[Transcript starts at 1:27]
Hello, hello, hello my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. So it is the second episode of the year. It's January. People like to launch things, or at least are thinking about launching things. I'm thinking that the majority of the people that listen to this podcast, you got an online business of some sort and it's gotta be in your head, time to launch.
So I strategically and specifically did not title this episode, how to make sure that your launch is, you know, a huge hit or a huge success, because that's a little bit different. And perhaps I'll do an episode about that. I should probably honestly do like a collab episode with Jill, cuz she's like the, the queen of strategy.
But I can promise you, I know the exact way to make sure that your next launch or any launch that you ever do does not flop, and that's what we're gonna be talking about today. So as always, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. You watch, you listen, you write comments. I'm getting comments on the videos now.
You folks are amazing. You text me 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5. It legit, it is me. Green texts will come back. It's a sideline, but it's me. Text me, you DM me, and I am so grateful that this is year number five that we're heading into of the podcast and just endless appreciation. Let's hop on into the episode.
Right off the bat: stop fucking guessing. Stop fucking guessing. Launches should not be guesses. It's as simple as that. I see a lot of Hail Marys just kind of being, you know, tossed up and thrown out there and I'm like, but why? It doesn't need to be like that. I don't know if it's a lack of, I dunno if, I don't even wanna say it's a lack of coaching.
I feel like perhaps it's poor coaching that people are receiving and then they're like, doing these launches. And I'm like, but why would you do that? Did you know if people were gonna buy? Were people interested? Like, what did your wait list look like? And people are like, oh, I didn't have that. And no. And so I don't want that for you.
I will start this off with like, you know, the proverbial maybe the shit sandwich and, and say something kind first because it is a big deal to be creating. I do wanna commend you for that. It's difficult to launch, it's difficult to create, it's difficult to put yourself out there. So if that's you, I commend you.
The HSP in me, the b- the biz, the Bees coach. Oh my goodness. The biz coach in me doesn't want you to cry. I don't want you to launch and then be sad and be like, but no one bought my thing. So that is why I I'm making this episode here.
When I was doing my little research, kind of, you know, and outlining this episode, I thought about a quote from Alex Hormozi, and so I went and pulled it up. Um, I actually shared this quote at Boss Up last year and I really like it. He said, it's normal to pass your mentors. It means they did a good job. They didn't have themselves as a mentor, you did. And so I kind of wanna like, you know, I hate that phrase, let's normalize things, but I kind of wanna normalize people doing better than their mentors and you know, maybe by some grace of God, I don't know, you consider me a mentor. I get these messages and I'm just like, oh my God, this is amazing. People have done these things and they've launched their businesses, and I, I love that. And so I want you to do better than I did. And I look back on my career thus far, my launches have actually all gone very well, and I've had a very good amount of certainty going into launches, and I want that and more for you.
I never went into a launch as a blind guess. Uh, you know, there was some uncertainty as to perhaps how well it would do, but I knew it wouldn't flop. I knew at least one person would buy this thing. And actually, I'm thinking about a launch right now, where someone bought before I was even done building the thing.
I was like, how did you even find the link? What happened here? I want that for you. I want you to surpass me. I want you to do better than me. I want you to have an easier go at things than me, which is why I create this podcast. That's why I put things out there so you know, you can surpass me and, and do even better.
So what I'm gonna talk about today, I think this is gonna be a little bit of a shorter episode which is kind of cool. Uh, I'm talking about an approach that I've use to launch everything thus far, right? I've launched my in-person course back when I had my movement in-person course, and I launched that, that bitch in New Zealand.
My first course was in New Zealand, folks, and then the second course was in Australia. So this approach works internationally. It works for in-person events, it works for online, you know, offers. It works across the board. It's the approach that I used for launching my Mafia and that Mafia is now we're going on to three years.
We're about to this, so we're, this episode launches and will drop in January. Uh, and this is gonna be the three year anniversary of the Mafia, which is just, blows my mind. Uh, this is the approach that I use to launch my Instagram intensive that has now taken over 400 plus movement and health, fitness, wellness, and kind of various adjacent field professionals, uh, through it and helping them build brands using Instagram.
We're about to hit round, we're about to hit round number 13. That'll be the next launch. We will be round number 13. All this to say, this approach works for in-person, it works online, and it is incredibly, incredibly simple, right? So the one thing, the only thing that you need to do to make sure that your launch is not a flop.
You ready? Drum roll please. Courtney. Courtney added that in last time, and I got a message from, uh, my Stacey, uh, my girl Stacey, and her daughter was like, I love the drum roll. So we're putting it back in. I'll add it into the YouTube video. Courtney, you can add that into the, the podcast. It makes me happy.
Alrighty, one more time. Drum roll please. The number one thing, the only thing that you have to do to ensure that your next launch in any launch is not a flop, is to simply ask people if they want the thing and if they will buy it. That's literally it. You just gotta ask people, this shouldn't be a guessing game. I go into every launch that I'm ever, I've ever done and that I'm ever going to do, knowing that people will buy it. You may not have an idea, um, uh, concrete idea of exactly how many people, but the more that you run an offer, the those numbers actually do become a bit easier to guess because it, it starts to become just pure mathematics. We're gonna go into that in a little bit, um, in terms of conversion numbers and things like that, but, launching should not be a guess.
And the only thing that you need to do to ensure that your launch is not a flop is simply ask people if they want that thing and if they will buy it. If no one says yes, then you don't launch. It's that simple. If no one's responding to things, if no one's saying, yeah, I want that thing, I will pay for that thing, and you launch it, don't be sad when no one buys it. They, they told you, we don't want this thing. Very, very simple.
So I do think that that, uh, there's such thing as asking too many questions perhaps on the front end as you're building the thing, right? Because this is how you just end up with a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
And so I think that there is, there is such thing as trying to get too much out of the audience. It is nice to involve them and you have that, uh, you know, a bit of that IKEA effect, which is the IKEA effect just speaks to why we hold onto that shitty furniture and we're like tied to it. It's cuz we put work into it.
We built this thing and so like, you know, you're lugging it across the country and the particle board is like literally like, you know, uh, what is the word turning into dust as we are moving it. When you, when you involve your audience in building something, they're tied to that thing. They're more likely to buy that thing.
So there is value in asking them, but I think there's also, when you're …too many questions. Like how many calls do you want? And when do you want them? And like what topics…they're, I think the limit does exist. But the one question that I want each and every one of you to ask your people is, do you want this thing? And will you buy it?
We're gonna put it in one question, right? Those are two questions, but we're gonna make it one sentence. Do you want this thing and will you buy it? Now, I will say the more information that you give, and we're gonna go into conversion, uh, conversion rates, or conversion metrics, but the more information that you give to people, the more likely they are, the higher the conversion rates can be, because they're not necessarily just signing up for things for infor more information.
They're actually, you know, they know what the thing is, they know when it's gonna be, they know the price point and so they, they can say yes and you get like a more, uh, solid yes out of them. But suffice to say, if you take a step back, the number one thing that I want you asking people is, do you want this thing and will you buy it?
From there we do not build anything, we do not create anything until people have explicitly told you, yes, I want this thing, and yes, we will buy it. People get very excited about making online courses and building things, and I love that for all of you, but real talk, building the thing is the easy part.
If you're not that good at tech, it may feel very difficult, but it's actually the easiest part of, of the whole process. The hard part is getting the eyes, it's getting the trust. It's getting the people that are saying that will say, yes, I do want this thing. Once you have that, then you can build the thing.
So please do not build the thing until you have people that have raised their hand and said, yes, I want that. Yes, I will buy that.
So how do you ask these people? Let it be simple, folks. Let it be simple. Ask them wherever you have contact with them. So I actually threw my text message, my text number out earlier. I could send out a text poll if I wanted.
Um, but most simplest, the simple, most simplest, that sounded weird. The simplest thing, the simplest approach for me, and I think a lot of the people that you know, you folks listening to this, would you folks watching this, if you have a social media presence, it's gonna be on your social media platform. I love using Instagram Stories for market research and putting that initial teaser out there of, I'm thinking about doing this thing, would you be interested?
And just a simple poll, simple yes or no. And then you can ask more pointed questions after that. You can literally just throw like that kind of like broad net, cast that broad net out initially: would you be interested in this specific thing that I'm thinking about doing?
You can ask your email list. You can ask on a podcast if you have one. You can ask in a free Facebook group. Y'all know I don't love a free, free Facebook group and maybe I should do an episode on about why I don't love one. Um, but if you have one and it's working out well for you, amazing. More power to you. Uh, you can ask in there. You have a discord channel.
Anywhere that you have contact with your audience, ask them. And you can literally make it that, that simple of a question. You don't have to like, put flowery language around it. You don't need to look to, uh, camouflage it or anything like that. I don't know if there's this, I don't even what the w-, what the word is.
I don't wanna say insecurity, that's what's coming out, but I don't really, that's not like the right word. Where people think that they need to be present themselves as bigger and more professional than they actually are. And you know, when it's a one person company and we all know it's a one person company and they say, keep saying we about things and we on social media, and you're like, who the fuck is we?
It's just you. You're the only other person that's ever in the stories. You're the only person that's ever in the pictures. You never talk about anybody else, but you always say we that is weird. And it's this like need, um, and, you know, kind of erroneous desire or belief, I should, the word I should use, that they need to be bigger and present, present themselves as bigger than they actually are.
2023 baby. I've been talking about this all 2022 and the trends that are coming in 2023 and that connection marketing will continue to reign supreme. Be a goddamn human. It's okay to be an individual, it's great to be an individual. We have seen the power of the individual with social media and kind of how it's like, you know, the democratized power and, and influence in many ways.
Um, and how a single influencer can really have such tremendous influence. So it's okay to be one person and just say, this is just me. And you know, to that end, it is okay to just simply ask your audience and very pointedly be like, Hey, I am thinking about creating this thing. Would you want it, do you want it, would you buy it?
No. Okay. There's no need to like read between the lines and, and everything with this. You can literally just specifically ask them. Now where we are gonna do a little bit of reading between the lines is where was in determining what product to initially create. I don't want you pulling product out of your ass.
I don't want that. So a little bit of a tidbit here, a little bit of a cheat code. Download my free e-book. That sounds so weird. Like the plug there, it's like, feels like I went to a commercial, but I got a free e-book. I've talked about it in numerous episodes. It's called The Value Ladder. You can check it out at the themovementmaestro.com/valueladder.
Uh, and this is a great way to understand the different types of offers that you can create and how they all play into your what we'll call your product suite. All the things that you offer in general, they should be tied together in some way, shape, or form, and we can move people through and between these products.
So I will, I, I've drawn it out for you. I wrote a whole 19. I don't actually know how, how long, how many pages it is… Six, seven pages. I almost said 19. But 19 is the podcast ebook. It has a bunch of pages in it, but not too many. You can actually get through it and teach us how to stratify your offers, diversify your offers, and provide value at these different levels for people.
Now the reason that this ties into what I was saying before is that the foundation for all of this and how we determine what we should be building and creating and offering is by simply seeing what bait gets taken. When, what I mean by bait is the free content that you put out there that is bait for your audience.
And I say that in like the, the kindest way possible, like your, you're feeding nice fish, alright, you're gonna put that bait out and then you're gonna see what gets consumed, what gets commented on, what gets questions, what's gets saved, what gets replies, what gets likes? I put likes kind of at the end of that, you know, um, very much strategically there.
The things that get the most traction, from there, we wanna look at repetition. So like, okay, this thing, this topic is getting a lot of traction. I'm getting a lot of the same questions about this. Okay. Then now we can start to think about how do I wanna productize a solution for this question that keeps getting asked? How do I wanna solve this problem?
Right? Because businesses are built on solutions to problems. So from there we think about, okay, this is getting asked a lot, or this is getting, you know, coming up a lot. Cool. I wanna make a solution to this. I wanna make a paid webinar. It's usually a very, it's very simple starting point, and if you read the ebook, you'll see why.
So we're gonna think about that. Okay, cool. That's the, the first step. Then we go and we ask the audience. We say, Hey, I'm getting a lot of questions about this, or I'm seeing this, you know, uh, this is really resonating with a lot of you, and if that kind of like influencer speak makes you feel some kind of way, then say fucking different words.
It's up to you, whatever you want. If you're actually getting a good number of questions, then you're not lying. If you say, I'm getting a number of questions on this, so I'll leave that up to you. But go into your stories and say, Hey, I'm getting questions about this. Would you be interested in a webinar about X?
You can give 'em two options if you want. I like just give people one and then the answer, the option is yes or yes in red. I usually don't put no on there cuz I have feelings and I don't wanna see no. I'm like, you just wouldn't vote if you don't want it. Um, but when we pitch it, it's clear. And I'm hesitating here cause I'm thinking about how much I want to go into this, but
when I said on that, you know, I give you some like suggested language for that of, Hey, I'm thinking about running a webinar. You can make that even more pointed by saying, Hey, I'm thinking about running a paid webinar. So this way when people are saying yes, they're not saying yes cause they think it's gonna be free.
If you know it's gonna have a higher price tag on that, whatever you're creating, then say that. So, just as an example, I have been toying around the, the idea of creating a new, like a marketing and messaging MaestroMind, like a play on words for a mastermind there. And it's still bopping around my head, but I put a bit more information when I'm asking that it's gonna be small group, it's gonna be a higher price point.
This way when people sign, for, as, because they wanna be part of the interest list. They're not thinking it's gonna be one penny. And that's the reason that they're signing up for things. So the more information that you can give when you are doing market research, the, uh, more likely that those people that are saying yes, are actually going to buy that they're not saying yes just so they can get more information.
Okay. But if you don't know, you know how specific, if you don't know specifics initially, that's totally fine. Let it be very general with your ask, Hey, I'm thinking about doing this thing. Would you be interested in it? Would you buy it? And leave it at that. Totally fine. So second part here is once you've put the idea out there, we're going to manage expectations by remembering conversion rates.
And this is, these may change this year, and the, if they're gonna change, it's gonna go down if anything, it's not gonna go up. But conversion rates meaning how many people, what percent what per what, wow. Wow. What percentage of people buy. So we're looking at, and write this down folks, if you're driving, save it.
Come back to it. If you're just watching it, thank you for watching. Write it down. So for cold traffic, I mean, these people have never met you before. Typically, they find you through an ad or they, let's say you went viral, that's cold traffic. They just came and just saw you. You could expect two to 5% of that audience if you had them captured and you were selling something, to buy.
So it's not two to two to 5%, let's say, of your entire, uh, Instagram audience, cuz we know that not everybody sees everything, but if you would've put them in a container where they actually saw this thing and you put this in front of them and you had been speaking about it, two to 5% of cold traffic.
So the way that this, this number comes from is if you have a, like an ad that you're running, then clearly they're coming in into this container from this ad, so they know that this thing is gonna be put in front of them. Two to 5% of those people would, you would expect to buy and it's usually, folks, you know, HSP in me, highly sensitive person in me, go for the lower number, think 2%.
So if you got a hundred people that you're putting this in front of, two might buy. Hundred people. A lot of people. Two might buy. Warm traffic, meaning they're on your email list. Um, they have expressed interest in this thing, five to 10%. Again, let's go to the lower side of that. 5%. And then if we're looking at waitlists, which is what I love creating, it's sort of really how I love selling,
that's 10 to 15%. Meaning if you start a list, you say, Hey, are you interested in this thing? Yes. Okay. Put your email on this. Put your name on this thing on this list, 10 to 15%. It's not a hundred percent. People think, oh, well everyone's gonna buy. They won't. People are so peopley. So you got two to 5% for cold traffic, five to 10% for warm traffic, and 10 to 15% for wait lists.
What I want you to do is use market research to determine if you should create the thing, and then use those conversion rates that I just gave you to manage your expectations on how launching the thing will go. Literally, the only thing that you need to do to make sure that your launch is not a flop is simply ask people if they want it and if they will buy it.
If no one is saying yes, if no one's expressing interest, don't launch it yet. Wait, keep putting more bait out there. Keep attracting more of those wonderful fish. And then you see, okay, they like this. Cool. How do I wanna productize that? Cool. I will ask them, do you want this? Yes, they've said they wanted it.
Cool. Now I look at my conversion rates, and I go in with a bit more managed expectations. And remember, it's low percentages here. And that's okay folks. And then we can look to rinse and repeat. Alright, I think that's it. We kept that nice and tight for this episode. I'm always listening. I'm always listening, I'm always looking for more, uh, suggestions if you guys, if you folks want, uh, specific episodes.
So please don't not hesitate to reach out. As always, endlessly appreciative of all, every single one of you. Until next time, friends, Maestro, out.
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