Launches aren’t easy. Sometimes when you launch, it’s the first time people are paying attention to you.
They’re watching and learning and listening and waiting. Putting into the calendar for next time to join when you do it again. Listening, reading, learning. Finding out about you for the first time. Deciding and debating, hesitating.
One data point—your first launch—is not enough data to make a decision.
It’s only the start of an exploration. Your next steps?
Email your group, your list, your friends. Ask them for feedback. Write, “Hey! If you didn’t sign up, but you were interested, hit reply. I’m curious if folks want me to run another program later this year—and I need to hear from you if so!”
Get on the phone with your customers. Ask them if the product is for them. Talk to them about what they would change. Use the phrase, “If you’re being honest…” because it opens up people’s responses and allows them to shift into saying things that maybe they were hesitating to say.
“If you’re being completely honest, what held you back from buying this program?”
Adjust, readjust. Launch again, softly. Give yourself more space to ramp up into the program, more time to talk about it. People need to hear about things 4-7 times before they’re even aware that it exists and comfortable taking action. Most people don’t buy something the first time they hear about it.
Most people don’t buy something the first time they hear about it.
Tell them about it often, in many ways. Use the first launch as the first teaching point, not the end point. You told people about your THING. Now keep telling them about it!
Learn.
How often do we get anything right on the first try? Sometimes the first launch is to learn what’s working and what’s not.
Viewed as a work in progress, you’ll maintain more sanity (and energy) for the long haul.
Don’t drop out because the first try didn’t work. Learn from it. You might be a few tweaks away from a brilliant product, you just don’t know it yet.
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