5 Ways to Reduce the Churn

The 5 Ways to Reduce the Churn

[00:00:00] Katie Bell: Hello. Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast. My name is Katie Bell and I am your host. We are here to share the love this month. And if you’ve listened to the last three episodes, then you are going to know what we are talking about. But we have been focused on, focusing on how you can make more money in your business without just doing more and more marketing at the front end.

[00:00:20] Katie Bell: How you can stop spending money, wasting money, fix the middle and the bottom part of the funnel first. So if you haven’t listened to the last three episodes, go back to the beginning of February is when we were recording this and listen in there. I promised this week that I would give you some real things that you can implement, that you can do, when it comes to bringing your retention points sooner within the cycle of when you see your clients, so that you can create better opportunities for results for your clients, you can increase your revenue, you can get better patient and team satisfaction.

[00:00:58] Katie Bell: The benefits [00:01:00] are So, I’m going to introduce you to two people, Kelly and Connor. They Described this, and they created something called the Emotional Cycle of Change. And it’s similar to the Change Curve. You’ve probably heard of the Change Curve. But the Change Curve talks about when people have an initial shock, and then they go into these different sets of emotions.

[00:01:23] Katie Bell: Where the emotional cycle of change is more about when the change was expected, or that they had made the decision that they were going to do something, then they go through a series and a cycle of emotions. And I’m here to try and explain those to you. Why? Because you need to understand them. to reduce your churn rate in your clinic and you need to do certain things at certain points of your customer journey that’s going to help them move through the emotional cycle of change.

[00:01:54] Katie Bell: So here’s what happens and I’m going to use an example of a Pilates member because I know lots of people listening to this podcast [00:02:00] have clinics and also have Pilates classes and I know we have lots of Pilates studio owners listening. So you can take this situation into your own clinic.

[00:02:11] Katie Bell: So use your own example. But for the purpose of today, a client is out there with a acute episode of a chronic back problem. And let’s just say that the marketing, the front end marketing has worked. Okay. And we have shown them the potential solution, which is joining our Pilates membership. Because We are going to be able to get them more flexible, stronger, improve their core strength, allow them to be able to lift without fearing that their back’s going to go, be able to sleep better and all these solutions.

[00:02:49] Katie Bell: The how is just doing Pilates. When somebody comes in, they are in a state of uninformed optimism. They are slightly [00:03:00] relieved and excited that they’ve made the decision to do something about their problem. People always feel better, don’t they, when they’ve got a plan, when they’ve taken some action.

[00:03:09] Katie Bell: They’re in uninformed optimism. They have got no idea Of what it’s going to take to get them where they need to be, where their state B is. They’ve got no idea. Okay. Most of them are hoping for a magic pill. Let’s be honest. Most of them are hoping for the one session fix. It’s not going to happen.

[00:03:27] Katie Bell: However, they’re in an uninformed optimism. So at this point they don’t know the difficulties, the challenges that may lay ahead, the things that they’re going to have to do and commit to, the investment that they’re going to have to make, the time that they might have to give to it. But they’re feeling optimistic that this is, they’re confident that this is the right solution for them.

[00:03:46] Katie Bell: So this is when they are basically saying yes to what you’re offering. Okay, and when we take them from the yes to okay, let’s now make this happen, they move into [00:04:00]informed pessimism. And informed pessimism is when they have joined your classes, they have come for the, maybe the first time, And they have just realised how shit they really are.

[00:04:13] Katie Bell: Or how bad their flexibility really is. Or how weak their core is. Or how everybody else in the class seems loads better than they do. And we now move them into unin to informed pessimism. So this is really commonly the time when people are going to check out. They’ll check out privately first, and then they’ll check out publicly second.

[00:04:35] Katie Bell: So privately they will leave the class thinking, that was really hard. And I’m absolutely sure maybe this is just not the right thing for me, this is just, how am I ever going to get, this is just going to make it worse. What if I am worse for a few days? And their ego is working really hard to go, you know what, let’s find a better solution, let’s find something easier instead, maybe swimming will help.

[00:04:55] Katie Bell: This is where they’re in, they’re informed, they’re now like, Oh wow, [00:05:00]this is harder than I thought it was going to be. It’s like that first time that you go back to running and you think you’ve never ran ever in your life before, or you’ve been away for two weeks and had it off and you’ve got to go back and it’s so difficult and you’re pessimistic because you think, Oh, now I know what it’s going to take to get back to running that 5k in 25 minutes or whatever it is.

[00:05:20] Katie Bell: So if we know that this is when people check out, what can you do at this stage of your customer journey to help that, to prevent that, to enable people to understand? All you need to do is take your next step. So one of the things that we do is we have a welcome video when they first join and we lay out a This is an overview in layman’s terms, in client speak.

[00:05:47] Katie Bell: But we get them really excited about the journey that they’re going to go on. And we inspire them and we are optimistic. So we’re really reinforcing that uninformed optimism. And then when they move into [00:06:00] informed pessimism, this is usually week, maybe week two, week three, session two, session three, another video.

[00:06:06] Katie Bell: Lands in their inbox and that is a video from me and it says this is just a check in Because at this point of the program not just our program, but any program whether it’s a weight loss program Whether it’s a gym program, whether it’s your you’re doing Pilates What we know because we studied the psychology is that this is the time when it’s gonna feel really tough that you’re gonna feel like you’re getting no results that you’re way worse than you ever thought you were and It might not always be, at this point really enjoyable.

[00:06:39] Katie Bell: Those endorphins haven’t quite kicked in yet, but we want to understand that we totally get it, and we understand, and if you’re feeling like that, it’s really normal. My challenge to you is to just take the next step. Turn up next week, show up next week, do the things that we’re telling you to do, and I promise you, in the next couple of weeks, we’re going to move you from how you’re [00:07:00]feeling now, into.

[00:07:03] Katie Bell: That optimistic phase. You’re going to start to see the difference, feel the difference. Other people are going to see the difference and notice how you’re moving better. You’re going to say it in some way like that. So what you’re doing is you’re recognising where they’re at, but you’re saying it’s okay, it’s normal, like we get it, this is how everybody feels.

[00:07:22] Katie Bell: But we’ve done something about it, you’ve got a courtesy check in to say that you understand. My challenge to you is to be at your next class and then have something in that, it recognises them turning up to that class. Or, if they don’t turn up, boom, we get a phone call straight away to them.

[00:07:40] Katie Bell: Now, when we come, I want you to think about starting high in uninformed optimism and then we drop to informed pessimism and then we go right down, and this is called the Valley of Despair. Oh, this is like the graveyard. And this is where people get, and they are like, you can feel it. They’re surrounded by [00:08:00] that negativity, maybe other people who are all in that same place.

[00:08:03] Katie Bell: So we’re all like, oh, this is not gonna work for me. This is really hard. I feel like I can’t do this. And they’re trying to find all the reasons not to do it. So they’ve moved through on it, through informed pessimism, but they’ve they’ve gotta go through the worst bit. Break down to break through before they then start to see the improvements.

[00:08:21] Katie Bell: So this is, when you go to the gym and your DOMS is off the charts and you’re thinking this is all just too much. Now, we get it. We understand this is part of the course. Your clients don’t. We have to educate them. We have to support them. We have to meet them where they’re at and help them through this.

[00:08:40] Katie Bell: So here is a really good time To show some testimonials or success stories. To make them go, Oh, they’re like me, they were like me. That was how I was and it worked for them. So maybe it’ll work for me. We’ve got to pull them up and out of the valley of despair. So at this point, sharing a success or a [00:09:00] win of a client who’s just a few weeks ahead of them is really powerful.

[00:09:05] Katie Bell: Now, once we’ve gone through the Valley of Despair, we’ve pulled them out, they’re with us, they’ve stayed with us, big win. They now go into informed optimism, so they now know, they know what they’ve got to do, they’re now in a habit, they’re turning up to class, they’re doing their thing, they’re working on their downward dog, they’re working on their Pilates press ups, they’re starting to see some improvement, they’re starting to see the difference.

[00:09:26] Katie Bell: They’re not there yet, but they can see the light at the end of the tunnel, they can see the top of the mountain. This is where we want to celebrate these wins. This is where we want to keep them going towards that end goal. This is where we want to say look where you’ve come from. Can you have objective markers?

[00:09:43] Katie Bell: When we started together, this is what you were doing, and this is what you’re doing now. This is absolutely incredible, but we can’t stop. And this is when we take a client from good, to great, to exceptional. We don’t just go, okay, now you’re quite good, you’re a lot better, so you can just finish with us here.

[00:09:59] Katie Bell: No, [00:10:00] exceptional results, great results, whatever you want, whatever you strive for in your clinic, is about getting them to really achieve that goal that they set out to do. And that’s when you need to reward that success. That’s when you need to acknowledge that they’ve got through and they’ve hit their goal.

[00:10:14] Katie Bell: Is it a celebratory card? Is it a text message? Is it just asking them about, did you tell me about this cycle that you did, or this race that you did, or this run, or whatever it is? How did it make you feel? Great. Now, when people come through that emotional cycle of change, what it then means is when they’re up at success and they’re feeling confident and they’re feeling good, they will then go around that cycle of change again, but they will commit to something at a higher level.

[00:10:40] Katie Bell: They’ll have more confidence in themselves. They’ll want to continue their work with you.

[00:10:45] Katie Bell: Think about your clients and the journey that they go on when they start working with you. And think about when you see the churn rate happening, when you see that slipping away. What points? Now, I’m not asking you to go away and fix all of those points right now. [00:11:00] But look at the one that you see the biggest churn rate in.

[00:11:05] Katie Bell: Look at the one that you see the biggest, when people slip away the most. Fix that first. What can you do to just improve that element of the customer journey, which means that customers are going to stay with you longer, their retention point comes in sooner, they are then, they then become lifers, they’re emotionally invested, they’re going to refer, they’re going to share the love, they are going to shout about you.

[00:11:31] Katie Bell: They’re going to buy into more of your services, they’re going to spend more money with you, they’re going to increase their lifetime value with you. You’ve not had to spend even more money in the front end to get more clients through the door because you’re servicing the clients that you’ve got at a greater level.

[00:11:46] Katie Bell: And that is how you increase your revenue without just having to do more and more front end marketing. And as I said in my last episodes, when you’ve got this shit sorted, you can go wild at the front end because you are not then just burning your [00:12:00] cash. So go away and have a little look at your customer journey, thinking about that new knowledge that you’ve got of the emotional cycle of change and how you can implement it into your business.

[00:12:11] Katie Bell: Now, I have a little I have a little favor to ask. I have been sharing the love all through February and giving you lots and lots of great tips and great things that you can do in your business. I would really appreciate if you could write me a review. It means the world to me. I genuinely read all of them.

[00:12:29] Katie Bell: inspires me to keep doing this week on week, but it also helps people who are like you, or were like you before listening to this podcast, who are feeling that they are just in a, in this world by themselves and that there’s no help and support out there and they might not be able to access help and support because they haven’t got the money to do that.

[00:12:49] Katie Bell: This podcast is their first start. So if you could write me a review, if you could like and share this podcast on your social channels, it would really help lots of other [00:13:00] people, not just me, but other people in our industry. Thank you so much in anticipation for your review and I will see you next week where we have a brand new theme.

[00:13:11] Katie Bell: I’m excited to share that with you. See you next week!