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How Starting Your Own Country Club Can Skyrocket Your Revenues
My mom was visiting recently and during our mother-daughter shopping time I noticed something interesting. Almost all of the stores I made a purchase at asked me if I'd like to get on their mailing list. That's very smart.
However, the WAY in which they did this made a big difference in my answer. I said NO to almost all of them because they simply did not make it enticing for me. I mean, who WANTS more junk mail? So if you simply ask me if I'd like to be on your mailing list, the answer will usually be NO.
But one store in particular got me. First of all, it was a designer clothing store I loved. Second of all, they didn't ask me if I wanted to be on their mailing list. They invited me to become a "VIP Client".
Say the words "VIP" to me and my ears perk up. It of course stands for "very important person". And in general it indicates a level of advantage and prestige. Suddenly I WANTED to be on that mailing list, especially when the salesman explained to me it came with certain benefits, such as early notice on new arrivals, a personal shopping service, and private trunk shows.
And you know what? I would have even paid to be part of that - to be regarded as a VIP.
You see, people WANT to be part of something special like ezine advertising. The example above was free. But don't underestimate how much your clients or customers will PAY to do that, either.
Example: A friend of mine recently shared he pays $15,000.00 a year to belong to the President's Club of a local playhouse, even though he and his wife could attend each show there for just $150.00. Why would even a loyal attendee want to pay 100 times more? Special treatment like preferred seating, valet parking, invites to VIP functions, private restaurant for members only, networking with a higher level of people, etc.
Another friend of mine pays for membership at a private nightclub here in Los Angeles up on Sunset Blvd. for many of the same reasons (but more so, I believe, because it impresses his dates ; )).
My marketing mentor Dan Kennedy taught me there is a segment of virtually EVERY customer or client group or market who will happily pay FAR above standard prices for convenience, status, and special treatment.
I call it "country clubbing" your business. Why be the driving range with an hourly charge when you can be the classy six-figure membership club down the street? You can offer both of course, but look at what will skyrocket your business FASTER, with less transactions and higher quality clients.
One example of this is my private Platinum Mastermind program, which I launched in 2006 due to overwhelming demand for my personal coaching. This group of 15 serious small business owners each pay $15,000.00 a year to have greater access to me than anyone else, and in a small group setting where we meet 3 times a year at luxurious 4- and 5-star hotels and resorts.
My Platinums are, essentially, VIPs in my world! And because I maintain a bit of mystique about the group, people seem to want "in" even more. (One of my members got cornered in the ladies room at my last Online Success Blueprint Workshop by several attendees who demanded to know how they could get into Platinum!)
I share this not to impress you, but to impress upon you that in YOUR market (yes, *yours*) there IS a percentage of folks who will gladly pay MORE - much more - for a higher level of service or treatment. Remember, you're not trying to please EVERYBODY, just the select few who can afford that level of service.
So now, take a minute or two and consider how YOU can start your own "country club" for your clients and customers. Whether it's a VIP level of service or a private client group that meets a few times a year.
To get your wheels turning, imagine this... if you can get 10 people to commit to some type of program that is just $10,000.00 a year, that's an extra $100,000.00 this year for YOU!
BONUS : How Synchronicity And Jung Appear In The Creative Process
I was editing a passage in my novel CONDUCT IN QUESTION, the first in THE OSGOODE TRILOGY. The villainous Florist was about to march down the stairs to kill the young man, Donnie, hiding in the cloakroom. The boy had soaked the stair carpet with gasoline and was about to set it on fire. Would that, I debated, cause the impressive explosion of flames I had described? Who could give me advice on pyrotechnics? Moments later, when the doorbell rang, I was stunned to find two firemen on my doorstep. Once I had convinced them of my innocent intent, they told me the stairwell would certainly blow up real good.
And that is synchronicity! Which weve all experienced in our lives. Remember the time you were thinking for days of a long lost friend and then suddenly he appeared at your door? Such experiences take our breath away and make us think we are all connected in some warm cosmic soup!
But what is synchronicity? Of course, its a coincidence, which is meaningful to you, the person whose breath is stolen away. It cant be explained by cause and effect. As far as anyone knows, you (or someone else) didnt do anything to cause the event. What coincides? My psychic state (wondering how to test out the blaze without actually setting one) and the event (the arrival of the perfect people to answer my question).
Carl Jung (the Swiss psychiatrist) is the father of synchronicity, in that he experienced, studied and developed theories about it. One of his female patients had a highly rationalistic attitude toward life and was consequently resistant to much psychotherapy. As she was recounting a strange dream about receiving a golden scarab (a costly piece of gold jewelry) there was a persistent tapping on the window behind Jung. Opening the window, the doctor reached out and brought in a large scarab beetle. The appearance of the real beetle at the very moment she was recounting her dream punctured her rational, intellectual approach to life and permitted her to carry on successfully with her therapy.
Some people think synchronicity operates throughout the universe as a grand cosmic force. Have you seen the new movie by Mel Gibson, Apocalypto? In the Mayan culture, it was understood that vast synchronistic forces governed the universe and were related to the motion of the planets, stars and galaxies. Does this seem far-fetched in our modern times? Certainly not! In the book, Cosmos and Psyche, by Richard Tarnas, published in 2006, synchronicity and the influence of the planets are impressively linked.
My experience and fascination with synchronicity caused me to devise two stunningly coincidental events in my novel, FINAL PARADOX, which is the second in THE OSGOODE TRILOGY. Harry Jenkins, the protagonist, is an estates lawyer in Toronto, Canada. For years, Harry and his father have been estranged. When his sister died at the age of twelve, Harrys father, crippled with grief, withdrew almost completely from the family. And Harry, now in his late forties and childless, cannot understand how the loss of his sister could have so horribly affected his father. Now his father lies near death in hospital. Harry is in the Quiet Room of the hospital, mourning the lost years between them and wishing he knew how to pray. Suddenly a woman and her husband enter the room. Hysterical with grief over the murder of her son, the woman screams and curses until, finally, a doctor sedates her. Immediately, Harry understands the wrenching agony of the loss of a child. At the very moment of his asking, he has the answer. Harry is transformed by the sense of deep connection to forces he only dimly perceives.
So, how do such events actually happen? A study of quantum physics leads us to believe that our distinction between our inner and outer world is illusory and that we do, in fact, swim in a cosmic soup in which there is no distinction between the soup and us. And so, our psychic energy may really influence or cause events in the outer world. Consequently, in a moment highly charged with concentrated emotion, Harry Jenkins asks for and receive his answer in a most dramatic fashion.
I was editing a passage in my novel CONDUCT IN QUESTION, the first in THE OSGOODE TRILOGY. The villainous Florist was about to march down the stairs to kill the young man, Donnie, hiding in the cloakroom. The boy had soaked the stair carpet with gasoline and was about to set it on fire. Would that, I debated, cause the impressive explosion of flames I had described? Who could give me advice on pyrotechnics? Moments later, when the doorbell rang, I was stunned to find two firemen on my doorstep. Once I had convinced them of my innocent intent, they told me the stairwell would certainly blow up real good.
And that is synchronicity! Which weve all experienced in our lives. Remember the time you were thinking for days of a long lost friend and then suddenly he appeared at your door? Such experiences take our breath away and make us think we are all connected in some warm cosmic soup!
But what is synchronicity? Of course, its a coincidence, which is meaningful to you, the person whose breath is stolen away. It cant be explained by cause and effect. As far as anyone knows, you (or someone else) didnt do anything to cause the event. What coincides? My psychic state (wondering how to test out the blaze without actually setting one) and the event (the arrival of the perfect people to answer my question).
Carl Jung (the Swiss psychiatrist) is the father of synchronicity, in that he experienced, studied and developed theories about it. One of his female patients had a highly rationalistic attitude toward life and was consequently resistant to much psychotherapy. As she was recounting a strange dream about receiving a golden scarab (a costly piece of gold jewelry) there was a persistent tapping on the window behind Jung. Opening the window, the doctor reached out and brought in a large scarab beetle. The appearance of the real beetle at the very moment she was recounting her dream punctured her rational, intellectual approach to life and permitted her to carry on successfully with her therapy.
Some people think synchronicity operates throughout the universe as a grand cosmic force. Have you seen the new movie by Mel Gibson, Apocalypto? In the Mayan culture, it was understood that vast synchronistic forces governed the universe and were related to the motion of the planets, stars and galaxies. Does this seem far-fetched in our modern times? Certainly not! In the book, Cosmos and Psyche, by Richard Tarnas, published in 2006, synchronicity and the influence of the planets are impressively linked.
My experience and fascination with synchronicity caused me to devise two stunningly coincidental events in my novel, FINAL PARADOX, which is the second in THE OSGOODE TRILOGY. Harry Jenkins, the protagonist, is an estates lawyer in Toronto, Canada. For years, Harry and his father have been estranged. When his sister died at the age of twelve, Harrys father, crippled with grief, withdrew almost completely from the family. And Harry, now in his late forties and childless, cannot understand how the loss of his sister could have so horribly affected his father. Now his father lies near death in hospital. Harry is in the Quiet Room of the hospital, mourning the lost years between them and wishing he knew how to pray. Suddenly a woman and her husband enter the room. Hysterical with grief over the murder of her son, the woman screams and curses until, finally, a doctor sedates her. Immediately, Harry understands the wrenching agony of the loss of a child. At the very moment of his asking, he has the answer. Harry is transformed by the sense of deep connection to forces he only dimly perceives.
So, how do such events actually happen? A study of quantum physics leads us to believe that our distinction between our inner and outer world is illusory and that we do, in fact, swim in a cosmic soup in which there is no distinction between the soup and us. And so, our psychic energy may really influence or cause events in the outer world. Consequently, in a moment highly charged with concentrated emotion, Harry Jenkins asks for and receive his answer in a most dramatic fashion.
