Behind the scenes: 3 things I did in my last launch that I won’t be doing again

Speaker A: Hello and welcome to this episode where I'm going to be talking about three things that I did in my last launch that I won't be doing again. Take this as a little bit of a behind the scenes into one of my own launches and full transparency. I have to say this was probably my least favorite launch I have ever done, which was really interesting. And the flip side of that is that. Or not the flip side, but the other thing on the other side of that is that this is probably a launch where I put the most effort into it, which is really interesting. Right. We think we're going to get paid off for our effort. And in this launch I put way more energy into getting it perfect and getting it just right. Whereas in other launches I have always kind of beaten myself up a little bit for not doing everything perfectly. But they were all higher converting than this one, which was really interesting. But I came away from this launch and I was absolutely worn out and I just want to be really real about that. And that's probably why it was my least favorite. In fact, that is why it was my least favourite, is because I was absolutely exhausted at the end of it and a lot of it actually came down to getting sick during the launch. And I think that's something that can happen from time to time and it's something that we don't want to happen. But I actually think some things I did in the launch actually created that situation. And I'll share. That's actually the first thing that I'm going to share. So, yeah, I really hope this is insightful to you. And you know, live launching for me is not something that I do once. Right. It's something I've done over and over and over again for a number of years now. And there is just nothing that replaces the, um, momentum of a live launch. And every single live launch I do, I learn more. Obviously, the market is moving all of the time as well, so there's that. But every single live launch I do, I learn so much and I get so many takeaways. And the more I launch, the better I get at it, the more I learn what really works for me and my energy, that kind of thing. And I think that's the same for all of you. Like if you are, ah, sitting on the sidelines and you haven't launched yet, here's your permission slip to just do it. Because no matter the outcome, there are going to be learnings and as you launch over and over again, you're actually going to learn what works for you. And your launches are, ah, going to get a hell of a lot easier. So this was for my program, money makers, and it was the first time I've actually really officially launched this program. So brand new launch for this offer, which meant that there's a lot more work to do. And uh, because of that, I mean a lot of that could have tied into why it actually ended up feeling quite run down. So that is actually the first thing that I want to talk about out of the three things that I won't be doing again. And the first thing that I won't be doing again is running three webinars. So yeah, this time I ran three webinars and I've never done that before. I've had clients that have done that and as far as I knew it was fine. But for me that was way too much for my energy. And there were definite advantages of doing three webinars though, so I can't disregard that. And, and obviously first launch for this product, first time I've done this webinar topic. So I really gave it a good nudge in three webinars. And because of that I had really good data. Right. So my thinking for running the three webinars, it's not like I really wanted to run three webinars, but I thought, you know, show up rates are down with webinars. If I give people more time options, then they're more likely to show up. Right. And yeah, that's logical and makes sense. But what I noticed was that people actually just signed up for the first one, like the next one. So once the first one was done, they were signing up for the second one. And once the second one was done, they're just, I mean, I got to keep promoting it, which was one good thing. As I went through those three webinars and people were signing up for the last one right up until it happened. So in that respect it was good. From a marketing point of view, it was great, but energetically it was just way too much. Another advantage of it though was that I really honed my webinar flow. Like I got to practice. Obviously you get to do it more if you repeat something more than you get better at it. So by the time I did that third webinar, uh, I felt like I'd absolutely nailed it. However, in saying that for me at that point it was, I wouldn't say it wasn't right, but it's not something I'm going to do again. What I will do instead next time is actually really focus on giving myself more time to create the webinar and have it really perfect before I even go ahead and do one and get in more practice prior so that I can really like smash it out of the park on that first webinar. I would definitely consider doing two webinars again because I actually found that quite simple. But I think it was the third webinar that kind of pushed me over the edge a little bit. I also wouldn't do two on one day again. So I did do that on the first day that I ran the webinars. I did one early in the morning because I was trying to hit all time zones, right? And then I did one later in the evening and I wouldn't do that again. It was just too much on one day for me. And because I was already feeling rundown, having that kind of commitment in a really short space of time. I did all three webinars over three days. So I did two on the first day and then I had a day off and then I did the third one on day three. So yeah, because I was trying to do them at different times as well, it made it, uh, difficult. And again, trying to just hit all the time zones, right, and make sure that there was a time that suited everybody. But what I really took away from it, if the time doesn't suit me, then I can't bring my energy and it just doesn't feel good. And, uh, I don't know how good it feels for people on the other end. But if I don't feel good, then the energy, that energy is going to come across. So that day three in particular, I did it at like 7am I'm not doing that again either. And again I did that to try and cater to an international audience because my audience is from all over the world. But it didn't really pan out like that. Like I said, people were just signing up to the next one and I just found it really hard to do that much talking that early in the morning. That's not how I roll. And maybe it is perfect for you to do an early morning webinar, but for me it's not. It. Uh, so I'm very glad that I did three webinars. I don't actually have any regrets about it because it did have advantages. I feel like I really went from not having done this webinar before to knowing it inside and out and it being actually really good by the third one. But I still won't do it again. I would consider two, but I would actually be more focused on doing one making it at a time that I feel good, but also as many people as possible can make, I would really work on making sure that people show up. I did actually have a really good show up live bonus. And because of that, I actually had really good show up live rates, uh, ranged from 20 to 35%, which is really good these days. Like a 10% show out rate is actually the norm. So that worked really well. So the show out rate actually was not so much of an issue for me. It was that I was spreading my energy too thin rather than just doing one really, really solid webinar and showing up and giving it my all. I also learned through this process of doing three webinars. And that's why I don't regret it, right, Because I learned so much. But one of the things that I learned is that I thrive off and engagement, I really do. I thrive off people asking questions. I thrive on people talking in the chat. And because I had spread these webinars out into three different sessions, the engagement, like, because of the numbers on each one were lower because people got to choose their session, then the engagement on each one was lower. Sorry, I meant to say attendance on each one was lower. So then the engagement was lower. But I'd actually just want to get all of that engagement on one amazing webinar. And that's when my energy really comes into play. I'm not one of those people that, like, I'm going to block out the chat and I'm just going to focus on me teaching. I'm actually someone as a manifesting generator in human design. I am someone that really thrives on people asking me questions, interacting with me so that I have something to respond to that is like a key thing with manifesting generators and generators, if you know your human design. And that really came into play like, I want the chat, I want the engagement. And actually I got so much more of that when I really told shared that in the masterclass as well and actually push people to engage with me. So those are my main learnings is that I would rather put that energy into one amazing masterclass or webinar, uh, instead of splitting it out across over three sections, three sessions. I'm very glad that I did that. I have no regrets per se because the learnings for me have been huge. And I'm going to take that knowledge into my webinars in the future so that I know what works for my energy next launch, right? So that I can do the next launch and it's going to Feel so much lighter. And I'm not going to get that, that burnout, that rundown type situation where I got sick during my launch, uh, because that's obviously not ideal. Now the second thing that I'm not going to repeat, and this is completely related to what I just shared in the respect that I wasn't very well during the launch and I had to extend it. And that is I had a really long open cart period. It was like two weeks. And some people love the longer open cart, but for me it's just not it. I initially was going to do seven days, but because of the situation with me being sick, I had actually had no option to extend it. And for this particular launch that was absolutely the right decision. So again, no regrets because sometimes we've got to move and tweak as we are, uh, in a launch. Like it needs to be fluid based on what's going on. But again it meant that my launch was really long. Like from promoting the webinar, uh, right through the doors closed, it was actually a month. And that to me is way too long to be launching. It's way too long to be focused on one thing in my business. I'd rather be doing shorter launches than refocusing for the next one and doing the next launch sooner rather than waiting for, you know, it just felt like way too long. So it was literally all of May for me. So. So yeah, that was a big takeaway for me is I much prefer. I love seven days. I teach seven days. But I also teach that you do what works for you. Right? You do. You however, for me love a 7 day launch. Maybe 8 to 10 at the absolute most. 2 weeks is too long for me. So I won't be doing that again. Now the third thing that I did in my last launch that I won't be doing again is how I packaged up this offer for this round. So I positioned it as a live experience where you uh, pay the same price as you normally would and you get 12 calls at uh, no additional cost included in that because it's a live experience. This was really, really surprising to me. And a huge learning or lesson that, yeah, it was just completely not what I expected. And sometimes we will put an offer out there and the market tells us what it wants, whether that's it or not. And yeah, I just found this so interesting because I thought obviously this is a huge value add, it's worth a couple of thousand dollars, right, and you're getting it. But what I didn't anticipate was the amount of objections adding these free calls in would create and the fact that people actually didn't value them like I thought they would. So what I mean by that is it created a lot of objections. People all of a sudden didn't realize that this was actually a course that they got lifetime access to that they could work through at their own pace. And instead all of the objections were, I'm not available for the next 12 weeks, I can't make the calls. So yeah, I got that over and over again. So many people were going on holiday and you know, this is something that I can actually talk to a little bit more in my future launches because the time is never perfect to take on a project like this of launching your first online course. But that is probably the biggest objection that I got. And I was able to actually then sell those people the self study version of it without the calls, which is actually what the offer was in the first place. Right. So I ended up making back end sales, but not a lot on the front end because people saw the offer and their objections were just straight away, I don't have time for that. I'm away. And it's holiday season as well. Right. Like, it's amazing how many Australians told me that they were heading off to Europe. And obviously when you go to Europe from Australia, you're not going for two weeks, you're going for a month or longer. And obviously you've got in the Northern hemisphere, everyone's on holiday around this time. So it's still, those calls still would have been happening. So weekly calls for 12 weeks too long. And if I do that again, it's going to be at about triple the price because it's going to be a group coaching program and. Yeah. But I still wouldn't position it as 12 weeks. Yeah. So huge learning and not what I expected there. Of course I could do more upfront and I know that now I could do more upfront to overcome that objection in my marketing before people even have it. Uh, I could talk about on the webinar, that kind of thing, because I don't think I did actually. And that's where, uh, you get better and better at the stuff every single time you launch. Like it's not just one launch, see how it goes. And then base every decision off that you have an opportunity to improve with each launch. But it's actually just more about the initial reaction to the offer. And I feel like adding the live calls on actually kind of destroyed the offer in a way because then that became the thing That I was selling that this is the live calls. And because of that emphasis and focus, I wasn't really focusing on the true value of the actual program itself, the outcome that people would get. Actually all of the amazing things inside the specific frameworks that help people with their launch content, the framework for putting together your amazing high converting launch event, all of that stuff didn't really have the opportunity to get talked about enough. It didn't get the time to breathe really in the promotional period because the emphasis was on these calls. So that was really interesting. I really thought that that was going to be a no brainer off and absolutely was not. So again, so many lessons and yeah, so, uh, these three things that I did in my last launch that I won't be doing again. And it's not to say as you have heard that these are wrong. Like doing three webinars is not wrong. Maybe it's right for you, but for me, I did it once. I know that I would rather have all of that energy into one big webinar masterclass. Uh, I wouldn't be offering a huge amount of calls for free and actually turning what is an online course into a group coaching program because it's not even what it is. Right. And I also would stick to the shorter open cart periods. Now that one especially, that is very specific to you. It depends on how you operate. But especially with your first launch, I do recommend just keep it too, seven days a week, keep it nice and simple and you know, it still gives people a really good opportunity to sign up. So these are a little sneak peek behind the scenes of my most recent launch, my learnings. And yeah, obviously next time I uh, launch this product, it's going to be different. The offer is going to be more in line with what it actually is and shorter open cart period. And I'm not going to do three webinars. I will just be doing one. Now my point of sharing this today is I want to really emphasize to you. Well, first of all, I want to share behind the scenes for sure. I want to talk, uh, about what's happening in my business, how I'm pivoting, how I'm tweaking things, that kind of thing. I'm giving you an insight to something that I don't really talk about that much on, um, this podcast. Maybe I should talk about it more, but what's actually happening in my business. And I also want to emphasize to you that every time you launch there are going to be learnings, there are going to be lessons and the more you launch, the better you get at it. And, you know, as I said at the start, I put more effort into this launch than I had other launches in the past. And actually maybe my unique way of launching that works with my energy and the way I operate is actually the right way for me. And I don't need to do everything perfectly. Something I see people holding people back from launches is they think they've got to stick to every single thing and they've got to get every single thing done in terms of every piece of the launch strategy has to be implemented, uh, in that first launch. And sometimes, I mean, it's great if we can, but sometimes it's not possible because of constraints. Like, it's a lot to do and you don't have to do it all and it doesn't have to be perfect because it's not going to be perfect anyway, trust me. So you might as well just do the thing, get the lessons, do it again, get better and better and better at, uh, it. And that's the journey I am on as well. So hopefully you enjoyed this little behind the scenes and yeah, I'll catch you on the next episode. Thanks course creators and go getters. You're incredible and I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you haven't done so already, make sure you hit subscribe in your podcast app so you don't miss an episode. If you'd like to find out more about what I offer, head across to Lou Blakely dot com. See you next time.