76 | 5 Pre-Launch Mistakes That Are Costing You Thousands

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Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Hello, welcome to the 76th episode

of women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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I was out for dinner with two

of my coach friends this week

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in London, which was wonderful.

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We are planning a trip to Spain together.

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So very, very exciting

for later this year.

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And I was sharing my recent learnings

of how good a wait list and a pre-launch

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phase is to sell your programs.

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Sarah reminded me that I really

should put this on my podcast because

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I haven't spoken about this yet.

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So I'm excited today to share

those learnings I've had recently.

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That have made a huge difference to my

business and to those clients I've been

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working with on this strategy as well.

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It's something that

takes a while to learn.

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And again, it's taken me years

because I've only really just

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understood how important a

pre-launch phase is to your business.

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So let's cover the gaps in your launch

strategy and set you up for success.

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Starting with common prelaunch mistakes.

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The first one is insufficient planning.

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When I was running my five day challenge,

the first exercise was a calendar which

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showed exactly how long it takes prior

to you launching your offer, generally,

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depending on what you are offering,

if you want to do a really big launch,

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there is a six week launch window.

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And in fact, you could have a

pre-launch window of four months.

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Because the longer your prelaunch, the

more successful your launch will be.

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But what I notice is most people jump

into selling their thing without really

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doing that nurturing phase, without

that solid strategy planed in advance.

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And this often leads to a

failed launch and that can

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really affect your confidence.

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So it really is worth planning in advance,

postponing your launch if that's necessary

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to ensure that people are fully primed

and wanting what you have to offer.

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The next mistake I see is

neglecting audience building.

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This has been a key learning

of mine in the last two years.

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I grow my audience every

single week without fail.

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It is the number one task that

I prioritize in my business.

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There's no point putting out content

to the same people again and again.

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You need to continuously grow.

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I aim for a hundred people per month

that my audience should grow by.

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That's my goal.

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You can do that in lots of different ways.

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For example, I use LinkedIn

primarily as my platform.

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I did use Facebook ads for a while,

thinking that that would speed things up.

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And it was great to grow my list,

but eventually I stopped the ads

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because you really do need to be

on top of it the algorithm will

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eventually tire of your ads.

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So you need to create more

ads, more lead magnets.

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I paused it wanting to come back to

it sometime when I have the Headspace.

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But as we know, Headspace is few

and far between, so I'm now pausing

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the ads until I've got the time

to think about it or delegate it.

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LinkedIn is my prime strategy

and it's somewhere I grow every

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single month without fail.

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And tracking really helps as well.

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It helps your confidence

to see that you're growing.

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And nearly every one of my clients

grow rapidly in this area because on

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our first call, I make really, really

clear that this is the most vital

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thing you can do in your business.

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Inconsistent messaging is

the next mistake I see.

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So lack of a really clear, consistent

message will confuse your audience.

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For example, for a two month period

earlier this year, I was promoting a

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program called elevate, which was about

running group programs and online courses.

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So for two entire months, I could not

talk about my core program, the business

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of coaching, because it was a different

ideal client who were ready to scale.

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They were gaining lots of inquiries, which

is why they wanted to move to groups.

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So it was a different thing, really

creating an online course in group

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program to filling your one-to-one

roster, which is generally what I do.

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I had to prioritize that launch

in order for it to be successful.

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And often I notice people wanting to

sell so many different things that they

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just won't prioritize the full period

required for people to start clicking.

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Oh, yeah, this is what she's doing now.

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This is what she's selling now.

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If you just do an odd post here and

there about different things and

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just flying any old thing out there,

they just won't get in their heads

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exactly what you're selling to who.

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So it's really important to

have that annual plan and know

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exactly what you're selling when.

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Ignoring data is the next mistake.

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Not tracking those metrics

will leave you unmotivated.

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The atomic habits book makes it

really clear that we need to see

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rewards to continue that good habit.

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So if you are not noticing your success,

for example, growing on LinkedIn

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consistently, you will not prioritize that

task and you'll lose momentum thinking.

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Ah, forget it.

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Everyone else is on 10,000 plus followers.

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I'm only on a hundred.

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But you really need to keep tracking

that data to see your success month

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on month so you continue to grow.

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And a weak value proposition

is the final mistake.

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So really failing to communicate

clearly the value and the transformation

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that your offer, will provide.

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These five mistakes will severely

impact your launch success.

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And you will be wondering why

your amazing offer isn't selling.

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So now I hear you ask, okay,

what can I do about it?

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let's move on to the importance

of a pre-launch phase.

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A prelaunch or launch phase involves

a warming up stage around your offer.

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you want to build anticipation and

buzz around your upcoming offer.

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It will establish trust and

credibility with your audience.

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You can't just go on a date with

someone, ask them to marry you.

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There is a nurturing process

involved before you ask them to

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buy your thing or to marry you.

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This prelaunch phase also allows you

to get people on board with your offer.

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Things like polls are really great.

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Ask for their insights and

show that you value them, build

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that two-way relationship.

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The pre-launch phase will

also create a sense of being

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exclusive and urgency to buy.

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I was lucky to sell out my in-person

event which nearly every entrepreneur

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that I know that has hosted an in-person

events as it's the hardest thing to sell,

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because it's really hard to get people to

commit, to traveling, to spending a whole

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day traveling to your in-person event.

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And how I did it was by doing

this pre-launch phase really well.

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By being able to say I have 55 people

on the wait list for this day, and

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there's only 30 spaces in the room.

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So that enabled me to sell out

the event with just two emails

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to this tiny list of 55 people.

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It really does work.

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And I have held in-person

events previously.

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Not done this pre-launch phase.

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And it has been really hard to

fill them and left me up until

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the day before thinking, ah, is

there any one coming, have I got

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enough people to fill this event?

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So it really does work.

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The final reason why this pre-launch

phase is so important is because

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it warms up your audience and

makes them more open to your offer.

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Especially if you have done the pre-launch

phase well, got them involved, ensured

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that you created exactly what they wanted,

ensure that you prioritize how important

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they are and listen to where they are at.

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If you've just started your business

or if you just haven't really marked

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consistently for awhile, you can't

just put a paste out there saying, hi,

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I'm a maternity coach, for example.

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These are the offers I provide

it's too soon without that trust

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and credibility that you build

up through this pre-launch phase.

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So let's cover the key elements

of a successful prelaunch.

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Firstly a content strategy.

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You will want to develop valuable targeted

content your absolute ideal client.

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Addressing their pain points

and sharing your expertise.

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Getting them involved, gaining engagement.

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So you're not at any point

throughout at least the two week

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period before selling your thing,

you're not saying buy my thing.

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So for that minimum two week period

in this initial pre-launch phase,

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you will just be gaining interaction.

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By the time you do put out your

offer, the right people are

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seeing your content and engaging.

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The algorithm likes you because you have

built engagement, built trust, not ask

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people to buy your thing cause those

posts will always be less successful.

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The next thing you will want to

do, like I mentioned earlier is

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always be building your audience.

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Grow your email list if you have set

one up, because an email list is way

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more important than social media.

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Like I mentioned, I didn't even promote

my dare greatly event on social media.

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I just promoted two times to my waitlist.

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And the best thing was these people

wanted to receive that email.

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So always think how

can I grow my audience?

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That may be borrowing other

people's audiences, especially

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when you first start.

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Because it does take a long time to

show up consistently in order for people

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to connect with you and follow you.

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Relationship building is also

important in this pre-launch phase.

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You'll want to engage

through live Q and A's.

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You might want to run a webinar,

workshop, challenge, some sort of

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way of them getting to know you.

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Maybe you want to start a

direct message campaign.

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You can have interaction with people.

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Social media alone is not

an effective strategy.

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You are very unlikely to build

your business just through

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posting on social media.

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It's often underrated how important it

is to actually engage with others posts

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in order for them to engage with yours.

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And also to take that next step, people

are rarely going to see your content on

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social media and just buy straight away.

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Usually there will be a step

like listen to your podcast.

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Engage with your email list.

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Come to your workshop,

watch your free training.

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If you think about the staircase, social

media is on the bottom of that staircase.

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Usually there are a few steps that

they need to take before they get

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to the top of the staircase, which

is have a discovery call with you

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and eventually buy your coaching.

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A teaser campaign is also fabulous.

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Doing behind the scenes

of your upcoming offer.

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Something exciting is coming.

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I remember I had a mentor once who

said this prelaunch phase will add

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an extra 10 K to any launch you do.

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Even though I find this really

annoying, and to be honest, I'd rather

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just say, here's what I'm selling.

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You really have to learn

the skill of building in the

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apprehension, the curiosity.

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It's such a great marketing

technique when you do this.

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Social proof is our next

important part of a pre-launch.

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Sharing testimonials, case studies

results from anyone you've worked with.

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Even if you haven't run this as a paid

offer in this context before, think back

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to where you can find any social proof

that can show that you are effective.

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So for example, when I sold my

elevate offer recently, I didn't

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have any testimonials for that.

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So I just went through all of my

business of coaching clients figured

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out who had launched an online course

or a group program and found the bits

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where they mentioned, launched my group,

launched my online course and use those

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bits of the testimonials to really

showcase that I can help with that.

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It's just that I haven't run this

particular program before, which

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really specializes in that, but

I have already got expertise.

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You also will have expertise,

so really stop and think.

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If you haven't got any case studies

or testimonials yet, get out there

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and think about how you can serve.

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I did quite a lot for free when I first

started my business I coached loads of MBA

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students for free to get the testimonials.

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I did a women's workshop of 10 women.

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So go out there and

gain those testimonials.

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You can do this.

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The final one, which I've covered a

little bit already, is the most important

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learning that I've had over the last

six months is the waitlist strategy.

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I also use this strategy for my

signature solution online course

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and gained 28 sales within three

days of launching a wait list.

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I had a two month pre-launch

window for that signature solution.

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If you've set up an email list

already, a waitlist is kind of similar.

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So you will have some sort of sign

up page they put their details into.

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That will then go to a thank

you page or thank you for

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sending out to the wait list.

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They'll also get an email saying

thanks for joining the wait list.

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I'll keep you posted.

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When this program is ready you

have an active, captive audience

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who are wanting what you have.

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It enabled me to send five emails to

this wait list in a three-day window,

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which I would never normally do to

my main list, because you'd feel like

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people are gonna unsubscribe instead.

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These people have said, yes, I want

to hear about what you're selling.

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It enabled me to really go big

in my sales strategy, which

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is why it was so successful.

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You do need to give an incentive

for joining your wait list.

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No, one's going to bother

unless it's exciting.

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So I gave a coupon code for a discount.

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Also offered a special bonus

available to the waitlist only.

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Think really clearly about what

is going to captivate their

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attention enough for them to bother

joining your wait list in advance.

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If people don't join your wait list,

that's sometimes a sign that your

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launch is not going to go well, maybe

you haven't got the audience yet.

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Maybe you haven't done

enough nurturing yet.

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So it's a great way of

just testing this idea.

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I know a lot of people do it.

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Saying, I'm going to run this

workshop if I have at least 10

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people say that they're interested.

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So that's a great way of deciding-

are you going to sell this thing?

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Are you going to create this thing?

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So think about, and work on this strategy.

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There are a few.

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Ins and outs of ensuring that

you've got the right emails and

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you're pitching it correctly.

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Every nuance counts so don't slap

dash this, because I have seen people

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look at what I've done and quickly

try and do the same and then I

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think, gosh, with a few tweaks, you

would have had such a better result.

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So really, put the time into thinking

about that ideal client, what they want.

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What's exciting enough

for them to sign up to.

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What sort of offer do they want?

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What sort of transformation.

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Have you got the audience already.

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Really give this your time and attention.

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One of my mentors said to me, once, this

is the difference that can add another.

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10,000 pounds to your launch.

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The other reasons why a waitlist is

such a game changer is because it

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creates that scarcity and urgency.

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For example, I could go out there

and say, I've got 95 people on the

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wait list and I've got this bonus,

which is available to 30 people.

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So that really drove people

to take action quickly.

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You can also collect data

about your customers.

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For example, for my dare greatly

in person events on the automated

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email saying, thanks for joining the.

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wait ,list.

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I asked them three simple questions.

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Like, what are your goals?

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What are your challenges?

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What would you want from an in-person day?

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That enabled me to message

them back and forth.

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Build a relationship and also learn

exactly what those themes were, which

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I could then build into the day?

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And that leads me onto my next

point, which is the commitment.

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When people join a wait list, they're

more likely to follow through with a

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purchase because they've made a really

small micro commitment towards you.

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You can also offer those

early bird incentives.

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Some sort of fast action

bonus works really well.

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It's a great way of gauging interest

and predicting your launch success.

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It will give you.

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so much confidence that you

can definitely sell this thing,

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which is what it did for me.

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But also, if you don't gain that

interaction, and I have had flopped

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launches before then generally

you might not be focusing on

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the thing that the client wants.

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All we can do is think you will win or

you will learn and use that data to think.

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Okay.

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Do you know what?

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They're really not that interested.

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Maybe they want something else.

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What is it that they want?

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So you may be thinking this all

sounds great, but how am I going

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to actually implement this to

ensure that it happens this time?

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Because launching is extremely stressful.

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I have launched several times and every

single time it's a real emotional toll

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of does anyone want what I have, and

the consistent action, the showing up.

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There's so many elements of a launch

that can really keep you stuck.

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So in September, I'm intending

to do a 30 day program called

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offer to market in 30 days.

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I will take you, step-by-step

through this launch process to

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effectively launch your offer.

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It is just a 30 day program.

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This is probably not for you

if you've never put a post out.

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I mean, people have had huge

success I must say that have done

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this program because it's built

that consistent showing up habit.

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Emotionally you need to be ready to

take action because a launch is showing

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up and being visible for a full 30

days, absolute minimum . So, this is

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for you if you have started something,

but maybe you're not really focusing

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on those money, generating activities.

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You're perhaps just showing up

occasionally and you know, you really

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need to show up in a much bigger way.

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Or you have launched before and it

hasn't been successful and therefore

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you want to make damn sure you

learn how to launch effectively.

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So this is for you if you

are ready to take action.

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We will start on the 16th of

September and you will find the

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signup page in the show notes.

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: 00:19:17

And if you sign up quickly, just like I've

talked about with the pre-launch bonus.

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You will gain my help, well,

in advance of that 30 days.

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So, you know, you will be starting strong.

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: 00:19:27

You can work on your offer and

send it to me for review so, you

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know, you have everything you need.

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: 00:19:33

If you want to implement this waitlist

strategy, then the 30 days is not

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: 00:19:38

going to be enough time to do that.

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: 00:19:40

So you will want to sign up

quickly so I can help you with a

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: 00:19:43

waitlist strategy if you want to

include that in your launch plan.

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So you will find the offer to market

in 30 days details in the show notes.

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: 00:19:52

in summary, a successful launch,

doesn't start on launch day.

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It begins months before.

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: 00:19:59

I hope this episode has helped

you to identify any gaps in

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your current launch strategy.

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: 00:20:05

Like I've mentioned, if you want to be

taken by the hand step by step with daily

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instructions and templates of exactly

what to do each day for 30 days then

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: 00:20:16

do join me in my program off to market.

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: 00:20:19

I only run this once or twice a

year maximum and I do it live.

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: 00:20:24

So we are starting on Monday,

the 16th of September.

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: 00:20:28

If you sign up prior to the 10th of

September, you can use the frameworks

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: 00:20:34

you'll find immediately in the portal.

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: 00:20:36

And then send me your offer and I

will do a details, offer feedback

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: 00:20:40

for you and help you with anything.

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: 00:20:42

That's going to get you in really

good stead for our 30 days.

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: 00:20:46

That's all for today.

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: 00:20:48

I hope you found it helpful.

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: 00:20:49

And like I say, at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe

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: 00:20:53

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

who keeps on watering the seed.

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: 00:20:58

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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: 00:21:00

episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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: 00:21:03

I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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: 00:21:09

That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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: 00:21:13

joannalottcoaching.com.

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: 00:21:15

And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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: 00:21:19

Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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: 00:21:22

Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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: 00:21:25

personally thank you for that.

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: 00:21:28

Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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: 00:21:32

who keeps on watering the seed.

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: 00:21:34

Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.