Artwork for podcast Your Systems Friend
9: Do This 5 Minute Messaging Exercise To Clean Up Your Group Program's Promise BEFORE You Work On Your Systems
Episode 928th September 2023 • Your Systems Friend • Ashley Rose
00:00:00 00:14:09

Share Episode

Shownotes

Before your next launch, you have to revisit and refine your offer’s promise — even if your offer has been around for years and you’ve gotten hundreds of client results. 

This exercise helps you get so much clearer on the results you get your clients inside of your program. 


And that makes creating the right systems for your program and deciding what features to add to your program to help get more clients more results so much easier. 


Tune into this episode to hear the simple framework to evaluate your program promise, how to make it more clear, and how you can improve your program as a result. 


📚MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Alora Rochelle's The Wedding CEO: https://www.alorarachelle.com/weddingceo



WAYS TO WORK WITH ASHLEY:


⚡️ GET ON THE WAITLIST FOR OUR AIRTABLE TEMPLATE SHOP FOR ONLINE COACHES!

Waitlisters will be get the first chance to buy our life-changing Airtable templates and get EXCLUSIVE bonuses just for waitlisters. You will also be able to opt into my private podcast "Behind The Waitlist" where I am sharing DAILY updates on what it's like to be launching this thing!

https://systemsoverstress.co/template-shop-waitlist


⭐ APPLY FOR THE SHOW YOUR RECEIPTS CLIENT RESULTS VIP DAY

On our VIP Day, we help coaches create an automated client results system that clients actually fill out & proves your program works.

Apply for the Client Results VIP Day


👋CONNECT WITH ASHLEY

Website: https://systemsoverstress.co/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/systemsoverstress/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJJ01c-NTjI8eZzp2wwO7GA

Transcripts

Ashley Pendergraft:

You want to make sure that your offer's results

Ashley Pendergraft:

and your messaging is SMART.

Ashley Pendergraft:

What SMART stands for is Specific, Measurable, achievable,

Ashley Pendergraft:

relevant, and time bound.

Ashley Pendergraft:

That makes a great goal.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It also makes a great result for your group program.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Because if you think about it, a result and a goal are pretty much the same thing.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So to have SMART goals for your clients, you're really setting them up for success.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Yes, it's a very basic framework, but it's popular for a reason.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Welcome to Systems Famous, the podcast where we're revolutionizing the coaching

Ashley Pendergraft:

industry by putting client results first.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I'm Ashley Pendergraft, a systems and automation expert with over five years

Ashley Pendergraft:

of experience in the coaching industry.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Let's get into the show.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Hello and welcome to this episode of Systems Famous.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I am so excited about this episode.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I wanted to make this a standalone episode because I know it is something

Ashley Pendergraft:

that I am going to refer back to people for months and years to come.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So this episode is all about this five minute messaging exercise that

Ashley Pendergraft:

I have all of my clients go through before they work on their systems.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Now, I am not a messaging coach.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I am not your sales coach, but I am a systems and operations expert.

Ashley Pendergraft:

But of course, your sales and your systems work hand in hand.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It's pointless to make systems around something, to make systems around

Ashley Pendergraft:

an offer that isn't even selling, or that you're having trouble selling.

Ashley Pendergraft:

When I run my clients through this 5 minute messaging exercise, they're so

Ashley Pendergraft:

much clearer on the results that they get their clients inside of their programs,

Ashley Pendergraft:

which makes creating the systems and deciding what features to add to the

Ashley Pendergraft:

program, what systems to create around the program to get their clients even

Ashley Pendergraft:

better results, it just makes everything so much more concise and easy and clear.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So I am so excited to walk you through this messaging exercise today.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So before your next big launch, it is absolutely worth revisiting and refining

Ashley Pendergraft:

your offer's results and your messaging.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I do not care how long your offer has been around and how

Ashley Pendergraft:

many client results you've got.

Ashley Pendergraft:

If you have a six figure group program, I still want you

Ashley Pendergraft:

to go through this exercise.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It is absolutely worth revisiting the result that you promised your clients.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Because even if your group program has sold six figures plus in revenue,

Ashley Pendergraft:

you may realize that your result isn't as clear as you thought.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So we're going to take it back to like college high school days with SMART goals.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So if you remember SMART goals, yes, it's a little eye rolly and productivity

Ashley Pendergraft:

101, but it's actually been so crucial to applying it to your results.

Ashley Pendergraft:

As I was thinking about, like, the best framework to help people clear

Ashley Pendergraft:

up their client results, I was trying to come up with some proprietary

Ashley Pendergraft:

framework, some acronym, and then when I was thinking about SMART

Ashley Pendergraft:

goals, I was like, you know what?

Ashley Pendergraft:

This is the best thing to do, is to apply SMART goals to our client results.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So, here's what I mean by that.

Ashley Pendergraft:

You want to make sure that your offer's results and your messaging is SMART.

Ashley Pendergraft:

What SMART stands for is Specific, Measurable, achievable,

Ashley Pendergraft:

relevant, and time bound.

Ashley Pendergraft:

That makes a great goal.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It also makes a great result for your group program.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Because if you think about it, a result and a goal are pretty much the same thing.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So to have SMART goals for your clients, you're really setting them up for success.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Yes, it's a very basic framework, but it's popular for a reason.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So, I wanted to roll through an example for me and my group program.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I believe I've done this on the podcast before, but I really wanted to have

Ashley Pendergraft:

this, again, be a standalone episode, so you can go through it and you can sit

Ashley Pendergraft:

and sit with your own program promise.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I also want to share with you as I've run this through with my clients,

Ashley Pendergraft:

some of the kind of red flags that I see of some like messaging mistakes

Ashley Pendergraft:

101 for your client results and how we can really firm them up.

Ashley Pendergraft:

In the spirit of transparency, I'm going to use myself as an example.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Systems Over Stress is my group program.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So here's my old program promise.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Systems Over Stress is a six month group program that helps you manage every

Ashley Pendergraft:

aspect of your growing group program, mastermind, or membership in Airtable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

You'll completely replace your spreadsheets, improve your existing

Ashley Pendergraft:

Airtable bases, and prepare your systems for your next client influx.

Ashley Pendergraft:

That's fine, right?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Has that program promise made me six figures?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Sure has.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Have I gotten clients results?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Sure have.

Ashley Pendergraft:

But here is where this program promise has capped out, if that makes sense.

Ashley Pendergraft:

As I get more cold leads in my audience, they're like, What are you talking about?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Because if I run this through our SMART results rubric, It

Ashley Pendergraft:

just doesn't really hold up.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It's not super specific.

Ashley Pendergraft:

What does every aspect mean?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Every aspect, or everything, or all, those are things that if those are

Ashley Pendergraft:

inside of your program promise right now, I want you to clean it up.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I want you to avoid grand, sweeping statements.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Managing every aspect.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Organizing everything in your life.

Ashley Pendergraft:

All.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Everything.

Ashley Pendergraft:

We want those to be a little more specific.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Next up, it's not that measurable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Every aspect of your group program, that's a really, a moving goal

Ashley Pendergraft:

post, which is super hard to track.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So, somebody might come into my group program and they have three things that

Ashley Pendergraft:

they manage for their group program.

Ashley Pendergraft:

And we're like, yes, you can manage every aspect.

Ashley Pendergraft:

And somebody might have a really complicated program and they have

Ashley Pendergraft:

so many moving pieces and we, like, there's just a lot for them to handle,

Ashley Pendergraft:

there's a lot to organize, so it's really hard to clearly define when

Ashley Pendergraft:

it's done, so it's not measurable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Achievable, so we've got specific, measurable, now we have achievable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Especially for Airtable beginners, to say that they can manage everything in

Ashley Pendergraft:

Airtable is just a lot to put on them.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So it's not specific, it's not measurable, and it's also not

Ashley Pendergraft:

achievable for a wide range of people.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It is pretty relevant, preparing for your next client influx, yes, my

Ashley Pendergraft:

people are group program founders, it's pretty specific about the who, it's

Ashley Pendergraft:

relevant for the who, so that's okay.

Ashley Pendergraft:

But here's the biggest one that a lot of folks mess up on.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Is that it's not time bound.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So, even though it says the program is six months, it isn't clear whether

Ashley Pendergraft:

it's going to take them the entire six months, six weeks, or even

Ashley Pendergraft:

six days to get the results, which can be really confusing for folks.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So they come into the program, and some people think they're going to set it

Ashley Pendergraft:

up in a weekend, some people think it's going to take six months, and really

Ashley Pendergraft:

we don't have a promise that is showing them exactly what they can expect.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Like I said, was this a bad program?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Not at all.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I love my offer.

Ashley Pendergraft:

My clients love my offer.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It's gotten great feedback, but I have seen, as I'm looking at my program

Ashley Pendergraft:

more through a client results focused lens, that my messaging, it makes it

Ashley Pendergraft:

harder than it needs to be, and I could absolutely clean this up to be more

Ashley Pendergraft:

of that SMART results rubric in mind.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Like I said, the old program promise: "Systems Over Stress is a six month

Ashley Pendergraft:

group program that helps you manage every aspect of your growing group program,

Ashley Pendergraft:

mastermind, or membership in Airtable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

You'll completely replace your spreadsheets, improve your existing

Ashley Pendergraft:

Airtable bases, and prepare your systems for your next client influx."

Ashley Pendergraft:

It's fine, it's pretty vague, it's just not as SMART as it could be.

Ashley Pendergraft:

And here is our new refined result after running it through

Ashley Pendergraft:

the SMART results rubric.

Ashley Pendergraft:

" Systems Over Stress helps coaches automate the onboarding, offboarding, and re

Ashley Pendergraft:

sign process of their signature group coaching program in 30 days so they can

Ashley Pendergraft:

ensure a seamless client experience and double their collected client results."

Ashley Pendergraft:

y'all, that is so much better!

Ashley Pendergraft:

I hope you can see the difference there and that Helps you really look

Ashley Pendergraft:

at your current program promise.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I wanted to share some specifics of how this has shifted.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So, first off It is now much more specific.

Ashley Pendergraft:

We used to say "manage every aspect."

Ashley Pendergraft:

Now we say "we focus on onboarding, offboarding, and re signs."

Ashley Pendergraft:

That is incredibly specific.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So we know that it's now measurable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Is your onboarding automated?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Is your offboarding automated?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Is your re sign process automated?

Ashley Pendergraft:

If it is, great, you have done it.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It is measurable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It is actionable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

We know that it's happened.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So even just that also makes it really niche of what content I can create.

Ashley Pendergraft:

This is also much more achievable.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I feel very confident that I can create curriculum, that even the

Ashley Pendergraft:

most beginner of Airtable users can set up these three systems.

Ashley Pendergraft:

And because this is so specific, I can now go deep instead of wide,

Ashley Pendergraft:

and ensure we have all the trainings that we can help all of our students,

Ashley Pendergraft:

regardless of where they're at, set up those onboarding, offboarding,

Ashley Pendergraft:

and re sign processes, so they get the results that they're looking for.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Of course, it is still relevant and it is now time bound.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So even though the program access is longer, we have extended our

Ashley Pendergraft:

program from 6 months to 12 months, we are promising them that they can

Ashley Pendergraft:

get their desired result in 30 days.

Ashley Pendergraft:

And I wanted to add a little caveat about the time bound result, because sometimes

Ashley Pendergraft:

folks have a little bit of hesitation around offering a time bound result.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Because you'll say, oh, they're going to feel bad if life gets in

Ashley Pendergraft:

the way and they can't set it up.

Ashley Pendergraft:

That's why you have the 12 months of access, or however long the access is.

Ashley Pendergraft:

But you do want to give people the expectation that says, "Hey, we have

Ashley Pendergraft:

seen the majority of our clients get this result in X amount of days.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So if that's what you're looking for, we can help get you to that."

Ashley Pendergraft:

So it just adds a little bit more.

Ashley Pendergraft:

It makes the promise time bound.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So if they are going into a launch, they know, Do I need to

Ashley Pendergraft:

buy this 6 months in advance?

Ashley Pendergraft:

Do I need to buy this 6 days in advance?

Ashley Pendergraft:

What do I need to do?

Ashley Pendergraft:

So adding in that time bound promise for the folks who are looking

Ashley Pendergraft:

for that and need some realistic grounding, it's very helpful.

Ashley Pendergraft:

In your onboarding, of course, you can say, Hey, if this isn't

Ashley Pendergraft:

a priority of yours right now, you have the 12 months access.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Put this on the shelf and come back to it in a month whenever you're ready.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I hope you can see how much clearer our program promise is by just running

Ashley Pendergraft:

it through this SMART results rubric.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So I want you to, on a piece of paper, pull up a Google Doc,

Ashley Pendergraft:

put your current program promise at the top, and make a rating.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Give yourself a 1 if you're like, yes, this feels good, it's specific.

Ashley Pendergraft:

Give it a 0.5 if it's fine but it could improve, and give

Ashley Pendergraft:

yourself a zero if it needs work.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So you'll be able to really see like what your rating is and it's going

Ashley Pendergraft:

to give you really tangible places that you can workshop and improve

Ashley Pendergraft:

your existing program promise.

Ashley Pendergraft:

I wanted to share with you also a client example of a Systems Over Stress student

Ashley Pendergraft:

who went through our client results clinic and we workshopped this together.

Ashley Pendergraft:

So she has an amazing program called the Wedding CEO and this was her existing

program promise:

"the Wedding CEO is a program that helps you scale to 100k in

program promise:

12 months without sacrificing your life.

program promise:

We teach you how to raise your prices while booking your highest

program promise:

package repeatedly so you can add other streams of income."

program promise:

This is totally fine.

program promise:

She has crushed it.

program promise:

I have seen her make so much money in this program.

program promise:

It's really incredible to see, but if we run it through the SMART Results rubric,

program promise:

she gave herself a 0.5 on the specifics.

program promise:

So I'm able to look at program promises now and be able to truly identify

program promise:

like where we can tighten it up.

program promise:

So some places I see for me is helping you scale to 100k in 12 months.

program promise:

That is super specific.

program promise:

Without sacrificing your life, that was not as specific.

program promise:

So when we really started to massage it and work it out, how we really

program promise:

defined and wanted to make measurable, what is sacrificing your life?

program promise:

With Alora's program, it was my wedding CEOs, they take on a lot of weddings.

program promise:

And we're like, okay, what's that not sacrificing your life wedding number?

program promise:

How we refined her program promise was "the wedding CEO is a program that

program promise:

helps you scale to a hundred K and 12 months with no more than 20 weddings

program promise:

per year, we teach you how to raise your wedding rates and add additional

program promise:

streams of income so you can stop sacrificing your life and spend more

program promise:

time with your family and friends."

program promise:

So really it's slight things, but we're now saying, yes, we can now

program promise:

see this measurable how many weddings per year are her clients booking?

program promise:

We want to make sure they're under that 20 weddings a year mark.

program promise:

That's also very attractive to her ideal client.

program promise:

They're like, yes, I don't want to work more than 20 weddings.

program promise:

We can easily start to track how many weddings are her clients booking?

program promise:

What is the average rates that they started in the program

program promise:

and what is their new rates?

program promise:

And we, there's so much numbers and data that we can play with now that

program promise:

we have a little bit more of a SMARTer program promise and SMARTer result.

program promise:

So truly, this messaging exercise will take less than five minutes and

program promise:

it will give you so much clarity.

program promise:

Before you set up any systems, before you set up any Airtable base, before

program promise:

you go play with your onboarding form, the thing I'm going to ask

program promise:

you is what is your program promise?

program promise:

And if it's not tight, if it's not as SMART as it could be, I want you

program promise:

to run it through this rubric, so go ahead, save this exercise, go ahead

program promise:

and play with it today, and if this was helpful for you, I would love to hear.

program promise:

Go ahead and shoot me a DM on Instagram, or if you're watching the

program promise:

YouTube video, you can add it in the comments: what was your program promise?

program promise:

And what tweaks did you make with this new SMART results rubric?

program promise:

And I'd be happy to give you some feedback on it.

program promise:

So I hope this was helpful.

program promise:

I'm so excited that together we're raising the standard of what group

program promise:

programs can be and specifically helping more of our clients get more results

program promise:

simply by tightening up our systems and tightening up the things that we promise.

program promise:

If this was interesting to you, please let me know.

program promise:

I can't wait to hear what your elevated SMART results program promise is, and

program promise:

we will see you in the next episode.

program promise:

If you are committed to getting your client's results and creating

program promise:

the go-to coaching program in your industry, we want you to join us.

program promise:

Click that subscribe button on your favorite podcast app or YouTube

program promise:

to see all the system strategies and behind the scenes stories of

program promise:

what it takes to create the most impactful coaching program you can.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube