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In this episode, Tara breaks down the "how" to build a continuity program. In this year's FHL, Russell Brunson explains that "if you don't have a continuity program, you don't have a business". But the big question now is, how do you get started to build a continuity program? This episode will give you the answer.
Hey everybody, welcome to today's episode of
Tara Bryan:the course building secrets podcast. I am thrilled you're
Tara Bryan:here with me today, hey, this is a post FHL Funnel Hacking live
Tara Bryan:conference podcast today. And I recorded a bunch of them when I
Tara Bryan:was there. But this is the first one post conference. And one of
Tara Bryan:the reasons I'd love to do this one, is because after a couple
Tara Bryan:of days, you get the chance to reflect and really think about
Tara Bryan:all of the awesome speakers and things that happened at the
Tara Bryan:conference. So if you're not familiar with fho Russell
Tara Bryan:Brunson owns Click Funnels, and click funnels has an annual
Tara Bryan:conference every year. And what happens is about 5000, marketers
Tara Bryan:get together and learn and network and really just share
Tara Bryan:awesome ideas. And so a lot of times, we get sort of the State
Tara Bryan:of the Union of what's happening in all things marketing, by
Tara Bryan:going to this conference. So it's one that we love our team
Tara Bryan:goes. And it we really get some great insights for this year.
Tara Bryan:One of the most awesome things is, is that for the first time,
Tara Bryan:Russell actually mentioned fulfillment, which makes me so
Tara Bryan:happy and makes my heart happy. And he's, he gave a very
Tara Bryan:strategic sort of view into how to create a marketing funnel
Tara Bryan:that will bring people in and convert them into buyers. And so
Tara Bryan:he gave the big picture view of that. And one of that, one of
Tara Bryan:the key components of it is how do you put people into a
Tara Bryan:continuity model. And he went so far as to say that you don't
Tara Bryan:have a real business until you have a continuity program, which
Tara Bryan:makes a of course makes me happy. But the reason he said it
Tara Bryan:wasn't because of the fact that you can actually really help not
Tara Bryan:only serve your customers, but but ascend them and retain them
Tara Bryan:so that they stay in a membership model. He was saying
Tara Bryan:it because of the reoccurring revenue, right. And so the goal
Tara Bryan:in any business is to continually make money and help
Tara Bryan:serve your people, right, so you're exchanging value in order
Tara Bryan:to get those sales. And so that's what he's talking about
Tara Bryan:is you create a sustainable business when you have
Tara Bryan:reoccurring revenue that you can count on in your business. But
Tara Bryan:one of the key things that is included in a continuity or
Tara Bryan:membership program, which, which, obviously, from a sales
Tara Bryan:and marketing perspective, he's not focused on is once you get a
Tara Bryan:customer, you have to keep them. Right. So in order to get that
Tara Bryan:monthly reoccurring revenue, you have to do things in a
Tara Bryan:continuity program to keep and retain your, your members or
Tara Bryan:customers. And so, he talked a little bit about that. But you
Tara Bryan:know, the overall goal of a conference, such as a marketing
Tara Bryan:or sales conference, or any conference that's out there is
Tara Bryan:to share the what and the why, right, the whole goal is to give
Tara Bryan:people believe that what they're talking about is possible and
Tara Bryan:not only possible for, for them, the person who is the expert,
Tara Bryan:but also for anyone who wants to do it as well. So when you look
Tara Bryan:at a conference, or you know, any type of webinar or sales
Tara Bryan:presentation, that is the goal, the goal is to give the why. The
Tara Bryan:what and provide belief. It's not to get into the nitty gritty
Tara Bryan:of the how, and I think a lot of people who, who are new to the
Tara Bryan:game, don't necessarily understand that right. They
Tara Bryan:think that the how is going to be explained as well as they're
Tara Bryan:going through the conference. Now the how has explained
Tara Bryan:actually in case studies or testimonials of the speakers,
Tara Bryan:but you have to be paying attention to it, right? Because
Tara Bryan:it's not like, you know, here's this seven step model, implement
Tara Bryan:this, and you're good to go. Right? Like there's a little bit
Tara Bryan:of that, but it's only around a particular model. So by the time
Tara Bryan:you walk out of the conference, you have so many ideas and so
Tara Bryan:many steps and so many things to happen, that you get
Tara Bryan:overwhelmed. And and so, you know, I say thank you to Russell
Tara Bryan:because he brings that business to me because people go oh,
Tara Bryan:yeah, continuity, I need a membership model. I need to
Tara Bryan:figure out, you know, I was working on this course or I have
Tara Bryan:this course and now I have to switch it to a membership. Like
Tara Bryan:what does that look like? How does that work? I don't really
Tara Bryan:understand any of that. And, and that's what we specialize in,
Tara Bryan:right is Once somebody becomes a customer, how do you put them in
Tara Bryan:the right model? How do you put them in the right fulfillment
Tara Bryan:system so that they get results so that they stay and continue
Tara Bryan:to ascend? into your other offers and, and things that are
Tara Bryan:out there that you have for them. Right. So that was a
Tara Bryan:question that I came out with is, I wonder how many people are
Tara Bryan:trying to figure out what to do to build a continuity program.
Tara Bryan:He was so gracious and to give people levels, you have level
Tara Bryan:one, level two and level three very similar to the way that I
Tara Bryan:talk about it as I'm helping people kind of frame how to
Tara Bryan:build their signature programs, is you have level one where it's
Tara Bryan:getting in the game, level two is playing the game, right?
Tara Bryan:You've got to, you've got to get some things figured out. And and
Tara Bryan:level three is mastering the game, right. So this is when
Tara Bryan:people are ready to scale and grow. And, and so he laid it out
Tara Bryan:in that nice framework, which is great, because that is exactly
Tara Bryan:the framework that we teach. But there's a huge difference
Tara Bryan:between I, I shouldn't have a continuity model. And I'm
Tara Bryan:successfully running a continuity model, where I'm
Tara Bryan:retaining my customers each and every month. And so the question
Tara Bryan:I want to answer for you today is how do you do that? And what
Tara Bryan:does that look like? I happen to turn on my audio recording, I
Tara Bryan:was at the pool, and I was asking the question like, What
Tara Bryan:do you think it means to deliver a continuity program? And I got
Tara Bryan:some really interesting answers from people who are, you know,
Tara Bryan:had been listening all week? And so I want to dive in into that a
Tara Bryan:little bit today. Because I think that, that is a question
Tara Bryan:that a lot of people are asking. So if you're asking this
Tara Bryan:question, don't don't worry, right? It's it's a totally
Tara Bryan:normal question, as you're thinking about how do you
Tara Bryan:package your expertise, how do you take what you want to teach,
Tara Bryan:or you want to help people with, and and deliver it in either a
Tara Bryan:continuity or a program or a course or whatever you want to
Tara Bryan:call it right. And, and so, for those of you who are at the
Tara Bryan:conference, or those of you who weren't at the conference,
Tara Bryan:hopefully this serves you as you start thinking about continuity.
Tara Bryan:So continuity, again, is is where you are serving your
Tara Bryan:customer, month after month, and they're staying in your program,
Tara Bryan:your course, your membership, whatever it is that you're
Tara Bryan:offering for them. And so therefore, you have to provide
Tara Bryan:value every month, right, that's gonna hit their credit card. And
Tara Bryan:whether you're charging 97 297 497 10,000 50,000 100,000
Tara Bryan:Doesn't really matter. You need to be providing value for them,
Tara Bryan:so that they keep their membership month after a month.
Tara Bryan:So it's not a set and forget model, it's not a oh, we're
Tara Bryan:going to focus on sales and marketing. And oh, by the way,
Tara Bryan:we're just going to put a bunch of people into this continuity
Tara Bryan:and hope that they stay or, you know, assume that they're going
Tara Bryan:to drop, but that's okay, because we're going to keep
Tara Bryan:churning through people. For those of us who are interested
Tara Bryan:in building sustainable businesses, where we're creating
Tara Bryan:an impact, and we're really helping people, we want to have
Tara Bryan:our customers stay, we want to provide them an experience that
Tara Bryan:gets them results, and brings them into our community, perhaps
Tara Bryan:into our movement, where they have a place where they can
Tara Bryan:connect with other people get coaching and, and help from us,
Tara Bryan:and then learn the pieces that they need to be successful in
Tara Bryan:their own business. Right. And so how do you do that? So first,
Tara Bryan:let me address the question that somebody had about course, so
Tara Bryan:they were working on their course. And that was an O.
Tara Bryan:Russell said, Now I have to have continuity. So I am going to
Tara Bryan:scrap my course and move into continuity. my follow up
Tara Bryan:question for him was, well, what does it look like? What what do
Tara Bryan:you think is in a continuity program? And he said, Well, I'm
Tara Bryan:not really sure. And so. So this is for him and for all of you
Tara Bryan:is, if you're building a course, if you have a course already,
Tara Bryan:where it's teaching your signature framework, it's
Tara Bryan:teaching your methodology and in doing kind of the step by step,
Tara Bryan:success path or formula that takes somebody from where they
Tara Bryan:are today, that pain or problem they have to that solution, that
Tara Bryan:is an awesome place for you to start them. So, that could be
Tara Bryan:the first level of your membership program, it could be
Tara Bryan:part of the entire membership program or it could be something
Tara Bryan:that they do first before you put them into a membership
Tara Bryan:program. So when you think about where where. So just to define
Tara Bryan:membership or continuity is that there is typically some type of
Tara Bryan:educational component. There's typically a community component
Tara Bryan:and there is also an interactive component, right. So some sort
Tara Bryan:of
Tara Bryan:take action or resources or ability to to it, make it come
Tara Bryan:to life so that they're progressing through either
Tara Bryan:levels or, you know, multiple, multiple courses, multiple ways
Tara Bryan:to stay engaged. And the more you can actually orchestrate the
Tara Bryan:experience that more people are going to stay. But I'm getting
Tara Bryan:ahead of myself. So when you think about continuity, it is
Tara Bryan:dripping content in a way that keeps them engaged,
Tara Bryan:participating, and staying month after month. So sometimes that's
Tara Bryan:with live calls. Sometimes that's with community. And, and
Tara Bryan:new content being dropped. Sometimes it's having guest
Tara Bryan:speakers, there's lots of different ways that you can make
Tara Bryan:your membership come to life. But you think about it, like,
Tara Bryan:think about like a gym membership, you go into the gym,
Tara Bryan:and there are various things that you can be doing every time
Tara Bryan:you go in, right, you can do weights, you can do a class, you
Tara Bryan:can do, you can go to the swimming pool, you can go to the
Tara Bryan:spa, you can get a smoothie, like there's lots of different
Tara Bryan:activities that you can do that keep people engaged in going
Tara Bryan:month after month, if you went to a gym, and you could only do
Tara Bryan:one thing, you may find that you don't want to pay for that month
Tara Bryan:after month, right, you may get to the point where like, I
Tara Bryan:wouldn't need a little variety, I need something that's a little
Tara Bryan:bit different. And so I want to go somewhere where I can connect
Tara Bryan:with other people get my workout in. And, you know, maybe if
Tara Bryan:you're like, like me when I was a new mom is that I would get
Tara Bryan:two hours of daycare. So I would work out. And then I would go in
Tara Bryan:and and get a little work done, right. And so, so a lot of times
Tara Bryan:people like that variety. So the difference between a course is
Tara Bryan:that there's a discrete beginning and end, right. And so
Tara Bryan:you have a point in time where they've, they've gotten the
Tara Bryan:result in a continuity, there isn't a start and stop right
Tara Bryan:there is a start and stop in terms of an organized path to
Tara Bryan:each problem resolution. But there may be and usually are
Tara Bryan:multiple problems that they're solving. It's a journey from
Tara Bryan:where they're starting to, where they ultimately want to go at
Tara Bryan:the various levels. It's not a one and done kind of scenario.
Tara Bryan:And so when you think about your continuity or your membership
Tara Bryan:program, it's thinking about it as a living and breathing, ever
Tara Bryan:changing, ever evolving community of people who are
Tara Bryan:learning and connecting and engaging together in order to
Tara Bryan:make it something that people want to stay and continue
Tara Bryan:continually contribute to for life. And so there's multiple
Tara Bryan:levels, there's multiple ways that people can have a more
Tara Bryan:engagement or a more intimate experience if you're going to do
Tara Bryan:live events or masterminds or something like that. But at the
Tara Bryan:end of the day, it's it's just a more dynamic model that keeps
Tara Bryan:people active month after month versus a course traditionally,
Tara Bryan:and especially as Russell would talk about it is, is something
Tara Bryan:that has a start and stop. And it's a smaller unit of value
Tara Bryan:that that people have as they come into your world or as
Tara Bryan:they're ascending through your world. So still provides a ton
Tara Bryan:of value, of course, is not something that's lesser value.
Tara Bryan:It's just a different experience. It it just helping
Tara Bryan:people solve a particular problem that they're working on.
Tara Bryan:And a membership is doing that and doing more, right. And so
Tara Bryan:it's it's a continuous evolution of how use either loop courses
Tara Bryan:together, or create a more dynamic experience. So that's
Tara Bryan:continuity. That's how you think about it. So the next question
Tara Bryan:is like, how do I create that, right? Like, how do I put that
Tara Bryan:out there, and I'm going to tell you, the biggest mistake I see
Tara Bryan:people doing is that they go right into the software, and
Tara Bryan:they just start like putting a bunch of stuff in oh, maybe some
Tara Bryan:marketing videos, or maybe some, you know, some of my courseware
Tara Bryan:or, Oh, I did this one thing, random thing this one time, I'm
Tara Bryan:just gonna throw that in there. And what you want to do is you
Tara Bryan:actually want to start with a strategy of what your membership
Tara Bryan:membership sites goals are, and what the experience is going to
Tara Bryan:be what is your membership site? And how is it different? How
Tara Bryan:does it help your students? How does it keep your students in in
Tara Bryan:your world by creating a continuous cycle continuous loop
Tara Bryan:that brings them deeper and deeper into the other programs
Tara Bryan:or offerings that you have? And so start there, kind of map that
Tara Bryan:out? What, how can you put together a cohesive experience
Tara Bryan:that walks them through how to how to go through it right?
Tara Bryan:Instead of just dumping a bunch of stuff in there, how do you,
Tara Bryan:how do you make it into something that has a progression
Tara Bryan:to it has a levels has the ability to take, still take
Tara Bryan:people on a path that gives them results, one of our favorite
Tara Bryan:ways to do this is to add in our assessment at the beginning, and
Tara Bryan:the assessment actually will put them into the right place. So
Tara Bryan:you are at this level, or you should take, you know, modules
Tara Bryan:X, Y, and Z, because that is going to help you get to your
Tara Bryan:goal. So when you can do a personalized learning path in a
Tara Bryan:membership, it helps to provide that, that strong experience for
Tara Bryan:people so they aren't getting lost, so they know where to go.
Tara Bryan:So they don't come in, get overwhelmed and then leave. And
Tara Bryan:so that is a great approach to use to get started, is that
Tara Bryan:personalized learning path. And you can do that almost in any
Tara Bryan:tool. It's just really thinking about, like, what are the what
Tara Bryan:are the starting points, like, maybe you have, you know, three
Tara Bryan:different types of people or three levels of people who are
Tara Bryan:coming into your membership. And, and so you would create an
Tara Bryan:assessment that would would, you know, trigger that first level,
Tara Bryan:trigger the second level, and trigger the third level. And
Tara Bryan:then provide them some suggestions or an actual action
Tara Bryan:plan that they can use as they're going through your
Tara Bryan:membership. Awesome. So the next thing is, you know, one of the
Tara Bryan:easiest ways to, to make sure that people have the ability to
Tara Bryan:participate, is to publish a calendar, what is your, you
Tara Bryan:know, monthly or 90 day calendar of events that keeps people
Tara Bryan:actively engaged, sometimes it's just office hours, sometimes
Tara Bryan:it's special guests, sometimes it's you're going to focus on a
Tara Bryan:particular topic that you want to teach, that has relevance in,
Tara Bryan:in the kind of the cadence of where people are. And so those
Tara Bryan:are ways to keep people engaged and keep it stick sticky is that
Tara Bryan:you are actually having them show up for live sessions, you
Tara Bryan:could have specific challenges or,
Tara Bryan:or conversations or community posts that are going on that
Tara Bryan:help them engage and connect with other people, when they're
Tara Bryan:engaged and connected to others, not just you and your material,
Tara Bryan:they are much more likely to stay because they want to, you
Tara Bryan:know, be a part of that network, they want to be a part of that
Tara Bryan:community. And the more you can make it their identity, the more
Tara Bryan:they will actually stay. Alright, so hopefully this has
Tara Bryan:given you a little bit of clarity on what is a continuity
Tara Bryan:program? How do I create one? How's it different than a
Tara Bryan:course? And like, how do I get started. So, so hopefully, this
Tara Bryan:serves you again, like, it's always amazing, when, you know,
Tara Bryan:Russell's just touches on fulfillment, because, again,
Tara Bryan:it's not his role. It's not what the marketing and sales
Tara Bryan:conferences for. It's not for focusing on fulfillment, but at
Tara Bryan:some point, somebody's got to focus on it, you need to focus
Tara Bryan:on it in your business, because it's actually what will help
Tara Bryan:drive your success is if you have to constantly be getting
Tara Bryan:new customers, because you're not keeping them as you're
Tara Bryan:bringing them into your world, you're spending more, you're
Tara Bryan:expending more energy. And it is so much better and easier to
Tara Bryan:just keep the customers that you have and keep them engaged and
Tara Bryan:becoming raving fans. And so that's why we do what we do. So
Tara Bryan:if you are in a position where you're sort of trying to figure
Tara Bryan:that out, or you've sold a bunch of memberships, or, or licenses
Tara Bryan:to your course, and you're so overwhelmed, because the
Tara Bryan:fulfillment just isn't quite there yet. That is a great time
Tara Bryan:to pick up the phone and give me a shout. If you want to talk
Tara Bryan:about you know, kind of your ideas or, or how you're putting
Tara Bryan:this together or ask any questions. I do have the ability
Tara Bryan:for you to just schedule a free discovery call where we just get
Tara Bryan:on and, and talk through some of those things. But I encourage
Tara Bryan:you to do that. The sooner you can do that as you're building
Tara Bryan:your business. As you're moving into a continuity model, the
Tara Bryan:sooner you're going to be able to set up the right foundation
Tara Bryan:that helps you bring people in and continue to ascend them in
Tara Bryan:your world instead of losing them and and creating an
Tara Bryan:experience that's really hard to unravel once you once you've
Tara Bryan:gotten there, so give me a shout if you need to other Was I hope
Tara Bryan:this episode served you and and you'll look for more on this
Tara Bryan:coming up soon because that this conversation is not going to
Tara Bryan:end. And we do specialize in that fulfillment piece of
Tara Bryan:things. And so when you are ready to create that packaged
Tara Bryan:version of your service or your expertise, you know who to
Tara Bryan:contact. Alright, I'll talk to you soon
