Launch Read online

  As a bit of a side note, this was back when the big online “brands” were in the middle of the dot-com bubble. They weren’t focused on conversion, and they didn’t even care much about profits. They worried about “user acquisition” and how “sticky” their site was—those were the things that drove crazy valuations on Wall Street. It’s hard to believe, but revenue and profit weren’t really on their radar for those dot-com businesses. It was the scrappy little solopreneurs and micro-businesses who worried about that type of stuff. And it was those tiny businesses that pioneered the direct marketing techniques that really drive online commerce to this day.

  In any case, when the long form sales letter was adopted in the online marketing world, it just plain worked. Many sites that started using this old-school direct marketing tool instantly saw their conversions and profits increase dramatically. But, even as those sites proliferated, their days were numbered . . .

  Enter the Sideways Sales Letter™

  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.

  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.”

  Instead of hoping that I could somehow weave such magically spellbinding sales copy that could keep people reading for page after page, I used great sequential content and the power of story to pull the prospect into my sales message.

  Instead of delivering the equivalent of a super-long monologue, I turned the whole process into a conversation . . . a launch conversation.

  Instead of betting everything on one point of contact when the prospect landed on the sales page, I used the power of multiple “touches” and a sequence to drive my prospects wild with anticipation and turn my marketing into an event.

  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. These days, the content is often online video, but it can take any number of forms, such as email or blog posts or PDF reports. The 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.

  I want to emphasize that part about valuable content—this isn’t just about taking a sales pitch and stretching it out over a couple of weeks. That’s not going to grab and hold anyone’s attention. Through this process you deliver real value to your prospects.

  Now, that was a hyper-condensed version of the Sideways Sales Letter and the launch process, and I’ll be going into much greater detail on how you do this. But the important thing to get right now is that the results are dramatic. Let’s take a look at an example . . .

  Stepping off the Work Train and onto the Leverage Train

  Barry Friedman is a professional juggler and a highly accomplished one at that. He started juggling when he was 15 and quickly became extremely passionate about it. Barry decided he wanted to make a living as a juggler and entertainer, even though his high school guidance counselor told him he would probably be broke and homeless in a few years. That prediction didn’t pan out, and Barry has achieved great success, including appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson by the age of 23 and performing at the White House.

  In addition to his juggling skills, Barry also became highly skilled at the business end of his profession. He was able to get high-paying gigs, many of them in the corporate world. Life was good, and Barry was making a great living.

  But then came the day that Barry had a nasty mountain biking accident. As he lay in the hospital recovering from the surgery to repair his shoulder and collarbone, he wondered just how he was going to make a living. His career depended on being able to fly around the country to various gigs and performing on stage. Now he was facing six months of recovery, and even then it was unclear whether he would be able to juggle with his surgically repaired body. His income was based on his health and his ability to keep getting up on stage.

  Of course, in that regard, Barry was no different than almost anyone else. His financial security was tied to his ability to continue working. Even though getting up on stage and performing was a lot more glamorous than driving to work and sitting in front of a computer at a cubicle, he was still trading his time for dollars. Even though he worked for himself, and even though every show brought a large payday, he was still selling his time for money. If he didn’t show up, he didn’t get paid.

  And that was when Barry started to put together another plan—an alternate way to make a living that would completely sidestep the “trading dollars for hours” way of making money. He was about to step onto what I call the “Leverage Train,” where his income wasn’t tied to the number of hours or days he worked. Barry knew that many of his fellow entertainers really struggled with the business end of things. They didn’t market themselves well, and booking gigs never came easy. And that was something that Barry was very good at—because in addition to being a world-class juggler, he had always been great at getting gigs, especially high-paying corporate ones. He knew how to sell his services and get paid top dollar.

  That’s when Barry decided to start teaching those skills. He had seen a lot of online training programs, and it seemed like a perfect way for him to teach entertainers how to land more high-paying gigs. Barry had also discovered Product Launch Formula, and he had gone through the program. He created an online membership site called “Get More Corporate Gigs” where his clients could get ongoing training for a monthly subscription fee of $37.

  Product Launch Formula works really well for membership sites like Barry’s, but I want to focus on the launch of Barry’s next product. He decided to create a high-end coaching group where he would work a lot more closely with clients for a much higher fee.

  Barry had seen high-end coaching programs (like my Product Launch Formula), and he knew how powerful they could be. So he created an offer for the “Showbiz Blueprint.” This would be a 10-week, small-group coaching program where his clients would have access to weekly group coaching calls. There would also be “hot seats” for each participant, a private community site, weekly “office hours,” and a number of other benefits. In order to insure that everyone got enough individual attention, the offer would be limited to only 15 participants. The price was $2,000 if people paid in full upfront and slightly more if they used his payment plan.

  The Showbiz Blueprint obviously offered a much higher level of training, coaching, and interactivity than Barry’s membership site, and it was aimed at the premium end of his market. This type of premium offer is ideally suited to a PLF-style launch, because buying something like this is a big decision and a big commitment. The Sideways Sales Letter gives you the luxury of time to communicate the true value of your offer.

  Barry went into this launch with a list of fewer than 1,000 people. He used his first piece of Prelaunch Content to quickly build rapport with his readers and demonstrate that he really understood their pain. In fact, he more than understood their pain . . . he had actually lived it.

  He knew his target audience was really good at getting free gigs like library events, festivals, birthday parties, and the like, but they didn’t know how to properly market to clients who had money! And they weren’t even aware that the marketing they were using to land the low-paying shows was actually driving away potential high-paying gigs.

  The real pain point that Barry addressed in his prelaunch (i.e., his Sideways Sales Letter) is that the average entertainer is terrified that they might be forced to get a real job. It’s a nightmare for someone who is a talented magician, ventrilo
quist, comedian, or juggler to think they might end up waiting tables or driving a truck. And possibly even worse—that they would be forced to acknowledge that their parents or teachers or friends were right—they couldn’t make a living as an entertainer!

  So Barry’s first piece of Prelaunch Content showed his prospects that he really understood them, because he had the same hopes, dreams, and fears as they did. And then the video went on to paint the opportunity for them to build a serious business (and income) with their skills. The basic theme of the video was this:

  “I’m a lot like you. I found a passion for juggling when I was a kid but was told I couldn’t do it for a living. My high school guidance counselor, Mr. Pavliga, said that if I continued to pursue a career as a juggler, that by the time I was 22 I would be broke and probably homeless. Right then, I swore to myself that I would prove him wrong.

  Barry Friedman

  “A few years later, I had just turned 23 when I performed on my first Tonight Show. I was standing behind the curtain and thinking, ‘I hope Mr. Pavliga is watching.’ It was all I could think about while I heard Johnny Carson introducing my partner and me. I was told I’d never make it as a professional juggler, but I didn’t listen to them and now I’ve been on over 100 television shows . . . and you can do that too! Now, I want to show you how.”

  Of course, there was a lot more to the video, but that gives you the overall tone. Basically, Barry was establishing his credibility, he was creating great affinity with his prospects, and he was delivering a very inspirational message. He was also delivering real value, because he was showing his viewers that it really was possible to get great, high-paying gigs. It showed that selling yourself as a highly paid entertainer was a learnable skill. Finally, the video showed entertainers that they had the opportunity to take the same skills they already had, and get paid a lot more money for them. And nowhere in the video was there any hint of a sales message or a pitch. You can see Barry’s first video at this link: http://thelaunchbook.com/barry.

  One really important part of the Sideways Sales Letter is what I call the “Launch Conversation,” because when you post your Prelaunch Content, you will generally do it on a blog where there’s a place to leave comments below the video. At the end of your videos you ask for your viewers to respond in some way, such as asking questions and making comments. Barry did exactly that, then took part in the discussion. He answered questions and engaged with his prospects. When you do that, you begin to change your launch from a monologue into a conversation . . . and conversations are almost always a lot more interesting than monologues.

  And those comments also give you some incredible insight into what your prospects are thinking and feeling. Their questions will help you identify the biggest objections, which gives you a chance to answer those objections, both in your comments and in your subsequent pieces of Prelaunch Content.

  In Barry’s second prelaunch video, he revisited the potential pain of failing at the business, then he really focused on teaching. The overall basic message was this:

  “What if this all falls apart and your parents were right? What if you can’t make it as an entertainer? If you want to make it in this business, you need to treat it like a business. You’ve spent hundreds of hours working on your craft, but that’s only part of the equation. It’s not enough to be able to put on a great show. You also need to work on mastering the business. You need to master how to market and promote yourself.

  “I’ve figured out how to do both—put on a great show and build a great business. Here’s what I did to build my hugely successful career as a juggler. Here’s what works and what doesn’t work. And if you’re making these common mistakes, here’s how you fix them.”

  And at that point Barry started teaching his audience the fundamental principles and methods of marketing themselves as entertainers.

  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. In this case, Barry’s launch was for a super-premium offer; no one else in the market was charging anywhere near $2,000. If you’re going to sell at the premium end, the best way to attract high-end clients is to deliver massive value upfront. And that’s exactly what Barry did.

  Remember, even though Barry was a very accomplished juggler, and even though he had traveled the world with his business and had even appeared on TV and at the White House, he was still primarily selling to people who had never heard of him. He had no official credentials when it came to teaching people about business. He had no letters after his name. He had no degrees or certifications. He was going to be teaching from experience (which, of course, makes for the best teachers), but the fact remained he was a complete stranger to most of his prospects.

  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.

  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, and he was building great reciprocity with his audience. (Oops . . . I just jumped ahead a little bit. In the next chapter I’ll show you the magic of the mental triggers, which build enormous influence with your audience. Authority and reciprocity are two of those critical and super-powerful mental triggers that I’ll cover in that chapter.)

  Before I leave the question of possibly giving away too much of the good stuff in your prelaunch, let me say this: 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. That’s just the way the math works. That’s how direct marketing works. However, the ones who do buy make all the difference—after all, how many $2,000 sales did Barry need to make a serious impact on his life? The answer is: not that many.

  So in his third prelaunch video, Barry reviewed his launch story and he stepped up the teaching even more. He actually reviewed web sites for various entertainers, and he showed the mistakes they were making. And he showed how those mistakes could be easily fixed.

  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.

  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.

  When I interviewed Barry for the Case Study about his launch, I asked him about this, and sure enough, he told me he didn’t want to put that pivot in there. He was loving the teaching, and his prospects were loving Barry for all of his great content that he was giving them. He didn’t want to mess with all those good vibes by talking about his upcoming product. But Barry said, “I decided to just follow PLF, and you told me to put that in there, so I did and the formula worked.”

  The three videos were delivered over a period of six days. And when Barry opened up registration, he sold out all 15 spots almost immediately for a total of $29,955 in sales. His costs were almost nonexistent—basically just the fees to process the credit card orders.

  And between the buzz that the launch built up and the results that his clients got, Barry had enough momentum to fill another entire class after he finished the first one. That meant his total sales were $59,910 . . . and he di
d that with an email list of fewer than 1,000 people.

  That means his revenue was more than $59 per prospect—he made nearly $60 for every person on his email list!

  But it didn’t end there. Since that time Barry has re-run the very same launch with the very same videos four more times. Each time he has put between 15 and 18 people into his class. After a few launches, Barry stopped offering individual coaching calls for the people who signed up. That meant he took another big step up in terms of leveraging his time. He reduced his price to $997 when he did this, but it meant that each additional sale took absolutely no extra time to fulfill. He was now making sales for no extra work. He had left the “trading hours for dollars” world and jumped onboard the leverage train.

  If you do the math, he has now sold out six classes with 15 to 18 people per class. The majority of those people paid $2,000 and some paid $997 for the version without any personal coaching calls. That means Barry has done more than $100,000 in sales with very minimal costs. He did all that while selling a product that provided enormous value to his clients . . . and he didn’t have to travel to any shows to do it.

  That’s the power of a PLF-style launch, and that’s the power of the Sideways Sales Letter. It gives you the time and space to connect with your prospects and deliver real value. It lets you cut through the marketing fog and set yourself apart from any competition. 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.

  (You can see the full Case Study with Barry Friedman here http://thelaunchbook.com/barry.)

  Weapons of Mass Influence: The Mental Triggers

  Chapter 5

  When I first released my Product Launch Formula training back in 2005, two things happened . . .