Joanna Powell Colbert’s Gaian Tarot Launch

Spirited Entrepreneur Spotlight: Joanna Powell Colbert’s Gaian Tarot Launch

“350 orders placed!”

This week I’m celebrating a tremendous success with one of my Private Platinum clients, Joanna Powell Colbert. (That’s Joanna and I pictured at The Readers Studio, the annual industry event for Tarot lovers.)

Before she “went Platinum,” Joanna and I worked together in my Abundant Business Mastermind program, earlier this year.  One of our goals?  To create a launch plan for Joanna’s masterpiece, The Gaian Tarot.

As anyone in the Tarot community can tell you, The Gaian Tarot is one of the most-loved decks out there – and it hadn’t even been completed yet.  While the Gaian Tarot is slated for publication by Llewellyn in 2011, Joanna wanted to create a special collector’s edition for her peeps – family, friends and fans who have supported her on the journey of the deck’s creation.  So we crafted a plan to pre-launch the collector’s edition.

Joanna knew there would be plenty of interest in her launch – after all, she has a great relationship with her audience and her deck is highly anticipated.  Nonetheless, when the numbers came in, we were both completely bowled over.  Joanna sold 350 copies – a number that far exceeded her original intention. Yowza!

On her blog, Joanna said:

“The success of the Special Offer is due not only to the project itself (the deck and book and goodies that come along with it), but also to the marketing plan. [...]  I want to acknowledge and honor the Marketing Goddess, Elizabeth Genco Purvis, for her guidance during this process, as well as the other women who were in the Abundant Business Mastermind Group with me.

And the lesson here, dear Readers, is this:  if I can do it, so can you!  (Every one of us has a special gift to give to the world.  What’s yours?  And how are you offering it to the world?)”

My heart-felt congratulations, Joanna – I love you and am honored & grateful to be your coach.

How To Earn More In 1 Day Than You Used To Earn In A Month

In last week’s article, I shared another common pitfall that plagues many soul-based business owners when designing their programs and packages: giving too much away. This week, I’d like to share a format for your streamlining your service that’s simple, fun and oh-so-gratifying to deliver: The VIP consulting day.

(Or a VIP coaching day, if you’re a coach. Or a VIP [insert-what-you-do-here] day. My work is a combination of coaching AND consulting, so I flip-flop in what I call them.)

I first heard of the VIP day format from my colleague and friend, Helen Graves of Crackerjack Online Marketing. Helen specializes in helping heart-centered entrepreneurs sell more of their products and services with grace and authenticity. (You’ll be hearing more about Helen very soon – she graciously agreed to do a special call for you on her signature program, “What To Say If You Hate To Sell^TM“.)

When I heard that Helen was offering an all-day VIP coaching experience to teach her clients how to master sales conversations with clients-to-be, I thought, “Brilliant!” I knew I had to try it.

In a VIP day, you come together with your client in a very focused fashion to support them with a particular challenge or problem. Instead of spreading out your coaching or consulting time over a matter of weeks or months, you “go deep” over a period of a single day.

Your clients get your focused, personalized attention for a generous amount of time. At the end of the day, they walk away with a breakthrough in the area of the problem (thanks to your coaching) and a system or strategy for getting the results that they want (thanks to your information).

The VIP day is a tremendous opportunity to serve your clients at a higher level. They are also a great way to deliver a great deal of VALUE without a lot of your time. That means you can charge a healthy fee while staying firmly in your integrity.

Best of all, clients love VIP days. Because you’re focusing on a single problem in a single day, you can go really deep with your clients. And if you design your VIP day in the right way, your clients can get results very quickly, leaving them thrilled with you and likely to return for more of your help.

Here are 4 tips for designing your VIP days:

1. Select one topic, outcome and/or result. Remember, simplicity and focused attention will create a better experience for your clients and support them in getting the result that they want. You’re also not “giving away the farm” by overloading your packages with extras you should be charging for. (Remember, overstuffing your packages is a form of discounting – you have to value your services before your clients will.)

2. Select a topic that your clients can take action NOW. Call it stalling, procrastination, “sitting on the fence,” resistance – one of the biggest problems clients face is inaction. Similarly, as a coach, consultant and accountability partner, one of the things clients are investing in when they work with you is the future action they will take. You want to help make that first step an easy one. Help them experience what it’s like to finally get moving and get some results – they will love you for it (and come back for more).

3. Don’t undercharge your VIP offering. Because you’re handling the problem in “only” one day, you may be tempted to discount your VIP package. Resist that urge! Remember to set your price based on results, not time. (Think about it: should you really penalize yourself because you got the job done quicker? Ridiculous.)

A deeper, richer experience (with more of your focused, personalized attention, and quicker results) is actually more valuable to your clients, not less. When you design your package correctly, your investment should be several times more than the monthly fee you’re probably charging your clients now (hence the title of this article).

4. Give your clients everything they need to repeat their results. Your VIP day offering will likely include some form of teaching and instruction as well as coaching and mentoring. Make sure to give your clients this system in a way that they can refer back to – and repeat! – again and again. You can do this by including materials such as an ebook, audios, worksheets, etc.

© 2009 Elizabeth Genco Purvis. All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article on your website, blog or in your own ezine? No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:

Elizabeth Genco Purvis, “The Marketing Goddess” teaches spirited solo business owners and conscious entrepreneurs how to attract an abundance of clients, income, freedom and satisfaction in their business while staying true to their values. Visit MarketingGoddess.com to claim your copy of “Grow Your Business With Spirit And Soul,” a 7-part audio workshop with everything you need to begin attracting more clients right away.