Prelaunch: three videos
Lesson 18 of 31 in the course “Million Dollar Sales Course”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
Three pieces, one story
In lesson 17 you pulled topics and doubts out of your survey. Now we turn them into a prelaunch. Walker starts with what not to do: stand on a street corner shouting “Buy my stuff!” Everyone shouts, and someone is always louder or cheaper. Instead, he gives value first and asks for the sale later. The prelaunch is three pieces, usually videos, though emails work too. Walker compares them to a three-act play. The first answers “why”: what change is possible. The second answers “what”: it teaches for real. The third answers “how”: people picture already owning the result. Each piece is useful alone, but together they make one story, and tension builds like the series from lesson 1. Camera-shy? Record your screen with your voice.
Why people don’t buy
To see why you need three videos, Walker breaks down four reasons people don’t buy. One: they don’t need it. You can’t sell the world’s best wheelchair to someone who doesn’t need one. Two: no money and no way to get it. A prelaunch can’t help with those two, which is why picking your customer in lesson 2 mattered so much. Three: they don’t believe you, they doubt your honesty or your skill. Four, the sneakiest: they believe the method works for others, but not that it’ll work for them. “I’ve quit editing three times, it won’t be different for me.” Reasons three and four are exactly what a prelaunch fixes. When you teach for free and people get a first result on their own, they start believing in you and in themselves.
Video 1: why
The first video has to hook people and answer “why should I care?” Walker cites an old copywriters’ saying: at the hardware store, people don’t buy drills, they buy holes in the wall. People want the result, not the tool. His six-step recipe: Show the change, how life will be different. Explain why they should listen to you. Teach something real, don’t just talk about the opportunity. Name the doubts and answer them, or promise to. Tease the second video. Ask for a comment. Misha takes his topic straight from the survey: “Why Shorts get dropped at second 2.” He shows how one of his videos doubled its watch time with the same camera. He teaches one technique. He says: “Lots of you wrote you only have a phone. In video two I’ll do everything on a phone.”
Video 2: what
The second video is real teaching. Walker asks himself: what can I teach in 5–10 minutes that genuinely changes something? It doesn’t have to be a big change, just enough to get people moving. In one prelaunch Walker taught an entire launch method in an 18-minute video, and he says some people launched from that video alone. Isn’t it a waste to give that away? No: the goal of video two is for viewers to picture themselves with the result. The recipe: thanks for comments, a quick recap (don’t assume they remember video one), who you are again, teaching or a case study, tackling the top 2–3 doubts, a teaser for video three, a request for comments. Misha edits a 3-second hook on his phone right on camera. That answers the “phone only” doubt better than any words.
Video 3: how it’ll work for you
The third video answers “how.” People already see the change but don’t yet see how it’ll happen for them specifically. The answer is your product, of course, but first another dose of value. Walker’s recipe: say thanks and share the excitement, quickly recap the change and who you are, show a short case study, answer the questions that pop up most in the comments even if you already did, paint the big picture of where they’ll be in six months. Then, in the last quarter of the video, turn smoothly toward the offer. Walker calls this a “soft landing”: you can’t go from best friend to pushy salesman in one video. Say the next email will have an offer and that the sales window will be short. Only if it’s true: scarcity from lesson 1 works only when it’s honest.
How many days to prelaunch
In Walker’s experience, prelaunches run anywhere from 3 to 27 days, and 7–10 days is a good starting point. Cheaper product, shorter prelaunch: for a $27 ebook he goes with 7 or even 5 days. Pricier product, longer: for a $297 course, more like 10. Why? A big decision takes longer to think over, while a cheap one loses attention if you drag it out. A 7-day example: video 1 on day 1, video 2 on day 3, video 3 on day 5, sales on day 7. For 10 days: days 1, 5, 8 and 10. Misha’s course is $49, so he goes with 7 days. But Walker is honest that the days matter far less than the content. The gaps between videos also leave room for comments: people read each other, debate, and a community forms around the launch. That’s the trigger from lesson 1.
Case: tennis from a basement
After college, Will Hamilton didn’t want to be a tennis coach forever. He and a friend started FuzzyYellowBalls in his parents’ basement, a site with video lessons on a $25-a-month membership. Sales were sluggish, and after 10 months they nearly shut it down. Then Will learned about Walker’s launch formula and put together his first launch in a few weeks, a rough one by his own account. That launch brought in $35,000 in a week, as much as the site had made in the whole 10 months before. Then, per Walker: the second launch $65,000, the third $105,000, the Tennis Ninja product $170,000. Then the agent for the Bryan brothers, a legendary doubles pair, reached out, and their joint course made $450,000. With every launch, the list and the skills grew. You can see the case study and a sample video at the link below.
Do it yourself: plan three videos
Take the topics from your lesson 17 survey. Video 1: the change, why listen to you, one technique, one doubt, a teaser. Title it in your subscribers’ words. Video 2: real teaching for 5–10 minutes and the top 2–3 doubts, ideally on camera, like Misha with his phone. Video 3: a short case, answers to comment questions, the six-month picture, and a soft turn to the offer in the last quarter. Under each video, ask one question for comments, like “What’s your longest edit ever?”. Pick a schedule: 7 days for a product under $50, 10 for a pricier one. Not ready for the camera? Record your screen with voice. Longer isn’t better: what matters is that people get value. Next lesson: how to tell your story so people believe you.
Check yourself
- What’s wrong with the plan?
Correct answer: Video 1 should answer “why” and teach; the course comes later. An outline and price in video one is “buy my stuff.” Walker opens with the change and value, and eases into the offer only at the end of video three. - Which reason not to buy is this?
Correct answer: Doesn’t believe it’ll work for him. He believes Misha and the method, just not himself. That’s Walker’s fourth reason, and a prelaunch handles it: let him get a first result himself in video two. - Which schedule should he pick?
Correct answer: 7 days: videos on days 1, 3, 5, sales on day 7. For a product around $50, Walker suggests a short prelaunch, 7 or even 5 days. Gaps between videos leave time for comments and anticipation. - How should he end video three?
Correct answer: Softly: “tomorrow an email with an offer, a 5-day window”. That’s Walker’s soft landing: people know an offer is coming and why not to miss it. The limit is honest: sales really will close.