Scaling Your Offer With Human Connection

 

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So I was part of this mini group with Heather Crabtree, she helped me with our group offers, but a year ago, so before I launched the launch playbook club, and I helped really incubate my idea in this group with her as intensive or a month. And she did something really neat. So every Monday she posted about her asking us to share our goal. So what are we working on? So there was a bit of like an accountability to like, what are you doing. And then on Wednesday, there was a check in post and it was all around like I think it was green is good, and yellows. Okay, and red is stuck. And then on Friday, there was a chance to celebrate. It didn't have to be business, but it could be celebrate your wins so that we could all again celebrate each other.

You're listening to the launch playbook podcast, the weekly podcast for service based business owners to discover the starts, stops and tools of transformation that go into launching their online offers. I'm your host, Sara Vartanian. And if you want to launch your ideas into the world faster, with more success and less burnout. Well, friend, consider this show your secret playbook to get you there.

I'm back this week with another solo episode to talk to you all about human connection. See, I really believe that human connection is at the heart of all good launches, ones that serve the people who go through them, while also building your bank account and your goals.

But when we don't include human connection or launch, we end up not quite sure that when people land on our sales page for the offer, that they're experienced that OMG they get me feelings that make their heartbeat faster than the moment before dafina Duke finally kissed on bridgerton. And this happens because we've automated yourself or your team too far out of your offer, or when you've removed touch points, or chances to learn directly from you or your team live.

Or perhaps you've not brought stories and real life scenarios to your launch. And that's why today I'm talking about all the ways you can add human connection into your launches and offers. Because reclaiming human connection is the most radical act we can do as a business owner.

And I really think it's the magic our world needs most right now. So instead of taking your one to one services, and automating yourselves way out of them. In an effort to scale, I want to ask you to think about remembering that connection matters. And that there are ways to connect with the people in our programs that still allow us to scale.

So allow us to have some automation, but don't take us all the way out of it so that we're still being human to human, we're still having heart to heart conversations. Because when we purposefully bake intimacy into launches and offers, we actually help people reach results faster than working towards their goals alone. And it really is possible to create a scaled offer that allows plenty of opportunities for connection. And I'm going to give you a few examples of how you can add in these this human connection these touch points.

But first, I want to ask if you're willing to close your eyes, or pause for a moment and reimagine something with me, reimagine what your business could look like. If you fostered connection through every single step of your launch. Here's what I know happens. You would develop more empathy for the people you love to serve. Because you would know exactly what's happening in their lives because you purposely built in these opportunities to actively listen, this would help you refine your offers so they're better aligned to what people need right now.

You'd gain clarity on what makes people feel safe and best able to access your communities and learning materials, because you asked for this feedback. So this is how you could create a high quality offer that all people can enjoy. You'd know more about adding in caption to your videos. About how what your payment plans make people feel like about a pocket stream from the listen audio transcripts, and the type of workbook materials people need, you feel energized that your offer is set up to provide the results that you know are truly possible, because you created bonuses, support emails, and opportunities to directly access your expertise, and help support people through your program.

And this is how you end up with referrals, amazing testimonials, and more people finding success with your group offer. So this is where you really get to make that bigger impact that you have been wanting to do. You know, by putting out your group offering to the world, you enjoy watching your sales grow, because you use marketing and sales techniques that feel in integrity with your values. And so this is how you ended up nurturing connection through every single step of your funnel. For this, I think about like my favorite TV football coach.

On Friday Night Lights. He says clear eyes full hearts can't lose. And that's what I think about when we're putting these human connections connection touchpoint into our launch, that nobody can lose like you'll do well, you'll hit your goals, the people in your program will hit their goals. When you approach things with that full heart. With that clear mind those clear eyes to their success, and you put in these opportunities to work together for that success.

And then when you launch an offer, you'll be willing to share on your actual personal Facebook page. Because the thought of your friends and family seeing it fills you with excitement. Unlike the awkward Middle School photo your sibling tagged you in just for fun. But you really did actually want no one to ever see that 90s haircut. Yep, I'm talking from experience from one of my siblings.

So all that sounds really good, right? So get out your notebooks, because now I'm going to share a dozen or so ideas for adding more human connection into your group offer. I'm going to share some examples from my experiences. Some ones I've seen an action out in the world. So first, from this copywriter mastermind the think tank I'm part of so this is the corporator clubs, Think Tank mastermind, Robin cara, my coaches, and Tamara is the cruise director, which is like our support inside the mastermind. And they have set up such a great way to connect with us all. So they did a few things. One, the fact that they've assigned a role of cruise director, so that's like our community manager, I guess you could say, of the group.

But tomorrow is much, much more than that. She's you know, she has welcome calls with us all when we come and join. So right off the bat, there's there's that call with her, she checks in with us, she we're on slack and slack community. She's checking in, she's responding.

She sends, you know, messages kind of cheering you on. But then also, once a month, Tamara sent out these amazing newsletters on behalf of the think tank. And in it, you know, she tells us what's coming What to expect in the upcoming month. But then she also goes through and celebrate the wins. Because in our slack group, we have a chance to share our wins. And so show if you've put a win in there that month, then your win will be shared in the newsletter.

So every month we get this newsletter and it's a beautiful recap of like all the wins our community have had over that month in their business, the way they've moved forward. And it can be anything from let's say, you know, hiring personal assistants taking vacation to you know, having their first five figure month or hitting six figures in their business or it could be welcoming five people to their program. The goals are widely ranged, like they're all very different.

But we all get to celebrate each other and I think that is one of the most beautiful piece of human connection I see is that we have the chance to celebrate each other every month. And I love that so how could you in your program celebrate the wins of the people in your group?

How can you make it the more public and share with each other so you can all you know support and feel good and feel acknowledged for the work that they're doing. Also another group and part of the second one would be in wished I'll be millionaires so this is Rachael Rogers of Hello sevens membership and in it when I first joined So I joined about a year ago I don't know if it's changed but I know they still send something out but they sent us a great welcome box and in the welcome box I had bag that said like should millionaires because the you know their nickname the group is is smellies for like we should all be millionaires and I also got a great book that was the scripts from one of the first sort of modules in the membership, which is all around, you know being worthy under a script.

Send there to us and remember, and there's some offer scripts as well emails to send. So it was such a beautiful box. And I loved having the tangible piece. So I didn't have to keep looking at the PDF. And it was such a lovely welcome. So could you create a welcome box to send to people in your program or some kind of mail out some tangible mail. But also another example of this was go back to the copywriter club. So they send if you're a part of their underground, which is their membership, or any of their other kind of like the mastermind, again, part of you actually receive in your mail once a month, a newsletter, so they actually like a hardcopy newsletter. And it's not one or two pages. It's like a it's like a mini booklet and so around a hot topic in the cooperator field, but what could you send to people's mailboxes that would connect with them?

Another one. So there's the number three here would be regular posts in the Facebook group, if you have a Facebook group, or whatever your community would be in, you know, you could be in slack. So I was part of this mini group with Heather Crabtree, she helped me with their group offers, but a year ago, so before I launched the launch playbook club, and I helped really incubate my idea in this group with her as intensive or a month. And she does something really neat.

So every Monday, she posted about our asking us to share our goal. So what are we working on? So there was a bit of like, an accountability to like, what are you doing. And then on Wednesday, there was a check in post and it was all around like, I think it was green is good, and yellows, okay, and red is stuck. And then on Friday, there was a chance to celebrate, it didn't have to be business, but it could be celebrate your wins so that we could all again celebrate each other.

And these predictable posts are really helpful, because I knew that on Monday, I could share what I'm working on. And then Heather, Heather or the other members might, you know, jump in and give some feedback or cheer me on or checking accountability with me. But on Wednesday, it was such a beautiful check in because then I noticed that Heather would go do as a check in and people were stuck or you know, kind of okay, she would follow up with them to see what she could do to support.

And so I've actually adopted the same type of framework in the launch playbook club. And I love seeing like the wins on Fridays and people celebrating each other and the Wednesday check ins people saying like what they're at, or like what's coming up, or if they're in launch mode, or asking for what they need, so that they don't get stuck and not move forward in between our weekly calls as well, too.

In the think tank mastermind and part of in our slack group, we have something around setting weekly goals. And there's like a slot for that, you know, ask you to share them at the end of the week. It was like how did you do? And then there's another one around like, how do you feel the end of this week, it was around like the color of the hearts. It's the same type of thing as the Wednesday check in that Heather Crabtree does.

And I think having these regular posts that have people again, sharing, celebrating and seeing how they feel and where they're at is such a powerful way to connect with them. That doesn't mean that you have to do one to one, but it's still showing up and knowing what's going on. And number four, would be actually inviting people to participate in your launch vehicle, your launch tripwire, wherever your launch event is. So if you're doing like a webinar, or a mastermind, or even the video, things are training, how can you invite people, your audience to actually be part of the experience.

So one time I had done a webinar around coffee hacks, and I had invited some people who'd signed up ahead of time, just to make coffee. And I could do it before or after example, using their copy. And then of course, they're able to take that copy it to the after example for and if they wanted to go ahead and use it. And it was much more interactive. And then, you know, let me show off my skills. But it also let people get something tangible out of it.

And again, it made it feel more real because it was coming from not just my sort of prescribed and beautifully created examples, but it was like real world examples like out in the wild, this copy how to apply it. Rachael Rogers did this during one of the retreats, and we should all be millionaires. I believe she's done some workshops since then, where she's looked at people's offers and did like an offer clinic where you could submit your offers, and she would go through and help you figure out your million dollar idea.

I know Hillary Weiss, who was on an earlier episode around hot seat. So if you're interested, you should definitely listen to that one talks about how to use hot seats or how to involve people in that launch vehicle in order to do more of this. So how do you have more interactivity, next one to five would be sending personal welcome videos to new members.

So when you have new people, join your program membership, whatever it is, you have them fill out our form. I know when people join the wash labor club, I had them fill out a form so I can get to know what they're working on and what they really want and how I can support them. And so when I get notified that form is complete, I actually send them a personal welcome email and just you know, comment on something I read in that form.

And that helps them know that the form didn't just kind of like go into the abyss. It was Just something they did for nothing, it actually means something. So I sent a little video around that. So how could you do something the same? Maybe you don't have a form, but maybe you know, you do get notified when people purchase from you or join up. So how do you can you welcome them? Number Six? What about dropping a postcard in the mail? And this doesn't have to be just when they joined.

But at some time or the other, maybe someone in the group during one of these check ins have mentioned that they're launching? Maybe you want to you could send them a card, right? Like, woohoo, you're launching congratulations. Or perhaps if they mentioned, it's like their birthday or something else is going on? How could you send a little I'm thinking about you or so glad you're here or just a Hey, hello, send you a postcard because I want to in the mail.

Okay, now on to number seven. So number seven, I think how do you surprise and delight people with a gift, and I'm really small gifts for coffee. So something I like to do is once in a while surprise someone in my membership with like a $5 Starbucks card when I know they're going through a launch, right? Because launching can be really stressful. So how can I get them know, to kind of just like a little coffee on me? Because I can't see them in person.

So how can I do that. Or I've noticed some other people who will buy like a big coffee card, you know, every so often. So maybe they'll buy like $100 Starbucks card, depending the size of your group, and you'll share the code in your group. And you'll say, you know, go get a coffee treat on me This is here until it runs out. Share a picture of yourself enjoying it. So we know we know you got one. And just a fun way to connect with people. Number eight, send a DM wash your members and your clients to people you work with watch them on social media and share and feature their stuff. Send a DM with a voice note saying something like hey, I love you're doing or you're watching like it's going so well or that was an awesome video just like show up a little note to encourage, promote show that you care, you know, likely people are part of your group are cheering you on.

They're paying to be part of your world, and to learn from you and do the same for them. So I know in the launch, the book club people are launching, I will go and I will share their offers out and do a little like announcement about them. Because I'm so excited for them. And I want to help get them get more people to the group. You might also do things like doing a little features I used to part of Mama zinco Clan Kim's community. And I know that they would do like a member of the month I think are a member of the week. So they would tell it take a headshot and tell a little story about a member.

So how can you feature share support them? Alright, on to the next one? How about showing up and participating to help them? So yeah, I think it's great to have group calls. And that's something that I believe deeply in part of programs that I think group calls are important. People can bring Q and A's, then you don't want to do the group call thing. But could you do some Facebook Live q&a? You know, and maybe it's not even every week, but maybe it's a once a month you do a q&a call? Could you show up like that again? And that we should all be millionaires group? No, Rachel does like a once a month, a million dollar dress. Yeah, that's a large community. There's like over 1800 people in there. So she's not showing up every week. Although, you know, she just popped into the group, we do see her and then she just lives. And those are all fun and impromptu.

But we can look forward to that once a month conversation she's going to have with us. So how can you connect with people like that, or you may perhaps you want to hire some coaches to be there for calls in between offer support, it doesn't have to just be you. Alright, the next one, have a success sequence and a feedback cycle. So this is one thing I noticed a lot of people come to me for, like the done for you services is that they oftentimes haven't done a success sequence for when people have purchased their offer.

So maybe they've had that one email that's like the purchase email, right that says like, here's your access, thanks for joining, but then it stops. So having a success sequence what it does is it helps people move through your program and helps move them along the way to achieve the results that you promised. But of course as we know they can only get if they take action right so you're helping them take action.

So some things you can do in the success sequence is reminding people where to go first like what's the most important first thing you would do it's you know another email around like here's the other three things I'd love you to check out in the membership Have you done so yet and here's why it might be encouraging them to join the calls are one all about like the Facebook group or your your slack community and like what's going on in there, you can clewd some like screenshots, show some examples, and then also something around what's to come maybe you have some cool event coming up so you can kind of tease and share that so people know that's coming, they can anticipate it and put it on our calendars and then also give them a chance to give you feedback, right? Not testimonial yet, but a feedback asking how things are going, maybe addressing a few common roadblocks that might be coming up and asking them just to let you know how they're feeling.

And this lets you know, like if problems are arising or if common issues are getting people's away, so one, you could maybe create some new kind of training in your offer, or if you need to get in a call with some of these people one to one, if they're feeling stuck, or set something up with your other coaches, it allows you to know this happens before they end up actually canceling or leaving your program and not having got results that they wanted, right, because you know, something got in the way that maybe you could have helped them solve or prevent, Alright, next one is pop on a call because they need it.

So that you know, builds on the last part I mentioned, but perhaps someone does need to call from you. Or you could even send them a loom video. So something I do a lot in my membership is sometimes in between calls, people will be like in launch mode, and they're making some like last minute changes, let's say to email sequence or a sales page, just because some feedback they've had. And so they'll pop the question in the group under that weekly, like Wednesday check that I do. And I'll respond to the live video with, you know, some feedbacks or changes for them.

Or the other week, one of my members is launching, and we were talking about launch ideas like how else can we drop the excitement and juice for this launch, I popped in calls a few members, you know, do launch debriefs a couple times when they didn't get the numbers they wanted. And that's something we could have done in our weekly calls. But I think they really wanted they need a little bit more. Right, they didn't really want to argue in front of the group, they're feeling kind of, like you know badly about it. So we hopped on a call about it was 15 minutes.

And then they actually brought some things to the group the next time. So be open, be willing to get an A call or talk to people or send them like a personal video from you and talk like that, if they need it.

The next one would be listening and talking often. And also first. So that being said, before you create offers or even in between your launches, have an opportunity to collect feedback. So you know, if you're listening to this podcast for a while, you know, I often talk with the listening to or having those heart to heart, having those conversations. So build that in to your launch all the time. So some of the ways I do that with my people I work with whether it's you know, the done for you services, or the membership would be something like an onboarding survey, basically to ask questions about where they're at what might get in the way of the success? What do they really want out of this?

How do they celebrate? Why did they join this right now. So asking those questions, collecting the feedback partway through, and then also asking for more Conversations if you need to. But the more you can listen and talk to people and interact with them, the better your offer actually becomes. And the more success that people that are in your programs actually reach because you're able to better refine your offers, so that it suits with the need, you're better able to show up with content that is helpful, as opposed to just another thing on their plate.

And then the last one I'm gonna mention for this time is to ask for testimonials. But the way I've been loving to do it lately is to use video ask. So if you haven't seen video ask yet. It's a cool little app, you can basically use the service you can use. And you can make little videos where you ask people for feedback. So you're on video. So the video I think the one I just sent out was like, hey, it's Sarah. And you know, I've had the pleasure of working with you for xx reason we've talked before that's personalized for whether it's done for you or my membership.

And then I asked if they're willing to do a testimonial. So they put in their name and their email. And then it says great, are you willing to do you know, video or written. So if they want to do written, that's fine, they can totally do that it clicks over and I have a little video just giving them some prompts for the writing. If they choose video. That's amazing. I give them some prompts for the video and also some tips for successful video. And then at the end, I just say thanks so much. But I've had such positive feedback from having that little interaction with people that like the testimonial process feels more fun, they can apply to their own, you know, their own launches. But also without that personal touch.

It's not just an email or just part of like a sequence. You can see me asking for it and why it means so much to me to have this testimonial. And so whenever you can bring in videos for anything, but for this case, I'd say for testimonials. I could also see using it for really cool surveys and definitely you know, there's lots of other use cases for it. So even that onboarding survey, so check it video asked what's the other one? Okay, so I have given you a good number of ways to include more opportunities for human connection into your lunch. And I do know there's plenty more I have plenty more in my head. And we can talk about some more another episode but for now, I really loved to hear from you. If you have a favorite way to add intimacy and human connection to your offers and lunches, can you help me add to this list?

slid into my DMS on Instagram at Sara Vartanian and share your ideas. And until then, I'll see you next week. Thanks for tuning in to the launch playbook podcast. If you want to get weekly launch secrets in your ears, I hope you'll hit subscribe on iTunes so you'll never miss an episode. Because who knows?

It could reveal just the thing you've been looking for to make your next launch a success. And be sure to leave a five star review on iTunes telling me how this episode inspired your launch plans. Until next time, keep putting your big ideas out into the world. I'm rooting for you.