April 6th, 2017
5 Steps To Setting Launch Goals The Right Way
Are you planning your launch? If you are – have you started setting launch goals for yourself, your team or your revenue?
Along with all the pieces you’ll need to “figure out” to execute a product launch, the one step I push all my students and myself to make are setting launch goals and making realistic revenue projections for the launch.
But how do you do set realistic goals if you’ve a) never launched and b) never sold anything before…
That’s what we’re going to be talking about in today’s episode of the Fearless Launching.
I’ll walk you through my 3 step process for setting launch goals that:
- Are based in reality
- Feel attainable
- Give you specific actionable steps
- Show you where you need improvement
- Inform all of your decisions about the launch
Let’s dive in because I want you to really think about this goal setting piece of your launch…
Here's the Step By Step Process To Setting Launch Goals The Right Way
The first step is the most simple one but has a profound effect on the entire launch.
#1: Stop calling them your launch goals.
That's right. Start calling your goals revenue projections. Seriously, put on your big girl, girlboss CEO panties and make some projections. It’s too easy to call them goals and then do nothing with them. SMART goals aren’t necessarily smart and when people hear your goals – when YOU hear the goals you will reach, bam dude you won’t see them as real. Take yourself and your launch seriously.
Okay, now that you’re taking yourself seriously, let’s get down to numbers.
[bctt tweet=”Stop calling them launch goals – do this instead!” username=”@annesamoilov”]
#2 Acknowledge REALITY.
What does that mean? Know and own your current average conversion rates…as a part of the setting launch goals process.
Conversion rate simply means the number of people who see your page divided by the number of people who take action on your page… Divide people who take action by the total number of visits…and you’ve got your conversion rate. It’s generally expressed in a percentage and it's the percentage of people who take action (in this case, purchase) your product.
1-3% of the people who will see your offer who don’t see it by accident, but actually get served your offer, will take that offer. High conversion rates happen during live events like challenges, webinars, and Facebook groups…
As if reading these % numbers isn't confusing enough, your numbers will fluctuate throughout the life of your business. Just like some quarters (or years) companies like Pepsi or Apple or Coke or any bigger corporation experience them…your company will also experience dips and peaks in revenue!
Don’t despair and think wow, I’ve got 100 people visiting my page, what is 1% of nothing??? Instead of worrying about the people you're not reaching yet, think…how can I interact with those people live. Start with the lower, more realistic number. Gather the following information to get a very loose idea of what number of people we’re talking about.
(If you go into this list thinking – I have no idea what this even means…all you need to do is start. No email service provider? Find one and start building your list. Google Analytics not set up yet? Set it up!)
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- Look in your google analytics right now – note the number of average visitors each month to your website and where they come from…
- Open your email marketing provider (if you have one, which you should) and look at the % of people who open your emails and the % of people who click on your links in your emails… Go with the most recent data.
- Tally up number of opens and visits to your site and say – okay, if this my average month, and about 1-3% of people may turn into customers. What could I expect assuming that the numbers stayed the same.
- One more thing – if you’ve done launches in the past, pull out your launch emails and your launch webpage analytics to see how many people actually viewed the page and what YOUR % conversion rate is.
We talk more about this in Fearless Launching, but you should be able to come up with a general number or a starting conversion rate even without a ton of data.
You can also grab my Free Launch Workbook which gives you 10 of the very first steps to get you moving confidently toward your launch.
Remember, all you're doing by gathering data is giving yourself more than a guess when you're making launch projections.
[bctt tweet=”No more guessing will feel so good…and you'll get better at it as you keep launching and learning.”]
There are other ways to get this information – but again, you’ll have to dive deep with me in Fearless Launching if you want some of those alternate ways.
#3 Set your Good Better Best Goals
I’ve had many coaches and teachers suggest this method of setting projections for a launch – Pace Smith was the first and Todd Herman in the 90 Day Year was the most recent.
Here’s how to apply this during your launches. You’ve got some real data from step 2…now come up with some projections for what feels realistic, what feels like a bit of a stretch, and what WOULD feel so amazing that you can hardly handle it.
- Start with the conversion rate. If you discovered that maybe your conversion rate would indeed be 3%…first do a GBB on that – 3% would be good, 7% conversion would be better, and say 10% would be best.
- Based on your numbers right now, what revenue would you make at each of these levels?G_____________, B________________, B____________________
Now you’ve set those… guess what’s next? Action.
#4 Define Actions To Reach Each Level.
You might not know exactly what it’s going to take to reach each level you’ve defined, but think in terms of “what else” can I give my audience, “what else” can I show them…”what else do they need?” This piece may take the longest for you and require a full processing conversation out loud with someone you trust.
- G – Do what you’re doing now – maybe add a tad more consistency to the mix to reach the good numbers.
- B – Do you have a live event planned for your launch yet? No? What about planning one? Already doing one? Maybe add 2 more? Think of one more thing you can do for each piece of that launch to do list…how can you push it just one more step… Maybe you just need 1 more person to work with you through all the work.
- B (best) – List out all the things you know would make a huge difference but you’ve never done them, don’t know how to get started, and really push you. This could be Facebook Ads. This could be working with partners. Doing multiple webinars. Hiring a graphic designer or a copywriter to look over your sales page…it could mean a series of upgrades you’ve put off but what make a huge difference
#5 Write out how you want to feel.
Why do you really want to reach the projections you’ve set?
It’s okay to get a little wild here. List out as many reasons as you can because as you get to the end of that list – the 25th reason starts to get really stinking goooood. This is part of an exercise another coach gave me and it’s great keeping me always working toward that dream. Give yourself something to hold onto!
Now It's Your Turn
Get to work. If you're ready to set the right goals and projections for your launch, head over to the launch workbook. It's step 1 of 10 that will help you get moving toward your next launch.
As you’re working through your launches – keep a journal of the actions you take, any results, big challenges you encounter. After you close your doors and/or the launch wraps up, you'll be able to go back and see where you need to course correct.
You’ll get better as you continue to do this…as you continue to launch. Practice. Get used to talking about the numbers. What are you going to do to reach those numbers? What actions steps will you take? Why do you want to reach them in the first place?