Why Your Launch Got Crickets (And What Actually Fixes It) [Ep 78]

Welcome to the Thriving therapyneur podcast. The show for ambitious therapists who are ready to unapologetically make more money, scale their impact and build their dream coaching business. I'm Carly Hill, therapist turned coach turned CEO of a seven figure online business. I created the Thriving therapeneur podcast because I'm obsessed with helping big hearted therapists outgrow the office and build successful and sustainable online businesses. So if you are wondering how you can continue make an impact without sacrificing the life you love. Welcome therapreneur. This is exactly the place for you. Think of it like the business school we never had. I am so excited to dive in with you. Let's get started. Welcome back to the show, my friends. I have a super juicy topic today and we're going to talk about why your launch got crickets instead of clients and how to fix it for good. You may hear baby noises in the background because I was just recording this episode when Elias woke up from a nap. But I really want to get this message out to you. So he's joining me and we're just gonna go for it. This is reality. So let's talk about the moment that every entrepreneur has dreaded before, which is launching. They have spent weeks planning their launch. Maybe this is you. You've created content. You've built the sales page, you post it on social media, you hit send on all the emails and then crickets happen. You were afraid you were being annoying, but nobody even saw your stuff. You refresh your DMs, you check your Kajabi dashboard or CRM system. Maybe you're using Go high level. Whatever the case is, you reread your captions. You're wondering, what did I do wrong? And first of all, you're not alone. If this has happened to you. Every successful entrepreneur I know, including myself, has had a launch that has flopped before it took off, before it became a consistent revenue generator, and I call it a pop of cash. So today we're going to dive into the five real reasons your launch got crickets. This is what I see most often and how to fix each one. All right, let's dive in. Reason number one, not enough ideal clients saw your offer. That's it. This is the most common thing. It's the least personal. You can have the best program, the most thoughtful captions, the most aligned energy. But if not enough people saw your offer, you simply didn't have enough data points to create conversions. It's just a numbers game. You need eyes before you need interest. And that's why I talk so much about list building and pre launch and nurturing. You have to give value before you sell. You have to earn trust before you pitch. You have to warm up your audience before you actually open the doors to get them to raise their hand and be like, what is this that you're offering? Tell me more. If you only have 200 followers and half of your family or old colleagues or dead clients, your reach is too small in my opinion, to yield results. And that's not failure, it's just data. It's just math. You need new leads. So to fix it, you have to build visibility as if you were launching three months from now. Set up your firm foundations even if you don't have a date yet, even if you don't have an offer yet, you don't have a value stack an offer stack. You don't know all the deliverables. That's okay. Just start building an audience because that's how you create momentum on purpose. Lay the bricks of the house, lay the foundation. And I want to add here too. You always need new leads. If you built an audience and took a break for months and then you're coming back to finally launch, but they haven't heard from you in quite some time, chances are your conversions are going to be much lower. You also can't keep launching to the same audience over and over and over again. You need new leads, always. You can't just get an influx of new leads once and then be done and wipe your hands clean. And newest leads are always your hottest leads. You constantly need new leads in your pipeline. Your pipeline is your lifeline. You've probably heard me say that before. And if your pipeline runs dry, which is your lifeline, you're going to be in trouble because then you're not going to get any conversions. You need to have warm leads, hot leads, cold leads in the pipeline at all times. If you're starting from scratch, I usually tell my clients to get a group of a hundred ideal clients. This doesn't always have to be the case. It can be lower and you can launch sooner without a hundred people, of course. But aim to get a hundred ideal clients into your arena. Know that every launch builds on one another. And you can't just launch and hope and pray, right? Launch and do it with Strategy. Have templates. P.S. i give all of this to my paying clients. Launch and keep your car open. It doesn't have to close, just stays open until spots are filled. You don't have to put an end date to it if you don't want to, it's okay if you don't get an ideal client into your launch right away, especially if you have a very small audience, just keep talking about it. This brings me to reason number two. Maybe you didn't talk about it enough. You didn't post enough. Be honest with yourself. Did you post three times and hope it would just magically fill five high ticket spots? Or did you actually show up consistently on every single platform, Email your list multiple times, mention it on stories every single day, send personal invitations? Were you in the DMs, were you engaging with cold leads too? The visibility is going to compound over time and that repetition is going to build that recognition. People need to see your shit 7 to 10 times before they actually take action. I know coaches who post once about their offer and then they wonder why no one buys. They didn't have enough people in their audience and they didn't post enough. This is reason number one and two again, they need to see it around seven to ten times before they even take action. Usually it's even more. So how do we fix that? We need to plan again. We need to have templates, we need to have a strategic plan. We need to plan your launch like a campaign. Not just random posting spree, hoping and praying. You need to map out. I would recommend 7 to 10 touch points across different channels. So that's reels, stories, lives, posts, emails. And every single time I say this to my paying clients they're like, well that just seems annoying, like I'm being redundant. If you're not repeating yourself, you're not saying it enough. And the chances that somebody's gonna see what you posted on all of those platforms is very rare. Anyways, people are busy. They need reminders. They will forget about you if you're not top of mind. And hey, if they see it on all platforms, great. That's awesome. That's exactly what we want. So if you want consistent sales, you need to have consistent visibility. Most people don't bite until the end of a launch anyways. When they're using ethical. Okay, I'm saying ethical. Ethical scarcity and urgency. This is just Sales Psychology 101. It's built in. And I promise you're not being annoying, you're just doing your job. The warmest leads come from people who have already experienced you, who have got a taste of trust from you. So post and let them get to know you and experience you. Build that likability, build the trust. Get them to know not only you, but Know that you can solve their problem. Are you going live? Are you giving value? Not just posting for shits and gigs, but posting to get them to move along in the client journey. The reason that so many launches underperform, in my opinion, is the nurturing stopped months before the selling began. You focus so much on just getting leads and nurturing, but then you stopped. When you went to go focus on the launch, you had a pause. And then when you went to actually launch because you stopped nurturing, then your launch fell flat. Always at any given time, you need to have your hand in all three buckets. You need to be getting new leads, you need to be nurturing the leads, and you need to be monetizing the leads. Don't wait for launch week to show up. No, you have to launch like a leader. You have to have a planned launch. Your audience should already like they know you and trust you and want more of you. By the time the cart opens, I want you to dangle the carrot too. Part of launching is promoing the launch. I always say promo the promo. Let me just pause and say this episode is very chaotic right now. My. My vacuum is going off because my housekeeper is here and I'm trying to keep a baby entertained. But I'm pretty proud of myself. And my husband just walked in the door and he's like, what the fuck are you doing? But we're going to keep going. Reason number three, you didn't create urgency or scarcity. Let's talk about Sales Psychology 101. Just as I was talking about urgency and scarcity. If your audience didn't feel a reason to act right now, they probably didn't act at all. We're humans, and humans are motivated by momentum and consequence. Bonuses, deadlines, incentives. When I say consequence, this means that people are always buying their way out of something, not into something. There's a consequence in their life if they don't work with you. What is that and how are you portraying that in your messaging? How are you relaying that message? Did you give them a reason to say yes today? People are always wondering, and you have to play devil's advocate. What's in it for me? Did you give them a reason to say yes? Could they see what was in it for them? Was there a bonus, a discount, a door closing date? Because enroll anytime that energy doesn't sell and it doesn't push people. Now we're not being salesy. I have a whole different episode on that. Okay, sales is a very noble position, but people buy when there's Tension, that feeling of, oh, wow, I need to decide now or I'll miss out. People don't buy when they understand. They buy when they feel compelled. Every launch, every launch, every launch needs an internal reason to move. Now that bonus, expiring a spot limit, a transformation that starts on X date, limited time bonuses. If you enroll between this date and this date, you get XYZ bonus. Scarcity done with integrity isn't pressure. It's really just giving them a permission slip now. It's pushing them. They've been on the edge of their seat, they've been a silent lurker for quite some time and now they're giving themselves the permission slip because the offer is so damn good they can't say no to it. It helps someone finally make the decision that they've been putting off. And that's how you show them that you're the right coach for them. This is your first coaching moment, actually. This is your first opportunity to move into the leadership role for them and help them get the transformation that they so desire. Momentum is contagious. Momentum breeds momentum. That's what I always say. So your audience takes cues from your certainty and structure. How do you fix this problem when maybe you didn't create urgency and scarcity before? Just add an incentive. Add an irresistible incentive. Now, this doesn't mean discount your stuff because we don't want people to get the message and memo that what you're offering is like it's negotiable. It's not. Instead, I would rather have you add bonuses and incentives. A fast action bonus, an expiring offer, a limited number of VIP spots. Create a reason for them to move. Urgency isn't manipulative when it's truthful. It's service. Selling is service. That's why selling is noble. Selling is sexy. I call it sacred soul aligned selling. If somebody is staying in indecision, you're not helping them. You're keeping them stuck. You're helping them stay stuck. And that's the opposite of why you created this coaching program in the first place, which is to provide that transformation. Reason number four is your messaging is off. This one is the silent killer of conversations. If your content didn't clearly speak to a specific person with a specific problem, that persistent, painful problem, they just scrolled past you. Your offer can't be a nice to have or an addition to their life. It needs to solve a must fix pain point. Again, people are always buying their way out of something, not into something. Something your audience feels daily. It's it's present pain. It's not past pain, it's not future pain. Now, yes, everybody has past pain, present pain, and future pain. And that's important to know. I talk about that when I'm teaching my clients how to do market research. But it needs to be something your audience feels daily and wants relief from. Right now. Right now. And if your post could apply to anyone, it lands to no one. You have to be specific. Here's the truth about offers. Most of them just aren't irresistible enough. You might have a great transformation. But if it doesn't sound like a no brainer, people just scroll right past. When you can't describe your offer in one clear sentence. Outcome, timeline, result. And then stack. So much value that the price feels small compared to the payoff. Conversions skyrocket. You have to do this. Your ideal client has to be like, whoa, I'm getting all of this for this? Sign me up. I always ask myself, would my ideal client feel silly saying no to this? Would they think, wow, this is too good to pass up? If not, it's time to add bonuses, social proof, a faster result that will help scale. Great offers don't need convincing, in my opinion. They just need clarity. You have to have a clear offer. Get hyper specific niche down until your messaging feels almost too narrow. Where you're starting to ask me, is this too hyper specific? Because in my opinion, there's no such thing. The right clients should read your post and feel like you've been eavesdropping on their inner thoughts. They're going to be like, what, did she bug my house? How does she know this? It's almost as if you were a fly on the wall in their conversation with their friend, their mom. So get hyper specific niche down until your message feels almost too narrow. Your audience should be paying for the exact solution that you're offering again to that persistent, painful problem. And recognize that you have the solution to their problem. Now we're talking about levels of buyer's awareness, right? Some people don't even know they have a problem. Some people know they have a problem, but they don't know what the solution is. Some people know they have a problem, they know they're a solution, and they know that you are the solution. That's the ultimate ideal client. And that's really when you go from crickets to conversations. Moving on to the last reason. Number five, you didn't have enough conversations. This one is everything. You can't expect sales without conversations. Conversations equal conversions. If you've been in my world Long enough. You've heard me say this like a broken record. People buy from people not from post. If you didn't invite people to connect, start a chat, send a follow up. If you didn't do any of that, ask for a referral, then you likely missed your biggest opportunity. If you're not having daily conversations about your offer, you're leaving money on the table. The highest converting launches always come from personal connection, DMs, voice notes, follow ups, clarity calls. Posting alone doesn't sell conversations. Sell conversations. Treat every message like an opportunity to help somebody. You're not just pitching either, you're. You're helping them. You're providing a transformation. Lead with service, the sales will follow. Money is a magnifier. Launch success is not random, it's math. You need to know your inputs. How many conversations, how many calls, how many qualified leads do you need? You need to know the numbers to know what it actually takes to fill your program. Most people think that they have a conversation and then it's going to equal a paying client right off the bat. And then they think they have a conversation problem problem like they didn't say the right thing. And yes, sometimes this is the case, but usually it's just a volume problem because most people won't reply. And 20% average close rate in high ticket sales is normal. Anything above that, you're a power closer. It's usually a volume problem. So I see it all the time. My clients are trying to get hit 100k goal with five conversations. It's just not enough. So when you track every stage lead, call close, the mystery disappears. Suddenly you can forecast what's going to happen. It's not a guess. And you can have launch projections if you've done it enough times. And you know exactly what you're going to yield from this launch as a bare minimum. Data gives you that peace of mind. You know exactly what lever you need to pull when sales slow down and you want to speed them up again. So to fix this problem, start talking. Have conversations. Invite questions into your stories, posts, polls, message past clients. Go live, re engage with warm moods. I know it sounds simple, but not enough of you are doing it. You're trying to overcomplicate this whole launch thing. The easiest sales usually come from the conversations that you haven't even started yet. It's the thing that you're avoiding, but it's the thing that's going to give you the most conversions. Start a damn conversation. That's it. So what do you do if you just Live through one of these Cricut launches. Number one, you don't burn it down. Debrief it. What went wrong? What could you fix for next time? I always debrief my launches after each one. This is why I have perfected them over time. So you need to audit your data. You're not a failure just because you got crickets. Okay? You're just gathering information. I always tell my clients, put your detective hat on. Let's figure this out. What went wrong together. Number two is extending your Runway. Start warming up your audience 30 to 45 days before your next launch. Educate, engage. Tease your offer before you ever sell it. Promo the promo. Dangle the carrot. Remember, step three is simplifying. I just mentioned this. Most people are over complicating it. Stick with one strategy and just do it really well. No shiny object central. Step four is aligning your energy and your mindset. Don't wait until launch week to manage your stress. Don't leave everything to the last minute where you're scrambling. That is going to impact your energy and your launch and your results. Plan rest days. Delegate your stuff. Plan it out. Batch it. Protect your mindset. Step five is connecting. So double your outreach. This simply means conversations. Connect conversations. Send voice notes. Have conversations. Show up like a leader. Slide in the DMs. Follow up. Fortune is in the follow up. Here's the truth. Your audience is not ignoring you. They're waiting for you to show them why. Your offer is the obvious next step. And you can even make a post about this. Here is why. My offer is the obvious next step for you. And here's why. You're avoiding it Proactively. Overcome their objections. I've lived through every one of these lessons myself. I've had hard launches where I didn't hit the numbers I wanted to. I've poured my heart into it. I've lived through every one of these lessons myself. I've had launches where I poured my heart into it. I've heard nothing but silence. And even now scaling from seven to eight figures, I'm relearning them at a higher level. I'm refining my messaging again. I'm deepening my proximity again. I'm building stronger teams again. I'm auditing our pre launch system again. It's all about rinse and repeat, visibility, strategies, leadership, communication. Every level of business. As you master it, it just comes back down to the basics. That's really what it is. It's getting really, really good at the basics, at scale, with precision and more patience and More people. That's exactly what it is. Basics with more precision, more patience and more people. The principles never change. The stakes just get bigger. That's what it is. Don't take a quiet launch personally. Launch again. Again. Every launch builds on one another. Just take it as an invitation to lead louder. Love your message a little harder. Become a little more aligned with your mission. So the next time you hear crickets during the launch, just remember you're not a failure. It's feedback. There is no failure, only feedback. That's what we say in neuro linguistic programming. Feedback is gold. And we can fix this. We can fix the visibility, we clarify the messaging, we can create urgency ethically, we can have conversations and we can watch what happens. If you need help, I'm here. If you want help building your next profitable, calm, scalable launch, this is exactly what we do. Inside my mentorship, we'll map out your launch strategy, your content plan, your lead generation system so that you can go from Crickets to clients. I actually had a course way back when, Crickets to Clients and it talked about some of these core principles. Crickets to clients with confidence. That's what we're about. Check the show notes for ways that we can work together and I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to the Thriving Therapy newer podcast. I hope that this episode has inspired you to reduce burnout, work smarter and see the freedom potential you have as a therapist. We would love to have you inside the Therapist to Coach Accelerator, Facebook, Facebook group where we have live trainings and cheat sheets on all things marketing, sales and adding coaching ethically and legally. I am here cheering you on and I'll see you around.