…Because People Tend To Quit!

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a sillier bit of advice — and in a marketing forum, no less!

So, let me see if I’ve got this right: since “some” people will drop out of my program around the third, sixth, and ninth month, I shouldn’t accept their first three months membership payment, or their first six, or first nine?

Hmmm.

Suppose I’m offering a membership where the fees are $27 a month….

If you join and remain a member for three months, I’ve earned $81 (less expenses). If you join and remain a member for six months, I’ve earned $162 (less expenses). If you join and remain a member for nine months, I’ve earned $243 (less expenses).

If I don’t offer a membership program, no one joins. I’ve earned $0 (less expenses), and I’ve also potentially LOST the $27, $81, $162, and $243 respectively (depending on stick rate) that I could have earned…if only I’d had a membership program set up.

And those numbers are calculated on having only a single member. Just imagine if 10 people might have joined and dropped out over the course of three months, or 100 might have joined, or 1,000?

I don’t know about you, but the advice to stay away from membership-type models seems a bit like saying you should throw out the money you “could” make with it because you won’t get “all” the money from “all” the members. And it sounds like nonsense.

Who wants to throw away a potential revenue stream because “some” people won’t finish? What the heck about the ones who “do” finish? What about the ones who stick it out half-way?

Sheesh, folks. What are you thinking?