Exactly How Christine McAlister Implemented a Free Challenge to Attract Customers
Welcome to the Courage & Clarity podcast, where today I have a guest with me right here in the Courage & Clarity headquarters! I almost never get to do it this way, but my good friend Christine McAlister is here with me in my basement guest room/home office, recording this episode.
This week we are talking about a challenge that Christine recently kicked off and completed. I watched her in action doing this in her community, and it was really fun to see that people were so engaged. So she's going to tell us all about that!
Here's what's in store in this episode:
Christine's Buzz Blitz challenge [02:25]
How she chose her Community Anchor [05:17]
What they WANT vs what they NEED -- how to market your challenge effectively [14:14]
How Christine used her challenge to identify warm leads [19:14]
The secret sauce: personal invitations [22:18]
Words of wisdom for running a successful Buzz Blitz of your own [34:24]
Christine's Buzz Blitz Challenge
A few months ago, Christine and I were brainstorming about how she can try running a challenge. In my community for Crickets to Customers (my signature training program that takes people from zero following to working with their first clients in a group program), one of the big things we focus on is what I like to call a Buzz Blitz. It's my favorite way to engage and warm up an audience, and the absolute best way to fast track yourself to working with clients.
Christine was hesitant about running this challenge, since she's run them before but it never felt good, she couldn't figure out how to use them strategically in her business, and she didn't feel like she was enjoying doing them.
She decided to give it another try to develop a powerful challenge and also a strong Community Anchor. Previously, her opt in was a free chapter of her book, but after reflecting on it she realized that it didn't help her community to get a result right away. So it was time for something new, something that was actually going to help people take action.
How Christine Chose her Community Anchor
In case you're not familiar, a Community Anchor is an elevated version of a lead magnet. Its purpose is more than just collecting emails (although of course it does that, too) -- it truly gives your community an anchor: a common language and common concepts to rally around.
So Christine's previous opt-in, a free chapter of her book, didn't necessarily give her a rallying point for her community. What is so important to underscore here, is that Christine didn't simply come up with a new Community Anchor, made it, put it out there, and hoped that it did great. Instead, she decided to play around with different concepts during a live challenge and see what really resonated with her audience as they were going through it.
"I think the most important thing is to learn how to make a decision. Because that's something that we're not really taught to do so much as employees, right? We're taught to listen to our boss and not trust ourselves. And if you're going to run a business, you have to learn to trust yourself."
Her current Community Anchor, the Five Minute Focus Formula, is a result of workshopping with 1:1 clients as well as feedback from running the live challenge.
How to Market Your Challenge Effectively
During her challenge, Christine helped high achieving business owners get unstuck and grow their business. She wanted to bring her own take on productivity to her community, which is to break it down to the teensiest tiniest bit of progress and let that be enough. One of the steps was to celebrate your progress, which was a hard sell for her community because nobody wants to celebrate only doing something for five minutes.
"It's not good enough," she says, "[they think] "I have to make 10K first or six figures, then I'll celebrate." But what we know from brain science is that's not how our brains best respond."
If she had told people what the challenge steps were when they were signing up, nobody would sign up because they wouldn't think that it would work.
That's the difference between knowing what your people WANT, vs what they NEED, and if you haven't thought about how those two are different, then you're most certainly missing the mark. Think about it: If they were the same thing, your people wouldn't need you!
In Christine's case, people came in wanting to get unstuck and feel more productive. That's what they wanted, so Christine used it in her promotional slogan for the challenge. And Christine knew that what was more important was for them to just make a decision and start working on something. If she had told people that all they had to do was focus on one thing for 5 minutes, why would they want to join the challenge just for that?
Use a Challenge to Warm Up Leads
The first purpose Christine had for running the challenge was to re-vitalize her Facebook group and increase engagement. Since she only works with people one-on-one and it's a very high touch service, her ideal clients are a smaller group of people where the path to purchasing is longer. So having a week where they could hang out with her in a group where they're cheered on by others, and seeing that they can make great progress during that time, would get them thinking sooner about what it would be like to have Christine on Voxer.
The second purpose was then to identify warm leads who might be ready for that level of support. As the week went along, Christine started to see several people who were really talkative, and who were engaging with the posts and live videos. That's how a Buzz Blitz always makes the people who are your warm leads bubble up to the surface!
To keep track of these folks, Christine added them to her lead spreadsheet that she uses to follow up with people. She made notes on what they engaged with the most in the challenge, anything about them that she knew personally, and anything else that would help create a connection. Then, as the challenge was wrapping up, she sent them personal video or audio messages. She thanked them for being involved with the challenge, and extended an invitation to talk further and answer their questions.
The Secret Sauce: Personal Invitations
Leveraging personal invitations seems under-rated when we hear the marketing giants of the world say how it's all about conversions and funnels and sales pages and all these fancy things. Don't get me wrong, they have their place, but people really overlook good old-fashioned knocking on doors.
When you see that someone is engaged, they're raising their hand and saying they are interested in what you're doing. They're not saying those words exactly, but you have to read that when somebody's showing up to your lives and participating. They are picking up what you're putting down. So don't overlook the power of reaching out to them personally and actually invite them to sit down at your table and work with you.
"The ones who are killing it, no matter how big their audiences, are the ones who are doing personal invitations. The ones who are making themselves available to get on the phone with you for 15 minutes, even if they make 3 million or 10,000,000 million a year."
Christine brings up a great point, also: there are many people who teach that you need to set boundaries, to not be so available. To create automations and systems, and only sell through email and in one specific way. "Don't be too good for it," Christine advises, "Be a human!"
Words of Wisdom for Running Your Own Buzz Blitz
1. Allow it to be light, easy, and fun as much as you can.
You don't get your best ideas when you're in fight or flight mode and when there is pressure and urgency around everything. That's not a fun way to build a business. Christine advises to give yourself the space to make it really, really simple. "Give yourself the space to do it in a way that feels good to you."
2. Know that it's a long game
It doesn't have to be perfect the very first time you run it. Your challenge will have many strategic purposes, so take your time fine-tuning but don't let it get you hung up on details. Done is better than perfect, so don't over-complicate it.
3. Don't go at it yourself, get help!
If you want to see how it's done, come join us in the Crickets to Customers community. I'll walk you through the nuts and bolts, as well as offer help on the group coaching calls. The next round is kicking off soon, so head over to cricketstocustomers.com and sign up to be the first to hear when doors open.
Links & Resources
Christine’s previous episode on the C&C Podcast: 7 Steps to Making Your Dream Come True
Christine’s opt-in and community anchor: 5 Minute Focus Formula
Christine’s Facebook Community: Passionate and Profitable Entrepreneur Society
Steph’s challenge: Marketing Made Simple
Steph’s signature course: Crickets to Customers