Last Thursday, a friend of mine (we’ll call him Ben) launched his online course. He had spent many long days (and sleepless nights) pulling together this course and he was very excited. After a dozen hours of research, he chose his membership platform. Then, he reached out to a few designers to have them reproduce his worksheets. Ben built out a beautiful membership site, full of high quality videos that he shot over the course of a few weeks.

If you’ve built a membership site, or ever launched a digital product, you know just how much work is involved in the process. The amount of small details that are critical to a successful launch are easy to overlook, and Ben did a great job keeping everything on track for the launch.

While Ben was hoping for 10 sales, his launch strategy only brought him in 3. These three buyers came from those who had attended his webinar and stuck around long enough to see the offer.

The day after the webinar, Ben was crushed. Three sales after nearly a hundred hours of work. What a gut punch. He would have made more money working a nine-to-five, without all the added stress of being an entrepreneur.

In the typical digital product launch world, this is where the story ends. The entrepreneur, having only made a fraction of his or her sales target, curls up into a ball and says “Well, I guess this entrepreneur thing isn’t for me.”

It is at this moment that the entrepreneur needs to metamorphose from a marketing caterpillar to a sales butterfly.

Here’s what I mean…

Just because Ben only got 3 sales during his launch doesn’t mean his product or his service is busted. The reflection of his sales has less to do with the quality of the product than with his ability to persuade people to take action and purchase it.

Had Ben produced a bad product, he would have found out after people had purchased it. They would have requested refunds.

But that’s not the case here. Of the 3 people that purchased, all wrote him testimonials on the quality of the material and what they learned.

So it’s not a poor quality product. It’s a poorly sold product. And that’s exactly why Ben needed to metamorphose into a sales butterfly; so that he could deliver his product to more people qualified to buy it.

Back in 2014, I developed a worksheet called the Bottoms Up Sales Improvement™, or the Get BUSI™, as we call it inside our organization. The Get BUSI worksheet has the entrepreneur look at their entire sales funnel and map it out. Define all the steps and the conversion rates between the steps.

For instance:

  • Facebook Ad Impressions
  • Facebook Ad Clicks
  • Webinar Signup Form
  • Webinar Sign Up (Lead)
  • Webinar Attendee
  • Saw the Offer
  • Added the Product to their Cart
  • Purchased the Product

Once we define the major steps of the sales process, we then look in the different platforms (FB Ad Manager, GoToWebinar, Google Analytics, etc) and add in the Click Through and Conversion Rates.

  • Facebook Ad Impressions
    • 3.5% of those who saw the ads clicked them
  • Click to Webinar Signup Form
    • 23% of visitors signed up
  • Webinar Sign Up (Lead)
    • 27% of Leads actually attended
  • Webinar Attendee
    • Only 1 in 5 (20%) stuck around long enough to see the offer
  • Saw the Offer
    • 80% clicked the “Buy” button
  • Added the Product to their Cart
    • 60% purchased the product
  • Purchased the Product

Now we can look objectively at the sales process. When we see that 60% of people who clicked the “Buy” button actually purchased, we can celebrate that the numbers actually look good!

Where we must focus is at the bottom of the funnel; that’s why it’s called the Bottoms Up Sales Improvement™. If we focus on bumping the purchase rate from 60% to 70%, then we’ll see a nearly 20% increase in sales for the webinar.

On the other hand, if we increase our total leads, which is the typical route most marketers consider, we need to spend twice the amount to get twice the sales. I’d rather not spend any more on leads and instead convert more of those who are already in the funnel.

Based on this Get BUSI™ review of Ben’s sales funnel, 80% of those who were on the webinar didn’t stick around long enough to purchase. If we could just have a one-on-one sales conversation with those Webinar Attendees, I’m sure Ben could convert 60% of them to buyers.

The goal of the Get BUSI™ is to identify where the biggest lever is in the sales and marketing funnel. Marginally increasing the Facebook Ad Click Through Rate won’t bring in twice the sales, but getting 2 in 5 to stick around long enough to see the offer (doubling the current 1 in 5) would mean doubling the number who could click the “Buy” button.

Once Ben saw this strategy, he got savvy. His work wasn’t in vein. He knew his three sales were just the start; that a majority of his webinar attendees could not only afford, but needed his product. With that insight, he went back to the list of Attendees, exported from GoToWebinar, and set up one-on-one 15 minute conversations.

Ben is talking to those attendees. He’s figuring out why they didn’t buy. He’s now selling instead of marketing. And he’s closing sales.

I have no doubt he will hit his goal of 10 sales as long as he keeps the Get BUSI™ approach in mind.

First, start with the bottom of the funnel. Look for ways to improve conversion rates. Sometimes, the best way to increase a conversion rate is to set a meeting and close the prospect over a call.

Yes, this process is manual, but the prospect needs what you have to offer. Put in the effort to listen to their objections then overcome them with your offering. You’ll sell more of those who have shown interest and you’ll actualize the potential of the product you worked so hard to create.

A quick hit-list of the people you should focus on:

  • Those who stayed on the webinar until the end
  • Those who asked questions on the webinar (good engagement)
  • Those who open most/all of the emails you send
  • Those who have engaged on your Facebook wall, or in the Comments on articles
  • These people have raised their hand. They’ve said “Hey, I’m interested!” Your job is to be a salesperson and to go and close them through conversation.

Go do the hard work and get the results.


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