A launch, not “post and hope”
Lesson 1 of 31 in the course “Million Dollar Sales Course”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
Post and wait? That doesn’t work
The classic: you spend a month on a product, drop one “buy now” post and wait. Silence. Jeff Walker, author of the book “Launch”, calls this “hope marketing”: you made it and hope people buy. Usually the product isn’t the problem. People didn’t know it was coming, weren’t waiting for it and saw no reason to buy right now. A launch fixes all three at once, and that’s what this whole course is about.
Case: 12 games vs 670
A story from Walker’s book, with the numbers as the author tells them. John Gallagher and his wife created a board game that teaches kids about medicinal herbs. He borrowed almost $20,000 from his dad and ordered 1,500 games. At his launch party he sold 12. Boxes filled the garage, the spare bedroom, even the shower. Then he relaunched the same game using a launch sequence: no ads, no partners, on a borrowed laptop. Result: 670 games and about $20,000. He later sold over 50,000 copies.
The 4 stages of a launch
1. Warm-up (pre-prelaunch): hint that something is coming and ask people about their problems. You test demand before spending anything. 2. Prelaunch: 3 useful pieces of content over 5–12 days. You give value for free and answer doubts along the way. 3. Open cart: sales open for 24 hours to 7 days, then honestly close. 4. Post-launch: look after new customers and those who didn’t buy. That sets up your next launch.
Why sales come in waves
In Walker’s experience, about 25% of orders come on the first day of sales and about 50% on the last. The first spike comes from the warmest people: they were waiting. The second comes from the deadline: the doubters realise there won’t be a “later”. Without a deadline there’s always “I’ll buy later”, and “later” almost always means “never”. The dashed line in the picture is “post and hope”: no spikes, no sales.
Your market is a conversation
Nobody likes being yelled at with “BUY”. Everyone likes being asked. An example from the book: a guitar teacher tells followers he’s found a way to learn one song a week, wants to make a course, and asks what’s hardest for them when learning a whole song. That’s not an ad, it’s a question. The replies show if there’s demand, what doubts people have and what to put in the product. Plus people already feel a little bit part of it.
A series beats a single post
Every day we see hundreds of messages and skip almost all of them. Walker calls it the “fog”. One post sinks in it. A series cuts through: each piece builds on the last, like episodes of a show, and each part gathers more viewers. Think of any franchise: the finale is more hyped than part one, because fans piled up over the whole series. Why three pieces? Most stories work that way: beginning, middle, ending.
Why it works: mental triggers
We think we decide with logic. More often we decide with emotion and justify it with logic later. A launch switches on natural “triggers”. Reciprocity: you already helped for free, so people want to give back. Anticipation: it’s an event, not just another post. Community: others are in on it too. Authority: you showed you know your stuff. Scarcity: the sales window really will close. It only works honestly. People spot a fake timer, and the trust is gone for good.
Your move: pick a product for the course
Throughout the course you’ll take one product of yours, lesson by lesson. Fill in 4 lines in your notes. What I sell: a course, a service, a product, even a one-hour consult. Who for: in one sentence. Which pain it solves. Mini-launch date: 14 days from now or later. No idea? Take what friends already ask you about: video editing, English, building a PC. The card doesn’t need to be perfect, the next lessons will polish it.
Check yourself
- What most likely went wrong?
Correct answer: Nobody was waiting and there was no reason to buy now. That’s “hope marketing”: made it, posted it, waited. There was no conversation, no prelaunch and no deadline, so even interested people found it easier to put it off. - Where do you start with a launch sequence?
Correct answer: Ask followers what they find hardest about editing. A question takes a minute and shows three things at once: whether there’s demand, what people struggle with and what to put in the course. Plus people start waiting for it. - What do you do with the sales window?
Correct answer: Open it for a few days, say 5, and honestly close it. An honest deadline gives a reason to decide now. That’s exactly what creates the second and biggest sales spike on the last day. - Why did sales jump 55× the second time?
Correct answer: He warmed people up with a series and made the sale an event. Same product, same price, same resources. Only the sequence changed: conversation, useful content, anticipation and an honest sales window.