A few weeks ago, we sent a simple email
to our alumni students.
No pitch, no offer, just one question.
What is happening and give us an update?
And what came back?
I wasn't ready for it.
One email had 600 members at $30 a month.
Another email described how they had now
built a million dollars in
revenue with their membership.
Another one said that they had now 10
memberships running at once.
And another one said they had eight
memberships serving
thousands of teachers.
All of this was happening in
silence and we had no idea.
Today, I wanna talk to you about
Conference that was
hosted by Lely Amondi.
And it was an amazing event.
I met so many new people at this event
and I also reconnected with
students from our audience.
People who had purchased our signature
program and had used it to
launch their memberships.
And the vast majority of these people
that I met, I had no idea that they had
memberships up and running.
And it's a perfect segue to what I wanna
talk to you about here today.
Because this year, we are celebrating our
10 year anniversary of
our signature course.
Now originally it was called Tribe and
then a few years ago, we changed the name
and called it now the membership
experience, or TME for short.
And we have literally had tens of
thousands of students
go through this program.
And there are thousands and thousands of
people who have launched memberships in
all kinds of different markets.
From photography and calligraphy, to
fitness and financing, music and art and
health and dog training and so many other
unique and special markets.
It's really, really incredible.
Now coming up to this, we wanted to
connect with our alumni.
And we wanted to be able to, one,
discover more of their stories and two,
share those stories.
Now we've got hundreds and hundreds of
stories in our library, so to speak, of
people that we know because they have
communicated with us or they're in our
masterminds and so forth.
But there's a lot of people
that we have no idea about.
And so that sets the scene for a simple
email that we sent to
all of our alumni students.
Now these are all people who have gone
through our programs over the years.
And there was no agenda to this email.
Just really, hey, give us an update or
what's been happening.
That was the whole purpose.
We just wanted to reconnect and just to
find out what's been going on.
Quite frankly, we had never really sent
one of these before so we
weren't sure what to expect.
And you gotta realize, a lot of these
people took our course years ago, back in
2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, et cetera.
So we sent this email out and then the
replies started coming in.
And some were sharing massive results
that they'd built quietly.
Like Jamie, who
joined Tribe back in 2019.
She now has 600 plus
members paying $30 a month.
That's $18,000 a month
in recurring revenue.
Or Cindy, who's now got 1,500 members and
hit the million dollar
milestone in the last two years.
Now she's adding a
subscription box on top of it.
Or Julie, who sells physical products and
is now running not one, not two, not even
three, but 10 different memberships.
And some were sharing impact at scale,
like Shannon, who's built eight
memberships serving thousands of
elementary school teachers.
And some were quieter,
but just as meaningful.
Like Rick, who now has over 250 plus
members and reached out to offer a
testimonial because he's a raving fan.
Or Jeannie, who's been running her
membership since 2020 and
it's still going strong.
And then there were the
ones that hit different.
People congratulating me on restarting
this podcast because this was how they
originally found me.
And they were remembering and reminiscing
about the live events that we used to do
and the chorus and the community.
And they were just saying, thank you.
And it was really all of this progress,
all of these wins were happening and we
had no idea, none until we asked.
And here's the bottom line.
We almost missed all of it.
And I think you are
likely missing it too.
And that brings me to the
three lessons for today.
Lesson number one,
follow up with your alumni.
See, most of us are so focused on getting
new customers that we completely forget
about the people who already said yes.
These are your past customers, your
alumni, and they're out there right now
building things, making progress, getting
results, and you have no idea.
All it takes though is a simple email,
just like the one that we sent.
And you can just keep
it straight forward.
Like we just said,
hey, give us an update.
There was no survey, not a funnel, not a
pitch, just a genuine ask.
Like we just really wanted to find out
how people were doing.
And my encouragement to you is to do the
same because people want to share.
They just need the prompt.
They just need you to ask.
So think about it.
Jamie had been building for five years.
Cindy, she'd hit a million dollar
milestone, and we didn't
know until we sent that email.
So stay in touch, check in.
Your alumni are not just past customers.
They're also your biggest proof of what
you do and then it works.
Lesson number two,
collect the stories, all of them.
Now here's what hit me
about these responses.
There was such a wide range.
Like on one end, you got Cindy who now
has 1,500 plus members and a million
dollars plus in
revenue, which is unbelievable.
And then you got Rick who's got 250
members and a heart full of
gratitude, which is amazing.
Both of these stories matter.
Both are powerful and both help future
customers see themselves
in your existing customers.
And that's the magic of stories.
See, someone reads about Jamie going from
zero to $18,000 a month and thinks, hey,
she's a hairstylist.
I'm a fill in the blank.
Maybe I can do this too.
Someone reads about Shannon building
memberships for elementary school
teachers and thinks, wait, if she can do
it in that niche, maybe
my niche isn't too small.
And research backs this up, by the way,
because products with customer stories
and reviews have a 270% higher purchase
likelihood. 93% of customers say
testimonials impact
their buying decisions.
So here's the thing, you can't use
stories that you haven't collected.
So you gotta develop a
system to collect them.
I'm talking the little wins, the big wins
and everything in between.
I want you to screenshot them.
I want you to save them.
I want you to build a folder.
And these are not just
testimonials, these are proof.
And proof is the most
valuable currency in your marketing.
And by the way, I'll tell you a little
tip that we have in our business.
When you see somebody in your community
who are sharing the results and you take
a screenshot, dump it into a Slack
channel as an example.
So we have two Slack channels, one for
our course and one for our software.
And every single day, those screenshots
are being added to these Slack channels.
And then from there, we have an
assistant, and now you can do it with AI,
to basically pull those
testimonials out and organize them.
But my point is you want to be able to
have a quick and easy way to be able to
grab the screenshot and put it somewhere
so that you don't forget it.
Because I'll tell you this, once you
start collecting, you'll be reminded of
how many people and how
many stories you actually have.
What often happens is we only focus on a
few stories because that's all our brain
has capacity to remember, right?
But once you start collecting, you start
building this incredible library and you
can use that in so many different ways.
So remember, these are
not just testimonials.
These are proof that what you do works
and that is gonna help you generate more
sales in the future.
Okay,
lesson number three, don't
underestimate your impact.
Now this is the one that gets me.
This podcast or my book, Predictable
Prophets, or the content that you and I
are putting out online, or your
membership, or your community, it is
impacting people
whether you realize it or not.
See, Jeannie has been running her
membership since 2020.
Julie is running 10 memberships.
Shannon is serving thousands of teachers.
And until we sent that
email, we had no clue.
See, we get so focused on what's next,
like the next launch or next piece of
content or the next campaign, that we
forget to look at the ripple effect that
we've actually created.
Reading those alumni emails, it was a
wake up call and it was a beautiful one
because this stuff matters and
it matters more than we know.
And so I want you to
realize that your work matters.
And when you start collecting these, if
you ever, ever have that moment of
self-doubt or imposter syndrome, all you
gotta do is just go
back to that Slack channel.
And you just gotta review those stories.
And it's a beautiful reminder of just how
important your work is.
And so even in those moments when you
can't see it, it is
impacting a lot of people.
Now, I have a bonus lesson here for you,
and that is share your progress.
So this might be the most important
because when you've benefited from
something or someone, I wanna encourage
you to tell them because
it creates a deeper bond.
And it's also incredibly meaningful for
the person on the receiving end.
It's a reminder that their work matters.
So think about what it meant for us to
read all those replies.
I'm just telling you, it not only filled
up my cup, but you should see the team.
Our team were raving and gushing and so
excited to hear from all of our alumni
and the progress that
they have experienced.
And so be the person who shares.
Reach out to a mentor, a coach, or a
creator whose content has helped you.
Maybe it's a teacher,
maybe it's a friend.
Just tell them what they meant to you.
Because here's what I found.
When you put that energy out there, the
universe brings a lot
more of it back your way.
So here's what I want
you to do this week.
One thing, just send one
email to your past customers.
That could be your alumni, your
community, and just ask,
"Hey, what's been happening?
"Give us an update."
That's it.
No pitch, no agenda, just a simple ask.
And then when those replies start coming
in, save them, screenshot them, put them
in a folder somewhere
because those stories are going to fuel
your marketing, your motivation, and your
momentum for months.
I'll tell you, for us, it's given us
reason to follow up with a lot of people.
We want to be able to share
their stories in a bigger way.
And my guess is that the
same will happen for you.
So if this episode resonated with you,
then I want to encourage you to share it
with a fellow creator.
Heck, send me a DM on Instagram and let
me know that you got benefit from this
episode or this show.
And tell me, what's been happening for
you in your business?
I want to know.
And if you haven't left a rating yet,
please go and do so because that
certainly helps us find a
heck of a lot more people.
So let's recap real quick.
Follow up with your
alumni, stay in touch.
And it's a simple, give us an update, can
surface so many stories
that you never knew existed.
Then collect the stories, all of them.
The $18,000 a month stories, the 250
member stories, or everything in between,
they all help new
customers see themselves in you.
And don't underestimate the impact that
you're already having.
Your work is landing and it is impacting
people, even when you can't see it.
And then lastly, as the bonus today, we
talked about you sharing it back.
When someone's work has
helped you, tell them.
It matters more than you know.
The stories are
already out there, my friend.
You just have to ask for them.
And when you do, you'll be reminded of
why you started this in the first place.
Thanks for listening.
Join us next time.
And remember, the more money you make,
the more impact you can have.
You're awesome.
Hey my friend, if you have felt like the
promotions you used to do just aren't
working anymore, then I wanna encourage
you to come to a free summit that I'm
hosting where I am interviewing 20 plus
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And they are generating more leads and
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interviews, I'm breaking down what
they're doing and how they're doing it.
It's totally free, just go to
membership.io forward slash summit and
let's turn those frowns