The Extra-Comprehensive

Product Launch Strategy

Overview
There can be a lot of little details in a launch. But do not loose track of the big picture.
What follows is the overall flow of the launch.

Product Launch Flow

This is the general structure to a product launch
1. List building (or finding a JV partner)
2. Build a relationship with that list
3. Learn what your list wants, have a conversation with them
4. Create the solution your list desires & position yourself as an expert
5. Identify potential objections and answer throughout the pre-launch
6. Gather testimonials
7. Turn your launch into an event by using sequences
8. Set up the next launch

Product Launch Elements

These are the elements that make up a product launch:
1. Keep it simple
2. Being flexible to what the list gives you and playing off that
3. The launch is re-useable and re-producible
4. Strategies
5. Tactics

Strategy/Mindset
Above all, the strategies discussed here are powerful, but they are not rigid in their use.
For the sake of simplicity, repeating everything that could be applied everywhere it could
be used was not practical. But note that you can use many of structure principles (e.g. the
persuasion equation, teaching people in the format they like etc) discussed throughout on
many of the execution tactics and tools (e.g. use the persuasion equation on securing JV
partners, figure out what your list color is then use the persuasion equation that fits their
coloring best etc).

Most people are only tactical (e.g. making phone calls for leads, direct mail packages etc)
and they miss the strategical aspect (i.e. how all the tactics fit together for a grand
scheme). The PLF formula is both strategical and tactical. Be sure to get a grasp on the
strategy (a relationship with the list to sell them now and backend them later) as well as
the various tactics (email, mental triggers, etc).

Stick factor. You want to hit people with those multiple modalities so the information
sticks. People need to remember your message.

People will pay more for the experience. Turning the launch into an experience is one of
the major factors of the strategy. The launch is about romancing people. You are not
getting them to admit they have a problem, rather you are educating them with a story
about the negative consequences (perhaps that you ‘experienced’) and helping them
overcome their problem/get the result they want with your product.

So if you realize the relationship is the key, then the global strategy of the PLF is to build
a relationship with the list while ALSO handling objections, getting them to interact,
having those interactions making people feel committed, and all this well before people
reach the sales page. This way you have ultra primed them to buy (which they enjoyed
via the experience) BEFORE they hit the sales page.
This works for any price point (even free) and it also works for old and new products.
You don’t even need products, as you can do affiliate launches. You can use this to build
a list or find JV partners.

Keep things simple. Jeff keeps even very big launches very simple. The whole process
can get a bit messy, but keep your fundamentals in check and you will do fine. You can
get 80% of it wrong and 20% of it right and still do well.

Just using a few of these tactics is powerful and the stuff you use in the first launch you
can use in other niches. You can also just take Jeff’s copy and drop it into your launch
and it will work.

There is a fine line between giving away good content and not giving enough. You want
to give them good information but not everything. Most people err on the side of not
giving enough information. You don’t always have to give unbelievable amazing content
(unless the competition is extremely fierce) and you can make it more pitch style. So you
can give them bits and sell within it. It doesn’t have to be a ton of content. You can give
them the what and not the how.

Strategies
1. List building: You build the list but this is also about building a relationship with
that list. You need to find out what they want and give it to them. The relationship
helps for getting people to tell you what they want! You need to sell the opt-in,
focus on building the list, use SEO tactics, and use other people’s lists (JV
partners). Key metric: opt-in rate. You must always focus on list building. If you
focus on building in an opt-in with traffic you are getting the long term business
asset (rather than just a sale today, unless of course you back end the sale). To
gain lists JV, but remember: they care about the integrity of their list, so position
 yourself to help them make money and preserve integrity. There are prospect lists
and customer lists. A customer is worth 10-15x a prospect. You are always
building your list from launch to launch, and you want to use multiple lead
sources. There are certain situations where a launch will create a huge list over
night (a big bang), and that is the goal you are working towards (it can take a few
tries to get the hang of it). Think in terms of sequences of launches to that big
bang. The single most important decision to make is who is going to host it.
Aweber is recommended, Jeff’s affiliate version is ProFollow.com ($20/month).
2. Relationship: Be honest. It won’t happen overnight, relationships take time. You
do not want to just hammer them with offers fast and hard (although sometimes it
can work in the short run) if you want that long term relationships. It is better to
have a relationship with 100 people then to have a list with 10,000 people you are
not close to.
3. Conversation: That is how you build relationships. Have conversations with your
list and it identifies what they want. It also gives you a strong defense (your list
will defend you against the web 2.0 structure) and a source of partners,
employees, and vendors.
4. Learn what your list wants: You do this through surveys and encouraging
interaction. Everywhere throughout your process you are encouraging people to
write back to you/give feedback, because that is where you find out what people
want. You can also interact with them on Facebook and twitter. Note: desires are
endless and your lists needs are constantly changing (providing fresh content to
sell them on).
5. Positioning: A launch gets you great positioning! You get a leadership role,
pricing premiums, and deal flow (people approach you for deals now).
6. Create the solution your list desires: Depending on what the list wants, you then
create the product. Both what they want and WHAT FORM THEY WANT IT IN.
So it might be an eBook, subscription, home study course, physical product,
service. You will often find people in your list trying to help you create products,
often for free! You become like a celebrity and they want to hang out with you.
This makes selling easier. If you are doing a product/service, then you can usually
include information with the bundle as bonus or part of the product, that can be a
USP or a premium positioning tool.
7. Identify potential objections: Through surveys and through dialog. Once you
have the objections you can defeat them by positioning and selling it effectively.
Talk about finding PAIN and growing that. Selling is just taking away objections
and all that’s left is to buy. Take away objections through social media, blogs, and
dialog. Launches really are conversations (not just “buy my stuff buy my stuff
buy my stuff for 3 weeks”.
8. Gather testimonials: You do this ahead of the launch, during the launch, and
after the launch. You want to be doing this all the time, they are incredibly
powerful. No proof no launch (you can actually, it’s more complicated). If you are
putting out pre-launch content that’s great, some people will use it and have some
good results. Once you complete the launch, you end up with HAPPY people (not
a bunch of mad people who didn’t want your emails). So they enjoy it!
 9. Turn your launch into an event by using sequences: Pre pre-launch sequence,
pre-launch sequence. Anticipation is one piece of the launch, but really this is
about turning it into an event. Think long term business, not just one event. The
launch should just be the beginning.
10. Set up next launch: Train list to act. Creates another feedback loop. Launch
stacking is not additive, it’s exponential! They will get bigger and bigger. People
will become more responsive the more launches you do. You will end up with a
lot of feedback to drive your next launch.
11. Syndicated Launch: The ultimate leverage tool. This is an advanced 10x result
compared to the standard PLF strategy, but it will not work for everyone.

There are relationships between these steps. Once you work with your list to build
relationships, they will start building your list for you! Once you start a dialog with your
list and learn what they want, they will start giving you objections, testimonials, and
ideas for your next launch, and they will help you create your product, and simply by
asking them what they want, that will build the relationships. By asking them what they
want, it will build your relationship, they will give you testimonials, and potential
objections and as you defeat them you will gather more testimonials. If you turn it into an
exciting event, it will create a buzz that will build your list and relationships (gets them
excited), get them interacting for testimonials, and talking about what they want now and
for other products. When you set up your next launch its going to build your list via word
of mouth, it will build your relationships too. This is just some of the relationships, its
self amplifying, it’s not a one shot formula, it’s an overall philosophy, and you can set up
one product after another and the list keeps growing.

It all comes down to conversation. Creating a situation where you have an ongoing
conversation with your market, that gets more intense as the launch approaches. Once
you get that leadership positioning, people will want to help you more. People will also
help create the event atmosphere. When the next launch comes, people get excited about
the last launch. People are so disconnected nowadays, and they are looking for a
connection. Even if you have a 10,000 person list, if you can make them feel like there is
a relationship there, they will love it (even if it’s just being on your list). People want to
buy from trusted friends, and you will become that. The whole process is synergistic.

So the Strategy of the PLF can be Broken Down to:

-Building a list relationship
-The whole process is an event that they enjoy (not a hard sell, but it’s really an
extremely hard sell based on mental triggers in disguise)
-Finding out exactly what the list wants (by asking them through surveys)
-Find out what objections people have
-Find out the PAINS people have
-Grow the pain of their problem and the pain of not taking action
-Getting them committed to the process
-Getting them committed to the product
-Leveraging the assets of JV partners (list & relationship)
-Handling objections well before the sales letter
-Leverage scarcity and reason why mental triggers (as well as the others) throughout the
whole process
-Build the value of product well before they see the price, anchor them to both a high
perceived value (and actual cost) then give them an insanely good offer at launch
-Lead people by the hand through the whole process
-Using mental triggers in the right timing (plan when to use the triggers before hand)
-Building up tension and TOUCHING frustrations
-Relating to them with a common problem and you have a solution
-Them not knowing it’s a launch but just getting great content that builds anxiety
-The positioning and top of mind awareness you get after the launch is the real gold mine
-Romancing the list
-Enhancing the relationship for after the launch
- Lead them by the hand. Tell them what to think, feel, and do
-It is about falling in love with the list and romancing them, not loving your product!
-This is about a romantic education (not trickery) and giving them an offer they can’t
refuse
- Weave your USP into your launch

Old Style Marketing Vs. the New Style

The ‘old style’ of marketing is:
Advertising leads people to your salesletter, which has these components:
Story
Content
Benefits
Offer
Proof
Guarantee
Action

The PLF method turns this on its side and works it through the salesletter as the launch
(and ends on a sales page but people are primed and ready to buy).

So the new way to do it is:

Headline: Your pre-launch content, your best weapon, the most exciting thing
Story: Start telling your story
Content and Story (and proof): Share your story and content and show proof of how well
your product works
Content and Story (and social proof):
Content and Benefits: Now you start talking more about your product not just your story.
Benefits and Offer
Benefits and Guarantee
Sales letter: Now they don’t have to read a 30 page sales letter and they are pre-sold (and
they didn’t even know it)

The big payoff:

-Big cash flow
-Big list
-List relationship
-JV partners (who are happy)
-Expert status/positioning
-Impact

Tactics and Triggers

These are the things that get people really excited, but never forget the strategy. Tactics
can be good for quick promotions, but to really get the long term stuff you need to use the
strategies above and create a sustaining business stream.

Triggers: Deep psychological triggers that make people act. Mix in as many triggers as
you can. Event based, scarcity, social proof, reason why, and commitment and
consistency are THE MOST IMPORTANT, the rest are really great add on (but not
100% essential as the ones mentioned). The timing and integration of these triggers is
critical. So plan them out before hand.
 Event-based: You always want to turn your promotions and marketing
into an event. People pay more for the experience, so it’s better to go for
the high value provider but also make your launch an enjoyable
experience (not just a “buy-my-stuff-athon”). You always want to be
looking at your current situation as being potential fodder for an event
based launch. If something is going bad, think about how you can take that
and turn it into a promotion. E.g. A big fulfillment house up and shut their
doors with no warning, and a lot of people were stuck as they had orders
in their warehouse. That would be a great chance to do an ‘inventory stock
sale’ where you sell what you got until you can get more. Take the
negative and turn it into a positive event based promotion.
 Proof: The more proof you have the more believable it is. Make proof
believable from where they are.
 Scarcity: hardwired into humans since cave dwelling days. If there is a
limited quantity, then we are very motivated to get it. It’s driven by the
fear of loss, which is a very powerful motivator (more than a potential for
reward). When you have a scarce situation, there is a potential for a loss. If
there is less of something, you want it more (it’s even worse if there is
social proof). With fast mover bonuses, you can avoid negative feeling for
people feeling like they could have had more when they bought, you want
to offer them a really good alternative (so if they miss the teleseminar,
they get the recording) or make sure to pull it off the sales page and not
discuss it. Take the negative of fast mover bonuses, turn it into a positive,
and use it as a reason to email people
 Social proof: When people see lots of people doing things, they want to
take part (even people who want to think they are non-conformists). E.g. If
you open a new restaurant, and have a grand opening sign with an empty
parking lot people will just drive by. If you get all your friends and family
to park their cars there and make it look busy, people will want to come in
 and be more inclined to buy. This is a VERY VERY powerful motivator.
You don’t want to just use this on the sales page, but in every step of the
marketing. We look to others to cue our actions, which is good so you
don’t have to make such laborious decisions over everything. Another e.g.
you go to download some software for photos, you see one has 83,045
downloads and another has 4320 downloads, which one are you gong to
pick? In a launch there are lots of ways to generate social proof to garner
this effect. Telling people if they contact you and don’t get a response,
because you are busy to contact you again will increase sales because
people will think it’s a hot buy. People will follow the herd MOST LIKE
THEM, hence try to talk about (not directly of course) how the
demographic of the buyers are just like “you” so they feel more associated
with the type of people buying. Use testimonials that appeal mostly to
your target market with a higher priority. The last thing you want is
negative social proof, so never talk about the bad things you don’t want
your list to do. Here is something interesting that happens at auctions. In
auctions, if the initial price is high, you (the buyer) are likely to think its
worth more than if it’s initial price was low. However, lower starting
prices lead to higher final sales for 3 reasons. Reason 1 is barrier to entry;
a lower barrier invites more bidders. Reason 2 is the increased traffic of
bidders serves as social proof. Reason 3 is commitment and consistency;
once someone makes a bid they will spend more time updating their bid
and therefore want to justify the time spent doing this by winning the
auction and upping their bid. If people are considering buying it at the
lower price, the higher price may incite them to buy before it gets too high
as they should be watching it closely (again, this is not verified, so only do
this if you are a launch master). You may want to sell lots of copies of
your course at a lower price, then for a launch with JV partners talk about
how well things sell and raise the price for other people noting how well
things sold (e.g. 10,000 copies sold). Have a counter saying how many
people have read the letter or are reading it right now.
 Stories: This is a great way to get your material read. People become pre-
disposed to read everything in this format. You want to create the whole
launch as a story and keep people interested. Cutting through that fog of
media information and getting your message across is to make a story and
event based launch. Your entire launch is a story (it starts with a
headline/title) and as you move forward the tension in the launch keeps
building and you get people excited more and more. If you don’t have a
story of your own, try to find someone else’s to use and tell their story.
Your story should focus on hooking your list and getting them trained to
act. You should use negative examples rather than positive ones. Training
people by showing them errors that others (or you) have made and the
negative consequences that resulted works more effectively than showing
them good decisions they should make. Focus teachings on the
consequences of mistakes rather than the positives of making good choices
(e.g. a story about what happens when you take candy from a stranger). If
 you can tell stories of people in their situation (preferably you) who took a
similar action to what you want them to it is very powerful. E.g. when I
was starting in business I bought this course and read it 10 times and it
helped me triple my business over 3 years. Note: “I’m a lot like you”
won’t ALWAYS work so maybe it’s you understanding their needs a
client (having dealt with their type many times). You can be self
deprecating. Talk about how much work/research you did and you don’t
want them to have to go through that but you are going to get them the
same result you know how to get now. Let them know you’re a bit nuts in
terms of your research but the product is going to skip all the for them.
 Commitment and consistency: People like to follow through with
commitments. Get them to make a small commitment then in the future
they will try to act like it up later in the future. If you can get testimonials
on how great you are early in the launch, then later on they will want to
want to act consistently and buy (esp. if they see their testimonial in their
sales letter). When people are asked about engaging in socially acceptable
behavior in the future people feel compelled to say yes (e.g. 100% of
people asked to make a voting predication said they would vote). People
then will feel a sense of consistency with their public commitment and
want to comply. You should ask people if they are willing to do
something, and then ask them to explain why. Ask people if they would be
willing to support your initiative/product launch and then ask why they
feel they would. What is the active ingredient in lasting commitments?
Getting people to commit by writing their commitment down increases
compliance. This is because people judge themselves on their actions not
inactions. So get people to support what you are launching AND WRITE
DOWN AND SUBMIT why they support it. How can you fight
consistency with consistency? A person’s commitment to consistency
increases as they get older. This seems to be because inconsistency
provides emotional upset which elderly people are more motivated to
avoid. This means that when dealing with older audiences, you want to
assure them of how this purchase is consistent with their pre-existing
beliefs, values, and practices. For optimal effectiveness, you want to free
people from their previous commitments but also avoid framing their
previous decisions as a mistake. Praise them for making the decision “at
the time they made it, given the information available”. This saves face
and frees them from consistency. People are more likely to change their
beliefs based on their behavior. If someone does a favor for you, they want
to think they like you. Try to get the list to DO YOU A FAVOR (by
sharing a story, giving feedback, helping you complete something/do
something etc) then make a big deal out of it and thank them. How can
you get a head start in the quest for loyalty? When you offer a loyalty
program (like buy 8 and the next one is free) people will be more loyal if
you give them a head start, even if the number of purchases is the same.
People given a buy 8 get 1 free car wash card filled the card 19% of the
time. People given a buy 10 get 1 free card that had 2 washes pre-stamped
 out filled the card 34% of the time; they also filled out the card 3 days
faster! Getting people in on a program that has already started (rather than
one that is just starting) is more effective because people feel a need to
complete it. Research has shown that the closer people are to a goal, the
more motivated they are to finish. In the car wash experiment, the days till
completion decreased by a half day with each increased “free purchase”
stamp. When asking for someone to help you, point out the steps they
have already taken towards the completion of that task. Instead of just
offering people membership for an account, try creating one automatically
based on their login information. Then, when you sell your product, and
upsell can be an upgrade to the membership they already have.
 Take away sale: You need me more than I need you. You don’t beg for
the sale. Especially effective when based on reality (can only take 5
people for a coaching session, so if you can’t afford it right now that’s fine
just wait till later when we might have more time, if you are interested fill
out this form etc). If there isn’t a reason why behind the take away sale it
can sound hollow. The there is of you and the less you want the deal,
that’s when people start begging. The fear of loss is a strong motivation.
For marketing purposes, express the potential loss “Don’t miss this chance
to save 20%” rather than “Take this opportunity to save 20%”. Frame
gains/savings as potential losses. Rather than presenting how your product
can save them $100k, show how they will lose $100k by not buying your
product.
 Authority: People tend to follow authority. If leading people in the niche
talk about you, if you get awards/press coverage, if you have certain
achievements, that all gives authority. Other people can infer authority.
Showing you have a great grasp of your subject shows authority. Clearly
explaining complex stuff or debunking myths clearly are great ways to do
it. Have someone else introduce your credentials if possible, otherwise
have people notice them in videos by hanging credentials on the wall (or if
you must, tell people about it yourself). People want to be led by the hand,
if you can build the trust as the authority, then they will want you to led
them and jump when you say jump. Make all your content come from a
position of authority.
 Controversy: Another way to cut through that media information fog.
Use controversies it will make people sit up and notice you. This is how
you get your stuff read. Unless people are paying attention to your
material you are not going to sell anything
 Being interesting: Being interested in your list and your customers, if you
encourage you to tell you what they are thinking, if you are always asking
about their needs and what they want they will be interested. How many
times are people waiting for you to stop speaking so they can start? You
can see it in their eyes and body language that they aren’t listening, they
want to express their stuff. So one of the ways to be interesting is to be
encouraging them to talk to you *Strategy of preeminence*
 Creating interaction and conversation: Encourage people to interact
with you. This is what web 2.0 is all about. It is about everyone having a
voice, and there is nothing that pulls people in more than being involved in
a conversation. This is great for pulling people into your launch.
Conversation is crucial for getting feedback, it is also great at getting
people pulled into the launch. You relationship to your list, prospects, and
niche, is critical, and you want to build strong relationships. There are a lot
of ways to build relationships. One way is self revelation, you tell them
about yourself (e.g. your water main broke and had to get it repaired, your
dog is sick), and if you tell them some of the mundane/interesting things in
your emails and web copy, people get more attached to you (and will be
more likely to keep opening emails and following directions). One of the
key ways to build relationships is to build interaction, get them to respond
to a stimulus. A health check for a list is how many respond (positive or
negative). If you can get them thinking about themselves when they read
your email, you are ahead of the game. Ask them “how are they, what do
think about this, hit reply now” People love to talk about themselves. Ask
for interaction. Ask them questions. How many question marks are there
in your publications? Use the P.S. to ask questions. Tell them about
interactions with readers…in other words, give them a model. Another
way to create interaction is to have a personality in your communications.
You need to have some warmth, and be human. Avoid corporate speak at
all costs. Show real human emotions and let your personality shine
through. You can use an alter ego if you want, but real tends to be more
genuine. So building relationships is about that self revelation, having a
personality, and creating interactions. But really it’s about how do you
build any relationship? Look at your list that way. Think about warming
your list before launches, like you would any other relationship (e.g. you
want a raise you buy them chocolates and work harder for a few weeks).
So you can give your list gifts, do them favors etc. It looks bad if you
don’t talk to someone for 20 years then call up and ask for money, it’s the
same with the list. So be sure to warm the list ahead of time. Sometimes
the goal is not to persuade, but to allow ourselves to be persuaded by
others if we’re leaning in the wrong direction. But how do you effectively
seek out dissenting opinions? Can you just ask someone to play the devils
advocate? Consider asking people to share what they don’t like and
actively take the feedback. Dissenter’s opinions counterbalance the group
think and group polarity effect that makes majority opinion strengthened
just by the nature of discussing it more. However, people value the
opinion of a devils advocate less because they know that person is playing
a role, and is not a true dissenter. In fact, the work of a devils advocate can
strengthen the opinion rather than expose its flaws because it makes
people feel they considered other options and are confident about the one
they are choosing. Your best bet is to foster a launch environment that
encourages open disagreement with the majority viewpoint. By
encouraging prospects to passionately persuade us that we may be missing
 something in our product, we place ourselves in a position to gain a
greater understanding from a genuine argument rather than a simulated
one, allowing us to make optimal decisions and create maximally effective
message. Check that ego!
 Reciprocity: Give something and people want to give back. Give great
content and you get authority and reciprocity. There are 3 factors that
make a gift/favor more persuasive and as a result more likely to be
reciprocated. The first is significance, and that does not mean an increase
in cost, but the way it is delivered (i.e. making the act of giving the gift
special). The other 2 factors are unexpectedness and personalization. Of
course if you did the EXACT SAME GIFT with each launch the it would
lose its uniqueness and people would stop appreciating it. To ensure your
favor is appreciated you should figure out what gift would suit the
recipient for significance, unexpectedness, and personalization. Giving no
strings attached gifts will increase the urge for reciprocity (i.e. some
content with absolutely no pitching and pure advice). The value of a favor
changes depending on whether you are giving or receiving the favor. As
soon as a favor is given, the receiver values it more than the giver.
However, as time goes on, the value decreases for the receiver and
increases for the giver. This change in value seems to reflect how we
think. People tend to think of themselves in a positive light, so the favor
giver will start to blow up the value of the favor, while the favor receiver
will down play the value of the favor thinking they didn’t need that much
help. One way to preserve the value of the favor is by telling the recipient
that you were happy to help because “if the reverse were true, I know you
would do the same for me”. You can also try reminding them of the favor
before asking them for yours, but you need to do it diplomatically (like
“Did you find that report I made for you helpful?”).
 Surprise/Unexpectedness/Novelty: Cuts through the marketing fog, and
gets you noticed. We feel strongly positive about subtle things we
attribute to ourselves like our names. One town gave another town,
thousands of miles away, supplies for a flood because the towns shared the
same name (there were many of other towns they could have helped).
Evidence has shown that people are more willing to comply with a
strangers request if they share the same birthday. One study asked people
to fill out a survey and return it to a person with a similar name as them
(or not in the control). So if the participant was named Joan Bills, she
would be asked to return it someone called Joan Billy. Nearly double the
amount complied vs. the control. No one, questioned after, attributed the
name similarity with their compliance. This is the power and subtly of
similarities. Consider branding your product by personally autographing
their version with their name or personalizing some aspect of the purchase.
This also means when designing something for a client, name it (or
aspects of it) after them if you can. If you want to get a child to read, start
them on a book similar to their name, corollary: if you want people to
watch your video, consider incorporating a script that recognizes their
 name and puts “Hey [Name] watch this video”. Information that is
viewed as exclusive is viewed as both more valuable and more persuasive.
Be sure to point out the exclusivity of your information (not just the
uniqueness of it). People perceive things that rhyme as more accurate than
things that don’t! This seems to be because of fluency, rhymes are more
easily processed by the brain. Ambiguous names (like millennium
orange) force the prospect to think, in the absence of any information,
what the company was trying to say. This leads people to think about the
positive aspects the company was trying to portray in the name. This
means you should shy away from less-than-straight-forward names (but
keep them easy to pronounce).
 Reason why: If you tell people the reason why you do something (launch,
sale, promotion, price point, reason why it’s limited, why there is only so
many bonuses, and why the bonuses are there) it will improve response.
Put this everywhere in your marketing campaign. Which single word will
strengthen your persuasion techniques? The word is because. Because is
powerful because it gives people a reason, and people like having reasons
for doing things. “Because” by itself (giving no reason), works when the
stakes are low (like butting in line that will only waste a minute or two for
the person letting you in).When the stakes are high (cutting in line will
waste 10 minutes for the person giving up their spot) “because” only
worked when there was a solid reason for doing so (just saying “because I
need to” was not good enough, but saying “because I’m in a hurry” did
help). This means when the stakes are low, people are likely to take
mental short cuts. When the stakes are high, people take into consideration
the requesters reasoning. Be sure to accompany your propositions with
strong reasons why, even if it seems obvious. You should not only say
because to others, but get others to say because to you! Say you have a
client list who have been with you for years and the reasons they choose
stay with you are becoming weaker and weaker over time. Getting them to
fill out a survey answering why they chose your company and why they
like your work. Getting your list to say why they like your stuff is great
for consistency but when might asking for all the reasons be a mistake?
Asking people to give too many reasons why they like something causes
them to value the competitor’s product. For example, asking people to
name 10 reasons why people like BMW’s over Mercedes causes people to
like Mercedes more. But, asking people to give 1 reason why they liked
BMW’s over Mercedes caused people to prefer the Mercedes. People
evaluate their preference based on the ease or difficulty (“fluency”) of
generating reasons, not the number of reasons given. You can use this to
your advantage. If there are easy reasons people can give about why they
prefer your product, ask them to name just a few. If there are only a few
reasons people can give about your product, ask them to give a bunch of
reasons why they would prefer your competitors product. Studies show
that the ease or difficulty of imaging the product also affects preferences.
 Likeable: Giving stuff and revelation of self makes you likable. Writing
or communicating in a way that hits them. You never want to be corporate
in your writing. People are actually more likely to buy from a moderately
priced store when that store also reveals the competitors prices even if
they are lower! Arguing against self worth creates the perception that you
and your organization are trustworthy. This puts you in a more persuasive
position when you are promoting your genuine strengths. Be warned, these
weaknesses need to be genuine and little! Boasting serious flaws like “we
are last and suck the most” is not good. This can tie in with your reluctant
hero story “Part of the reason I didn’t want to do this was because it
wasn’t perfect, but gosh even though it’s XYZ, I still really think it can
help with ABC”. Which little faults should we choose to confess? For
maximal persuasion effect, there needs to be a clear connection between
the negative and the positive. For example, a restaurant that advertises its
small size, but cozy atmosphere links the negative (small) to the positive
(cozy). If you have a higher priced product that is also more cost
effective, tell people of the price increase first and then how they will
benefit in the long run over cost wise over other products they could
choose. Finish on a positive note that overcomes the negative. When an
error is the result of an internal factor admit it. Companies that admit
internal errors are perceived as more in control of their resources and
future. Waiters get higher tips when they repeat orders back exactly as
given (70% tip increase vs. saying okay, or nothing). People like people
who have more attributes in common to them. Customer service people
can increase rapport by repeating orders back to the customer as they
stated it. Consider literally telling people what they have said and how
you are naming chapters in the product/video after them using their
nomenclature. Validating what people say/feel about their
problem/objection makes them like you. Repeat and credit back what they
say and let them know you are with them. Being humble makes you
likeable.
 Credibility: Being credible and being believable. One way to do this, is
the damaging omission. You want to have flaws and show them (hopefully
minor) and that makes it real. People feel more knowledgeable on a
subject after reading an article when they read a little bit of related
information before reading the article. They felt less knowledgeable when
they read a lot of information before reading the article. The prior
message/information doesn’t even need to be similar to the message at
hand for this effect to work however. This means if you know the best
product for your client, you should be brief with the alternatives they
could take, and lengthy with the option that will best suit them.
 Celebrity/Being interesting: Gives you authority and makes it more
interesting.
 Character: There are lots of different characters, but you want to create
your on voice, and the best way is to base it on yourself in reality. There
are ways to characterize yourself to emphasize some parts and down play
 others if you want to spin the character angle. Some angles are the
reluctant hero and the loss and redemption.
 Community: Not always easy to develop, but if you can develop a sense
of it among clients and prospects it’s powerful. It’s harder to say no to a
community than a person. It’s a lot easier to cancel a subscription about
just a service, but not so when there is a community aspect. People like to
act in accordance with how people in that community act (which could be
buying your product). So if you define them as part of the community,
they will want to act like it too. When you tell people they have a quality,
they will tend to believe it. Tell people they are part of the community and
they will internalize it! People love to be insiders and love to see
references and they know about it then they feel like an insider (so use
acronyms and niche speak when you can). And when they observe you
bringing in others who aren’t insiders and that feels cool (i.e. they see
content going to newbie’s that they already know well e.g. like a recap).
 Concreteness/Specify: When people get a result, or a deadline, you give
the exact number (e.g. 33 copies left), if it ends 6pm EST you give that
specific time. It makes it more believable. People like to hear exact
numbers. If people hear round numbers or speak in generalities, people
assume you can be exaggerating. Add comma’s to numbers and the cents
$1,000.00 (vs $1000)
 Anticipation: Goes hand in hand with the event based marketing. If tell
people about things (tease them effectively) before they can get it, then
you really build up a buzz. People remember incomplete things more.
Something is coming, you are teasing them and getting them amped up.
Show people your salesletter after they have their morning fix, but not
after lunch. Coffee has almost no effect for weak persuasive arguments
however. The caffeine effect takes 40 minutes to kick in, so you may want
to summarize your best points at the halfway mark of a 90 minute
presentation. If you have a morning launch, tell people to get coffee. If
not, tell people to get coffee anyways as you want them alert and ready!
 Common enemy: Having a common enemy is one of the greatest ways to
pull people together. This really helps in creating a community. If you can
have a common enemy (like the IRS, the tax man etc) and you talk about
that in your material and how you hate the common enemy.
 Simplicity: You want to boil your idea down to a simple easy to
understand sentence. This has ties to your offer, positioning, and launch
story the better. You should use memory aids to que people’s memory. If
you have been purporting a certain aspect of your product, put a memory
aid in the salesletter near the buy button.
 Emotions: If you can get someone’s emotions involved (not always easy),
then it gets a lot easier to influence them. If someone gets excited about
what you are doing, it is a lot easier to influence them. People pay less
attention to specific numbers when sad, and focus on the simple presence
or absence of an event. This means when people are sad they are more
susceptible to deals they otherwise shouldn’t be. Being excited screws you
 up too, and you will make poor decisions. Using people’s emotions
against them as a weapon may work, but it will hurt the relationship. If
you are providing value, a heart felt emotional story or human interest
piece, or heart throbbing testimonial will work wonders for getting people
emotional. Music is also a great way to manipulate people’s emotions.
Consider tagging testimonials with a strong cinematic underscore.
 Anchoring (advanced): Make people associate a high value to your
product then sell lower so it seems like a good deal. Add comma’s to
numbers to make it sound bigger ($1,000.00 vs $1000.00)
 Transferring (advanced): Transfer your excitement, enthusiasm, and
LABELS to them. Remember when Luke says to Vader “I know there is
still good in you, I can see it”? This seems to have planted the persuasion
seeds because of something known as the labeling technique. The labeling
technique involves assigning a trait, attitude, belief, or other label when
making a request of the person consistent with that label. 2 groups of
voters were tested. 1 was told they had average voting habits, while the
other was told they had above average voting habits. The latter group had
a 15% increase in poll turn out the next week during the election. Tell
people on your list the qualities you want them to have. Tell them they are
smart buyers, they are part of a community, and they should buy your
product. When you set the expectations for people (i.e. tell them to be
scared, worried, excited etc) they will.

Tactical Insights
A lot of people look at tactics as ways to just use one (or a few) on their business and
make a lot of money. There are some tactics that will allow you to do this. But the thing
that really builds your business over the long term is the strategies and how the tactics fit
into those strategies. So you want to apply strategies to your business and augment them
with the tactics.

If you feel intimidated by the market remember your competitors have same problems
you do!

Any one tactic can work well, but the point is to synchronize everything and get the
maximum impact. The sum is more than the whole of its parts. Become and authority,
build trust, and they will want you leading them by the hand. Tell them to fill out order
form guide and they will. Be sure to follow up with post purchase reassurance, which
increases stick factor and sets them up for the next launch.

Get people to PRE-REGISTER for a gift (at some point during the launch) so the
salesletter is already cookied with their payment information.

Consider adding a referral system. Is there some way to get everyone to ‘sponsor’ a
friend, or ‘invite them’ to join your teleseminar? Strongly consider a referral program.
For the order page, you will want to have 3 options vs. 1. People like to buy things with 3
choices (or 2) and they like having one with a higher price, a mid price, and low price so
they can feel good about the middle price.

If you do this right, you take the sales letter out of the equation (even though it needs to
be great none the less).

Some people might get irritated but who cares, most enjoy it. Turn it into a soap
opera/drama event that unfolds piece by piece in front of their eyes and most will love it.

Take the TIME to build relationships. It does take time, but let people get chances to
interact with you and feel part of the process.

Tools
Note: This list is always evolving
 Email: Short emails to direct them to another page, or an email that is
longer and has all the content. You can use both. Use emails to build
people up to the launch, then in launch phase you can use shorter emails to
get them following links (and then even later in the launch you can go
back to longer emails again). Some people like to read email better in
emails, others prefer web pages, some like video, some like audio, so let
them consume the information the way they want.
 Blogs: People get this warm and fuzzy feeling they are not going to get
sold on blogs. Putting your sales message in a blog, their sales defenses go
down. When people get to sales pages their defenses go up and they stop
believing you. A really great thing here is that comments can be made and
those can act as social proof. These facilitate interaction and social proof.
Let people subscribe your RSS feed.
 Sub-list: You have a main list for your business, but once you get into a
launch (or a follow up launch) you want to get the sub list opt in for the
launch. And even if they unsubscribe from the sub list they will still be on
your main list.
 Surveys: On price is hard and out dated (go top end of competitors, and
compete on value not price). Product, testimonials, and gathering
testimonials. People tell you what they want and their objections. For lists
around a 1000 or less, asking them to reply to an email is better (a higher
response rate than going to a survey). Give people clean links that redirect
to the survey. With a redirect you can change where that goes at any point
(say 30 people respond and you don’t like the questions, or want to change
the survey, then you can change the redirect). You can use what people
say in the copy for your salesletter.
 PDF/Special report: People generally place a higher value on a pdf
report. If you take an email and change it into a pdf people will place more
value on it (esp. if you spice it up with formatting). It also looks different
than a letter or a sales page.
 Mr X interview: You bring someone in to interview you about your
product, launch, or event. You can also do regular interviews with
someone talking about your product (like a sneak preview with an early
bird client).
 Community: Forum or email based community. Great for finding
evangelists to talk about your product, getting feedback, and testimonials.
Not easy to do, but effective. If you are doing a membership site after your
launch consider an auto registration with an auto generated account based
on their information (and then let them upgrade it, as people love
continuing things they already have and they like upgrading things).
 Web based sales letter: The whole goal is to make the sales letter
irrelevant. You want people to just scroll down and input payment details.
But you absolutely must have one!
 Spy photo/video: A teaser. A preview of what is coming. Releasing
photos or leaking ‘unofficial’ photo’s videos. You can do this to get
people excited.
 Podcasts/web audio: Set someone up on an RSS feed and give them the
chance to consume your media on their terms on their time.
 Camtasia/video: Capture screen and audio. Use with tutorials, holding
people by the hand, mind maps, power points. When the video ends you
can have the site forward them to another site. You always want to have
reasons to touch people, to keep the sequence going. The launch is a
sequence, and hit them day after day, and hit them with different media.
 Live seminars: You can launch a product from within a seminar.
 Teleseminars: You can drive people to a teleseminar and on that call is
when you release that product. Give them a special pre-launch deal for
ONLY the people on that call. Even empty teleseminar seats can be
profitable, if you have a paid teleseminar, you can ‘give them’ to a partner
(or charge them a super cheap fee) and get them to offer it to their list OR
let your partner give it to his list as a bonus (endearing you to him,
endearing him to his list, and getting your seats filled).
 Webinars: People can follow along on screen.
 Message boards: Can be tricky. If you have forums that are active in your
niche, then you can get on there (and stick within the culture of those
boards) you can promote some of your things and even collect
testimonials. But be careful, you can get flamed, as people are not there to
get sales messages. Build your presence long before you do any product
launch. This can help create a buzz.
 Social media: Facebook/youtube/myspace/twitter/linkedIn
 Direct mail: Send people a postcard and get them to join your list. Can be
very effective. Consider working with a list broker or someone with a
direct mail list.
 Forums: Big-boards.com and do a Google search for niche keywords.
Create a presence in forums and get your account aging (and lay low for a
while).
  Fulfillment house: Disk.com. They will create DVDs, CDs, packaging,
and actually ship it out too. They have good rates. Contact: Cindy Tonne
at cindy@disk.com
 Wordpress.org: Free engine for blogs. Can use wordpress.com or set it
up on your site.
 Google docs: Docs.google.com. Perfect for tracking JV partners and
affiliates and any other ongoing documents.
 Affiliate tracking: Synergyx.com or 1shoppingcart.com
 Getting paid: PowPay.biz (contact Jud Smith) and Paypal. You need a
merchant account, a gateway, and the website checkout. Authorize.net is
what Jeff uses for the gateway.
 List host: Profollow.com (Jeff’s private Aweber)
 Web hosting: You need dedicated servers that can handle the load.

Relationships between tools and triggers (the whole is more than the sum of its parts):
Blogs are great for making things event based, social proof, a natural place to tell stories,
since you gather testimonials it builds commitment and consistency, it builds community,
and will certainly build anticipation, they create interaction, and they give you a place to
tell the reason why, they give you authority because people can see everyone interacting
with you and you running the show, you can use it to make use of controversy be
interesting, and of course be specific.

Teleseminars are great for creating anticipation, event based, makes you look like an
authority, create scarcity as there is a specific date when it happens, social proof if people
can hear other callers on the line giving testimonials which happens if you set them up
right, telling stories, interaction when taking questions.

Spy photos are obviously perfect for anticipation and being specific. They are also a
naturally event based tool. Celebrity and surprise/unexpectedness aspects.

Surveys are great for pre-launch, reciprocity, and interaction because you are giving them
your attention and asking for their feedback.

Social media is an obvious community tool, and great for interaction and conversation. It
is also great for being interesting, showing your character, developing him, sharing your
story, credibility, social proof

Web video is great content and leads to reciprocity (as can audio).

Podcasts are great for anticipation.

Email are great for event based and scarcity.

A PDF report is automatic authority, great for controversy, creating an event based
launch, and anticipation
The sub-list is great for event based launches

Live seminars are great event based launches. Webinars/teleseminars are great for
reciprocity and pre-launch content. They also give you positioning and make you more
likable if you can get on there and just be personal.

Message boards are obviously community.

You are rarely hitting only one trigger per tool. You will be hitting multiple triggers with
each tool. Almost every trigger and work with most tools. There are lots of building
blocks you can take and drop in, but it’s not a one shot deal. You want to take multiple
triggers and tools and tying them together.

Note: Going into the launch you can use these as a checklist, but you don’t have to hit
ALL of them. Just a couple will work wonders (as long as social proof, scarcity, and
anticipation are in there).

Launch Sequences
Sequences
Sequences can be tied to lots of things, not just launching or re-launching your product.
You can take these sequences and apply them to finding JV partners. All sorts of things
(95% of your results will come from 5% of your affiliates, so find them and take care of
them).

Pre-Launch Basics
Anticipation: You want to build up anxiety and tension that something it coming.
Pre-Launch content: You want to have very good and interesting content. The
competition of the marketplace can ‘set the bar’ for what is good content. Remember,
what is simple to you can be mind blowing for your marketplace if you educate them
well.
Conversation: People are much more interested in a conversation than a monologue. You
are sort of ‘faking it’ to look like one. It is also about finding out their wants and
objections.
Multiple Modalities: Hit people with email, pdfs, videos, audios, blog posts etc. The more
mediums you hit them with the better.
Hitting the Triggers: There are lots, you don’t need to hit all of them. Learn to when and
how to use the triggers. There are some general rules of thumb to follow on this.
Setting Up the Offer: Starting to tell the story, relating to them, talking about their need
or want that they have, a problem they have, and as you get closer you start to talk about
the resolution of that offer. You only reveal the major solution/release close to the launch
phase (e.g. a 3 week launch would have it’s product revealed 5 days before).
Sideways Sales Letter: Take them through the launch sequence and cover objections and
raise tension through the process.
Pre-launch sequence: The real magic happens in the pre-launch
1. Initial product survey: What product they would like to buy? Do an initial survey
with part of the list. Look at the results and gather more intelligence from
amazon.com, message boards. Then you make a potential list of products (8-10)
and ask what they would by in 30-60 days. Do it in Do several iterations with
segments of the list. As you get closer to the product definition you can send it out
to the whole list asking for more specific types of choices (what it would look
like, what will be included, and how it will be made). This is the start of the
sequence.
2. First hint: Slip this in an email (that isn’t about the hint). Just drop in a sentence or
to about something is coming up. It has now gone from rumor stage to
something’s coming. Let people know something’s coming, but you are still
figuring out what to name it, or how to package it etc.
3. Late survey: You are going to put out a product and you just want to make sure
you covered everything to ask for their top concerns/objections and gather
testimonials. Selling is a lot easier with testimonials and when you eliminate
objections (kill two birds with one stone, a testimonial that kills an objection).
Survey again. Gather objections for the product and gather testimonials.
4. Teasing anticipation: Start teasing people and building anticipation. This could be
the spy photo, emails, the blog etc. One thing you are really trying to do is
introduce your product and defeat objections. You want to do this before they get
to the sales later. This is even truer if you have a complicated offer/product. Start
telling them about the benefits and building anticipation, you also build a sub-list.
5. Sub-list: Ask people to join the “priority notification list”. A list where people
have raised their hand to know more about the product. This list can be hit harder
than the main list. Try to get mentioned from other publishers. It’s one thing to
read stuff on your list, but if someone else mentions it, it’s huge.

The Launch Sequence: You want to hit people over and over once you hit the launch
phase. The way to do that without being annoying is to use different methods (e.g. video
one day, audio the next, email the next etc). You don’t want this to go longer than a
week, or 2 weeks tops as it’s hard to keep momentum and you don’t want to lose
momentum.
1. Buzz: You want to create the big buzz. You want people in your niche talking
about your product (varies niche to niche). A rule of 3: if people hear about your
from 3 different places, it’s like you breakthrough into their mind (like a movie,
you hear it on the radio, then TV, then a friend mentions it, now you are interested
in it).
2. Final countdown: 24 hour count down (timer on the site too), a few minutes
before as well, and then right after the launch you want your tsunami moment
(you want people to know so many orders are pouring).
3. Launch announcement: In the hours and days following the announcement you
want to be hitting them in multiple consumption channels.
 4. Multiple consumption channels: audio, video, email (long [after the launch to
engage and lead them to the sales letter] and short [the launch email is short to
send them to the page]), blogs (great since they don’t have the sales effect and
built in social proof), web page, offline (fax and direct mail).
5. Tsunami: The idea that once you get into a launch, give the impression that it is
just about out of control. You are struggling to stay ahead; the phone is ringing off
the hook. This is social proof that so many people are ordering. There is always
something that comes up that you can spin into a tsunami during the launch (and
yet another good reason to contact your niche). The launch is this big event
carrying you all along but you are in this together (“work with me and put in your
credit card number”)
6. Deadlines: Multiple deadlines, time based, quantity based, and always reserve the
right to tighten the deadline (which gives you full control over the process, which
puts people more on edge, esp. if there are multiple deadlines and you pull one
early and is good for follow up launches). This plays on scarcity and is very
powerful.
7. Last chance: 24 hours left. That’s when the orders come in, so be sure to send
that. Also send one out with a few hours to go (with a different theme than
before).

Post Launch Sequence:

1. Stick(getting the product to stay in their hands): Make sure the product lives up to
the promise. However you will always get SOME returns and quality is not the
ultimate answer, but it cuts it down. You need to have a consumption
autoresponder to follow up so that you teach people to consume the product (e.g.
open video 1 and watch 3:32 in to learn how to cut 2 strokes off your game).
Gather testimonials right after they complete the sales letter, ask for a testimonial.
After they get the product ask for a testimonial (even call them up). This plays on
the consistency and commitment, and getting that testimonial at ‘honey moon
phase’ they will not want to return it. You will want to have ongoing follow-up
and support, which can create community (and again makes it harder for people to
leave), support calls, teleseminars. Extra bonuses are great for timed (30 days
later you get this bonus, 60 days later you get this etc,) and the longer they hold
on the more they get (and less like to return), and even have some come out after
the return period (but make it subtle, and build up a series before and after). Also
a surprise bonus is great. You can do personal thank you calls for high price
items. You can do a personal thank you note, really effective if sent separately
from the product. Email them after and re-sell the value, post-purchase
dissonance is normal, and a simple email/video can reassure them of the original
value they bought into. By doing this, you also make them receptive to the next
offer/launch. It also lets them know “we are all in this together”. This is also a
chance to upsell or enhance what they have with a compatible offer. Cialdini
studied electricity usage for a bunch of houses and then hung a sign on their door
each week showing usage. Those above the average usage started to decrease
their usage by about 5%. However, those below the average increased their usage
by 9%! This is the magnetic middle effect: people trying to conform to the
 average. People tend to change their behavior to be more like the norm, whether
that change is desirable or undesirably socially. To test how to deter negative
results, Cialdini added  to usage signs for those using less than the
neighborhood average, and  to usage signs for those using more than the
neighborhood average. While the  had no effect on those using above the
average (they still dropped consumption by 5%), the  had a strong positive
effect on those below the average and they continued to use same the low amount.
To prevent the backfire of your message, show approval/appreciation of the
socially approved behavior. Or, in launch terms, to keep people using the product,
give them mini exercises via communication and show your list people
completing these exercises and enjoying it. If your product is high enough priced,
make a personal effort to contact them, as personalization makes people more
compliant. At the very least have something personalized that is a ‘bonus
surprise’, maybe even just a personalized greeting card that you signed and
mailed, could do the trick. Make people feel you made a personal effort with them
and the product they bought from you and they will be more likely to keep it.
Consider a ‘using stuff contest’ – give prizes to people who make best use of your
product by a certain date and then show people how other people are making use
of the products with the stories you get.
2. Forced continuity bonus: If your product is about teaching people to do stuff, then
after people buy something you put them into a program where they can get on
going coaching (maybe a few months free with the purchase as a bonus). A lot of
people will take the free upsell and this creates the leveraged follow up continuity
sales.
3. Move into ‘normal’ promotion mode: Plan this out ahead of time. How are you
going to sell? What is your price going to be? You will need an edited sales letter.
4. Start to set up next launch: Use feedback to help you decide what your next
opportunities are.
5. Re-launch: Start to set up the re-launch of the product you just did (3 months, 6
months, 1 year etc)

Re-launch: Don’t have to work as hard, can do some of the same things, and you have
proof elements ready. You can do something nice for your list, and do a launch but really
just end up giving them something free (and then a little later followed by another launch
for a product you sell).

JV Sequence: Starts before pre-pre-launch or pre-launch

Continual launch: Does not work for everyone, but try to plan for launch after launch
after launch and you get continual momentum.

Criteria for Using the Product Launch Formula

1. What is the hook? What is the story and what is the reason why? You always
want to be telling people why you are doing something. What is the hook that lets
you turn this into an event? Why did you put together this offer with this price?
You may find the hook before the product. What triggers are you going to hit?
 2. What is the product? What is included? What price? What bonuses? How does
this all tie into the hook and story? What triggers are you going to hit?
3. What lists? Your list? JV partner lists?
4. Your relationships: What will it do to your relationship with your list? What will
it do to your relationship to your JV partners?
5. Your reputation? In your market, with potential partners, with competitors, and
with the press
6. What do you want? Money? Who do you want to influence? Is it worth your
time?
7. Timing? Don’t burn out your list. What else do you have on the promotion
calendar? Your personal calendar (time your launches vs. JV deals that might
come), or times you want to take vacations. You are in this business for freedom,
so don’t tie up your time.

These criteria are of course related. The timing relates to the hook (what is the timing and
why now?). The absolute key is the hook. The hook is very much tied into your product
and is it going to be ok with your list and preserving that relationship.

Product launch math

Note the long term money you will make from the relationship with the list and future
commissions will make the launch money pale in comparison. That being said, launches
can be quite lucrative.

Internal launch: Merchant fees, hosting fees, delivery fees. 96% profit if it’s a digital
product.

JV launch: Higher numbers but lower margins. Merchant fees, hosting fees (high with
dedicated servers, Amazon S3 has good serving rates so you don’t have to host directly
off your website), delivery fees. Staff. Commissions and JV contest. Tech fees. 35-40%

Affiliate launch: Costs for bonus creation and delivery. Roughly 50% (depending on
what commission you get).

eCommerce launch: Costs for bonus creation and delivery. What is your product cost
(#1 factor, what is your margin)? Profit depends on margin.

Opportunity Cost Analysis & Market Analysis: Opportunity cost is the ROI/time loss
based on time you spent on project A vs. had you spent that time on project B, C, D etc.
Choose projects based on the ROI you feel is most appropriate…time is limited. Launch
Goals? Money?

Product Launch Planning

*See Planning Questions document*
Pre Pre-Launch Plan
Map out your pre-launch and get your survey and shot across the bow ready. The pre-
launch is the key to doing successful launches. It is about teasing people and setting up
anticipation.

Pre-Launch Plan
Pre Launch Survey (Survey announcement and survey)
Take low hanging fruit. Ask what people want and sell them that. Get your finger on the
pulse of what your readers want. You want to define the product clearly and build that
relationship as you do it.

When people are telling you their top 2 questions and concerns that is clearly the hot spot
to focus the item. Whenever you get questions from subscribers, keep them organize in a
“questions” folder and go over them. You can also consider offering free copies or
bonuses if people reply and give you feedback.

Once you get the list narrowed down to the top products people want. Break it down and
send another questionnaire to another subset of the list. Jeff does not offer rewards for
people taking the survey and he gets a good response, but you can if you want to.

Advanced Survey Set Up

Not only do you want to find what your list wants, but you also want to get insights into
the demographic of your buyers (such as their information interpretation preferences and
what level of awareness the market is at). You also want to reverse engineer what they
are saying to what they mean, and you can infer this by the types of answers you get if
you structure your questions properly.

According to Elias Porter, we have 4 reasons for doing things and there are 4 major types
of people.

The 4 reasons we have for doing things:

1) Feel better about ourselves
2) We have different ways of responding when things go well vs. when things go
bad
3) Greatest strength = greatest weakness
4) Filters (the way we process information differs based on what filters we have)
Look at your survey results, and compare them to these 4 reasons. Ask yourself: “How
can I help my clients do 1-4 based on this answer?

The 4 types of people are:

Reds:
Reds tend to be competitive, quick to act, tends to lead things, tend to be forceful, risk
taking, extremely self confident. Screw other peoples feelings. Reds can be followers, but
the leader cannot have a kink in their armor.

Lots of projects  chaos. They are great at starting, and not too great at following
through. They are all about the new idea.

Don’t give reds too many details if you are trying to sell them. They hate weaklings and
hate going slow.

Blues:
Are about people and feelings. They are about supporting others. They hate it if they hurt
other people’s feelings. Loyal, trusting, and nurturing. Blues hate it when there is a lot of
anger in the room.

Blues want to be red and they are drawn to that energy. They are good red supporters but
reds drive them nuts. They hate anything that upsets people in the group.

Greens:
Very analytical. Love the details. Fairly serious, not frivolous. Tend to like to work alone.
Don’t like too much direction. They want to figure it out. It’s hard for them to pull the
trigger, generally are smart. “If I just had a little more data and time, I can make a better
decision”. They strive for avoiding mistakes. Let’s slow down and figure things out. Not
quick to change. Hate rushing.

Hubs (in the middle, blend of the three colours):

Tend to be exceptionally flexible. Everything kind of depends. Fairly equal amounts of
red, blue, and green. Need lots of options. Hubs will experiment with different
personality types. Ask them what to do and they will say “it depends”. Hubs hate
someone controlling the group. Hubs hate for you not to contribute to the group and do
great at running meetings. Hubs love consensus. They come to watered down solutions
(lowest common denominator, it’s not a strong side) based on trying to meet everyone’s
demands/contribution.

No one is only one colour; we are all colours all the time. Here is an ambulance analogy:
On the way to the accident they are red. Once they get there, they are green; they are
looking for data on the situation. Once they know what to do, they are blue and begin
treating and caring for the patient.

Your survey should ask questions that can discern the ‘color’ demographic of your list.
Take questions from page 3-4 from the SDI to learn what questions (or rough formats)
you can ask to learn what your list is like.

Once you understand what your list color set is, you can craft content most suited to how
they learn. If you have a mix of all colors, then convey information in all forms. If you
have almost all greens, make your content very technical. If you have almost all blues
make your content show human interest stories and how people are getting helped.

Market awareness: What is your market awareness? Oblivious, Apathetic, Thinking, or

Hurting? Use your survey to figure out the level people are in terms of understanding
their problem. Literally ask them to check 1 of those 4 if you need to. Don’t assume your
prospect is at the same level of awareness as you. Are they oblivious to their problem?
Then you need to educate them! If they KNOW the problem reassure them they are in the
right place. If your market is oblivious, then educate them that they have a problem. If
they are apathetic (they know they have a problem but don’t care enough) then your job
is to sell them on the fact that the problem needs to be solved! Bring the problem to the
front of their minds. Is your market thinking about it (know there is a product and
solution)? Focus on your products uniqueness, your solution. Is your market desperate? If
they are hurting, make your content really focus on growing that pain.

Testimonial Cruncher
Getting testimonials before you launch. You gather these Testimonials on the final page
of survey.

You don’t want testimonials to be “You are great”. You want long and detailed
testimonials that explain their situation, and how your product/service helps them.

Make it conversational tone. You never want to require people to give you testimonials.
You have a relationship with people and these are your top customers, so don’t make
them feel totally coerced. Plus they will feel the testimonials are fake if you twist their
arm for them. By burying this page deep in the survey, only the most determined people
get to even see the option as they will be the raving fans, it filters out the casual readers.
You can consider creating a special report before getting this far in the launch, and then
get testimonials based off of that. This gets people in an interactive mode, builds a bit of
trust, and now is the perfect time to ask for testimonials.

Unbelievable testimonials may hurt sales. Hence why Jeff never used testimonials from
the big names. He wanted people to think the average guy can do this.

You start tickling them at the beginning, then you start to get heavier and heavier.

When you answer objections you also need to turn it into a sale message.

Your USP
Define what your unique selling proposition (USP) is. Your USP is that distinct appealing
idea that sets your business apart from every other “me too” competitor. Some examples
of a USP are:
 Broad choice
 Low price (not usually a great thing to compete on though…better to go for value
than be the low cost provider, because some nut ball might be willing to lose
money to put you out of business)
  Quality
 Exclusivity
 Better service
 Installation/assistance perks
 Warranties
 Convenience
 Speedy service
 Quantity
 Beyond the basics

Make sure you can tie your USP into what the market need/want is and weave that into
your story as you go. Do not create a USP you cannot deliver on. Integrate your USP into
all facets of your launch.

Try to turn your USP into the value add aspect of the solution your prospect is looking
for (e.g. you are the FAST version of XYZ, or you are the FIRST ever of ABC etc) and
turn that into your loss redemption/reluctant hero story.

Your USP will not appeal to everyone, and if everyone’s your market, no one is. So go
after the biggest most critical hurt in the list and craft your USP + story around that.

People want to know you are qualified to help them. Make part of your USP an authority
aspect. People want to be led by the hand. Being an authority lets you have the trust to do
just that! One way to do this is to point out your qualifications and the time spent solving
their problem. Even better is to have someone else introduce you and explain what you
have done. Give people reasons why they should believe in you.

The Story
Why you are doing this launch, why now, and what’s the big deal behind this. If it’s your
first launch the story can be easy. For re-launches you will want an angle (like an IRS tax
sale).

All launches are stories, and you are telling the story over time. Who is your prospect?
Pretend they are sitting across from you…define him or her in great detail. (Age, sex,
income, likes, dislikes etc). What does the prospect really want? What are his or her hot
points/what causes them pain? What are the top fears and frustrations for your product
(what gets them mad or worried)? What are their top wants and desires (or what do they
THINK their top wants and desires are)? What are the results they are after? What things
does your product do or give that he or she doesn’t know about?

Reluctant hero: When someone is reluctant to do something, we want them to do it more.

We want to know more about them.

Loss and redemption: A classic story where you achieve something, you lose it, then you
get it back. A very compelling story.
The Quest (Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey): All major myths and legends have a call
to adventure, refusal of the call, acceptance of the call, many trials, supreme ordeal,
return as hero.

Creating your story: Start off with how you are a lot like them. How were you in the
same place as them? Then a common frustration. Then an aspiration or dream. How you
found the solution and the you decided to share the solution. Tie frustrations and relations
to the story. “If you’re like me, then you hate “__””

You tell a story with the timeline. As you go along the tension builds up. Then on launch
day you give them the opportunity to buy your product and relieve that tension.

You do this by creating sequences. Take your sales letter and make it the timeline. Start
with the headline.

Make your story authentic and something they can relate to. Make a promise and deliver
some free good content along the way that builds up their tension.

For a quick launch you don’t need one, but for the rest you really need to have a story
mapped out.

Consider a catch up email mid launch for people behind (a recap message that is
truncated and brings everyone up to speed).

Weave your USP into the story.

Make a large part of your story about the fears and frustrations of your market. Fear
arousing communications usually stimulate the audience to take action to reduce the
threat. This rule has on exception: when the fear producing message describes danger but
the audience is not told of clear, specific, effective means of reducing the danger, they
may deal with the fear by “blocking out” the message or denying that it applies to them.
This will result in paralysis. This means you can use fear to stimulate action, but you
must provide clear and specific action steps the prospect needs to take. This all ties
together with authority, likability, and leading them by the hand. If they like you they will
follow your story. Your story can build authority and get them fearful of their problem
which you can then lead them out of with specific actions to take.

The Offer
You can have a good idea what this will be before hand, but it’s OK to be changing and
tweaking as the launch goes even to the last day, as long as you have a general plan to fall
back on. You will want to adjust based on what you hear back from people with the
interactions.

You need to figure out what they want to get. You need to get this right for the market,
which you can do by asking them through surveys.
You also need to find the pain and stir up the pain. People are very happy when you take
away pain from them. Helping people improve their lives is a great thing, but people
really rave about your and are happy as hell to pay when they are in serious pain and you
are the instant aspirin. Selling to pain is easier than selling to improvement.

Quantify how long things take if they want to do it themselves. Make it tangible for them
to see the time/money saving thing you offer. Quantify the average hours it would take to
get the average result (and point out the flaws in that to in comparison to your
product/service)

What are you going to give them? Product, how you deliver it, bonuses, and launch
bonuses (for launch time only: price goes up, bonuses gone, product goes off the market)
Guarantee (better than risk free)
Price? How much, how are they going to pay? Payment plan?
Product Creation
Join my study group
"Quick Start" guide
Teleseminar or webinar
Document templates or plans
Additional length of time for subscriptions (as a bonus)
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Free or discounted updates
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Exclusive follow up subscriptions
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Interactive tutorials or self-assessments
Phone or e-mail consultation
Live in-Person seminar
Transcripts
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Product walkthrough guide

Value Proposition
There is the brand, the experience, and the product. Where do you stand in those areas
compared to your competitors?

If you compete on experience, you can charge more. Just make the experience worth the
price and people will pay.

When was the last time you bought the cheapest thing you could? You can get a pair of
sneakers for 50 cents. You can get a car for $75. It’s more than the product, it’s the
benefits and the quality of it. You can charge less, but they will be less quality.

People will pay your price if the value is worth more than the money they have to pay.
This is done by gentle romancing them through the launch. Anchor them to high
perceived value and get them believing and understanding the results your product
provides.

Value is a non-physical entity. You can’t touch it. Perception is reality for the customer.

A great way to go broke is to be super intimate with your customers and not charge very
much.

Types of Pre-Launch Content

Make your content tie in with the color profiling demographic you found with survey
results. Offer different formats to reach different mediums: e.g. technical version, no b.s.
version, the friendly version…

Special report PDF: The great thing about a report is that it’s easy to do. The downside is
that it can take some work to put together a solid 20-30 page report that gets people
excited about the possibility of a product and starts to build anxiety. Make sure this is
perfect (no spelling errors or grammar errors).

Video: Full motion video, or screen capture. Full motion video is great if you have a good
presence on camera and you are believable people can really connect with you, but the
negative is that it’s much harder to be scripted. You generally use this later in the launch
(not usually as your first content release). With screen capture you can read a script, but
make sure you don’t sound boring or that it sounds like you are reading a script, it is also
easier to edit (you can just start rolling and get it done in one or two takes).

Teleseminar: You can use this very effectively. For his first PLF teleseminar Jeff put
together a social proof seminar where he got 5 big name gurus on the call and he asked
them questions about social proof (but it really was social proof for Jeff). This showed
people he knew big names, so think of people you can bring to the call to generate social
proof. There is a benefit with the teleseminar it is an easy opt-in pitch (as they need to
subscribe to get details). You can create a teleseminar before hand and then play a
recording when people call in.
Audio: You send people to a web page and they can listen to an audio or download it
(they will probably not listen to it if they download). However, if you have them on an
RSS feed this can work.

Software: You can give away software as a reason for people to opt-in.

Content structure & Flow:

There are only two motivations: pursuit of pleasure or the removal of pain (the latter is
stronger by far).

It’s not about getting people to admit they have a problem but educating them on the
consequences of it not fixing the problem  this is what will drive them to action NOW.

Every person has things they need to do, but no one does that. People do what they want
to do. Need = Intellectual, Want = Emotional. Your sales/influence job is to convert
needs to wants. Get them from intellectual to emotional.

You can build rapport in 15 seconds with a compliment. Don’t just go into your pitch,
research the pain and repeat it back, and ask questions about his/her pain. Then offer a
prescription, and hit the hurt until they switch from need to want.

Most people leave out the hurt (not educating them in the consequences), which convert
people from needs to wants. You can intuit the pain from the benefits they say they want.

People start changing when the pain gets severe enough. Get the pain  get the message
(if the pain is severe enough). Most people try to educate people on the benefits before
we educate them on the consequences. Find the pain, hurt’em, and heal’em. Most people
are just trying to heal’em.

Questions are a powerful sales/educational tool. If you can ask the right questions you
can get them telling you what you need they need to do.

Price is one of the last things that happens. The launch delays the price being revealed
until launch day.

He who asks leads. Anytime you ask something they don’t want (like a price topic)
redirect the conversation about the benefits they are looking for.

The problem is not the price. Value does not exist, it’s just a thought.
Value=Benefits/Price Value is a thought, it’s a concept. If you want to increase
someone’s perception of value you increase the benefits or lower the price  most
people just lower the price.

People buy value not products. Without the hurting step it’s hard to convert needs to
wants.
Reds and Greens try to sell the way they want to be sold. You can’t do this all the time,
but it is a good tool.

Some people don’t know the consequences, so help them by asking them a question
that’s more like a statement “are you aware that…” Most people try to do sales and
negotiations one the fly as opposed to rehearsing. Or use a story, or yourself as an
example. Always talk in terms of “another person”

Prepare
Anticipate
Rehearse

Education is not just about benefits, you want to educate them about USP, credibility, etc.
but after they are feeling the pain.

The reason people don’t quit is because the perception of pain for stopping is more than
the perception of pain for change.

Guidelines (not a template)

1) Rapport
2) Research: pain/problem
3) Diagnose: repeat
4) Disturb: consequences
5) Heal: educate on benefits, competition, excellence, track record, objections
6) Evidence: testimonials/stories

The launch is fluid, but you need to have direction whole also being light on your feet.
Respond to what your list gives you.

Trust is very important, and one of the fastest ways to build trust is to listen and to care.
Show them your intent to help them make a wise decision.

It’s difficult to solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is. That launch is
about romantically getting them to acknowledge/be aware of the pain/consequences.

Diagnose by repeating back what they say and people will think “aha he gets me”. This
builds rapport.

Hit them where it hurts and stir up the pain and consequences. You can do it in non-
aggressive ways, like using studies and stories. People do not buy if they are happy and
fat. Your job is to find out where they are unhappy and grow that. Then heal them by
educating them on the benefits, your competition, and how you are different (it is
powerful to help consumers differentiate you from your competition), your track record
with stories, raise and answer objections before people ever have a chance to bring them
up.
If you can provide someone with evidence, testimonials, and stories that makes a huge
difference. People look for social proof.

Most people talk too much. Most people think if they need to sell something they need to
give more information, when they really need to grow the hurt. Again these are tools not
rules.

If you get someone on a teleseminar talking on a roll of objections don’t just answer
them, keep saying “good, anything else”. Once you drain all of their objections start
asking about their first objections and go through their list. People will rarely raise
another objection after you do this (law of consistency).

Build the trust so people don’t feel like they are being manipulated.

The more expensive or complex the product the more a series of communications is
needed. You may want to make your launch a little longer if you have a complex project.
You want to close the next appropriate step  be it ringing the cash register or setting a
meeting. There is a logical sequence of events that needs to happen.

Scripting content
Scripted vs. not scripted: You will tend to get better results with scripted (roughly
double). So write the script, edit/re-write it, record it, edit recording, create screenshots
(usually done in PowerPoint or keynote), and record the screen. Then pair up the screen
shots with the audio and you can do it piece by piece.

How to script: Use big fonts so you can read it easily.

Delivery and recording: Hit record and read the script. Get to the point where it sounds
natural and not like you are reading a script.

What are you going to cover:

-Pure content: Reciprocity play and authority by showing you can deliver great content.

-Pitch: You can make it more designed to sell. Depending on the market competition, you
may be able to do this well with little content.

-Relevant: Make sure your pre-launch content is related to what you are selling. It doesn’t
have to directly match up (at least in the early stages) but you want to really make sure
everything is leading them down their fears and aspiration path to your solution when you
launch. That said, you can direct the conversation where you want and you can do non-
direct content releases and that can work well.

-Call to action: You can have the download free and the opt-in option mentioned in the
report (which will get you more downloads but lower opt-ins which are higher quality) or
you can get them to opt-in before downloading (you will get less downloads but more
[lower quality] opt-ins). Another call to action can be asking them to make a comment.
By getting them to take action throughout the launch, you are training them, and when
you tell them to place and order, consistency and commitment kicks in and they will want
to go order.

-Make it fun: Make your content inviting, easy, informative, non-threatening,

educational, inspiring, and fun to do business with you. Remember:
a. You cannot service too much
b. You cannot educate enough
c. You can inform too much [Jeff and Jay have different opinions on this (Jay says
you can’t inform too much). Jeff is more correct it would seem with his point: If
you give too much free content, people will not consume it all, and they will
weigh it against what you are selling, and if they are most of it for free, they
won’t be that interested in buying]
d. You cannot offer too much follow through or follow up
e. You cannot make ordering too easy
f. You cannot make calling or coming into your business too desirable

Copywriting
The Persuasion Equation has 4 steps:

Problem
+
Promise
+
Proof
+
Proposition
=
Persuasion

Tie this principle into ALL aspects of your launch. Your content should contain these
elements.

Even better is:

Urgent Problem
+
Unique Promise
+
Unquestionable Proof
+
User-friendly Proposition
=
Persuasion

Handling Objections: The 5 universal objections, the exits of escape:

1. No time
2. No interest
3. No perceived difference
4. No belief
5. No decision (= “let me think it over”)

You need to ANTICIPATE those exits of escape that your prospect will run for, and you
need to close the door for each.

1. No time --> taken care of by playing with curiosity “black book, free report” + value in
the ad itself)
2. No interest --> urgent problem
3. No perceived difference --> unique promise
4. No belief --> unquestionable proof
5. No decision --> user-friendly proposition

The best time to answer an objection is before it’s asked.

You will get objections in selling. The first response is you should make is “thank you,
you are smart for raising that objection”. Most people try to convince them right away.
An upset is a desire to be heard. Consider asking your list “how do you mean?” get them
talking even more about their objections (and getting more interested in the response).

“I don’t have enough money”. Is the issue the price (worth the cost, do they see the
value) or is it that you don’t have the money (offer payment plan). Question: how much
is it costing you to not solve this problem? Use this throughout your launch in your
blogs/videos/emails as you handle objections.

Handle the objection “I need to think it over” in one of your launch emails, i.e. the sale is
over, they just don’t have the guts to say no (the sale is gone). Say this word for word
“that’s a good idea, this is an important decision, you must have a reason, mind if I ask
what it is?” “Is it the price? Because if it is, is that you don’t have the money or you are
unsure that it’s worth the cost.”

Pre-Launch Objectives
1. Identify product and objections:
i) A great product with a crushing offer that matches their desires: Find what your list
wants and what their concerns are. Through the pre-launch you answer those objections,
then you have a winner. Classic sales (overcome all objections then you have the sale). *
See PLF Survey Example Walkthrough*
You use surveys (surveymonkey.com, askdatabase.com, email) and the “testimonial
cruncher”.
ii) Discussion with your list: You’re on going discussion with your market. You always
want to be encouraging discussion and people writing back to you in email, and blog
comment.

ii) Forums: Find forums (search Big-Boards.com) and become a helpful expert. Search
Google as well. Look at threads with lots of views as good hints on what to focus on.

iii) Social media: Great for market intelligence. Also use Amazon.com and look at the
reviews. Use the positive stuff for copy, and the negative stuff for objections.

2. Build/warm your list:

You build a cool list by sending them cool stuff (weeks before you get into pre-launch.

*See Shot Across the Bow example walkthrough*

Do the shot across the bow.

Make sure you create a sub-list just for the launch so people don’t feel like they are
getting hammered in comparison to the normal rate they would get emailed

Surveying them is paying attention to them and that is a way to build rapport and get
them involved and build rapport. You are asking them a favor, but they are really feeling
appreciated and it really helps warm the list when you pay attention to what they are
thinking and feeling.

3. Build early buzz:

Mavens and connectors and hubs: Some people love to collect information on a product
(Mavens) and if you can get them to be a raving fan they will help you. A connector is
someone who knows tons of people (usually publishers, can be mavens as well) and they
influence a lot of opinions (they move in lots of circles and deal with lots of people).
Become aware of the people who post a lot in your niche. Hubs are people that are
centers of activity. Not all raving fans are the same, but the more the better, so try to find
the ones in your niche.

Multiple modalities and media: Hear things in different modalities (TV, radio, friend,
social media site etc) it has a ‘buzz’ effect.

Buzz travels most easily through channels that have trust and authenticity. People are sick
of BS, and you need to be authentic.

Every market is different: Who do your prospects usually learn from? How fast does info
spread? Who and where are the hubs? How does information spread? What other types of
info/products spread through those channels?

Social Media: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube

Using Twitter and YouTube can be good for tying storylines. Let people connect the dots
and reach them in different ways. Put various updates across the social media sites
(which have your followers) and let them piece things together.

4. Attract partners: Use PLF on prospects. Build relationships ahead of time.

Mental Trigger Strategy and Timing

Timelines vary depending on length of launch. Don’t be using the word launch in your
pre-launch. You are just coming out with material until right before launch. They won’t
even know a product is coming, they just know you are telling a story, you are lot like
them, you had this problem like them, you found a solution and you are giving them great
content.

Pre pre-launch:
-Identifying the offer, gathering objections and proof: Gather proof via testimonials if
possible from your initial survey and results. Getting someone on the phone for a
testimonial that you record is a great thing. FreeConference.com gives free calls and
recordings
-Surprise/unexpectedness/novelty: You are trying to create some new interesting stuff.
-Anticipation: It’s a teasing and anticipation play.
-Reciprocity: Asking their opinion and paying attention creates reciprocity.
-Likeability: Start relating to them in your story.
-Planning head: Identify the offer and gather objections and proof

Start of pre-launch:
-Focus on frustrations and aspirations: Come out hard hitting with your best content and
focus on proof, authority, surprise, controversy, reciprocity, and credibility
-Proof: Start showing people how your stuff works with tangible results. It’s all about
proof and authority right now
-Authority: It is easy to impress a lot of people with some new stuff they don’t know
about. You don’t have to be a leading expert (or even just interview one)
- Surprise/unexpectedness/novelty: Keep coming out with new interesting content.
-Controversy: Try to keep some controversy (maybe even just the story)
-Reciprocity: Since you are giving great content at this point you are automatically
generating reciprocity.
-Credibility: By establishing credibility and delivering on what you say you will when
you will you can start to build that rapport.
Planning ahead: Focus on frustrations and aspirations:
a. “I’m a lot like you”
b. Aspiration or dream
c. Common frustration
d. How you found the solution
e. And you decided to share it
What format will it be in? Blog, video, audio, PDF special report, software, teleseminar,
email, other?

Mid pre-launch: The content of your mid-pre-launch should be answering objections.

-Stories: You are really starting to share that storyline you developed.
-Reciprocity: You are giving more pre-launch content and generating reciprocity.
-Likeability: Giving great stuff and becoming likable.
-Interaction and conversation: Getting people to answer questions and responding to
people on your blog
-Planning ahead: Additional content that focuses on frustrations and aspirations as well
as objections. What additional pre-launch content will you be publishing? What format
will it be in?

Week before launch:

-Shift to focus on product: Before this point you were coming out guns blazing with great
content and really finding out what people wanted. You weren’t talking about your offer.
Now you are shifting gears and telling them to get their wallet ready (without them
knowing it). It’s like “Well, we’ve been in this together for the last few weeks and I’ve
sent you lots of great content. We have the same type of situation and I’ve been sharing
some of the stuff that has really helped me out but what I’ve down now is put together a
course and I thought I’d share it all with you in one big product”. As you shift to your
product people will start asking questions (many will be objections, but you identified
many in the pre-launch)
-Social proof: At this point you tell people how much interest and interactions you are
having (emails, blog posts etc)
-Scarcity: Start to build up your scarcity. As you reveal the offer you will want to limit it
(quantity or time based) and if they don’t act the price goes up, product goes away,
bonuses go away.
-Reciprocity: You are always giving great interesting content.
-Interaction and Conversation: Lots of questions coming in and that’s where your
interacting
-Reason why/context: As you build up your scarcity you need to give your reasons why.
-Community: Towards the end of the launch is where you start to build the community.
-Authority: Show how much great content you have and how well you know the market.
Even if you aren’t the expert, if you’ve tapped into experts it still establishes authority for
you
-Planning ahead: Shift focus to product. What are the top objections and what are your
answers? How will you publish your answers? What format will it be in?

Launch day: You will send out a short email letting people know you are live, go order
now. But then later in that day you will come back with a 2nd email about how well the
launch is going (how many orders are coming in, how busy it is etc). If there is limited
fast mover bonuses (or product) as they get eaten up that is social proof as they disappear.
Social proof and scarcity are intertwined, as you build one you build the other (if you
structure it that way which isn’t too hard)
-Scarcity: Tie in with social proof and limited quantity product/bonuses.
-Social proof: Tie in with disappearing bonuses and explain how well the launch is going.
-Planning ahead: Tsunami moment (usually wait to see what happens)

Later on Launch Day:

-Tsunami Moment: You’re sending out an email letting the tone of the email be that it’s
crazy busy, we’re all in this together, work with me here, we’re doing our best, if your
having trouble getting to the page contact us and we’ll get to you as fast as possible.
-Likeability: You are there trying to stay afloat and help everyone as fast as you can. It’s
almost like people are pitying you and that is likable (but you don’t actually want to be
pitied, you just want to be persevering and that makes you likable)
-Social proof: Show people how crazy things are in the email.

Day after launch:

-Reciprocity:
-Social proof:

Near the end of launch:

-Shift to focus on the end of launch and scarcity:
-Reciprocity
-Likeability:
-Scarcity:
-Social proof:
-Authority:
-Planning ahead: Shift to focusing on end of the launch and scarcity. What is your
scarcity? Bonuses go away, price goes up, product goes off the market, portions of the
product are removed from the offer.

End of launch:
-Something bad happens if they don’t act: Price goes up, bonuses go away, product goes
off the market, or portions of the product are removed from the offer
-Likeability: You are trying to be likeable though, not strong arm people (“Hey guys, I
just want to give a last chance notice for those of you who have been busy. I’m not trying
to force you do anything you don’t want)
-Scarcity: Something bad is happening sets up the scarcity play
-Planning ahead: Something bad happens if they don’t act

Product Launch Timelines

The JV launch: Starts months ahead of time.
1. Pre Pre-Launch: This can start months in advance. You give just a hint at first.
You create deep background anticipation. This also helps define the product and
hook.
2. Pre-Launch: Starts three to five weeks before launch. Creates buzz. Answers
objections and builds a sub-list. Anything less than 3 weeks is hard to create the
event atmosphere.
3. Launch: Anywhere from a day to a week (or more). Social proof and scarcity
triggers hit.

The quick launch: short, in as little as 36 hours

1. Announcement: Reason why and scarcity.
2. Reinforcement: Scarcity and social proof
3. Last chance: Scarcity (deadline drive) and answer objections (in a tone of
resignation, you are ‘worn out’ by the launch, if you came along great, if not too
bad)

Affiliate / E-commerce Launch: Should generally be story based.

1. Find the product you are launching to the list
2. Find the ‘missing piece’
3. Tell people about your exciting discovery and how you are making it better
4. Create a story based launch
5. Repeat steps 1-4

The compressed launch (not a major type): fits between the quick and the big JV
launch, a little bit of building and then into a shortened launch time.
1. Pre-Launch: Reason why, scarcity, just a few days before the launch.
2. Launch: Scarcity, social proof, answer objections, and takes one to four days.
3. Last Chance: Scarcity and answer objections

Seed Launch: Used when you have no list

1. Create a list.
2. Use the list to create a product with the list
3. Launch another product having created it with the list

Internal Launch: Much easier to do than a big JV launch.

1. Shot across the bow to your list.
 2. Survey
3. Bring them through the launch story and give special offer

Sample Timelines for the 5 Major Types of Launches

Note: you can mix and match these depending on your situation. Let the story and your
content set the pace if you can. *Warning* Do not tie launch dates to an external date
(like a birthday or an event etc) then you are going to have serious problems. You always
want to be able to control the flow of the launch and handle delays.

Quick Launch: A very quick payday. Good if you have a list (hard without a list, but
possible with a JV partner). Can be done with your product or affiliate product (be sure to
add a bundle or bonus to it since you can’t change the price) Consider contacting
experts/authors for bonuses. Generally based on a discount, or upgrade, or a bonus. Need
a reason why, but it doesn’t have to be super strong.

The quick launch timeline:

Day 1: Initial announcement
Day 2: Quick follow-up
Day 3: Reminder
Day 4: 24 hour notice
Day 5: Last chance

Seed Launch: Used when you don’t have a list, or you have a tiny list (100 or so).Can be
used to create a product and it doesn’t need a big buildup. Find out what they want and
go make it for them. Consider doing a teleseminar/webinar. Sets the stage for an internal
launch. A great chance to learn with your list, how to tweak it, and set it up for a big
launch. Also gives you success stories, case studies, and testimonials. Your list will also
start growing by word of mouth, and you may also find potential JV partners. The easiest
way to get the first 50-100 people is by setting up a website with a free report on. Then
go join some forums and start telling people about it (be helpful though, become part of
the community). Not the most powerful method but a way to kick start your list and get
some intimacy.

You can’t use a seed launch to do physical stuff, but you can for information products.
You can do a series of teleseminars with experts and turn those into products.

It will best if you can charge money. But if you have no reputation or a small list, then it
is more important to have people attending and giving you feedback (you can even do
some free and paid).

This is basically like an internal launch but a little more informal as it is done (usually)
with a smaller list to make a product.

30-100 in the course is a lot (although only 1/3rd to half will show up).

The seed launch time line:

Who, what and why: Great way to get started, can start from scratch and low cost. It is
the easiest way to build a product. You end up with a great product and case studies.
Immediately: start initial list build
Day 1: Initial announcement. Come out guns blazing going after their top frustrations and
aspirations. Talk about the standard story (a lot like you, frustrations and aspirations, how
you found the solution [endless hours of study, lucky discovery, because I’m a mad
scientist, because I met a mad scientist {and these can be combined}], I’ve decided to
share it with you, what it’s going to be like [teleseminars, Webinars, website content etc],
I need your top 2 questions
Day 3: Follow up on initial announcement
Day 5: Program details [be clear]
Day 6: Instructions. The course will open at [DATE] and do XYZ to register
Day 7: Release program
Day 8: Follow up, social proof
Day 10: Follow up, interaction
Day 12: Scarcity and social proof. People have jumped on board, it’s exciting, and we are
answering a flurry of questions. Sign up now before registration is shut off.
Day 13: Scarcity and social proof. We won’t be able to accommodate you after the
program starts, sign up now if you ever want to get in.
Day 14: Start program:
-Survey list (a bigger stronger survey that expands beyond the initial survey,
identify questions
-Weekly teleseminar focused on top questions (do a survey on the topic of the
week and get their top questions on the topic being covered that week)
-Weekly survey to identify what you missed (from the last topic and help you pick
next weeks topic). Tools: freeconference.com (has messages so if people have
paid then you shouldn’t use free services), freeconferencecall.com, voicetext.com
(paid), accuconference (you can mute and unmute lines individually, also has a
web interface so you can see if people have comments and you can unmute them
and take their questions, but most expensive). You can also do a webcast and have
people watch and send in questions real time (provider: instantteleseminar.com).
To record your own teleseminar you use your bridge line service as a backup,
record on your machine using a USB microphone and headset with a fancy mic.
Talk into the phone and the headset at the same time. Plantronics is a good
headset mic. Software: audacity, mac: garageband, sony vegas, sound forge
-Identify top performers, work with them closely, give them extra attention, send
emails, check in with them, they will become raving fans, give testimonials, and
maybe even case studies
-Deliver more than you promised, use the surveys to identify the extra
deliverables (e.g. offer 5 weeks but do 6). It’s a very interactive process, you are
doing a survey each week so it’s easy to identify what the extra bonuses are going
to be and develop a reputation for over delivery.
Day 21: Second module
Day 28: Third module
Day 35: Fourth module
Day 42: Fifth module
Immediately after program ends, start building product: Do you re-record it? What else
do you need to add? Transcripts (internettranscrubers.com). Gather testimonials and case
studies.

Internal Launch: Much easier to do than a big JV launch. Used when you have a list.
You are playing on a smaller stage, so mistakes are not world wide. Gives you time to
figure out your fulfillment, customer support, and logistical issues before you launch to
the world with your JV launch. Success with your internal launch sets the stage for the
big payoff in your JV launch. Figure out your numbers (conversion rates etc) in this
launch, then you can use that date in your JV launch. Can be quite lucrative, since you’re
not paying partners you get to keep all the money. This is a safe environment, and you
can screw up with your list, but with partners and their lists they will be a lot less
forgiving.

Internal launch timeline with 14 day Pre-Launch

Day 1: Pre pre-launch starts. Shot across the bow (something is coming).
Day 4-7: Second pre pre-launch tease. “Thanks for so much input, it’s great to hear from
you guys”
Day 14: Pre-launch starts. Come out with the best content you have, hitting the biggest
hooks, frustrations, or aspirations in your market.
Day 16: Follow up on first pre-launch content release. Talk about how much people love
the content
Day 18: Release second piece of pre-launch content
Day 19: Follow up on a second pre-launch content
Day 21: Release more pre-launch content
Day 22: Rest day OR shift to focusing on the offer. Start to reveal there something
coming and more and more about the offer.
Day 23: Shift to focus on the offer. Start flushing out the offer even more.
Day 24: Shift to focusing on the offer, reveal full offer. Make sure they are clear on what
they are getting by now. 2-4 days before launch they should know what the offer is.
Day 25: Email list – answer objections, possible release last of prelaunch content. For the
last week you want to be answering objections 1 per day (use and email and send them to
a blog post)
Day 26: Email list – answer objections, clarify offer, possibly reveal price (24-48 hours
before launch). If the price is going to be a negative shock (they think it’s going to be
$100 but it’s going to be like $3-400) then you want you reveal the price before. If the
price is going to be a positive shock (they think it will be like $5000 and it will only be
$1000 reveal on the sales letter).
Day 27: Email list – final instructions, possibly reveal price. You have gone beyond the
sale, you are assuming they are going to buy, and your persona is an authority play that is
just telling people how to make the purchase. “It’s going to be crazy, stay calm, hit
refresh if the page doesn’t load, everyone’s going to be ordering at the same time so this
is what I want you to do: be ready to go, I’ll be sending you the link 15-60 minutes early.
I want you to be ready to click the link and buy.
Day 28: LAUNCH DAY – mail just before launch minute, then mail second time later in
the day. The second email is that tsunami email, use any problems as a reason for the
tsunami (but be sure to tell the truth). Server crashes are bad, don’t have it happen on
purpose! But why not mention the server LOAD was extremely high instead? People
want to buy from people not corporations, and people expect people to make mistakes. So
take problems and just tell people about them.
Day 29: Email list – social proof. Very short email reminder, “Yup, we’re still taking
orders”
Day 30: Lull day – good day to release content or story or testimonial. You may want to
hold back some content and release it here.
Day 31: Reminder of previous days content. You might want to release a sweet bonus
here, or a payment plan (or a more generous payment plan). All bonuses added retro-
converted to people who bought of course. May want offer JV partners extra incentives.
Day 32: Mention impending deadline – scarcity. “We are looking at the end of the
launch” Something bad is going to happen. “It seems like just yesterday we launched but
we are about to close this down, and I don’t want to pressure you but this bonus [or bad
thing] is going away”. This is the first real mention of scarcity.
Day 33: 24 hour notice – scarcity
Day 34: Last second email six hours before you shut down launch - scarcity

Internal launch timeline with 21 day Pre-Launch

If you compare this with the one above, this is basically the same, the pre-launch content
was just spaced out a bit more. You are building more excitement about the offer and
aspiration (without them even knowing a product or offer is coming) and touching on
their frustrations.
Day 1: Pre pre-launch starts. Shot across the bow (something is coming).
Day 4-7: Second pre pre-launch tease. “Thanks for so much input, it’s great to hear from
you guys”
Day 14: Pre-launch starts. Come out with the best content you have, hitting the biggest
hooks, frustrations, or aspirations in your market.
Day 16: Follow up on first pre-launch content release. Talk about how much people love
the content
Day 19: Release second piece of pre-launch content
Day 20: Follow up on a second pre-launch content
Day 23: Release more pre-launch content
Day 24: Follow up on third piece of pre-launch content
Day 26: Release more pre-launch content
Day 27: Follow up on third piece of pre-launch content
Day 29: Shift to focus on the offer
Day 30: Shift to focus on the offer. Start flushing out the offer even more.
Day 31: Shift to focusing on the offer, reveal full offer. Make sure they are clear on what
they are getting by now. 2-4 days before launch they should know what the offer is.
Day 32: Email list – answer objections, possible release last of prelaunch content. For the
last week you want to be answering objections 1 per day (use and email and send them to
a blog post)
Day 33: Email list – answer objections, clarify offer, possibly reveal price (24-48 hours
before launch). If the price is going to be a negative shock (they think it’s going to be
$100 but it’s going to be like $3-400) then you want you reveal the price before. If the
price is going to be a positive shock (they think it will be like $5000 and it will only be
$1000 reveal on the sales letter).
Day 34: Email list – final instructions, possibly reveal price. You have gone beyond the
sale, you are assuming they are going to buy, and your persona is an authority play that is
just telling people how to make the purchase. “It’s going to be crazy, stay calm, hit
refresh if the page doesn’t load, everyone’s going to be ordering at the same time so this
is what I want you to do: be ready to go, I’ll be sending you the link 15-60 minutes early.
I want you to be ready to click the link and buy.
Day 35: LAUNCH DAY – mail just before launch minute, then mail second time later in
the day. The second email is that tsunami email, use any problems as a reason for the
tsunami (but be sure to tell the truth). Server crashes are bad, don’t have it happen on
purpose! But why not mention the server LOAD was extremely high instead? People
want to buy from people not corporations, and people expect people to make mistakes. So
take problems and just tell people about them.
Day 36: Email list – social proof. Very short email reminder, “Yup, we’re still taking
orders”
Day 37: Lull day – good day to release content or story or testimonial. You may want to
hold back some content and release it here.
Day 38: Reminder of previous days content. You might want to release a sweet bonus
here, or a payment plan (or a more generous payment plan). All bonuses added retro-
converted to people who bought of course. May want offer JV partners extra incentives.
Day 39: Mention impending deadline – scarcity. “We are looking at the end of the
launch” Something bad is going to happen. “It seems like just yesterday we launched but
we are about to close this down, and I don’t want to pressure you but this bonus [or bad
thing] is going away”. This is the first real mention of scarcity.
Day 40: 24 hour notice – scarcity
Day 41: Last second email six hours before you shut down launch - scarcity

Big JV Launch: This is the big payday 5-10x revenue. Be careful, if this is your first
launch (or for this product) you are taking a lot of risks. Practice on your B clients (but
don’t treat them like that!). Practice on a forgiving audience. This can give you a massive
list build. Managing partners could be as time-consuming as the rest of the launch
combined. Be sure to test your systems ahead of time (customer service, tracking
software, etc). Make sure your server can handle the load. It’s easier to recruit partners if
you can show them you have an offer that converts. If you do an internal launch then you
will know whether you have an offer that converts.

Big JV Launch timeline:

Day 1: pre prelaunch starts
Day 7: communicating with partners
Day 14: prelaunch starts
Launch 2-3 weeks after prelaunch
Launch ends 1 week later
Affiliate / E-commerce Launch: Should generally be story based. Think about telling
the story from when you first made the decision to look at the product, to buying it, to
using it, to getting results…to offer it for sale (a good formula). Used when you have a
list, but you can do this with a very small list. Add something to the offer – like a bonus –
or create a bundle. This can be done very quickly, similar to the Quick Launch. Use these
regularly (like every week for new products). This can be done LONG after a product is
first introduced…in fact, it usually works better that way because you are not going to be
competing against a lot of people who are pushing it at the same time. When it’s clamed
down that gives you the space to sell it with your bundle. See if you can get help from the
creator/manufacturer.

How to launch a product as an affiliate + timeline: You are launching someone else’s
product.
Remember the fundamentals: conversation, interaction, event based, sequences, this is the
ONLY way to set yourself apart (as everyone else who is an affiliate selling the same
thing).
Starters: the list (you will need a list for this), the product, the timing (if everyone’s
promoting it, that is not the best time to do an affiliate launch promoting it), the offer
(you need to add something to the offer, preferably something that is missing and make it
more attractive)
Day 1: Initial announcement
Day 2: Follow up
Day 3: Follow up, instructions (talk about how you used the product but it was missing 1
thing, it was perfect except for this one thing missing and how you went out and created
the missing piece. Don’t make it over complicated, it can something simple that rounds
out the product)
Day 4: Launch (give them your affiliate link, don’t try to hide the fact that it’s an affiliate
deal, give instructions to send a copy of a receipt after they buy it and explain this is only
for people who buy through your link. Your tsunami email can be the buzz of all the
receipts getting sent in)
Day 5: Follow up, social proof
Day 6: 24 hour warning, scarcity
Day 7: Final warning

How to do an eCommerce Launch + timeline: What are you after with your launch? It
depends on where you are. If you have developed a widget do you want to just launch
that – then follow the internal launch? Or, do you have a bunch of stuff and you are going
to launch an item to spike sales? Follow this timeline
Remember the fundamentals: conversation, interaction, event based (you want the release
of this new widget to be event based), sequences, this is the MAY be the only way to set
yourself apart (if a lot of other people are selling the same product this is one of the ways
to set yourself apart).
Starters: the list (you will need a list for this OR you need traffic to your site), the
product, the timing (you can do it for a brand new product that’s already out there but you
haven’t stocked before), the offer (if you are brining in a new product you are going to
stock, you should offer a bonus that will make it a more well rounded product OR
consider bundling it with other things you stock or it could be a report, teleseminar,
training CD or DVD etc.)
Day 1: Something’s coming. You’re like them and something is coming in soon that is
going to solve a problem. (depending on the market you can reveal now or later, but be
careful they won’t run off and buy it somewhere else)
Day 3: I’ve got it in my hot little hands. Letting them know you’ll have more information
as you use it more
Day 4: Reactions. It does this, this, and this. Boy I’ve never been able to do this before.
I’m really excited about this.
Day 5: I’ve decided to sell it. Wow this is even cool than I expected, it does this this and
this, and it even does this. This thing is so cool and I am going to stock this, I order 45
and I can’t wait to get them in
Day 6: It’s coming. I’ve got it on order, I got the fedex notice they’ve already sent it,
there is a delivery date for 3 days from now
Day 7: This is why I’m so excited about this it, offer (tying back to excitement, and tell
them about the widget and offer. Tell them about the 1 thing missing and how you
created it)
Day 8: It will be here tomorrow, instructions. Wow, I just got the notice, it is going to be
here tomorrow, I can’t wait
Day 9: Launch (tsunami email)
Day 10: Follow up, social proof (since it’s a widget they won’t have it, so you can delay
social proof or talk about how excited people are and the number of orders)
Day 11: 24 hours, scarcity
Day 12: Last chance
Big Picture: You can’t repeat the same story over and over every few weeks. But you can
use the same basic elements. You will get spikes in sales, but really the key is top of mind
awareness and people coming to your store when they want to buy something in your
market. This will give you some personality for your market to identify with.

Joint Venture Product Launches

Once you get people with good lists, you go from a little pie to a big pie. Even though
you give away 40-50% away per list, your bottom line will just explode. The tactics
discussed here can be used in getting JV partners. The mindset for launching a product
are the same about getting JV partners: how are you going to motivate people?

Don’t worry about how much money you are paying them, worry about how much you
are MAKING from them! The more money they make the more money you make. You
focus should be to continually try to find ways to make more money for your partners. As
you make them more money, they will work harder for you…and that will mean more
sales and more money for you.

So always focus on WIIFM!

Also note that different people will enter the launch and different times and get different
levels of exposure to your content. So keep that in mind as you gather partners with lists.

It is not the responsibility of the joint venture partner to appreciate the implication of the
proposition you’re making. It is totally incumbent on you. It is your responsibility.

*JA explanation pitch + thinking like a JV partner* In a nutshell you have to say: “Hey
I’m here because I can bring your product to a greater audience by brining you new
revenue systems, and selling systems, and distribution channels” or “I can bring your
clients greater benefit because if you don’t provide them, they’re going to buy these
products from somebody else, but they are not going to get the greatest outcome. But
because I add them and off them through you, they are going to get a better price, better
protection, greater performance and somebody who cares about them”

Getting partners on board:

The best way to attract top tier JV partners is to make them a very attractive offer and
make it very simple for them.
1. Relationship: You need to start building relationships with people in your
niche. The people who could potentially partners. It would be nice if your
first contact with them is not a sale pitch. One way is calling them or
emailing them on something before hand. Dig your well before you are
thirsty. A welcome guest or a pest telemarketer? Many people are
interested in only the bottom line, but the best list owners tend to care
about the list relationship and have the highest responses. The latter wants
to protect their relationship and really wants to know your product is top
quality. They could burn their list if your product is lousy, so HAVE A
GOOD PRODUCT. It doesn’t have to be perfect but it has to be good and
it has to deliver on whatever promises you make in your sales pitch. Many
JV partners will want to see the product before they send the promotions
and you need to building this in to your time-link (esp. if you need to ship
review copies and they need time to go over them).
2. WIIFM: Money, show them a good product, show them the product, good
promotion that will convert prospects to buyers, and the work is done for
them and they only have to deliver to the list. *THEY WANT TO KNOW
INTEGRITY OF LIST IS PROMOTED** It’s like getting an investor
*SHOW PUD* Keith Stuff. It is their job to get you traffic, it is your job
to convert that traffic. As a rough guide, many list owners look to make a
revenue of $1 for every person they send to your site. If you can drive that
number higher ($2,3,4 or higher) you are not going to have a hard time
attracting JV partners. To figure this out you need conversion and price
(the latter you may not have if this is your first time). Divide conversion
by 100 visitors and times that by price to get the value per visitor. You can
play with the commissions you offer and you can give them a higher
percentage to make up for a lack of conversion data. Don’t forget, you
need targeted traffic for a good conversion estimate, and if your list
partner gives an endorsement, conversion inevitably spikes. Try to figure
 out what they are thinking/what they want and play to that. Map out what
your JV partners problems/concerns/desires are and match that up to how
your launch is a fit in more than one way. People will be reluctant to give
you their list (depending on the market demographic) BUT if you explain
to them that they get to keep their list private and only mail on your
behalf, and that you will only get people who raise their hand and have
been serviced, they will be more open to the idea (i.e. make them feel
secure about protecting the privacy of their list). You must sell the END
RESULT. You want them to draw the conclusion though, showing them is
better than telling them.
3. Make it simple: If you want to be sure to have all your JV partners on
board you really need to make it simple for them. This means giving them
clear, concise directions during every step of the process. It means telling
them what you and expect, and when you expect it. It means giving them
the marketing materials they need…and telling them exactly when to send
it. Here are some possible steps:
a. Make friends: This falls under the heading of ‘dig your well
before you are thirst’. You should be networking with other people
in your niche. Go out to conferences. Pick up the phone and call
them. It is a lot easier to land a JV with a friend rather than a
stranger.
b. First contact: Introduce yourself (or re-introduce yourself). Tell
them a little about your product…but keep it brief. Tell them what
it will cost, and what the commission will be. Tell them why you
think it would fir their list. Tell them how you are going to track
sales back so they get proper credit for all sales. Tell them what the
next step would be if they are interested. Note that the main
person may not be the person to contact. For example, Rich
Schefren has a CFO that you would want to contact instead. Don’t
just go for the head hauncho, see if they have lower tier employees
and make friends up the ladder (they guys lower down the ranks
will likely be more responsive to flattery and positive attention).
c. For those who are interested: Set them up in your affiliate
software. Tell them exactly when the promotion will be. Explain
the promotion and what is expect of them. Send them instructions
on how to access their account in your software.
d. Send them appropriate instructions for the promotion: Send
the copy they are supposed to send out. Follow up with them on
the exact timing of your launch.
e. Maintain contact with them through the launch process: Let
them know what each step of the process is. Give them as much
notice as possible on all mailings.
f. Be sure to track your sales back to partners: Continue to
communicate with partners. Pay them on time.
4. Use product launch triggers: Turn the JV into an event, use scarcity,
social proof, and takeaway (not begging them, make it appear they need
 you more than you need them, you are giving them this great opportunity,
only a few people get the chance, take it or leave it, just thought I would
mention it, get back to me if you think it’s a good fit).
5. The Fundamentals: Realize that…
a. Very few people have all the money they want
b. There are very few people who have capitalized on, or exploited,
or tapped all the opportunities they want
c. There are very few people who don’t have problems that they
don’t know how to solve --- and usually that translates to some
financial correlation, some financial aspect
d. Most people don’t know how to put concepts and elements
together
e. Most people in the world don’t want to work very hard
f. The factors above all work in your favor. When you can turnkey a
deal for where you do all the work…you put together all the
elements…and you connect all the dots --- that’s almost irresistibly
appealing, even to someone who isn’t necessarily looking to do a
deal
g. CRITICAL: You are selling a result. Further to that, they are
buying and EMOTIONAL RESULT. Quantify and make tangible
the result you are selling to them (even if it’s dollars and sense).
Quantify what they means: “You can have sales during a time of
year you are usually dead” “Add income overtop of your overhead
for 100% pure profit” “Get your list to be more responsive and
increase your teleseminar participation by 500%”. People have to
recognize your advice as a solution to a problem they feel
emotionally as well as rationally. It is not about just logical, but
emotional logic.
6. Problems your JV partners will have:
a. They have buyers and nothing good to sell them
b. They have old buyers that are inactive
c. Their list has gone cold
d. They have prospects that won’t buy from them (but may buy from
you)
7. How to super-glue your prospects to your goals: The key is empathy,
and empathy means appreciating the other sides perspective:
a. They are probably not as evolved in thinking as you are
b. They are probably control freaks
c. They are looking for “What’s my angle?”
d. They think everybody has figured out how to get the best of them
e. They worry about control
f. They worry about what they can’t even think about
g. Lead them by the hand
h. They don’t want to look foolish (so show them they won’t lose)
i. Help them to draw the conclusion by showing them (proof) rather
than just telling them
8. Common JV objections:
a. How do I know this is really going to be valued in my market?
You give them a way to test it or explain that you will be surveying
the list to fine tune the product to meet their needs. Also present
proof of similar markets buying similar items (and it doesn’t have
to be your stuff)
b. How do I know it will be executed and implemented without flaw?
Show them all your safeguards, track record, and an easy to
understand overview of the mechanics (merchant account,
software, hosting etc)
c. How do I know I will make a lot of money? Rough conversions
based on track record or similar launches.
d. How do I know this is not going to cannibalize my existing
revenue stream? Show them how it is unquestionably windfall
income, and it takes nothing away from what they are already
doing. Also show you are taking all the risk offering it to their
audience and it’s above and beyond the normal risk reversal offer
e. How can I believe any of this? Show them if they are any
apprehensive tests you can do, or just ask them to complete the
survey to show them rough response and interest levels (showing
them PUD is great).
9. Strategy of preeminence: Realize people are pretty set in their ways. So
when you make a proposal, and when you follow it up with a written
proposal, the key is always to write it with an absolute sense that you
understand where they are, and where they are coming from. Show respect
for them, you know how hard they work, and you respect the years of time
they spent building their reputation. That’s why you feel they owe it to
themselves --- and you owe it to them --- to vie them the maximum ethical
payoff return on their investment on an ongoing basis. Take the
assumptive close, assume the deal is going through, you are just helping
them understand why it’s going through. Practice the strategy of
preeminence: Make sure every communication comes from a position of
leadership, it’s as if your saying “I want to give you what you need, want
and deserve out of whatever it is your doing”. Giving information is
inconclusive, giving advice is definitive. Advice is converted to action.
That’s why you should communicate “Here’s what you should do, and
here’s how you should do it, and here’s why”. Being specific is incredibly
powerful. It’s your job to provide focus. Focus leads to clarity. Clarity
gives power. Power gives understanding. And understanding gives
certainty. Most people don’t know what a focused picture looks like so
help them connect the dots and that will help them take action. That is
what leading is all about. Put yourself in their shoes and think about what
would help them see how things can move forward. Most people are
unclear and that begets little to no actions which begets little to no results.
Show them how this works to get them results and they will get clarity on
the issue. Then help them understand how it helps him, you, and the
 clients. And above all hold certain to the value you are bringing to the
table. Follow up on what you say you will do to build trust and always
maintain an authoritative leadership stance.
10. How to keep your prospects foot off the breaks
a. Make it worth their time: Anything new across someone’s desk is
usually an intrusion pulling them out of what they’re doing to think
about something new may be just too much to hand, even when
someone else sees it as important. So it gets put in that cold place
called “the back burner. To get action, clearly communicated “The
time needed to pull back for a moment from doing something else
is far outweighed by the rewards they’ll get”. And the bottom line
is not just money, if they are successful they already have lots, so
that ties in with…
b. Stay in line with their goals: Make your goal consistent with their
vision. Show them how you are preserving and enhancing their
relationship with their list. Show them how it’s a romantic process
where you are helping him help his list and build even more
rapport. Figure out what they are doing, and structure your
proposal to fall down stream from where they are ‘swimming’
(don’t make them think they are ‘swimming upstream’, they like to
‘swim’ the direction they are going). So make your offer show
them how they will get their faster OR it’s so darn compelling that
it’s worth swimming in your direction for a bit.
c. Make it easy: Sell your proposal by doing most, if not ALL the
thinking and execution. You will do all the swipe copy, take
orders, ship them, customer service etc.
d. If you get rejected anyway: If it’s really worth it, follow up again
and say something to the effect of “You know, if the tables were
turned and somebody I didn’t know came to me with a proposition
--- even one that was that appealing – I would probably say no in
the beginning because I would wonder ‘What’s the catch’? ‘What
does he know that I don’t?’ But then I’d think about it, and I’d
realize “He DOES know something I don’t, he knows how to be on
to something my market wants, he knows what he’s doing, and he
knows how to execute it. He knows how to make 10’s or 100’s or
millions of dollars I wouldn’t have had before --- and he’s willing
to do it for me, and he’s willing to monetize, reclaim and
massively enhance my yield, revenue, and my profitability relative
to what I’m doing now. It’s a win/win deal for both of us.

Landing the Deal (JV Partners):

1. The Pitch, one month in advance: This is your first approach and contact. First
you need to overcome the competition, as most good list owners get a bunch a
week if not a bunch a day. If you can show them they are going to make a $1 or
$2 for every person they send to your offer, you will peak their interest. If you
have a relationship built before hand (meet them in forums, call them, meet them
 at events/seminars, get to know them) you can make it easier. You can do it
without a relationship, but make networking and building a relationship a part of
your business activities (time each month to make relationships). Make sure every
contact is highly personalized, and if you call them it is a lot harder for them to
ignore a call (way more powerful than email). You can even try sending a FedEx
with a JV letter inside (it will likely at least get read). Make sure your offer is
really good, and be flexible with what you offer. And be sure to hit all the triggers
and think about ways to use them creatively in your pitch.
2. The Follow-up, two weeks in advance: Send them the product so they can give
you a more informed endorsement. Give them an update on the timing of things.
And update them on the whole process/promotion, what to expect, when you will
mail, what you mail; bring them up to speed.
3. The Lockdown, prelaunch: Give them the tools, do the work for them, and be sure
to follow up. A lot of people say they will promote 1 month out, but stuff comes
up and people change their mind, so be sure to get them committed again, get
them the tools, and ensure they follow through.

The JV Rollout:
1. You need to coordinate everything with all your list partners and get everyone
releasing the information on time. You need to assure them you have tracking
down pact with sales (or else you will burn that relationship). You want them to
make a lot of money.
2. Get people on your sub-list. Before you get them on that sub-list you are counting
on your partners doing everything right, and they might not hit your list as often
as you want. If you can get them on the sub-list (which will still be tracked back
to their partners) then you control the process. One way to do this is with a
teleseminar before the launch (about the product, objections, needs), so get JV
people to send out emails to get people to sign up on the sub-list opt-in page, and
then of course become registered for the seminar. Now you can control the power
of the sub-list. You can do more than just teleseminars, you can also do a PDF
report, or mini course, or video etc. You of course send that PDF (or whatever) to
people already on the sub-list. You can also have the teleseminar/PDF
report/whatever drive them to sign up, so they can get it directly from the JV
partner and then sign up after consuming (just make sure to keep track)
3. Multiple avenues and promotions: Give JV partners as many different
opportunities to get in on the list. Give them choices (as some will not like to mail
out as often)
4. Be willing to work special angles: Some will go above and beyond the norm. E.g.
do an interview with you, create a special gift etc. So be sure to go along with it.

Using PLF on JV Partners/Affiliates

Advance Warning: Develop relationships ahead of time. Give advance warning but they
will forget about you (so keep them updated). Stake out your date. Focus on what’s in it
for them. Remember who the “A” list is. Give them special treatment, write special copy
for them, this is not about equal for all, it’s about time for your winners.
Hypothetical JV Timeline (do not worry about exact dates, just understand the flow)
*See PLF 2 JV Sequence Walkthrough*

Day 1: Initial announcement. What the product is (and how it will be delivered). Is it
tested (give them conversion metrics, rough customer values)? What the price and
commission is. When the pre-launch starts. When launch day is.
Day 7: Reminder
Day 9: Last second reminder. You can give them some swipe copy if you want.
Day 10: Start pre-launch. Give them instructions and swipe copy (if not already given)
Day 11: Follow up, social proof, and sometimes you will want to give some fresh swipe
(depending on take up and mail-outs of your partners. Be sure to get on their list so you
can tell if they used the swipe copy and you should gauge if you need more fresh copy).
Day 12: Follow up, competition. A lot of entrepreneurs (in some markets like IM) have a
competitive nature and you want to get them feeling competitive to be the best affiliate.
Day 15: Follow up, competition
Day 18: Follow up
Day 21: Follow up
Day 24: Follow up
Day 26: Follow up
Day 27: Follow up
Day 28: Follow up
Day 29: Follow up
Day 30: Follow up
Day 31: Launch. You want to stay out of their way. Just give them instructions and swipe
copy and let them mail their stuff.
Day 32: Follow up. Give instructions, swipe copy
Day 33: Follow up
Day 34: Follow up
Day 35: Follow up
Day 36: Follow up
Day 37: Last chance follow up
Day 38: Recap and thank you

Finding affiliates
Google: Search for your keyword and look for sites that sell or cater to your niche. Type
in your keywords + “affiliate”

Brainstorming: Think about the services and products that people will use before, during,
and after they use your product/service.

Watch competitors: Keep an eye on what they do, join their lists, check out adwords
campaigns, and create a database of everyone in your market so you can understand how
the market works.

Clickbank vendors: Check whois or contact info. They should have lists.
Live events: go to live events in your niche.

Approaching affiliates
Approaching partners/affiliates is a numbers game. Be persistent but not a pest. Expect to
land 5%. Success breeds success.

When contacting people, USE THE PLF! Use scarcity, social proof, reciprocity, event
based, and sequences.

Climbing the food chain: People are always approaching the top niche experts, but then
there are descending ranks of importance. A tier, B tier, C tier, and D tier. The lower the
tier the hungrier they are. Try working your way up the chain.

Buy their products: Gets you on their radar. Buy their most expensive product, and you
will get noticed by them. Try using and send them an email or note about using it and
how happy you are with it.

Live events: More powerful to meet and make contact in person. Don’t do t-bone
networking (be respectful, don’t go for the jugular right away), build some rapport/build
some relationship. Also, don’t do shotgun networking where you pitch everyone in the
room systematically.

Blog comments: Make intelligent comments regularly on their blogs (but not stalker
level) then you will get noticed.

Be an affiliate: Sell their stuff, that will get you noticed.

Ego surfing: Google alerts tell people when their name (or product) is used. Write stuff
about them and they might take notice.

Social media: Maybe you should interact with them on their social media sites. They may
be more approachable in this setting. LinkedIn is a good site for networking.

Order of contacting:
1. Get introduced
2. Live events
3. FedEx
4. Lumpy Mail
5. Mail
6. Phone
7. Email

First Contact
Email: Easily missed though.

Mail or FedEx: Send them an overnight package.

Phone: It would be very good to talk with them on the phone.

In-Person: The best would be in person, especially at an event. The bar after the main
events are usually where the real deals are made.

Hopefully you get on their radar before making first contact.

Education
Some markets don’t understand marketing. You may need to educate them on affiliates,
tracking etc. The good news is there won’t be competition for deals. But again, the
education may be a hassle and they might not understand things like passing traffic along.
So pick your battles.

The Pitch
Metrics Rule: Showing conversion rates helps and showing how much money they will
make per prospect they send that helps. If you don’t have stats on this item, you can use
stats on other sites you have done from other projects.

Jeff’s rule of thumb: if you have a standard garden variety launch over 7 days, if you take
your first hour and double it you will end up with your 24 hour total. And if you take
your 24 hour total and double that you will end up with your 1 week total.

WIIFM: How they are going to make money. Preserve integrity of list. Help their list out.

Activating Current partners: Make it personal (but make sure you don’t make mass
emails seem personal when they aren’t as that will turn off your prospects). Here is a
sample email:

SUBJECT: Personal from [YOUR NAME]

AFFILIATE NAME,

[PERSONAL STUFF HERE]

In any case, I just wanted to give you a heads up…I’m going to be releasing [PRODUCT
NAME HERE] on [LAUNCH DATE HERE]. We will go into prelaunch on
[PRELAUNCH DATE HERE]…and I would love to have you on board to promote.

I’ll have more details soon – it will be [BASIC PRODUCT DETAILS HERE]. Price is
[PRICE HERE], we will have a payment plan, and commission is [COMMISSION
PERCENTAGE HERE].

By the way, [MORE DETAILS HERE ABOUT YOUR INTERNAL LAUNCH OR

YOUR LAST LAUNCH IF YOU HAVE THEM].
Best Regards
[YOUR NAME}

Launch Team
1. You: Jeff did $100k launches by himself and $600k launches with a tiny bit of
customer service help. So you don’t need the whole team all the time. As you get
bigger the margins drop.
2. Copywriting: swipe files
3. Customer support: you can get temp help from an agency (or recruit family)
4. Technical: Jeff uses Paul Gallaway. Rentacoder.com, Elance.com, and
Craigslist.com
5. JV manager: This will be a huge time drain, you will want someone in charge of
this. With a big JV launch, you can end up spending as much time tracking
affiliates as you do on the launch itself.
6. Product czar: It is good to have someone double checking all the details of your
product and making sure everything is going smooth (links working, all the right
files in place etc).

List Building
It’s about the relationship with the list to create a hyper-list. Smaller lists can way out
perform larger lists based on the relationship.

A list is a great source for employees, product ideas, content, partners, and cash on
demand.

List building rule #1: Always focus on list building.

Metrics: Your list building metrics are among the most important metrics in your
business. The key metrics are:
-What a subscriber is worth
-Opt in %
-Unsubscribe rate
-List growth

Your Two Lists

1. Prospects
2. Clients
Although you will have lots of lists over time in different areas of marketing.

Testing: The number 1 testing rate is your opt-in rate. It is easier to test opt-in rate vs.
buy rate. ProFollow.com has built in popup features. Popups will increase opt-in rates

Traffic Sources
Natural: Links, Natural Search, Forums (natural search usually drops people one some
other page of your site, so since they won’t be coming to squeeze pages so be sure to had
pop-ups there). To take advantage of natural traffic offer mini courses
PPC: Send traffic to squeeze page. It’s a numbers game, what’s a subscriber worth?
Watch Google slap. Use double opt in. What does it cost to subscribe and double opt-in?
JV Partners: Doing a teleseminar with an opt-in is a great way to build opt-ins with the
list. Consider interviewing the list owner.
Referral system: Incorporate a referral system. Get people to get their friends to sign up.
Make it part of the community and interaction aura.

Salesletter Design
Salesletter Templates
Once you know what your market demographic is from your list, you can consider using
one of these templates.

 Product offer template: How the prospect will use the product. Talk about the
problems the prospect has had in the past. Show how your prospect won’t have
this problem with your product. Describe your product in action with all it’s
components, guarantees, and bonuses. Show how the problem is gone and the
prospects life is much better
 Service offer template: Describe unique and valuable opportunities of the service.
Key additional details – why it’s so valuable. Add one or more bonuses that add
on to the core appeal of what you are offering. Summarize and conclude by
emphasizing how your prospects situation will be better because they purchased
your service
 Information offer template: Describe the most emotional rendition of the need for
your emotional product. Information can be boring, so you want to spice it up by
talking about the emotional rendition of it. Describe the product and the value that
went into creating it. Review key features and the top benefit. Introduce bonuses
that make the core appeal of your proposition even stronger
 Negative Optism (made up by Armand Morin): You strive to stay positive. It is
the optimal use of negative optism in your copy. Your prospect has a problem or
unfilled desire – that’s negative. Negative optism shows empathy and creates
rapport – when you do it right. If you tell prospects how bad things are in a way
they can relate to you, then they know, that you know, how it really is. Copy is
supposed to solve a problem or give them something want (and if they can’t have
it, that is also a problem) Steps for negative optism: #1. Acknowledge what the
prospect may be thinking or feeling. #2. Validate it by talking about your or
someone’s problem. #3. Talk about how horrible the reality is from your
perspective (if you had) or FIND someone who has, and write it from there’s
(don’t just make it up if you haven’t experienced it). #4. Talk about how hopeless
and overwhelmed you were #5. Tell them the solution you found #6. Promise to
tell them the solution
 Choice of 1 template: there is always competition (at least in your prospects mind,
they are thinking: can I get it better, faster, cheaper?). Their mind likes a clearly
superior option. Unconscious mind likes certainty, safety, and freedom from
criticism. Give reasons why you offer the best choice
 Choice of 1 interactive – Guru Aura: Those in the know choose this person.
Unique relevant credentials. Qualifications, accomplishments, abilities from other
fields – to combine with credentials. State the desired conclusion
 Anger to envy to offer: anger and jealousy are powerful motivators. 1. Make a
statement they can identify with. 2. Make a contrasting statement. 3. Offer a
happier solution. Where: at the start of your copy
 NB: an interesting definition of jealousy is the fear of loss brought into the
immediate present moment
 Empathy through shared misery: bond by showing them how you feel. 1. Start
with example of misery 2. Show compassion 3. Introduce a way to end the
misery. Where: after impersonal-type copy
 Doubts to confidence: if they are interested they are going to be in doubt. You
need to turn doubt into confidence. 1. In testimonials, bring up doubt 2. Have
testimonials answer directly why doubt is not valid. Where: after you offer a big
claim
 Have testimonials bring up specific doubts and specific results. What was life like
before you bought my product? Why did you choose to buy my product, what did
you want it to accomplish? What happened after you bought my product?
 Appeal to peoples sense of larceny: everyone wants a better deal, so give’em one!
1. Show the reader the “expensive version” 2. Show how they can “get away”
with not paying full price. Where: Before you announce your price
 Your prospects are having conversations in their head. You want to meet them
there. Learn to anticipate that conversation and write like you are in it
 Emotional Math: Where 1+1=10. This is a way to defeat objections without
raising them. 1. Make a statement 2. Figure out the objection, but don’t state it 3.
Jump right into the statement that answers the unstated objection in your
prospects mind. Where: Anywhere; prominent place is best
 Sour grapes to vintage wine: to help “small-thinking” prospects become
customers (people who feel unworthy or not confident about results they can get).
1. What’s their biggest “sour grapes” excuse? 2. Provide a response that validates
their excuse? 3. Redefine a smaller version of original promise in bigger terms.
Where: after you’ve made a big promise.
 Factual format for emotionally proactive language: A way to present the idea
without creating resistance. 1. Make statement in a logical, factual language.
Where: Anywhere; prominent place is best
 People are predisposed to trust journalists. If you can change your medium to look
like journals it makes more believable just because of the format
 Drip-Irrigation Method, to change disbelief to belief: Transition from commonly
accepted knowledge to what you want your prospect to believe. 1. Start with some
indisputable facts 2. Then make a statement that blurs the line between fact and
assertion 3. Make your assertion. Where: at the beginning to establish viability, or
 later to answer objections. Somehow they will believe it’s true, they won’t know
what happened
 Emotional downfall to emotional uplift: emotional downs are inevitable and this
is a way to turn them to your advantage. 1. Make negative-emotion-inducing
statement 2. Follow with a series of positive statements 3. Make your assertion.
Where: at the places that are likely to bring your reader down anyway (areas
where people will be skeptical)
 Use shared outrage to get them on your side: play emotional downs to your
advantage 1. Express anger about something your prospect will relate to (you are
angry about what they are angry about) 2. Follow with a series of positive
statements 3. Make your assertion. Where: at places that are likely to bring your
reader down anyway
 From desperation to salvation: a very powerful starting emotion that, when linked
together, practically forces action. 1. Put someone in a desperate situation 2.
Increase the desperation level 3. Let your product save the day. Where: any key
point in your copy where you have to overcome inertia
 From humiliating defeat to triumphant victory: The lazy man’s way. 1. Start with
the story of humiliation. 2. Tell how you solved the problem 3. Show how the
reader can solve the problem too
 Copy is a story, you are telling a story
 If make up a story, you can go to jail, that is illegal
 The secret formula for success and prestige: Get anything fast websites. 1. Tell
the story of growth and accomplishment 2. Portray as a reversal from the
beginning 3. Show how your product or method led to the reversal and the victory
 Your unrecognized greatness has been discovered: At some deep level people
know there is greatness inside them that is not recognized. 1. Talk about the
unique achievement, status, or other special prestige that your product makes
available to people 2. Then you personalize that to the reader 3. Give them a
friendly offer by showing how easy it is to achieve it. You want them to conclude
their greatness has been discovered
 Free little-known wealth-building information in plain English: Wealth building
sites. 1. Indicate or imply the value of free offer 2. Describe plausibly: why so
valuable and why you’re giving this valuable info away 3. Give simple easy to
understand call to action
 The Fortin Factor “Do you qualify for this offer?”: Big shot name sites. 1. Start by
qualifying your reader 2. Tell your sales story 3. Before you close, re-qualify
 Turn trash into cash: ebay, ebay services, earthworms, coins etc. 1. Start with a
big claim 2. Prove with real-life examples 3. Show how your offer makes this
easy for the reader
 You’ve worked hard and you deserve a reward: McDonalds; The lazy man’s way.
1. Promise, empathy – they’ve been working hard 2. Offer very appealing reward
3. How can you make it an especially good deal?

Merchant Accounts/Getting Paid

*See Merchant Accounts Planning Questions document*
Once you get the billfold open, it’s your job to go in and take money out. They trust you
now so get it done fast.

Make buying easy:

a. Offer credit terms
b. After they buy bring them to an thank you page with a more expensive upsell.
Then if they buy that, bring them to another thank you and upsell page. And then
one more time after that if they buy again. One upsell offer may just be offering
more for less (10 more reports for the price of 3)
c. Offer 3 pricing packages. People like a low, middle, and high option so they can
feel good about picking the middle option
d. Offer bulk discounts

Merchant Accounts:
It is likely you already have a merchant account. If so, then you probably are already
having your own impressions about dealing with them. Many times dealing with
merchant banks can be frustrating.

Even though you are the customer, they tend to hold all the cards…and many merchant
banks can be difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, they are one of the absolute key
relationships your business has, and you need their cooperation if you are going to have a
successful product launch.

Despite the fact that they may make you feel like you are at a distinct disadvantage when
dealing with your merchant account provider, never forget that you are in fact the
customer. The customer needs to stay in business. You put money in their pocket and you
are NOT a criminal if you have a sudden increase in the amount of business you are
sending their way.

That being said, there are some things you can do to smooth things out if you are
expecting a large increase in sales due to a product launch or promotion.

First, communication is the key. And it really helps if that communication takes place
ahead of time. In other words, you know when your launch Is going to be…so you should
let your merchant account provider know. Pick up the phone and call them. Tell them
what to expect. Ask them if there is anything you can do to make their job easier, to make
the entire process go more smoothly.

PowPay.biz is Jeff’s affiliate site and it let’s them know you’re a PLF guy and it goes
straight to Judd Smiths desk. He understands our market and the PLF stuff.

Once established and running bigger numbers you will want to set up multiple accounts
(but only when you are into multiple $100k+ launches). Don’t tell people you have
multiple accounts as it makes them jealous. You can get software designed to alternate
orders to different merchant accounts. That way if you run into problems with one
merchant account you have a fall back. Before you get big though, there are costs and
complexities to having more than one account so it’s best to wait till you’re a bigger
player.

You should consistently ask for increases. You will start at X$ processed per month and
year. So build a track record over time, and as you continue to be a good client and not
have lots of chargebacks keep asking them to increase your limit. Every year/6 months
ask them if they can increase your limit. Give them a reason why of course.

There is a 2-3% fee for using Paypal and merchants.

Getting shut down: You might get frozen if you are doing some serious numbers (like
$100k+) or you might get hold backs. They won’t shut down your account, they will still
process orders, but they will hold your money. You can get shut down if you have too
many chargebacks though. The typical holding period is 60-90 days and generally you
don’t get interest and you need to go back to them and ASK them to give it back to you.

If they want to talk to your clients about your product, cherry pick your best clients if you
can.

Paypal: Testing has shown using Paypal will increase your sales (as opposed to just using
a merchant account). You should make an extra 10-20% by adding a Paypal option.
When you call Paypal you get a first level technician and they aren’t the greatest service
providers, and you will be talking to a different one each time you call so it’s important to
get them to take notes and put it in your record, also, push for them to escalate it to a
supervisor. Tell them you are doing a launch and ask them to make note of that in your
account and that is VERY IMPORTANT for after the fact. Paypal can and will freeze
you from time to time, but they will still process orders. They are going to call you and
ask you questions like how are you shipping, how much has been sent, how are you
tracking it, how much is going to be sent etc.

Some alternatives if you offer some really high end products: bank wiring or checks.
With bank wires there might be some security issues as you need to tell them what your
bank number is. Jeff only does this with high end clients that he has done previous
business with. Wiring doesn’t cost you anything.

What scares banks: risk. They don’t understand entrepreneurs. They want lots of slow
steady growth. Big inflows of cash tend to scare them. They are worried you are going to
take all this money, and then skip town and never deliver your product. Or even worse,
people do chargebacks and you don’t have the cash anymore because you spent it.

Communication always wins. Let them know ahead of time things are coming and what
numbers you think you could possibly be doing. They probably won’t believe you
though, nevertheless, if you talk to them and get it in writing, then that counts for a lot.

Jud Smith Interview

-Judd is with powerpay.biz
-A merchant account is a credit card processor. They provide a gateway for the credit
card to be processed.
-Hooking up the shopping cart to the gate way requires a secure transaction key. The
programmer will put this in
-Funds will arrive 2-4 days
-Authorize.net is a secure internet gateway (works with many carts and has great tech
support which is critical for your webmaster)
-Shopping carts: oneshoppingcart or kickstartcart
-You need to find a visa/master card processor who can underwrite your shopping cart
(takes 1 day to 1 week). There are lots of processors out there who will approve you
quickly, but there is a longer underwriting processes
-Credit score affects the underwriting process and the dynamics with which you process
card (like an extended processing phase, 25% holding reserve that is held for 6 months
usually). You can always call them up and ask for a review of the account and get the
reserve listed (a good history is key for this)
-Try to be on a first name basis with the person in the risk department and writing
department. It is important to get in contact with the processing companies risk
department. Ask for their advice (they like that).
-Be clear in you refund policy (for chargeback issues). 30-60-90 days are best, the longer
the return period the higher the risk to the merchant (as chargebacks become a risk factor
if you don’t produce the money)
-Voluntarily sending your past credit card processing without them asking, that will look
very good. Any processor is going to ask for bank statements or credit card processing
history.
-Going thru the powpay.biz (Jeffs affiliate link) let’s them know you are a PLF student
and gets you some credibility

Cindy Tonne Disk.com Fulfillment interview

-Makes and ships products
-The cost of 500 is almost the same as 1000 because of the price break
-Make sure the graphics designers account for the bleeds
-They will link to your shopping cart so they get the orders processed. This takes about a
week
-Start with a 1000, it doesn’t take long to make more. Don’t over buy

*See Merchant Account To Do Checklist*

Merchant Account Red Flags

1. Your merchant account provider is a bank. This means they are very conservative.
They don’t like risks. They view any changes to the status quo as potential threats.
2. They will get nervous if you have a sudden spike in volume.
3. They will get nervous if the value of your average sale goes up dramatically.
4. They will get nervous if you start selling at a different price than you have sold
before. This one isn’t as big a deal, but if you start pushing through a hundred
 orders in a short span of time and all of them are at a price they have never seen,
they might give you a call.
5. Length guarantees make them nervous. They really don’t like anything longer
than 90 days. And they would rather see 60 days.
6. Lengthy times for delivery make them nervous. Be prepared to tell them how long
it will take to ship physical products
7. Lengthy subscriptions make them nervous. If you are selling one-year
subscriptions, they will not be happy. In fact, they won’t be very happy about
quarterly subscriptions

Questions & Answers

Does this work with low priced products? Yes! If you turn your offer into an event, use
the reason why and all the other triggers then doesn’t matter what the price is. The
product launch motivates people and get’s your offer read. It will even work with a FREE
product. The whole idea may just be making a list (or moving it to another server).

Does this work for Re-Launches for already existing products? Yes, but you will
have to work smart to create a good offer and a reason why. Think of ways to build in
scarcity (bundles, pricing, etc). One good way to do this is the “get people off the fence
promo”. The product doesn’t really have to be any different. You can also build an auto
responder process, that automatically launches for each new person. Get them interacting
by getting them to “apply coupons by deadlines” or fill out surveys etc.

Can you do this if you don’t have a product? Yes, do it with someone else’s product.
Or you can become an affiliate of someone else’s launch. Be exclusive, what is your
hook? What is your reason why? If you have a list you need to pick your spots…don’t hit
them over the head (it can work, but you don’t want to burn that list relationship). Give
them an extra bonus.

Will this work for a service? Of course, get your offer, reason why, scarcity, and it
doesn’t really have to be any different from a product based offer.

Can you do this from a newsletter or Ezine? Yes, this is where Jeff developed these
techniques. This is actually the best case scenario and changing the environment GETS
their attention. It’s like an automatic event.

Product Launch Challenges

What if I have a cold list? Lists lose 10% effectiveness for each month not mail. Before
you do a promotion, you should warm it. It is not that hard to worm the list, it doesn’t
take much (people have short memories). Give them the reason why you stopped
publishing (time, burned out) and the reason why you are mailing again (came across
something they will really like). Do not immediately ask for the sale.
What if I don’t have a list? Use other peoples list or start building one. You can sell
someone else’s product and build a list doing that then go into your project.

Additional Insights
Autopilot Launches: With an auto responder launch have people get the standard
welcoming message for the first few days then have them go into the launch series.

You can also set up the auto responder to have set times to launch a product with the
launch.

You can sell them stuff you would normally sell, and also have them on launch sequence.
Jeff has launches sequences about 3 times a year.

Use an auto responder service, not a plug-mailer that you can use with your own site
(those are bad). Your email service is the most important decision (changing lists hosts is
a serious task that will cost you some members)

Affiliate Software: Jeff recommends 1shoppingcart.com but don’t use their list hosting.
Use profollow.com instead. Syngergix.com is an alternative to 1shoppingcart.com (it has
less bells and whistles but runs well and has good tech support from Paul Gallaway).

Value Perception: How many times can you have a sale before lowing the perceived
value of your product? Jeff recommends 2 times a year max. This depends on your turn
rate. If you have a lot of new people usually, then you can do more sales.

Selling People with a Launch? When you do that shot across the bow, people don’t
expect to be sold and their defenses are down. You don’t want to give the aura of selling
in the pre-pre-launch and that doesn’t happen until they are close to the sales letter (and
by then objections should be handled). The launch is not about tricking people; it’s about
romancing them and getting them engaged.

PowerPoint slides: If you break it down into scenes (like 3 scenes, your talking your car,
your office, then the presentation) then you are taking them through a journey and you
actually bond with them more

Reselling info: If you restructure it and make it more actionable, that adds like 10x the
value and 98% of people, if they’ve bought into you, will be happy to buy.

Re-launch: You can keep using the same story or twists. You get sick of it way more
than your prospects. So don’t stop using it because you get bored with it.

Pricing: Don’t offer life time memberships or promise the price won’t go up. You will
regret it later
Free stuff: You can give away too much free stuff. They will just worry about buying
after finishing the free stuff. Quality vs. quantity. You don’t have to give a ton away to
get the opt in. 2-3 minutes of content or just the offer of a video if they opt-in. Go for the
pain and offer a solution.

Relationships: In 2-3 weeks you can build a good relationship. It doesn’t have to be 6
months.

Testimonials: Jeff doesn’t use big name testimonials because he wants people to know
the average guy can do it.

Product and Story: If you come out with something revolutionary, then the product
itself IS the story.

Copy: Copy can never be too long, it can only be too boring. Make it long enough to get
the sale. For squeeze pages it can be short if the barrier to entry is low like that.

Shot Across the Bow: It is better to HINT at something is coming and then drop the
content a little later.

Opt-in: Just email address opt-ins usually convert higher (without asking for names). Jeff
doesn’t personalize his emails.

Blog posts: You can set it up to approve posts before hand. Jeff doesn’t mind negative
posts (like it didn’t work). It’s the damaging posts like (he lies and doesn’t give refunds,
or intentionally attacking you). So the negative ones he lets go through. The best scenario
is when your fans come back to defend negative comments.

Video: If you are just a talking head the video can get boring (vs. slides which seem to
perform better). So consider combining slides and video if you want, or make videos a
little more interactive than just a talking head.

Payment: $1 trial is usually better as you get their payment info and they are more likely
to pay later.

Average Conversions: It is totally dependent on product to market match, the

relationship, price, and the demographic. But a totally rough guide line is 3-5% for low
end, and maybe 1-3% for high end (and those are extremely rough).

Content Release & Production: You need to weigh free vs. paid. People have a scale. If
they hear 60 minutes for free, they will compare what they get. So make sure that the free
is a small enough portion to make the paid stuff look good.

Bonuses & Gifts: Sometimes giving a gift is what gets people to make the purchase, but
other times it can be a deterrent.
People think that a bonus gift is less valuable than what they are buying, and this deters
the value of the stand alone value of the bonus product. They will think “what is wrong
with this bonus, why am I getting it free? It must be defective or overstocked or useless
etc”.

When people saw a liquor bottle with a bonus bracelet, they were willing to pay 35% less
for the bracelet than the people who only saw the stand alone bracelet.

This means businesses need to be careful which bonuses they bundle into services when
they also sell those bonuses as stand alone services or products.

One way to prevent this backfire is to remind people of its value. So, if you were giving
away a free piece of software say “Free $250 software” rather than just “Free software”.

Take this a step further. You can influence list by mentioning why you don’t mind doing
a favor for them because of the result you know you are helping them get (e.g. “I don’t
mind working an extra hour with you on this proposal because I know how much money
this means for your company”). This is more influential than saying nothing.

Forum: How long before you can push sales? Depends, like marriage.

Relations: Stronger after launch. Lack of trust is #1 reason for relationship harm. The
first factor in building trust is having confidence, having certainty that you’re there to
help, certainty that you have a concept that makes sense.

Sale: No one complains about the cost of aspirin. People are happy to pay when you
solve their problem

Reason: Make the reason why truthful. It doesn’t have to be great, just don’t LIE. But it
can be weak!