our clients at a new level and to accept the fact that as thought leaders it is not only our responsibility to provide a proven process for positive change, but to also inspire the consumption of what we offer so they actually apply what they learn and in the end, experience the result they came to us for.
My team and I embraced this challenge head on 4 years ago and have honed over a dozen engagement strategies that we now infuse into the virtual courses we deliver to our clients and utilize in our course design and delivery service. Here is my very favorite engagement strategy you can adopt right away that will immediately increase consumption, inspire participation and in the end, give you the opportunity to impact lasting and meaningful change.
Engagement Strategy #1: Provide a tool for measuring where clients are at the onset of their journey and then again at the end. By taking a snapshot of where your student is at the onset of her journey, and illuminating the gaps, you underscore the importance of the work they are about to do with you. Whether your transformation is in weight loss or sales excellence, as clients see the vast distance between where they are now and where they want to be, we solidify their
commitment to remain in the game long enough to experience the shifts we are promising.
Furthermore, we dangle the “carrot for completion” as we explain that you will take stock again at the end of their journey to pinpoint triumphs, celebrate shifts and acknowledge accomplishments.
I hope I’ve inspired you to lead the call to go beyond simply providing a proven process to our clients and instead, inspire our clients to consume and complete our educational programs so that in the end they experience the powerful, positive results they came to us for.
I’d love to hear about your experience and successes in establishing connection and engagement with your students! And watch for more Engagement Strategies to come!
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If you are a WSA Premier Member, please join me on July 24, 2013 at 9am PST when I will be the WSA Virtual Roundtable guest.
To register, be sure to go to your Members area.
