Your Retreat Vibe & Timing
Today we’re going to have some fun talking about the kind of vibe you’d like to create on your retreat and the length of time of your event…..
If you need another copy of the worksheet here it is.
If you are using Safari and this video loads TOO SLOWLY try Chrome, Firefox or IE!
Question 5: What kind of vibe are you looking for – a 5 star or camping experience?
Your vibe is critical – it reflects your brand and who you are. So that said, even if your retreat is laid-back like my camping trip to Havasupai Falls was that I mentioned in our last video, folks in general still love a luxurious experience and there are ways of making even a camping or glamping experience (aka: glamorous camping) more special than it is.
For example, on my Havasupai trip I hired a company to accompany us into the canyon to cook gourmet meals for us, set up our tents with comfy four inch thick sleeping pads in them, and to set up nice hot outdoors showers for us every day. Now that’s what I call a camping trip!
So from a price point perspective – it’s critical to decide what your event’s going to cost – after all, only you know your target audience and clientele. If you’re not sure – poll your data base and don’t make any assumptions based on your fear that your event is not going to sell.
Once you’re clear on this – you can be much more targeted when picking the retreat center or hotel of your dreams and the kind of activities you are going to be choosing. Even though my camping trip was luxurious, it was still laid back and reflective of who I am as a person.
And because I know the travel business and have been doing this for so many years – I was able to contract for that company to come down in the canyon with us and I still kept the retreat in the price-point I was looking for and made a great income from the trip.
Question 6: How many days do you want your event to be?
Again, we need to keep in mind our target audience! If you work with Mommy-preneurs for example – I don’t think a 7 day get-a-way overseas is going to be very popular! Most of these women probably don’t want to leave their family in someone else’s hands for that length of time, or have to take a really long flight home in case there was an emergency.
So perhaps a 3 night/4 day retreat would be a much better seller. But if you were creating a retreat for women over 50, 7-10 days overseas could be just the perfect thing! In addition, your pricing is going to increase with more days so do keep that in mind along with the kind of flights that are needed to get wherever your retreat is taking place.
When my client Karen wanted to create her Mommy-preneur retreat she couldn’t figure out why her retreat wouldn’t fill. Her price-point was actually reasonable, the trip wasn’t too long, and the course material was awesome. So she was stumped. When she came to me for help, we sat down and looked at all her marketing material, which by the way was pretty good!
However, she made the trip sound so luxurious it made you feel guilty for taking the trip and leaving your family behind. Once we figured that out, we were able to change the language to sound more laid-back, comfy, and relaxed – which is the vibe her audience was really looking for. So this is critical and I’d really like you to fill in your worksheet and don’t forget to post in the group and let me know what you’ve come up with!
So once you finish today’s questions – come on over to the Facebook Group and post what you’ve come up with!
