If you want an influx of new clients in 10 days or less, running a free challenge is one of the best ways to do it! A free challenge can open the gates for people to learn more about you in a no-risk way and see how you may have the solution to their problem.

Social media is great, but it’s a long-term strategy that takes time to build awareness and trust. When you run a free challenge, you are dramatically expediting the know-like-trust process because people get to spend more time with you over a few days, so they experience what it could be like to be a client.

In this post, I’m going to break things down so you can see how a free challenge can lead to getting new clients in a very short period of time.

Benefits of Launching a Challenge

If you struggle with figuring out a way to get in front of your ideal clients, a free challenge can be the perfect solution. A free offering like this introduces people to you without having to overcome the barrier of skepticism and price. Once people are in your challenge, they can experience what it will be like to work with you in your coaching programs.

Build Your Authority

A free challenge is a fantastic way to establish yourself as an authority and a trusted resource.

An easy way to facilitate your free challenge is to create a Facebook group for the participants. (You want people to sign up via an opt-in page so you get their email address so they can get your daily challenge content too). Once they join, they will have access to not only your support and knowledge but also the support of fellow participants. Some of the most successful Facebook groups are structured so that they function as a community. You are the leader, but you also want members to interact with, and support each other, not just you.

Since Facebook groups don’t face the same organic reach challenges as Facebook fan pages, the people that really want to see the daily posts, won’t miss a thing. Hosting your own Facebook group elevates your status as a leader since you are bringing people together for the challenge.

Once the challenge ends, you will have a group full of people, and some of them will be ready to take the next step with you to become a client or join your group program.

Build Your Sales Funnel

The end goal of any free offer should be to convert some of the members to paying clients. In this manner, your free program acts as the first step in your sales funnel.  The top of the funnel is where people enter with a free offer like a challenge. The middle is where you offer a low-cost, short-term program (30 days is a great option). The bottom of your funnel is your premium coaching program or higher-priced, longer-term program.  By providing consistent value over time, and gaining their trust, you keep moving people down the funnel.  People that know, like, and trust you are going to want to continue to do business with you, and they will also refer their friends.  No need to complicate this. If you only offer 1-on-1 coaching, you can offer a 30-Day program for that as the first step.

At the end of your challenge (5-7 days is the perfect length of time), you can offer the next step in your sales funnel. This is where you offer a way people can continue their progress and accelerate their results. Once the challenge is over, one option is to lead people into a lower-cost group program for 30-days. At the end of the 30-day program, you can lead them to join your intermediate program. Each program you offer should go up in both price and level of support.

Over time, your programs can build upon one another, so that each program acts as a lead-in for the next one. When you think of your programs as a process or a journey, you’ll be able to find ways to offer more than one program to clients and potential clients.

Topics for Your Challenge

There is a wide range of themes and topics for any type of challenge, so think about what your audience would be drawn to and appreciate the most. One option is to do a 5-day challenge that addresses a common struggle you know your ideal clients face such as menu planning.

You want your daily topics to be easy to implement, and easy to have small wins along the way. This will keep people motivated and ready to take the next step.

Keeping Your Participants Engaged

Who doesn’t love incentives? Even though this is a free challenge, you can still offer PRIZES for participation. Prizes are optional, but it makes it more fun for participants and it keeps them coming back to your group which is where they get to know you. One easy way to do this is to let everyone know you’ll be drawing a name each day for a prize. The more they comment and post, the more chances they have to win.  If you’re using a Facebook group for the hub of your challenge, you can either just pick a name at random, or you can use a tool like randompicker.com to select a winner for you.

Prize ideas include: A journal, exercise bands, cookbook, motivational book, gift cards (an eGift card from Amazon is easy). You want to pick prizes that are light-weight and easy to mail. If your winner lives out of the country, an eGift card is a good option. Look for items that are on sale when you’re out shopping, and you can build a nice assortment of prizes to make it fun for people to stay engaged in your Facebook group.

Build Your Business with a Free Challenge

A free challenge is a great way to kick off and fill a new Facebook group with your ideal audience, and it’s also a great way to re-energize an existing group that may have fizzled out. Think of the free challenge as an amazing way to introduce yourself to your target audience in a fun way, and have them get to know, like, and trust you in a short period of time.

The great news is that you can run your challenge 3-4 times a year to continue to build awareness and get new clients – rinse and repeat!

How to Get Started

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If you want to run a challenge, but you don’t have the time or aren’t sure how to put one together, I have something that may interest you.

I created the 5-Day Menu Planning Challenge, so you would have an irresistible free offer to build awareness, grow your email list, and get clients QUICKLY.

You get EVERYTHING you need to PROMOTE, FILL, and RUN an incredibly successful challenge in a matter of days.

 Check out the 5-Day Menu Planning Challenge HERE. 

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