I hope you’ve had a great holiday season and end of December!
I can’t believe we’re only a few days away from 2021.
As we spend some time reflecting on 2020, I know you’re also looking ahead to January … and thinking about your New Year promos!
I want to make sure you’ve got all of your t’s crossed and i’s dotted, so I put together a checklist in case you’re running a New Year Transformation Challenge.
You’re going to want to bookmark this post for future reference.
Just a quick tip before we dive in…
If you are running a New Year transformation program or challenge, I generally recommend starting it on Jan 18th or 25th. This way, you have plenty of time to market after the holidays and make any adjustments you need to without the stress.
The following checklist is set up for a 28-day challenge, but it can easily be tweaked to accommodate however long your challenge will be.
YOUR 2021 TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE CHECKLIST
→ 1. PRE-CHALLENGE: CREATE YOUR PROGRAM
A lot goes into creating a transformation challenge – be sure to give yourself plenty of time to do this. You don’t want to rush to finish it at the last minute or spread yourself thin.
(NOTE: If you need a done-for-you challenge, I have several here)
- Meal Plans/Guides (Important: if you’re not a registered dietitian, be sure to have everything approved by one before you give it to your challengers!)
- Printable Grocery Lists
- Complete Recipe Book
- Client Success Manual (include guides for dining out and meal swaps)
- Daily Inspiration (emails / text / whatever communication you use)
- Goal & Measurement Worksheets
- A “Getting Started” Checklist for Participants
- When all the documents are completed and have been edited, convert them to PDFs or Playbooks so they’re ready to give to clients.
- Dial-in the Client Experience (how are you going to support them – call/text/check-ins?, hold them accountable, track habits?)
- Scoring/Challenge Rules/Prizes. Make sure you account for these if you’re going to be using this strategy!
- Plan AHEAD and know exactly how you’re going to convert your challengers into your core membership (after all, this is your MAIN goal!) 🙂
→ 2. PRE-CHALLENGE: MARKETING
You can have the BEST program in the world, but if no one knows you’re there, you won’t be able to help anyone! If you’re running your challenge in January, NOW is the time to start marketing if you haven’t already started.
- Decide on Early Bird or Fast Action Bonus for the first X# of sign-ups (optional)
- Create your Facebook Ads & submit for approval ahead of time (IMPORTANT)
- Create your marketing funnel / sales page
- Write at least 4-6 strong marketing emails for your existing email list
- Create your social media posts & organic content strategy
- Are you teaming up with any affiliates? Strategic partners? If so, get your strategy in place.
- Make sure you (and your team) have a process for follow-up and sales, and track EVERYTHING!
→ 3. PRE-CHALLENGE: GET READY!
This is where you give your challenge a final once-over before you step on the gas!
- Create a member area or use Google Drive to effortlessly share your challenge materials with your new clients.
- Load your daily emails into an email auto-responder sequence and get them scheduled! (OnboardMe can do this also!)
- Review and do final edits on all of your challenge and marketing materials.
- Order goal cards (to send in the mail) for your new challengers & prepare your script.
- Make sure your entire team knows what’s happening and when it’s happening.
→ 4. PRE-CHALLENGE: GET SET!
- Create a private group on Facebook for your challenge (I typically recommend this only if you have more than 25 challengers)
- OPTIONAL: Plan an orientation for challengers just before the challenge is set to start (Friday, Saturday or Sunday). If you’re not going to do an in-person orientation, a welcome video would be a great personal touch. You can upload it right into your Facebook group.
→ 5. THE CHALLENGE BEGINS
- The Friday before the challenge, send emails to your challengers with their username and password so they can access their resources
- OPTIONAL: On Friday, Saturday or Sunday hold an orientation for your challengers. (If you want, this is where you can make your first offer to them to sign up for an ongoing membership.)
- At some point during the weekend, check-in with each challenger to make sure they received their program, see if they have questions, and get them ready for their first workout if you’re offering that as part of the program.
- Before Measurements & Pics: make sure you get them for each participant!
→ 6. DURING THE CHALLENGE
- Be sure to POST DAILY in your Facebook challenge group. Answer questions, give cooking or workout tips, and generally keep up the excitement level!
- Every week, check in with your challengers at least once, one-on-one (message, text, phone call).
- ALWAYS make your MIA calls if clients do not show up for more than 3-4 days or have dropped off the map!
- OPTIONAL: Setup your post-challenge celebration party (virtual or in-person).
- OPTIONAL: Over-deliver with random participation bonuses, small gifts, and freebies!
- Follow your conversion flow to get your participants signed up for your MAIN core program!
→ 7. END OF CHALLENGE
- Take final measurements and pics.
- Follow-up with anyone who did NOT sign for your core program, and do your best to get them signed up!
- OPTIONAL: Host a celebration party / awards for all your challengers.
→ 8. AFTER THE CHALLENGE
- On Tuesday or Wednesday after the challenge ends, ask everyone to complete a survey. If you’re looking for tips for questions to ask, check this out: Swipe these client survey questions now.
- Promote your challenge before and after pics – along with success stories! – on social media and in your email newsletter. And definitely file them away for use when promoting your next challenge.
Being organized and having your details ironed out ahead of time is EVERYTHING.
It’ll help you deliver an amazing experience to your participants and will help send your membership and retention rates through the roof.
More than that – it’ll help you to do it ALL with a lot less stress. WIN-WIN!
Hope you find this checklist helpful!
Alicia
Website: FitProEssentials.com
Coaching: FitProAccelerator.com
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