Launch

by Jeff Walker

  The Proven Formula . . . Expanded

  Okay, so by now we’ve established that PLF is an incredible tool for launching your products and services. Now I want to talk about how to take it to the next level with what I call the Business Launch Formula (BLF). This is how you take the core Product Launch Formula concepts and use them to build (or grow) an entire business.

  I’ve shared most of my personal story in the previous chapters—the crazy journey from Mr. Mom staying home taking care of a couple of babies to building a multimillion dollar business that’s impacted hundreds of thousands of people. If I had sat down and written a novel telling this story, no one would believe it.

  But the story is far bigger than me, because PLF is not just about launching products. It’s about launching businesses . . . and even helping people create the life of their dreams.

  You’ve learned about John Gallagher, whose family was on food stamps when he borrowed the money to get Product Launch Formula. He’s now built a serious business that sells a whole line of products and employs six people.

  And Susan Garrett, who has gone from being able to help just a few dozen people a year with their dogs to providing the same services to thousands of dog owners. Susan has also been able to drastically cut down on the amount of travel she needs to do, while increasing her income dramatically. In other words, she helps more people, has a better lifestyle, and makes more money—not a bad combination.

  And Will Hamilton, who went from a just-out-of-college tennis instructor with a struggling tennis instruction web site to working with some of the top tennis pros in the world—helping them bring their knowledge and wisdom to the world.

  Out of respect for my clients’ privacy, I’m not going to disclose the types of financial results each of them are seeing in their business. But most people would find the size of their sales and profits downright shocking.

  So how have they done it?

  The Business Launch Formula

  With my Product Launch Formula Coaching Program, I’m in the business of teaching people how to start and grow their businesses, specifically their online businesses. I teach them how to do that in the context of a product launch. But the reality is that the training goes much deeper. In fact, the way I like to think about it is that I help them reprogram their business DNA. Once they learn the strategies and tactics behind PLF, they usually start to apply those tools in every area of their business.

  When someone comes into my PLF program, my personal goal for them is to do a year’s worth of sales in a single week with their launches. That’s a pretty lofty goal, and not everyone hits that goal. In fact, it almost never happens with their first launch. But the thing is, your first successful launch is not going to be your last launch.

  And that’s why there’s an entire group of PLF students—like John Gallagher, Susan Garrett, Will Hamilton, and Ruth Buczynski—who take the launch to an entirely different level. They’ve used what I call the Business Launch Formula. This is the way it works . . .

  Food Stamps to Six Figures (and Beyond)

  Let’s start with John Gallagher. As I told you earlier, his first launch was for a board game that taught kids about edible and medicinal plants and herbs. That launch generated a huge amount of goodwill, and it also helped add a lot of new leads onto his list. He took the momentum from that launch and used it to sell his herbal kit, which was a physical product containing the necessary components to create home remedies from herbs.

  All of this helped raise his stature and positioning in the market, which in turn helped him build his list even more. And with each launch, the tremendous interaction with his list (i.e., the launch conversation) helped him pinpoint what his next product should be. Why guess about your next product when your prospects and clients are telling you what they want?

  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. Subsequent launches have raised that number of subscribers into the thousands. They each pay about $12 a month for access to the membership site.

  That site gave him a very significant and automatic monthly recurring income—a revenue stream that he could count on. That regular revenue meant he could begin to hire people, and he slowly started to build his team.

  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.

  That has allowed him to create video courses with some of the top experts in his niche. So now, a couple of times per year, John will launch an entirely new product that he 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.

  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. And that’s a winning formula for a continually expanding business. That’s the Business Launch Formula.

  A Dog’s Life . . . Made Happier

  Susan Garrett’s version looks a little bit different, but the underlying strategy is very similar. When she first got her hands on the Product Launch Formula, her initial goal was to make enough money to pay for her PLF tuition before the credit card bill arrived. So she took a bunch of documents that she’d already written over the years and put them into a simple ebook she sold for $14.97. That initial launch made $27,000 in sales—considerably more than her tuition cost.

  But the more important thing Susan took from her first launch was that the process worked. And with her competitive background, she knew she could get better at it—a lot better.

  Shortly after her first launch, she produced a new training DVD. In the past her DVDs were primarily sold through distributors, but now that she had the beginnings of an email list, she decided to sell it herself. She put together a simple launch, and in three days she sold more DVDs than she had ever sold in an entire year through her distributor.

  After that Susan decided to 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. This has allowed her to build a small team that helps her continually increase the value of her trainings.

  Along with the financial success of her business, Susan also has a simpler, nearly travel-free lifestyle. Now she travels only for competitions, so she’s able to spend more time at home with her husband. Her success has allowed her to exponentially build her positive impact on the world and taken her closer to her ultimate goal of helping all dogs and dog owners lead happier lives.

  From College Grad to New Media Mogul?

  Will Hamilton’s path in his business is yet another example of the Business Launch Formula. He started with a $35,000 launch—a huge win that gave him a viable business after a year of struggle. And he used what he learned in that launch to set up his next three launches that brought
in a total of more than $340,000.

  Those launches locked in his positioning as the leader in his market of online tennis instruction, and they dramatically built his list. No longer was he just some kid fresh out of college with a tennis web site. He had become a dominant player in the tennis instruction market.

  Will’s launch results and his positioning from those launches helped him land deals with top professional tennis players—first the Bryan Brothers (the all-time top pro men’s doubles team), and then with Pat Rafter (formerly ranked #1 in the world). And that’s not the end of the partnerships and deals; Will is in talks with other top pro players and is even considering moving outside of the tennis niche to work with pro athletes in other sports.

  Launching: Not Just for Products Anymore

  All four examples in this chapter show just how powerful the Business Launch Formula is—it’s about building an entire business based on what you’ve learned in the Product Launch Formula.

  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 reach of television.

  And no, it’s not as effective as a great in-person sales presentation. And it doesn’t have the reach of a huge TV network. But it brings much of the power and advantage of both.

  And the Business Launch Formula is a natural extension of PLF. It’s a matter of taking those principles of the launch and extending them to build an entire business.

  Six Keys to the Business Launch Formula

  Key #1: Always Deliver High-Value Prelaunch Content in Your Launches

  First, you want to deliver high value into the market with your launches. That means delivering great Prelaunch Content that provides value all by itself, whether your prospect buys or not. This isn’t news—I’ve hammered this point pretty hard throughout the book.

  Not all your prospects will buy from you during your launch. In fact, in almost every launch the vast majority won’t buy. There are lots of reasons why, but a common one is that the timing just isn’t right. If you’re selling wedding dresses, and your prospect isn’t getting married in the next year, you’re probably not going to make the sale.

  However, in our current market where everyone can be a publisher in social media, where everyone can have an outsized voice if they so choose, the benefits of creating hundreds or thousands of raving fans is far reaching. The relationship you build during your launch can have an amplified effect. Each one of your prospects has a potentially viral impact on your business, so creating fans has never been more critical to your success.

  And make no mistake—delivering real value in your prelaunch has a lasting effect. I’ve had people watch me through several launches before they were ready to buy. But when the time was right, they remembered me. I had delivered huge value and built up a significant level of trust, and they came back and bought.

  Key #2: Always Be Building Your List and Building Your Relationship with That List

  Once you have a warm list (even a small list of a few hundred subscribers), you realize that you are now in control of your destiny. The ability to write an email, send it to your list, and see the response within seconds will change what you think is possible. And at that point, you get very focused on building your list.

  Of course, to even use the phrase “your list” is simplistic. As I mentioned in Chapter 3, you will have many lists. But in broad conceptual terms, I’m talking about your list universe, which will become the most valuable asset in your business. And to the extent that you build your list and your list relationship, you will build your business.

  Every interaction with your list will either build on or detract from your relationship with the list. That doesn’t mean that you should just send content and never ask for the sale. It means providing value AND making the sale. Remember that moving someone from being a prospect to being a client will increase the value of that relationship more than almost anything else. Once a prospect buys from you, they will be more likely to buy in the future, and they’ll be more likely to buy at a higher price point. They will also be more likely to refer clients to you.

  Key #3: Make More Than One Offer

  It happens to almost everyone who goes through the PLF process. In the midst of your first launch, you get at least one great idea for your next offer or product. That’s because of the launch conversation—your launch process creates a great deal of interaction with your prospects, and you’ll get lots of ideas and suggestions. And many offers will likely lend themselves to periodic launches (such as Ruth Buczynski’s annual summits). Often PLF Owners will do three or four launches per year and sometimes even more.

  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 Launches.

  Key #4: The Circle of Awesome: Seed to Internal to JV

  There is a cycle of launches that works really well. I call it the Circle of Awesome. I know that’s not the most grammatically correct term, but I invented it when I was with my son. And what it lacks in grammar, it more than makes up in, well . . . awesomeness.

  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 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.

  Then if you have good results with your Internal Launch, you move onto the JV Launch. You have the data and metrics from your Internal Launch to show to potential partners, and you have your Prelaunch and Launch Sequences largely done and tested. The JV Launch has a lot more moving parts, but since you’ve done most of the work already in your Internal Launch, it’s a lot more manageable. And the results of a successful JV Launch are often exponentially larger than your Internal Launch.

  And just to bring it full circle, after you go through that sequence of launches, you’ll usually have several ideas for your next product. That’s when you go back and test one of your new ideas with a Seed Launch and start the entire process over again. The only difference is that this time around you’ll have significantly more experience, probably a much larger list, and lots of happy JV partners who will be ready to promote your next JV Launch.

  It’s one big circle, and it can be pretty awesome.

  Key #5: Relaunches and Evergreen Launches

  Relaunches can be very effective—just look at the way Barry Friedman did it (in Chapter 4). He ran his Showbiz Blueprint class over and over. The small class size kept the interaction level high, which meant he could charge a premium price. It also kept the demand high, so he was able to continue relaunching the offer.

  Part of the effectiveness of your relaunches will be dependent on your ongoing list building. If you have new leads coming into your list, and you’ve got a proven Launch Sequence, then you’ve got a great opportunity. You can either run periodic relaunches, or you can use an Evergreen Launch.

  Evergreen is really beyond the scope of this book, but it means that as new leads come onto your list, they will get to move through their own Launc
h Sequence based on when they joined the list.

  Key #6: Take Care of Your Clients and Launch to Them Again

  This is a universal truth of business: It’s a lot easier to sell to someone who has bought from you in the past than it is to generate a new client.

  The exact numbers on this vary, but they are always dramatic. 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. This is something I plan out in advance. When I’m designing a new offer, I will actually hold back on some bonus items. I won’t put them in the offer, nor will I talk about them during the sale. And then sometime after the purchase, I will surprise my clients with the extra bonuses.

  Even the most grizzled customer is delighted to get an extra bonus that wasn’t promised. And it’s often shockingly easy to surprise and delight your clients—you don’t have to get crazy to surprise and delight them when you’re sending extra goodies.

  It’s not hard to impress your clients. Give them what you promised, give them great customer support, and then give them an extra surprise or two along the way. Do those things and you will be paid back 100 times. And your clients will not only be ready for your next launch, they’ll be raving fans who support you during that launch.

  The Formula That Launched a Thousand Businesses

  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. But this is the proven process I’ve seen my clients use over and over with consistent success. 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 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.