You Gave It All You Got and No One Bought
Few things are more discouraging in business than when you create an awesome service/product/event/resource, shape it up into a great offer, share it widely with people and then…
What the ____???
You did your research with your target market. You planned and prepped and got all your promo stuff together. You screwed up your courage to get out live in front of people to talk about it. To make the pitch.
You put your heart and soul into this effort.
What gives? What went wrong?
Now, failed offers and launches… they’re just a natural part of the business landscape. If you’re in business long enough, you’ll experience this.
So it’s not the fail that’s the problem.
It’s how often wrong conclusions are made about why people didn’t buy and what that leads to:
Quitting before you have the evidence you should
Assuming your offer’s bad (usually it’s another issue as I explain below)
Changing your offer so much for the next launch that people don’t readily recognize it and are confused—confused people don’t buy
Instead of making a whole story up about why your thing sucks or how you should have done XYZ differently, do this:
Look at your data
Where did you lose people? During the email campaign? At the sale page? During the pitch? After you sent the proposal? Sometimes you can tell by looking at the analytics from your systems which gives you insight on where to zero in for the fix.
Also, you might simply have the math working against you. Let’s say you’re hoping to bring 5 people into a new program and you’re promoting it to a list of 200 people. Once you apply average conversion rates along every step of the way from someone first hearing about your offer to buying, you might end up with 1 person, if that. You simply didn’t have the volume required to get the 5 people.
Whether you need a handful of clients per year or you’re looking to sell to thousands, every business benefits from looking at their data and building a healthy pipeline of prospects so your conversion math maths.
Look at your messaging
If your offer is brand-new and particularly if it’s complex such as a service with multiple deliverables or a program with curriculum, you probably need to keep tweaking your messaging so people understand what it is.
Sometimes with new things, YOU don’t even fully understand what it is. You’re still testing and validating. If you’re not clear, neither will your potential clients be. People who are not only confused but also not emotionally connected to your thing don’t buy.
A core / huge / MEGA IMPORTANT thing I do is help clients turn their services and programs into offers, craft the messaging, get it out there, then refine it based on market feedback. The whole process is designed to get you clarity and sell yourself first so you’re able to effectively sell it to others.
Send more emails
I can’t tell you how many times I see people I know full well are launching something because I’m on their list and I only see one or two emails about the offer during the entire timeframe. This is a huge missed opportunity. People HAVE to see the info about your thing more than once. Some people need to see it many, many times before they’re ready to buy.
I help clients improve their email game with simple best practices and by implementing specific direct email outreach and follow-up strategies that ensure people are seeing their offers and have easy ways to say yes.
Nurture more, probably longer
Did you drop your new offer in front of people you’ve barely been in contact with these past many months (i.e. a list you randomly occasionally email)? If you’ve sent your offer to brand-new leads or a cold audience, you completely missed the nurture part. Do you know how long someone needs to be in your world before they’re ready to buy from you? For me it’s on average at least 6 months. It for sure happens sooner and sometimes it takes a lot longer as in years.
Oh boy do I love helping clients re-engage and build their email list or in some cases cultivate buying opportunities within a group they gathered but neglected. Plus, when you understand your conversion timeline, it allows you to lean into the power of nurture and play the long game with relationship building.
I hope you can see quite a few factors are at play that could be the reason why no one bought, not that your offer itself stunk.
Give yourself some grace and the courtesy of a launch post mortem so you can understand what might have happened, what you’ll do different next time, and where you need to bring in some help.
Are your words winning or costing you clients?
Find out now with the CLIENT CONVERSION QUIZ. Gain instant insight into the gaps in your messaging and marketing so you know exactly where to focus to improve your connections and conversions. Takes less than 5 minutes and it's free!
