Launch

The Product Launch Formula® is a system to get your target market so engaged with your product (or business) that they almost beg you to sell it to them. And this all happens before you even release the product. (Location 565)

So what exactly am I talking about when I say “list”? This is really simple—it’s a list of people who have asked to subscribe to your emails. Typically, you have an “opt-in” form on your site, and people can enter their email address in that form to subscribe to your email list. Of course, you have to give people a reason to subscribe. It might be to receive a newsletter or get daily updates or learn about daily special deals or find out about new content. But no matter what the promise is, that is the reason they are joining your email list. (Location 764)

Your List Is Not a Strategy, It’s the Strategy As I mentioned above, list building has been a core strategy for me since I started. In fact, it was the ONLY strategy I had when I started out. I actually began my list building efforts before I even had a web site. (Location 802)

The reason you have to get this right is we’re going to create what is called a “squeeze page.” That squeeze page will have an “opt-in offer”—that’s the offer you will make to get someone to join your email list. (Location 896)

a general rule of thumb is that a subscriber is worth $1 per month or $12 per year. That’s (Location 934)

So one of the most important things that makes a squeeze page work is having a really strong opt-in offer (this is the ethical bribe that I mentioned earlier). (Location 948)

ethical bribe might be a video tutorial on how to completely crush your drive on the first tee . . . every single time. Or maybe instead of a video, it could be a special report (i.e., a written PDF report). Getting your squeeze page right is really about getting the ethical bribe right. (Location 953)

So far we’ve covered: 1.   Defining your avatar. 2.   Creating your opt-in ethical bribe. 3.   Creating your squeeze page. Now the only thing left to do to get your list rolling is drive some traffic to your squeeze page. (Location 967)

There are a number of ways to drive traffic. The first one that most people think about is from the search engines, such as Google. (Location 973)

through “paid search.” Those are the little advertisements you see at the top and on the right side of the Google listings. (Location 978)

In any case, paid search can be expensive . . . but it’s great for testing squeeze pages because you can literally start driving traffic in minutes. (Location 981)

Another way to send traffic to your site is through Social Media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. (Location 982)

In other words, you can use your Social Media following to build your email list. (Location 986)

There are many other ways to drive traffic to your squeeze page, such as creating great content that attracts word-of-mouth traffic (this has always been one of my personal favorites), other forms of advertising, and online forums. (Location 987)

And, of course, there’s my all-time favorite source of traffic, which is affiliates and Joint Venture partners. This is when other people with lists send you tons of traffic, and it doesn’t cost you a single penny upfront—you pay them out of the sales that are generated by that traffic. This is the ultimate shortcut to building a big list fast. (Location 989)

Your lists of prospects and clients are the biggest asset in your business. (Location 996)

In many markets you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with a list of 10,000 subscribers. (Location 1004)

The bottom line is that if you want to build a viable business online, you NEED to focus on list building. (Location 1005)

There is no better way to build a list quickly than with a product launch. Remember John Gallagher and the launch of his board game? Well, he had a very small list that he used in that launch. And you’ll remember his first launch (before he got PLF) had 12 sales. Then after he applied PLF, he had 670 sales. The one thing I didn’t tell you is that in addition to all those sales he made, he also added more than 1,000 new subscribers during that launch. (Location 1008)

The long sales letter has morphed into a long sales video. Think of it as a 20- or 30-minute commercial. You’ve probably been to a web site with a long form sales letter or sales video. These sites are very simple—there’s generally only a single page on the site. That page is a very long page of sales copy for a single product. There are no other links on the site other than a “Buy It Now” or “Add to Cart” button. You either buy the product or you leave. (Location 1048)

The secret of the Sideways Sales Letter™ that I stumbled onto was this: Instead of taking eight or 12 or 20 pages to tell the story in a long, vertical sales letter, I flipped the sales process on its side. (Location 1065)

Instead of pages, I used days. Instead of a 10-page sales letter, I used a 10-day sequence. Instead of one super-long letter, I split it up into a series of contacts over a number of days. We call those contacts “Prelaunch Content” or “PLC.” (Location 1067)

I used great sequential content and the power of story to pull the prospect into (Location 1070)

my sales message. (Location 1070)

At its core, the Sideways Sales Letter™ is a sequence of Prelaunch Content, followed by a sales message. The typical sequence will have three pieces of Prelaunch Content, which you share with your prospects over a period of up to 12 days. (Location 1074)

Prelaunch Content is structured so that it’s compelling, valuable content . . . and it naturally leads into the sale of your product. At the end of the Prelaunch Sequence, you “Open Cart” by sending your prospects to a sales page to close the sale. (Location 1077)

Lots of times people worry about giving away too much of the “good stuff” during their prelaunch. They worry that if they give away too much, their prospects won’t need to buy their products. But in my experience this is rarely a problem. The mistake I see far more often is not giving away enough high-quality content. (Location 1159)

But by sharing great content in his prelaunch videos, he established the authority he needed. He showed that he had the experience to teach his prospects how to get high-paying clients and build their business. (Location 1167)

And just like with his first video, there was no hint of a sale in his second piece of Prelaunch Content. Just solid, great content. Barry was building his authority, (Location 1169)

If you’re worried that lots of people won’t buy after they watch your prelaunch, then you’re absolutely right. Most of your prospects won’t buy. In fact, in almost all launches the vast majority of your prospects won’t buy. (Location 1174)

And then Barry started to make a pivot to the sale. He talked about how he was going to personally guide 15 people through his Showbiz Blueprint, which was the exact promotional system that helped land the highest-paying gigs in the industry, including Johnny Carson and The White House. This was the first mention of an upcoming product, the first hint that there was a sale coming. (Location 1180)

Making the pivot to the sale in the final piece of Prelaunch Content is critical, and leaving out that pivot is a mistake a lot of people make. Often people who are putting together one of these launches get so caught up in delivering great content that they don’t want to talk about the sale in that final prelaunch video. (Location 1183)

work. He had left the “trading hours for dollars” world and jumped onboard the leverage train. (Location 1198)

And it creates a deadly effective sales machine without requiring you to be a great sales person. And you won’t feel like you need to take a shower after you make the sale. (Location 1204)

1. Authority People tend to follow others in positions of authority. (Location 1239)

2. Reciprocity Reciprocity is the idea that if someone gives something to us, we will feel some obligation to give them something back in return. (Location 1259)

3. Trust Building trust is the ultimate (Location 1275)

short circuit to becoming influential in someone’s life. (Location 1275)

4. Anticipation Another super-powerful mental trigger is “anticipation,” and this is one of the cornerstones of the Product Launch Formula. (Location 1290)

5. Likeability Likability is a mental trigger that you have certainly experienced in your life. (Location 1305)

6. Events and Ritual When you turn your marketing into an event (which is what running a well-executed PLF-style launch is all about), then you instantly make your marketing truly magnetic. (Location 1317)

7. Community Community is a very powerful (Location 1328)

mental trigger. We act in accordance with how we think the people in our community are supposed to act. (Location 1329)

8. Scarcity Scarcity is one of the most powerful mental triggers in existence, period. It’s simple—when there is less of something, we want it more. And, in reality, it’s the perception of scarcity that motivates us. (Location 1341)

9. Social Proof Social proof is another super-powerful trigger. While it can be very hard to create in an old-style marketing campaign, social proof is extremely easy to build into your PLF-style product launch. (Location 1359)

The place where you usually start is with your Pre-Prelaunch Sequence. This is the magic time where your prospects first get an inkling that something cool is coming. (Location 1424)

The whole idea of the pre-prelaunch (Location 1430)

is to begin to activate your tribe—or start building a tribe if you don’t have one yet. But you’re also doing other important foundational work. You’re testing the market’s level of interest in your product idea. You’re trying to surface potential objections so you can answer them during your prelaunch. And finally, you’re gathering information to help finalize your product offer. As if that weren’t enough, you’re doing all of this while setting the stage for your Prelaunch Sequence. (Location 1430)

Your Pre-Prelaunch Sequence is all about grabbing your market’s attention without actually trying to sell them anything at all. (Location 1436)

In general, my tool of choice for the pre-pre has historically been a simple email or two, although these days social media has also become a big part of the pre-pre for many launches. And there have been a few times where I’ve used video, and sometimes I’ve thrown a survey into the mix. (Location 1439)

the truth is that you need to create a great offer. (Location 1486)

My Favorite Pre-Prelaunch Strategy So with those questions running through my head, I looked for an elegant strategy to find the right answers with just an email or two. (Location 1494)

This survey gave me some fantastic feedback on what the market was looking for, what my prospects’ biggest objections were, and even (Location 1610)

some of the exact language I would end up using throughout the launch as I built the momentum toward launch day. (Location 1611)

It was just me and my list of email subscribers and a simple little web site. (Location 1613)

In the first hour we had over $27,000 in orders and when we closed down the launch a week later, we had over $110,000 in sales. (Location 1622)

But as you’ll see in this chapter, even if you get only the core principles right, the results can be dramatic. That first launch did $35,000 in sales in a week’s time, which was as much as the business had made since they opened the doors ten months earlier. And since the product was delivered digitally, those sales were almost all profit. (Location 1643)

(NOTE: You can see my Case Study with Will, along with an example of his prelaunch video content, at http://thelaunchbook.com/will.) (Location 1663)

Okay, now we’re really starting to cook. By now you know about the incredible power of (Location 1666)

Story, Conversation, and Sequences. And you’ve gotten a solid introduction to the crazy influence of mental triggers. You also learned about the Sideways Sales Letter. (Location 1666)

The thing to remember about your prelaunch (and the entire Product Launch Formula) is that it’s not a one-trick pony. It’s the confluence of all these tools that create an incredible conversion machine for your business. (Location 1671)

So one of the key cornerstone pieces of the Product Launch Formula is delivering value and building a relationship (Location 1686)

with your prospect before you ever ask for the sale. It sounds so simple, but it’s crazy how few people actually do this in their business. Instead, what happens is people do the equivalent of standing on a street corner, shouting, “Buy my stuff, buy my stuff, BUY MY STUFF!” (Location 1687)

That content could be written material or video or audio or any of a number of other media, but the bottom line is that it will cost you almost nothing to distribute that content. (Location 1700)

You need to structure your content into a sequence that naturally builds up to your sale. And that’s the very essence of the Product Launch Formula. (Location 1703)

Your Prelaunch Sequence will generally have three pieces of Prelaunch Content (which I abbreviate to PLC). Think of it as a three-act play with a beginning, middle, and end. (Location 1705)

Each piece of Prelaunch Content has a specific job. Each one needs to stand alone, but all three tie together into one big story arc. You want to avoid just throwing out three pieces of unrelated content, because you’re just not going to get the results you want that way. (Location 1706)

The framework for the overall story arc is that you start off teaching people about the opportunity for change or transformation. Then you follow that up with some solid teaching, and you show that transformation or change. Finally, you give the “ownership experience.” This is where you start to pivot to talking about your product and (Location 1708)

the impact it will make on your prospective client. Throughout this entire sequence you are layering in all the mental triggers we covered in Chapter 5. Since you’re giving out great free content, you naturally will hit the Reciprocity trigger. And by showing your knowledge of the topic and your ability to give great content away for free, you hit the Authority trigger. As you move through the launch, you’ll naturally start to build Trust. And as you gather comments and create a conversation about your Prelaunch Content, you’ll start to build Community. And since you’re taking your prospects through this entire sequence (Location 1711)

together, it becomes a shared experience that hits the Events and Ritual trigger. Then, as you get closer to your launch date, the Anticipation will start to build. (Location 1716)

Now it’s important for you to understand that the magic is (Location 1721)

in the process. Success doesn’t depend on you being a gifted copywriter or master salesperson. (Location 1721)

It’s the process that allows people who aren’t ninja marketers to put together a super-effective sales process. (Location 1723)

And at the end of your prelaunch, if you do this correctly, you will have garnered a list of prospects who can’t wait for the moment when they can finally buy your product. (Location 1724)

process. Your PLC can be delivered via email or as blog posts or as PDF reports or audio. But most of my Product Launch Formula Owners have been using video for the last few years. Video has a number of advantages. (Location 1726)

Finally, video content often has a higher perceived value than other types of content. (Location 1730)

Your first piece of Prelaunch Content (PLC #1) is critical. It has to grab your prospects’ attention and draw them in, so it has to be compelling. And it must answer the all-important question “Why?” (Location 1742)

Now if you look at why people don’t buy from you, the (Location 1762)

first and most common reason is that they’re not interested in what you’re selling. (Location 1763)

The second reason people don’t buy is that they don’t have the money. (Location 1766)

The third reason people don’t buy is that they don’t believe you. (Location 1768)

A fourth reason is that they believe you and they believe you’re right about the product and that it actually does work. (Location 1770)

So here’s a general recipe that works well for PLC #1: (Location 1778)

Show the opportunity. Show/tell how their life is going to change with your product. 2.   Position. Show/tell why they should listen to you. 3.   Teach. It’s important not to just go on and on about the opportunity; you have to deliver value. 4.   Raise objections and either answer them or promise to answer them in upcoming videos. No matter what your offer is, there will be objections. You need to face them head on. 5.   Foreshadow PLC #2. Let them know there’s (Location 1779)

another video coming, and spark their desire by revealing some of the really cool stuff that they’re going to learn in PLC #2. 6.   Call to action. Ask for a comment on your launch blog or in social media. (Location 1785)

PLC #2: The Transformation (Location 1787)

Here’s the general recipe for a strong PLC #2: 1.   Thanks and recap. Thank people for their comments and questions from PLC #1, and then give a quick recap of PLC #1. 2.   Recap the opportunity. You won’t spend as much time as you did in PLC #1, but you need to quickly recap the opportunity. Don’t ever assume that your prospect has seen or paid attention to or remembered PLC #1. (Location 1801)

Remember, they’ve got busy lives and your launch isn’t nearly as important to them as it is to you. 3.   Recap your positioning. You need to remind them who you are and why they should listen to you. But don’t take too long with this—do it quickly. 4.   Present a Case Study or do some real teaching. You need to deliver some real value for your viewer. Teach them one (or more) cool things that they can put to use quickly. 5.   Objection crushing. Talk about the top two (Location 1805)

or three objections and answer them. You want to go after your prospects’ big objections to the change or transformation that you’re promising. 6.   Foreshadow PLC #3. You need to let them know you have another video coming soon. Build some anticipation for it by telling them a little about what you’re going to teach in that video. 7.   Call to action. Ask for a comment on your launch blog or in social media. (Location 1811)

PLC #3: The Ownership Experience (Location 1815)

So here’s the recipe for PLC #3: 1.   Express thanks and excitement. Thank your (Location 1825)

viewers for their comments and questions from PLC #2. Tell them how excited you are and how excited all your viewers are. (And if you did a good job in PLC #1 and #2, then your viewers WILL be getting excited.) 2.   Quickly recap the opportunity and your positioning. Don’t assume they remember (or even saw) your first two videos—briefly describe the opportunity, and remind them who you are and why they should listen to you. Don’t take too long with (Location 1826)

this—move through it quickly. 3.   Possibly present a short Case Study. 4.   Answer the top questions you’ve been getting. In other words, you’re going to answer the top objections. You want to do this even if you’ve already raised and answered those objections in your earlier PLC. People raise the same objections in different ways by asking different questions. So go ahead and answer those questions that keep popping up in the comments on your blog. (Location 1830)

5.   Explain the big view and how to make it happen. This is where you step back and look at what’s really possible. What’s the ultimate transformation or change that your prospect can have in their life if they buy your product? Look at it from all angles and project out into their future. 6.   Pivot to your offer and create a soft landing. Do this in the last 25% of your PLC #3. By now your prospects have fallen in love with you, because you’ve given them huge value. And (Location 1835)

it’s time for you to start preparing them for the offer—that’s the “soft landing.” You don’t want to go from being their best friend in one video to a used-car salesman in the next. So you have to tell them that in your next video you’re going to have an offer for them, and they need to watch if they’re ready to take their transformation to the next level. 7.   Seed the scarcity of your launch offer. You will want to have some type of scarcity in your launch offer, and near the end of PLC #3 you (Location 1839)

want to make some mention of that scarcity. You’re not looking to hit them over the head with it, because they still haven’t seen your offer. But this is a good time to mention that they should be on the lookout for your next email, because this is going to be a limited offer. 8.   Call to action. Ask for a comment on your launch blog or in social media. (Location 1844)

Your Prelaunch Timing And now the all-important question on the timing of your Prelaunch Sequence: (Location 1865)

A typical seven-day sequence might look like this: Day 1: Release PLC #1 (Location 1873)

Day 3: Release PLC #2 Day 5: Release PLC #3 Day 7: Open Cart A ten-day Prelaunch Sequence might look like this: Day 1: Release PLC #1 Day 5: Release PLC #2 Day 8: Release PLC #3 Day 10: Open Cart (Location 1874)

The way you put together a great Prelaunch Sequence is by delivering massive value to (Location 1886)

your market. If you focus on only one thing, it should be creating value for all the prospects going through your Launch Sequence. (Location 1887)

Of course, there were a few obstacles in her way. The first two, as I mentioned, were that she didn’t have a product or a list. And the third was that Susan had almost no technical skills whatsoever. (Location 1919)

So Susan started with her past clients—she had email addresses for about 1,200 of them. And from taking my training, she knew she needed a list host, so she signed up for my hosting service at ProFollow.com (http://www.profollow.com). She was able to get about 700 of her former clients to join her new email list. (Location 1922)

Then she pulled together a (Location 1925)

product—an ebook she based on some old articles she had written. She compiled the articles and formatted them into an ebook, and she priced it at $14.97. Then it was time to launch. (Location 1925)

You can see my Case Study with Susan at this link: http://thelaunchbook.com/susan. (Location 1944)

The results are worth that effort, however, and your launch day is where all your hard work pays off. It’s hard to describe the exhilaration of launch day. This is the day you’ve been building toward for weeks or even months. Launch day makes me think back to something I did as a kid. (Location 1948)

Of course, not every launch will do $3 million dollars. In fact, I did dozens of launches before I got my first million-dollar launch. (Location 1975)

Launch Day Nitty-Gritty So first off, the term we generally use for launch day is “Open Cart” day, because that’s the day you open your shopping cart and start taking orders. (Location 1982)

So if you’ve followed my formula so far, you had a (Location 1986)

strong Prelaunch Sequence that led into your Open Cart. Your PLC connected with the people on your list. You hit the mental triggers to create a lot of authority, social proof, and community. And in the last few days of prelaunch you’ve started to hit on the scarcity trigger. Your list knows that you have an offer coming. Your final piece of PLC had a strong pivot where you started to foreshadow your offer. In other words, your prelaunch has already completed most of the heavy-lifting for you in terms of making the sale. Now, the actual mechanics of opening your launch are pretty simple. You need to have a strong sales page. (Location 1986)

(On my Resource Page I’ve got links to my favorite statistics and data tools. You can access that page at http://thelaunchbook.com/resources (Location 2026)

One absolute, cardinal rule for creating a successful launch is setting a definitive close for your launch. (Location 2037)

So what is that scarcity? What is that negative consequence if people don’t jump onboard during your launch? There are three primary ways to create scarcity in your offer: 1.   The price goes up. You have a special price during your launch, and people need to jump onboard during your launch to get that price. This is an easy one to understand. A “Grand Opening Sale” or Black Friday, the mega-shopping day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., are two familiar examples. While this is a good incentive to get people to jump during your launch and it’s an easy one to use, it’s not the most powerful form of scarcity during a launch. 2.   Remove bonuses. Let’s say you’re selling a product that teaches people to play blues guitar. During your launch you have the special bonus of receiving a personal Skype guitar lesson from you. If they don’t sign up during your (Location 2043)

launch, then they don’t get the bonus lesson. This can be a very powerful form of scarcity. If you have a strong bonus, this can actually be a stronger incentive than a price increase. 3.   The offer goes away. If your prospects don’t buy during the launch, then they get shut out of the opportunity—meaning, they can’t take advantage of the offer at all, ever. In most cases, with most offers, this is the strongest form of scarcity—it’s usually a much stronger (Location 2051)

incentive than the price going up. The only problem is that this type of scarcity doesn’t fit well for a lot of offers. If you’re opening a restaurant, then you don’t want to close down after a week. I’ve personally used this form of scarcity quite a bit, especially with my online programs (like the Product Launch Formula Coaching Program). It makes a lot of sense for my offer, because I teach the program to groups of students in a similar fashion to a college class. That means registration is only (Location 2055)

available for a limited period of time when I’m starting a new class. If someone misses the registration period, then they can’t get in. This type of scarcity is an extremely strong incentive for people to jump onboard if it fits with your product. (Location 2058)

table. You need to keep mailing your launch list each day your cart is open. Here’s how to use email to keep your launch in front of your prospects. For this example, we’ll assume your launch lasts five days. On launch day, you want to send out two emails—the first when you open the cart (see the email above) and the second about four hours later to let your list know that everything is up and running and you’re open for business. (Location 2070)

The day after your Open Cart, you should send one email—typically a social proof email, where you talk about the great response to your launch. On Day Three you send a longer email that answers many of the top questions about the product. As with all your emails during your open cart period, you should include at least one link to your sales page. On Day Four the message shifts to scarcity. You are basically giving a 24hour warning ahead of your close. You should be absolutely clear about when you’ll close and what your prospects stand to lose if they don’t act before the launch offer closes down. (Location 2073)

Then on Day Five you’ll be mailing two (or even three) times. The first one is sent early in the morning reiterating that you’re going to be closing that day. The second email goes out about six to eight hours before the cart closes. This is a day that will be filled with fireworks and a massive rush of orders—provided you follow this plan. (Location 2079)

When Stuff Goes Wrong As much as I wish that everything always went perfectly and that every launch was a huge success, sometimes there are problems. (Location 2089)

What If No One Buys? So what if your launch just doesn’t convert? You open the cart and you have very few sales. As much as I would like to tell you that this doesn’t ever happen, sometimes it does. When it does happen, it’s time to go into diagnosis mode. (Location 2108)

Keep the Good Times Rolling—What to Do after Your Launch One of the most powerful and surprising results of doing these launches is the amount of goodwill that you will create. When you deliver real value in your Prelaunch Content, your market will fall in love with you (Location 2130)

Once you’ve gone through your launch and closed your cart, you will want to strengthen your relationship with those who bought from you. This is the “post launch,” and it’s critical that you use it to extend your momentum and positioning from your launch. (Location 2135)

Another area you shouldn’t skimp on is customer service. I provide world-class customer service, and it’s worth every penny I spend on it. I don’t look at customer service as a cost center, but as a big part of my overall strategic business building. Finally, don’t forget about following up with the prospects who did NOT buy. (Location 2143)

Getting Paid before You Create Your Product With the magic of the Seed Launch™, you can literally create a business from almost nothing . . . which is exactly what Tara did. (Location 2167)

You don’t have a list of prospects or you don’t have a product to sell. Maybe you’re thinking how you would love to (Location 2195)

launch something, but you have neither a product nor a list. Or maybe you’ve got a business right now, but you would like to start a different business. You’re ready to move on, but you don’t know where to start. Well, this is the chapter for you, because the Seed Launch provides the answers to all these questions. (Location 2195)

I would want in my new business. And spent a lot of time selecting the niche I wanted to target with this new business. And most important, I focused on what value I could bring to the market. (Location 2212)

For years, I had focused on the investing and trading niche. All my products had been about teaching people how to invest in the stock market. Although I loved that business, I was burned out. I (Location 2213)

had been publishing my stock market newsletters an average of more than five hundred times per year. And since I did it all without any staff, the whole process had become a real grind. I was ready to move onto a different market that had a lot fewer deadlines. (Location 2215)

And I knew from (Location 2243)

experience that when you’re an expert on a topic, you often suffer from “the curse of knowledge.” You forget what it’s like to be a beginner, and you end up teaching at too high a level. (Location 2244)

Simply put, even though I had never taught the material before, I did a great job teaching it. And the reason why wasn’t because I’m a natural-born teacher. It was because I let my students guide the process. I continually asked them, both on the calls and in the surveys before each call, what they needed to know. (Location 2260)

Your Seed Launch So let’s get to the nitty-gritty of the Seed Launch. This is the ideal launch if you’re just starting out and you don’t have a list or a product. (Location 2268)

But if you have a knowledge- or learning-based product, then this is a perfect fit. If you want to teach how to lose weight, build a better relationship, find a better job, run your first marathon, train your dog, bring in more chiropractic patients, get more followers in social media . . . or anything like that, then you’re going to love the Seed Launch. (Location 2273)

The Seed Launch takes advantage of two phenomena that very few people are aware of unless they’ve done some list-based direct marketing. The first is that, on a percentage basis, smaller lists are more responsive than bigger lists. And I’m not talking a LITTLE more responsive—I mean they’re a LOT more responsive. (Location 2279)

The second little-known leverage point the Seed Launch capitalizes on is that in every list there’s a percentage of people known as “hyper-responsives.” These are your raving fans. They open up every email or letter you send them. They’ll eagerly buy whatever you offer. These people are the first you hear from every time you send an email, the first to comment on your blog, the first to pass along your social media updates. The good news is—these hyper-responsives exist in nearly every list. (Location 2287)

Well, the first step in your Seed Launch is to build some type of micro-list. That list might have only 30 people, but it would be better if it contained more like a hundred people. And three hundred would be even better. (Location 2294)

But at the end of the day, you attract followers by publishing relevant interesting content about your topic. It can either be content you create or content you curate (i.e., stuff from others that you (Location 2300)

After the initial survey in your pre-prelaunch, your next step is an email follow up, where you talk about some of the findings and conclusions from your survey. (Location 2332)

After that, your next email is where you make your offer. Generally, you will want to direct people to a sales letter or sales video. But remember, you don’t need to oversell. (Location 2335)

A quick note on prices and sales: I’ve seen Seed Launches for products between $50 and $3,000 (depending on the market and offer), so your financial results are going to vary dramatically from person to person and from offer to (Location 2345)

I survey people before each call. I ask them what their top questions about the next topic are. So back to that “learn guitar” example. If the first call is about “how to strum the guitar,” I would briefly explain the topic in one sentence, then ask, “What are your top two questions about strumming the guitar?” (Location 2348)

After that first call, you send out another survey. First you ask if there are any additional questions about the topic of the first call (e.g., “How to Strum Your Guitar”). Then you ask for the top questions on your next topic. (Location 2354)

Of course, you’re going to be recording these calls—something most bridge lines will do for you automatically. If you do five calls, and then add in your bonus Q&A call, you’ve now created six audio recordings. And you can get those audio recordings transcribed. Each hour of audio will equal about 15 to 20 printed pages, so you’ll have (Location 2359)

the makings of a book (or ebook) that’s 90 to 120 pages long. Now you’ve got audio and a book and there’s your multimedia product. BOOM! You just got paid to create a product! (Location 2361)

You will also want to focus on getting your new clients some strong results, because they’re going to be great candidates for Case Studies as you move forward and get ready to launch your product in a bigger way. (Location 2363)

And, of course, I had to put together a product launch for it. That was October, 2005. In the one-week launch that (Location 2375)

followed I did more than $600,000 in sales. Since that time I’ve done over $20 million in sales of PLF, and I now have over ten thousand PLF Owners. (Location 2376)

that I loved marketing even more, and I was really good at it. I knew I didn’t want to be a marketing consultant. After years of being an information entrepreneur, I was in love with publishing and teaching. I was in love with the inherently leveraged nature of the business; my income wasn’t tied to the number of hours I worked but to how well I could sell my products. And I was also in love with the impact I could make. Instead of helping a few dozen people as a consultant, I could impact thousands as a publisher. (Location 2399)

crowded market. There were thousands of people who were trying to make a living as an Internet marketing expert. Some of them were wildly successful, but the majority of them could barely afford their business cards. And it was a market in which I had no positioning or traction. (Location 2404)

Finding potential partners is easy. They are the other people who are publishing in your market. Just type the top keyword search for your market into Google. For example, if your site is about teaching people to play guitar, just do a search for “learn guitar.” Go to each of the top 50 listings and look around their site for a way to opt in. (Location 2545)

A Million Dollars in 53 Minutes (Location 2565)

And now here I was sitting with a launch that did nearly $4 million in just 34 hours. Unreal. That’s the power of the JV Launch. (Location 2599)

It’s also worth noticing that Ruth actually gives away the bulk of her content—if you’re willing to be on each webinar live, then you can listen to all of them without spending a single dollar. But lots of people pay for the extra benefits and bonuses that come with the Gold level. (Location 2633)

The Business Launch Formula (Location 2669)

So at that point John put together a major new product: the membership site LearningHerbs.com. Naturally he did a launch for the site, and it was a huge success. He used all the knowledge and skills he had picked up from his earlier launches and had his best launch to date. He acquired hundreds of paying members for his site. (Location 2685)

That launch not only grew his list but expanded his positioning in the market. John is now a major player in the herbal education market. Of course, John has never positioned himself as the expert; he’s more the person who brings the experts to his followers. Nevertheless on the business side of things, John is clearly a leader in his market. (Location 2691)

So now, a couple of times per year, John will launch an entirely new product that he (Location 2694)

co-creates with a top expert in the industry. In addition John will typically relaunch his membership site once per year. This means that two or three or maybe four times per year, John does a launch. And since he always delivers huge value in his prelaunches, each launch grows his list and his positioning in the market to an even greater degree. (Location 2695)

When you’re constantly delivering value into the market, you’re constantly building a relationship with your clients and prospects. You’re also stimulating the conversation with your clients and prospects, and that means you’re always getting ideas for new products and promotions. (Location 2697)

get serious about creating new information products. She’s now created a series of video training products that are all offered online. With these digital products, she doesn’t have to worry about the expense of producing DVDs or the hassles of working with a distributor. She sells her training courses direct to her clients, and they access them online. She opens her trainings several times per year. She always uses PLF to deliver great value during her prelaunch—and to fill up her programs. And her business has grown to an impressive 16 times larger than it was before PLF. (Location 2710)

The essence of PLF is giving first and asking for the sale later. You build a relationship as a trusted advisor (or even friend) before the transaction. You deliver great value, and you do it in a way that makes the sale before you’ve even asked for the order. In many ways, this isn’t much different than what the very best sales people have always done for thousands of years. However, with Product Launch Formula you’re able to do that on a scale that really wasn’t possible before. It’s like combining the effectiveness of a face-to-face sale with the (Location 2730)

reach of television. (Location 2734)

Six Keys to the Business Launch Formula Key #1: Always Deliver High-Value Prelaunch Content in Your Launches (Location 2738)

Key #2: Always Be Building Your List and Building Your Relationship with That List (Location 2751)

Key #3: Make More Than One Offer (Location 2762)

Often PLF Owners will do three or four launches per year and sometimes even more. (Location 2766)

In my various businesses, I have found the sweet spot to be somewhere between two and four launches per year. Typically one or two of those launches have been big JV Launches (see Chapter 10) that dramatically build my list and make lots of sales. And the other launches are smaller Internal Launches that help me refine new offers and products before I roll them out as JV (Location 2767)

Launches. Key #4: The Circle of Awesome: Seed to Internal to JV (Location 2770)

It goes like this. You have an idea for a new product, so you use a Seed Launch to help birth the product. The Seed Launch (see Chapter 9) is great for getting your first few clients, making sure there’s a (Location 2773)

demand, and creating a great product. After the Seed Launch, you take the finished product and do an Internal Launch to your list. During your Internal Launch, you build out a full Prelaunch Sequence and really dial in your launch. By its very nature, the Internal Launch will usually bring you much greater financial results than your Seed Launch. (Location 2775)

Key #5: Relaunches and Evergreen Launches (Location 2786)

Key #6: Take Care of Your Clients and Launch to Them Again (Location 2794)

Based on my experience in my various online businesses, it’s about FIFTEEN times easier to sell to someone a second time than it is to get a new client. That means you want to make sure you take care of your clients. I’m a big fan of over-delivering on my promises. (Location 2797)

The Business Launch Formula is a lot bigger than I could do justice to in this chapter. Out of necessity, this chapter is an overview from the 30,000-foot level. (Location 2807)

What they’re doing is taking the Product Launch Formula and stepping it up to a higher level. Instead of a single launch of a product, it’s a series of launches that create their business. Each launch builds on the success from the prior (Location 2809)

launch. The list gets bigger, the offers get better, there are more past buyers to sell to, the JV partner support gets stronger. That’s the Business Launch Formula in action. (Location 2811)

The way I look at it, if you’re going to pour your heart and soul into a business, then you might as well create a business you love. (Location 2823)

get you the business you love. But the first step is to figure out (Location 2827)

what you want your business to look like (Location 2828)

No One Can Be an Island This one is simple—you need to build strong relationships in your industry. (Location 2958)

I suggest you start thinking (Location 2967)

of ways your competitors can become your partners. Try it out for a while, because your network is your net worth. (Location 2967)

You Need to Be in the Information Business (Location 2969)

For instance, Joe Polish initially grew his carpet cleaning business by offering a free report that educated consumers on the fraudulent selling techniques that many carpet cleaning businesses used. That report ended up generating a huge amount of exposure and sales for his business. He didn’t have an information business, but he used a knowledge product to (Location 2975)

build his offline service business. (Location 2978)

The Human Touch This is something I stumbled onto when I started my first business back in 1996—it’s a lot easier to sell with the human touch. (Location 2981)

corporation. I never referred to myself as “we” in my emails, and that set me apart from the very beginning. Back in the early days, everyone was trying to sound like some big important company, but I wrote my emails to the people on my list in the same voice I would use when writing to my friends. It worked. (Location 2983)

That “corporate voice” is death to sales. People want to buy from people. Forget the royal “we” when speaking to your clients. Talk to them one on one. This will make it easier to sell your stuff, and running your business will be a lot more enjoyable. (Location 2990)

And of all the business skills you can have, the one skill that pays off better than any other is the ability to market and sell yourself and your business. And it should come as no surprise that I think PLF is the best way to sell in this day and age. (Location 3084)

Stay in Your Genius Zone My coach Dan Sullivan (of Strategic Coach®) talks about the concept of Unique Ability®. What’s the one thing (or two or three) you were put on earth to do? What can you do so well that time seems to disappear when you’re doing it? What do you do that other people find exceptional but comes so easily you can’t understand why they’re so amazed? Those are the things in your genius zone, or your Unique Ability®. (Location 3132)

In your business, you want to work on those things at which you’re great. Don’t spend your time on the stuff that’s difficult for you. Work on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Hire people to do the things that are not in your genius zone. (Location 3137)

Once you get rid of activities you aren’t good at, the next thing to eliminate are the things you are proficient at but still aren’t in your genius zone. Again, other people are better than you at those jobs, so hire them. Eventually, you will eliminate the tasks you are excellent at—because even though you’re excellent at them, they still aren’t in your genius zone. (Location 3139)

Your Most Scarce Resource Your most scarce resource is focus. The world will conspire to distract you. Your phone, email, text messages, instant messenger, social media, and more will all pull you away from what you should be doing. Many people wake up and instantly look at their phone. They check messages, check email, check various social media. That’s a huge mistake—the only thing that’s waiting in your phone is someone else’s agenda. If you check your phone or your email right away in the morning, you’ve lost control of your agenda. There will be emails or messages waiting for you to respond, and once you start responding you’ve lost control of your day. You should start the day by focusing on your highest-value activities before you get caught up in other people’s agendas for you. What are your highest-value activities? The ones that are in your genius zone or a Unique Ability®. (Location 3144)

You Can’t Get There Alone When I started out, I had this fantasy that I could build my business all by myself. I figured my life would be a lot simpler that way, and since it was a virtual business with a (Location 3167)

virtual product, I figured I could really scale up the business without creating a team. In fact, I didn’t hire anyone or use any contractors for the first 10 years I was in business. That was a big mistake, and it ended up holding me back. I now see that was about as mature as a two-year-old saying, “I can do it all by myself!” The reality is that you can’t build anything great by yourself. And if you even try, then you’re going to be spending huge chunks of time working outside your genius zone. (Location 3169)

Once you start building a team, your life will get more (Location 3174)

complicated. That’s inevitable—any time humans are involved, things get more complicated. You will have to learn to be a leader for your team (if you don’t already have that skill). And in many ways, you will have to answer to your team. One thing that will make this process a lot easier is if you stick to a policy that my friend Eben Pagan calls “stars only.” In other words, you want to hire only stars—the people who are in the top 10% of any skill set. In fact, you should probably take this further and hire only those people who are in the top 1% of any skill set. (Location 3174)

The Magic Word As you become more successful, there’s one word that will become more important than any other. That word is “no.” As Warren Buffett said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” (Location 3181)

You need to get better at saying no. Anything that doesn’t advance you toward your future and your bigger vision for yourself is something that will take you off your path. (Location 3191)

Eventually, Sebastien transitioned to teaching French-speaking people how to build their online businesses, and he’s now known as “the French Marketer.” Sebastien has done dozens of launches, and he’s built up a serious business. In fact, he’s one of the most prominent online publishers in the French-speaking world. (Location 3242)

(To see my Case Study with Sebastien, as well as the video of his round-the-world trip with Cecile, go to http://thelaunchbook.com/sebastien.) (Location 3253)

They’ve done it in nearly every market or niche you can think of, with products that range from cage fighting to meditation workshops to tax preparation to marching band accessories. (Location 3263)

Building influence by delivering massive value before you ask for the sale will never go out of style. The exact way you actually deploy those things has changed and will continue to change. But the PLF strategy keeps working. (Location 3281)

It talked about the wonders of having a publishing business and selling direct to consumers. (Location 3291)

I’m telling you about answering a direct mail ad. But that one action made all the difference. The product was simple—it came on a single 3.5-inch floppy drive. It taught the basics of direct marketing for information products. (Location 3308)

It might have been old school, but that one information product opened up a whole new world for me—the world of direct marketing and creating an online, information-based business. And that world has been amazingly good to me. (Location 3312)

Compare yourself to my first launch that did a modest $1,650 in sales. (Location 3340)

Links and Resources: (Location 3355)

Silver told me I needed to start teaching people my product launch techniques, and John named PLF for me. That advice changed my life, and it changed the world. (Location 3375)

my coach Dan Sullivan (Location 3377)