Creating Successful VIP Groups:
For years Coaches have built their customer base by promoting, inviting, and hosting special Challenge Groups, either from their personal page, or their business page. What we’ve learned is that it can be easy to get into either (1) A Group Funk, where you struggle to keep the momentum going and fill groups every month; or (2) A Group Overload, where you have so many groups going…that you group yourself right out of the joy of being a Coach.
We have found that the best way to run these groups is with a buddy or success partner. Be sure to check out our team facebook group to see what current groups are running. A VIP group is going to be a place where your most important and future raving fan customers get to interact with you.
Your Facebook Business Page is the place where you will build up your community and meet new people. But once they become customers, you will want to invite them to your VIP Group. Here are some simple basics about setting up and running a successful VIP Customer Group!
strategy around social media accounts:
A simple social media strategy is hard to come by these days. Seems like everyone’s an expert and wants to sell you their top tips for success. What we want to do in the Coach University is keep it simple. Our best strategy is to start on two social media platforms and learn them well and get consistent. The two we recommend starting with are Instagram and Facebook. Here is how we suggest you set up accounts:
Instagram: Use this to create an interesting and visually attractive connection to your healthy lifestyle. Set up your IG account and link it to your Facebook Business page. Start building a variety of posts that is of interest to your audience. See our Social Media guide for tips on what is relevant and what to avoid. Remember, Instagram is owned by Facebook and you need to keep your photos and contacts in files outside of these platforms so you never risk losing the content you create.
Facebook: Facebook is the main social media platform available to expand your reach beyond the people close to you and is a great platform to attract new leads by running ads. Be careful to comply with Facebook trends and take as much contact information offline from Facebook as you can as soon as possible to protect your customer connections. Remember, you don’t own your page, Facebook does. To keep it simple; Consider creating three channels on Facebook:
Personal Profile: Keep this personal and don’t use it for business
Business Page: Much like a website; attract new customers/coaches here
VIP Group: closed group to add value and build trust with customers
Creating a VIP Group
Name It: When creating your VIP Group Page online, be sure to title it something that your customers relate to. Titling your Group: “Milan’s VIP Customers” isn’t relatable or enticing. Why should they want to be a part of this group? What is the group about? What does it stand for? What do you offer? Think about these questions before selecting a name. For example; “Healthy On Demand VIP”, or “Push Play Today Tribe”, or “Take Back the Kitchen Group”. “Coach Me Fit Club”
Invite People: Always ask permission to add your customers to your group. The best way is by personal message, email, or text. Here’s a simple example of how that might look:
Hey (Name),
My Beachbody customers that have asked me to create a VIP hub just for them. That way we can post ideas to make fitness fun, nutrition simple and share tips on how to stick with it. Plus, I have always wanted to offer discounts and fun giveaways, and with this group I will be able to do that! Of course, this is a free service from me to you, and there’s obligation to join us. But here’s the thing, I don’t like it when people randomly add me to their groups without asking first, so I’m not going to do that to you. Instead, here’s the link; Just click “request to join” and enjoy the best healthy info I can share along with VIP discounts, promotions and giveaways. I truly hope you enjoy it and feel like the VIP you are to me.
Quality Posts: To truly become valuable to your customers, you want to provide content that will inform them on relevant topics that affect their lifestyle; Entertain them with light-hearted, humorous content; and Educate them on best practices for healthy living or other shared interests. Here are just a few ideas:
Tips & Tutorials
Educational articles
Testimonials
Product Spotlight (VIDEO)
Polls and Feedback Posts (People love to share their opinion!)
Current Promotions (company and personal)
Special Upcoming Events
Giveaways
Healthy Recipes or Weekly Meal Plan ideas
Do a Virtual Program Highlight in your group once a month.
You can also have "theme days". For example: Motivational Mondays OR Food Prep Fridays
Common Mistakes:
With all of the research we have done into Facebook Groups we have summarized that there are five common mistakes most people make.
Forcing people to join. When we have something valuable to share, we get excited. And naturally, we want to share that excitement with everyone right away. So many people create a group and then go through the Facebook Friends list adding everyone they know. With groups increasing in popularity and effectiveness, everyone is using them in the marketing strategies. That is why it’s extremely important to not make the #1 most common mistake of skipping the invitation to your customers to join the group. Think about it this way, would you show up at a customer’s house, unannounced, set up your laptop and blender and start BOD after you make them a shake? If you wouldn’t do it in real life, don’t do it online!
Inviting people you don’t know. Just a simple reminder that this group is for people who have purchased a product or program from you. If they happen to have been referred to you by Beachbody, make sure you have made contact with them prior to adding them to the group.
Not engaging in the group. We all have great intentions for our business. Yet a common mistake is not showing up for our own groups. We start pages, YouTube channels, LinkedIn Profiles, and various social media accounts, all with the intention of working them effectively. However, when you drop the ball on engagement, your customers notice. They think you’re not coaching or not passionate enough to pay attention.
Making it all about you. A common mistake in our attempt to relate to our customers is we post a lot about ourselves. While it’s great to share information about yourself, you also want to make sure you are getting to know them. Ask them questions about their lives, what they want to achieve. This will help you come up with content to share with them that they care about.
Over-Promoting your programs. Your VIP Customer group is not a billboard. The VIP Group page is a great place to build community and conversation. The easiest way to build that is through sharing valuable content about healthy living. This means sharing information outside Beachbody as well. This will build authenticity which leads to trust and loyalty with your customers. When you do recommend a product or program, your customers will be more likely to purchase from you.
Increasing Engagement:
If your goal is to create a community, the steps you must take to get there must be to create engagement. You cannot simply rely on your group members to do the work for you. Which means you need to post articles, information, tips and statuses that illicit a response. You can ask things like:
Tell me 6 things we don’t know about you
Tag a friend you’ve made in this group
What is something you want me to research or cover?
What do you say to yourself before you workout?
Another way to increase engagement is - video. When you are sharing content they care about and giving them solutions to their problems, not only are they learning something valuable, they get to know you better Video’s give your customers the opportunity to talk to you in real time (when using Facebook Live), see your mannerisms and get to know your personality. People only stick around for what you share based on whether or not they want to be friends with you. So be open, positive and authentic in your posts.
HOW TO BOOST YOUR VOLUME PER CUSTOMER:
Even though you will get a magnitude of satisfaction and fulfillment from creating a vibrant community of happy customers, this is still your business. With any business, it’s important to generate income. Here are just a few ideas to increase your income through a VIP Customer Group:
Facebook Event. Every month (or a few times a month) in your VIP Group, you can host a Facebook “Healthy at Home” Event. Make it educational and fun. Make it for 12 hours only; let’s say on a Thursday and keep it open until Sunday. You can open with a Live Video, and then have graphic posts every hour that speak to the topic. You can create a bundle of products that you will feature, demonstrate and teach on. An example might be “Picky Kid Solutions” to feature school lunch menus, kitchen table rules, and Daily Sunshine, or “Toss out the Tums” to feature the Ultimate Reset Trio of Optimize, Revitalize, and Soothe. This is a great way to increase your monthly sales by a few hundred with ease.
Raving Fan Customer events. Do you have a customer that is super excited to get started on their program? Maybe you have a customer who’s had great results and people are noticing! Why not invite your best customers to host a group! Yes, this might seem like the days of your mom’s home party, but with social media nobody has to clean their house or feel obligated to buy, and it turns into a fun way for your customer to get recognized and rewarded for paying it forward. Come up with a way to reward that customer, feature their journey, run it for one day with three days of follow up and watch your sales grow.
Promotions. With a customer VIP Group, you can piggy back any special promotions Beachbody is offering or create your own. Every now and then Beachbody has a sale, new launch or special offer. This is a way for you to put your personal touch on the benefits and reasons why this offer is a great one. Make sure to add a link for easy ordering.
Recognition. Customers enjoy being appreciated! This group is a great place to share their stories and thank them for the inspiration they provide you. It’s also a great place to provide praise and rewards for their consistency and loyalty
STAY CONSISTENT:
At the end of the day, the key to growing a successful VIP Customer Group is picking a few strategies and doing them every day. In a world where people are marketed to at every corner they turn, adding value to your customer’s life will grow your coaching business into something truly rewarding.