"Cash Now" Campaigns: The Be Helpful Campaign

Hi,

Another day, another MBD newsletter.

What’s in this one?

Another Cash Now Campaign from the R3 book. You can see the Silver Bullet Campaign here.

Here’s a quick refresher before we get into it…

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You’re playing the card game of “war”. Your opponent slaps down a 3 of hearts. In a perfect scenario, what would you want to pull? You’d want to pull the smallest number that will still win - in this case, a 4. Why? Because 1) you win and 2) you win in a way that increases the probability you win more later.

It’s always a good idea to keep a few ace cards in the back pocket. The “Ace Cards” section of R3 (Retention, Referrals, and Raving Fans) has two components. The first is what we call bucketing, which makes the second more powerful. The second is the “Cash Now” Campaign, explained below.

There are six main Cash Now campaigns we run with nearly unlimited variations.

1. The Silver Bullet Campaign is used to quickly identify the best fit. It doubles as a powerful sales tool. This is one of the most powerful campaigns because it builds trust and rapport quickly.

2. The Be Helpful Campaign goes to “Good Fit Now”. If someone is a good fit to move to the next stage, the Be Helpful Campaign will likely push them over the top to take the step.

3. The Second Chance Campaign gives prospects and customers a second chance to become a Good Fit. In my experience, 20-30% of people will change their behavior to become a better fit if they are given a second chance and told how.

4. The Stay-Focused Campaign is designed to keep momentum. It’s most effective when a prospect or client has taken a step already. This campaign encourages them to keep moving - put one foot in front of the other type of thing.

5. The Perspective Campaign is designed to create a paradigm shift. It’s best used at success or achievement milestones to connect at a deeper level beyond the initial goal.

6. The Continuance Campaign is sent to people currently engaged. This campaign is like letting your members peak inside the VIP room - it gives them a glimpse of the next level, creating an internal desire or pressure to become a VIP themselves.

R3 Campaign Principles and Set Up:

R3 is built on gravity, trust, and reliability. Our campaigns must be structured in a way to maintains those things throughout. The core principles are:

• A campaign must be helpful

• There must be a good reason why and it can’t be made up (like a goofy countdown timer)

The easiest way to incorporate both principles is to run all Cash Now campaigns on natural deadlines. Natural deadlines are pre-wired deadlines that people understand, which means they can quickly discern that you didn’t make it up to create scarcity.  

There are four primary types of natural deadlines we use:

1. Industry Deadlines: Deadlines that are known and probably require action from people in your industry. 

   1. Tax season for accountants

   2. New Year for Fitness professionals 

   3. Black Friday for Ecomm

   4. Every major Holiday

2. Business Deadlines: Deadlines that inform action and exist because of a business decision you made. 

   1. Open enrollment for cohorts

   2. Events

   3. Launches

3. Personal Deadlines: Deadlines that are unique and personal to you. 

   1. Vacations

   2. Birthdays 

   3. Anniversaries

4. Process Deadlines: Deadlines that are inherent in a process or because of usage. 

   1. 12 weeks into a process

   2. 50,000 miles

If you make a list, you’ll end up with dozens if not hundreds of reasons to send a campaign. By doing this, we have created a reason why that makes sense to the people on the other end and we’re setting ourselves up to use one of the most powerful words in the world..” because”

“...because it’s almost Christmas”

“....because my birthday is tomorrow”

“....because the event is next week and we need a head count”

“...because you should get an oil change every 50,000 miles”

Recommendation: Robert Cialdini explains the power of “because” in his book “Influence”. I strongly recommend you grab a copy. 

Natural deadlines create the “because” for us. No fancy copywriter is needed. They also build a much stronger internal pressure by piggybacking on pre-wried ideas.  

Your customers might think that you can let them in even if they miss the deadline you have given them. Whether that’s true or not, the customer thinks you can, so the deadline carries little weight to them. 

However, if you invite that customer to your birthday party on Saturday, they already know they can’t show up on Sunday and get the same experience. It requires no explanation, the consequences of missing a natural deadline are already understood. 

Here’s What You Can Do Now

• Make a list of natural deadlines that apply to you. Each one is a reason to send helpful communication.

• Under each one, make a list of things that your industry should know or be doing to prepare for or capitalize on those deadlines.

• If you’re not sure how to deploy campaigns, just be helpful. Tell people what they can do to prepare for something that is coming and make sure you tell them why (because). You will be putting out goodwill and practicing the skill simultaneously.

Here’s a step-by-step for the second R3 Campaign…

The Be Helpful Campaign

Purpose: To help “Good Fit Now” customers and prospects take the next step using a natural deadline. 

When to use this campaign: 

This campaign is helpful year-round and dependent on your natural industry deadlines. If you haven’t made a list of your natural deadlines yet, do that, first. The Be Helpful Campaign…

• Creates natural urgency for the right people

• Gives customers and prospects a look at what it’s like on the other side, building internal pressure and desire

• Creates goodwill for everyone, even if they don’t take the next step

• Generate referrals from non-buyers and buyers

It’s one of the rare campaigns that increases goodwill and makes sales simultaneously. However, it can only do so if you use it properly - around natural deadlines.