00:00

Welcome to Make More Money without Selling Your Soul with me Polly Lavarello, evergreen marketing expert. This podcast is for you if you are an online entrepreneur who is looking to simplify their business to scale.  On this podcast you can expect to hear regular talk about wealth, about selling and about wellbeing. Because I believe these three core fundamental things are pivotal to your growth moving forward.

00:44

Hello, and welcome to make more money without selling your soul with myself Polly Lavarello, evergreen marketing expert and cushy business pioneer.

And today we are talking about the one thing that kind of I wouldn’t say sunk my launch, but definitely changed the trajectory of a launch that was going very well. One simple thing that I did, that totally changed what was a very successful funnel. And it’s a really important conversation, it’s going to be a brief one, right? Because ultimately, overall, the launch actually did pretty well. But I think there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there that talk about what goes well in launches, because that looks better for them. And maybe not so many that are willing to be really real about something that hasn’t gone to plan. And to be honest with you, you’ll know if you listen to my episode a lot my thoughts and feelings around failure. I’m not afraid of it. Failure is valuable data to work with and build upon. So I feel no sensitivity and more geekery around what it is I’m about to share with you. And excitement to be honest with you, because this was such a fabulous test to run. And I mean, it’s just been It’s been huge, huge being able to share this with my clients. Okay, so give me let me give you some context I launched back in February.

So we’re now close to the end of March. But back in February for about a month, I was running a launch for my new program. Never have I evergreen. So never have I evergreen is my program for people who haven’t got an offer, or for those who do have an offer. But for whom want to kind of ensure that it’s an offer that truly delivers an offer that they can sell evergreen and all the good stuff like it’s amazing, the calibre the quality, the beauty behind the wonderful souls who are inside that container BLOWS MY frickin brain, like I couldn’t have wished for I lovely a group of women. And so I just wanted to share a little bit behind the scenes as to how we got to where we are now. So essentially what I’m sharing here, before we even get started is there’s a happy ending to this people, I ended up with the most perfect cohort inside. Never have I Evergreen. And there was something we did in our launch testing, which really didn’t go well which is going to be illuminating for you as you make decisions in your business and your life launches. So firstly, one thing I’ll share, which I think is so powerful to do in launching, which so many people avoid. I know so many business owners who would rather spend hours and so much money, building sales pages rather than having conversations before they launch a brand new offer. And that is so damaging. One of the things I did would never have I evergreen is I had had a bunch of conversations with people who weren’t quite ready yet for my mastermind. And actually, to be honest with you, I partly built this offer with those specific people in mind, which meant it was really easy to reach out to them before I’d even started launching Never have I evergreen to say, you know, based on the back of our conversations we had, I’ve created this brand new offer. You know, obviously with that in mind, I would really appreciate your feedback. And what that resulted in was I think I reached out to about eight people and six of them turned around and said I’m in fact one of them was so enthusiastic. They didn’t even ask me for the payment like there was like I’m in work.

04:24

So yeah, they they were hacking the system to make sure they were in. So that was really great, really illuminating and even resulted in a few changes as to how I structured the offer to ensure that they had everything they wanted to ensure that they could succeed. So we did that. And that was really powerful because that meant that when we started launching it organically, and it wasn’t dropping in as well as I hoped it would in terms of my masterclass was getting very little take up. It meant that I had money set aside already from the launch, which meant I could reinvest that money into advertising to recognise is it a following thing? Or is it a positioning thing?

05:00

So, I launched a webinar called How to create a better than the rest group program. Now admittedly, a phrase like better than the rest isn’t the like, clearest one that you could use up, you know, for sure. And at the same time, that was partly the point, I wanted to attract established business owners who are aware that there’s a group program, and there’s a group program. You know that there’s a lot of people teaching on how to sell group programs. But I wanted people who are interested in creating industry leading group programs, they’ve been in the containers where you’re taught on how to sell a group program, and they recognise it’s much more than the ability to sell, you need to actually create elearning experiences that are superior to the rest. So while it was a relatively niche webinar title that was done with intention, and of course, I wanted to run ads to be sure on is it a following thing or an advertising thing? Now, our cost per lead was still relatively high as we started running these ads. So we ended up with only about 70 people signed up to the masterclass, we never got to a stage where the cost per lead was desirable enough to scale it. In fact, by the time it got to the good cost per lead was around the time that I think was the same day that I was about to actually run the masterclass.

06:18

But, and this is such a really, this is a really important piece, I’m always saying to my Facebook ad clients, you know, it’s not about your cost per lead, it’s about your cost per acquisition, that’s really the most important piece of data you should be measuring, particularly in the business space, where leads particularly very niche leads can be quite expensive. And that was a reality, I converted with only 500 Pan ad spend two entirely cold leads. And I obviously don’t like using those words, because they are to human beings who I am so grateful they purchase from me, I’m so grateful to have a working relationship with them. Now. They are wonderful women doing wonderful work in this world. But I’m obviously just talking marketing jargon here, it’s really important to recognise that’s just the autism in me, I talk very black and white sometimes. But essentially, I spent 500 pounds on ads and that procured to wonderful human beings into my business world in and so essentially it cost me 250 pounds per In fact, it ended up being three clients. So we figured out my team that it cost me about 170 pounds to make about one and a half 1000 pounds each for each claim that came in so great return on investment. Essentially, if I’d only converted one of them with 500 pounds, that would have been a win. Now, that launch had gone well. The only thing that hadn’t gone, the way I wanted it to was the number of signups. However, we were aware that this was very much a test launch. So we had, like organised our month in a rather unusual way, in that we were already planning to do a two phase launch, we’d plan to do a masterclass in the first week of the month, and then another one in the third week of the month so that there was two weeks between the two. And I could essentially LIS build and invite a whole bunch of new people into the second launch. So that’s what we did. However, one of the things I questioned based on the cost per lead rather than the cost per acquisition was, are we making it too hard for ourselves, calling it how to create a better than the rest group program? And should we change it? So my team and I came up with the name of how to create a group program clients actually want. Now they don’t sound that different. Do they curious to know what your thoughts are? I at the time thought they don’t sound that different. However, the benefit of ensuring you’re creating something that’s genuinely going to appeal to clients is you know, ultimately indicating that this is an offer that’s going to sell guys.

08:56

And herein lies the problem. Okay, so what happened was our cost per lead was maybe slightly better, but only marginally. Which meant that we still I think we ended up with about 100 leads that it wasn’t about it was I think exactly 100 leads. So the promise I’d made myself was this is still a test launch. Let’s see with this brand new well not brand new webinar, but brand new webinar title and brand new ads funnel, how this does with 100 leads. So the attendance rates for the webinar was similar to the first one about 30%, which is in fact that was 30 to 40%, which is really good because the industry average is about 20%. The amount of people that converted from that attendance to inquiries was also really good. Rather than doing calls for this particular launch because the investment is relatively low. I was steering people towards DMing me where if they then on the other side of the DM conversation, wanted to have a zoom call. We would book that in but I was starting off conversations and essentially qualifying people in the DMS before we even get on a call together. Now, when I was qualifying people in the DMS, not one of them, was in a position where it felt right to get on a call with them. Again, if you are listening as one of the people that came to the second webinar, know that, you know, I don’t believe in it up, people are much more than a sale to me. And I really, really enjoyed delivering that webinar. And I really, really am grateful for the new people who are on my list, the new people who and ultimately as well, I know how these things work, a lot of people who come into my world who aren’t ready to work with me now often tend to be the very same people who become clients in two to three years time. It’s amazing, I love sometimes when people come through, and they’re like, I’ve been following you for two years now. I’m like, yes, it’s your moment. But ultimately, what was really interesting is, and this is me talking from a very data geeky, nerdy perspective here, but ultimately, the kind of business owners who were attracted to the second webinar, where the financial reward of, you know, create a group program clients actually want was more prominent, I guess, than create a better than the rest group program, which was more about the quality of what you’re creating, with no inference around. I mean, obviously, in my head, I know anyone knows, if they create a better than the rest group program, they’ll make money, but that connection wasn’t quite as obvious. It attracted business owners who were much earlier on in their business. And this offer while it’s not as high ticket as my other offers, it’s better suited to those who have gotten a lot of them hadn’t worked with coaching clients yet, for example, when I say early on in business, a lot of them are still hypothesising over what their niche should be, in a hand attracted the first coaching client, things like that things that mean that they they are definitely not you know, anyone who wants to create a group program? Should 100% already be working one to one clients, like how can you know what you’re going to create a group program around? How can you know, you’re going to be able to sell it unless you’ve worked one to one unless you’re really confident about what your expertise is. And similarly, that one to one work will be how you find the answers to the question of what makes working with me unique, what makes the way I do work different, you know, otherwise, it’s just academic and it’s not lived. Okay. And that academic doesn’t sell lived does.

12:24

So yeah, what is it? And well, let me just highlight here, in case I haven’t set made it really clear. Everything else about this launch was exactly the same. The same sales page, the same webinar, the same opt in, the only thing that changed about the opt in was the name of the webinar, the actual bullet points as to what I was covering exactly the same, the email sequence, the reminder sequence, everything was exactly the same. The only thing I changed was the name of the webinar. And what is so valuable about this, this conversation that I’m having with you right now, although it’s a one sided one, because I’m just talking into a mic is this had I launched my offer, with that second webinar, had I not already validated my offer by reaching out to people and making sales already, which meant I knew when people get their eyes on my offer, they want it, had I not done the first webinar, and seeing how quickly people were jumping into work with me. Again, I might have assumed my webinars broke, or my sales pages broke like something isn’t landing. However, fortunately for me, that webinar, I did the second one that didn’t convert, despite bringing in 100 leads, despite having maybe 10 to 15 conversations afterwards in the DMS. I mean, this is the other thing, right? I’m very high integrity, if I see people, I mean, there are people saying to me, Oh, I’m on the fence, I’m thinking about it, and I will say to them, please don’t, here’s my podcast, here are my other free resources, here are things you can get into that will support you on your journey. But this is not the time to be be committing to this offer, because I also knew at that stage, who was in that room, and that they were established business owners, and that these people, but wouldn’t be a good match for either of them. It’d be unfair on those established business owners to be kind of, you know, for me to be mixing up the kind of crowd that’s in there, like it was a perfect mix of people already in there. And I didn’t want to be messing that up. Because I know how frustrating it can be to be in a group container when you always feel like you’re the most established one. You know, that’s not good for anyone involved. That’s not good for the person who’s new who’s gonna feel intimidated and overwhelmed. And that’s not good for the established business owner who’s gonna feel bored listening to questions they already know the answers to right. So, you know, I intentionally create my experiences to ensure that it brings people in at a similar level for the best quality experience for them.

14:54

So as I’m trying to like, I’m going off on tangents slightly here, as you can probably gather, but what I’m trying to do communicate here is that one webinar title, changed the results entirely. Had I done what the average bid online business owner does, and only launched with one funnel and one webinar, and it put all my cookies in that one jar, I would have left feeling like my entire launch was a failure, when in fact, it was just the webinar title that bought in the wrong type of ideal client. Okay. And so this is what’s so important. I also share the story with the gorgeous Starling, you know, she and I worked together on her launch. And I remember that I often share with with my clients how Starling did a webinar that totally flopped. And she and I reviewed the data. And one of the things we recognised was the type of person she was attracting and with her webinar, we repositioned her webinar, I don’t think we even changed the offer. I think it’s just the webinar we reposition. She launched it again two weeks later. And that is the same webinar that she has been continued to run for two years now, that has been lucrative that has generated multi six figures for her. And literally two weeks, two weeks between that first webinar that flopped. And the webinar that’s gone on to generate her multi six figures. It didn’t require a massive overhaul, it didn’t require rewriting all the slide webinar slides, it didn’t require creating a brand new offer. It just required repositioning it to ensure it met the person who was in the perfect position to say yes, and to excel with the program that she was offering on the other side. And it was exactly the same with this situation. So there’s a couple of things you can take away from this experience. One, I’m not saying not to AB test, it was really really insightful and useful to get that data. And that’s also why I do small test launches with very small sums of money. And I ensure I have enough cash flow from other offers, so that I can approach it with curiosity, and not one of this better frickin work.

Okay, because that’s exhausting for everyone involved, okay, so ensure that you are not putting yourself in such a tight place that all your launches need to work perfectly from the get go. Instead allow it to be that you can have a test launch to 100% Do these AP tests. Because, you know, it was really valuable to see how something could not work and work all at the same time, or within the same month or with exactly the same funnel, okay? Know that if something hasn’t worked, it’s rarely that you need to change absolutely everything. And again, I’m gonna go back to that really long phrase people hear me referring to which is make data lead decisions, because I could see my emails were getting good open rates, because I could see the click through rate was good, because I could see my opt in was converting at something like 60%, which is like 20% of IT industry average, I could see lots of elements of this launcher working I could also see my sales page had a beautiful conversion rate from people landing on it to buying it the only area where there was a kind of crack, let’s say, what’s the webinar title? And how do I fix that? Well, next time I run my program launch, I won’t be so fixated on the cost per lead. And instead, I will trust that when I speak to and that would be the next challenge. If I were to AB test again, all I would be exploring is how do I how do I refine that message around how to create a better than the rest group program? Is there a more succinct way to say that, which is still about the quality of the experience you’re delivering, rather than one one that infers an ability to make money with group programs which is maybe like catnip to a cat, but actually not the kind of client that I’m looking to work with right now. That client has been there, done that one that T shirt, and they are over that they are ready to do things like an industry leader. So there we have it, guys, AB test.

18:51

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself launches by doing test launches, and listen to the frickin data when you come out the other side so that you understand that you never need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I know I’m saying it again. And instead just tidy up the areas of your business that need it. Okay. fanpop those cushions baby. Right there we have it. That’s it. That’s this episode. And I still managed to make it 18 minutes 44 seconds long as well. Right. So next week, I’m going to be talking about the importance of well talking of regulating businesses and how to do things in a way that don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Well, that leads beautifully into me talking about cushy cash flow. That’s going to be the conversation of next week. And essentially how can you make more money in your business without needing to create any new offers or without needing to launch some juicy conversation? I hope you’ll tune in to hear it and I’ll see you then.