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TRANSCRIPT:

*this transcript was mostly generated by AI, please excuse any mistakes

Amanda: [00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Welcome to the CEO Mastery Show. Amanda Holmes, your host here, and we are going to cover the five ways to ruin your book launch. Yes, it sounds painful. I even heard someone in the studio today go, Oh, and it should. B. If you are a business leader and you’re deciding to write a book, that shows me that you are not a pure tactician, you are a strategist, and strategists outperform the tactician every single time.

Here is your dose of the ultimate sales machine coming to you from the new edition, visit ultimate sales machine. com to get your copy or multiple copies. I am your host, Amanda Holmes, CEO of Chet Holmes international. What you’re about to learn has assisted a quarter of a million businesses to generate billions of dollars working faster, better, smarter.

Amanda: So you’ve probably lived your life or lived enough of an experience where you feel I have a knowledge base that I need to share with others, which is great. The problem is we get [00:01:00] lost in very important, structural, these five things that will Keep you from having a successful launch and then continue to have more sales for like me, for example, right?

I’m a second generation book owner. My father wrote a book, the ultimate sales machine, which hit the bestseller list 15 years ago. And then when I launched the new edition, we hit the bestseller list again, and I have benefited from. Hundreds of thousands of people coming to our business because of this book.

So, second generation, my father passed 11 years ago and his name and his methodologies carry on because of the strength of this book. So if that’s something that you’re interested in, let me give you some tips on how you can get ahead with this book launch, okay? 

So the first, most common way that people ruin their book launch is they are unclear on what their goal really is.

5 Ways to Ruin Book Camera 1: Now, this [00:02:00] probably leads to the reason why the average digital book that gets out only sells, on average, 250 books, and those that are traditionally published, uh, on average sell about 3,000 books, which is still painful if you’ve spent months, if not years, writing a book. You want more than that. So, you really have to ask yourself, what is your goal?

So, very often I hear people say, when I ask them, what is your goal for your book, they say, well, you know, I’d like to… be a bestseller so then I can get on more stages and so I can get on more podcasts and so I can be an expert in my space. Now that is great, however, it is a vanity metric.

And I’ll tell you why that is a vanity metric. 

Because we have been sending people, we’re a traditionally published book, Penguin Publishes our book, and we send all of our traffic to Amazon. And to other distributors, but mostly to Amazon. So people buy from Amazon. I don’t get any of that customer data.

Now, it’s a [00:03:00] very compelling book. So, luckily, throughout the whole book, there are calls to action all throughout it, sending people back to my website. And then, if they go to the website, only a small percentage of them actually inquire to ask for more services or ask for our help. Granted, that has free access.

Fueled our company and assisted us to sell over a hundred million dollars in our products and services. So yes, it has worked, 

but there 

is such a large gap in missing of data. I want to own my customer data. So if you say, I want to be considered number one in my field, I want to hit the bestseller list.

I actually challenge people on that because I think what’s more valuable is the data. that you own, your customer’s data. And I’ll give you an example. So I worked for an entire year to find a way to be able to sell the ultimate sales machine from ultimate sales machine. com, my own checkout page, my own funnel.

Now, uh, on average, we sell, [00:04:00] um, our average cart value for that book funnel is 65. If people had gone to Amazon, they would buy one book. And that would be 17, between 17 and 20. If they come to my funnel, there’s more options. 

So, they, first it asks, Would you like to buy one book, three books, or five books?

And 42 percent of the time, they say either three books and 20 percent of the time they say five books. Great! Does Amazon inquire and ask them to buy more books?

Then, a little bit further down the page, it says, Hey, would you like the 47 point checklist to find your dream clients? I will also tell you another, it’s somewhere around 30%, say, Yes, I want that.

That’s another 50 bucks. Right? So right there, on that first page, I’m getting an additional 50 to 60 dollars. Then, there’s more offers, one time offers, and I switch these out quite often. But, in my book launch, We didn’t even [00:05:00] ship the books yet. 

In pre sales, I recouped on my book launch investment without the books even being shipped.

Now, majority of people spend a ton of money to get a book launch out, they get the books shipped, then they have to wait for people to actually read them, which a small percentage actually read the book, and then they have to wait for them to actually say, Oh, yes, I do want to inquire. And then if they get to that landing page, you hope that they actually, um, opt in, right?

So there’s so many places where we lose that audience and we lose the momentum. Whereas for me, um, because I had the customer data, I was able to follow up. We follow what we followed up automated. And then we also followed up, um, with some of the team members that I have on my team, some of my sales team.

So because of that, I was able to recoup immediately because people that were hungry for the book were also hungry for my bigger services. People wanted to buy core stories and they bought them like that because [00:06:00] they were excited about the new book. They knew that they always wanted a core story. They had read chapter four before and they were hot and ready.

So just because they

don’t want more of your services, right? So that’s how I was able to recoup the whole cost of the book launch without the books even shipping.

Own your customer data. 

I would also ask you what is your goal and you should be super clear on what that goal is and please try, try to release the necessity to be, um, for it to all be about Vanity Matrix.

Right? Because, because ultimately, if you’re releasing a business book, I would hope that it would have to do something with your business and you’re leading that to generate you sales. This is one of the key places where we miss. People will spend 40, to get on those bestseller lists, but then they don’t have the back end.

to make up for the fact that they just spent all of that for the bestseller. So, make sure that you have a clear plan [00:07:00] post that sell, and if you have your data, that’s even more valuable. 

The second way to ruin your book launch is to waste your time Promoting it in places where your ideal customer is not.

So I’ll give you an example. I hired a great PR firm. They did a lot of wonderful things for me. They got me on the cover of HR. com, which was wonderful. Um, they, I mean, they filled my schedule with podcast interviews for months. Now, when I first, when we first started, I noticed that I was giving podcast interviews, hour long interviews.

with people that had very different audiences than who my ideal client was. My ideal client is a business owner that actually has revenue coming in the door and they’re looking to optimize. They want to get from a million to five, they want to get from five million to ten, they want to get from ten million to a hundred million and beyond.

Now, I’m getting on [00:08:00] podcasts where it’s more spiritually inclined, which I, I’m very spiritually inclined, but I didn’t write the book. To be more spiritual. It’s not for my spiritual practice. It’s for my business. So I kept getting on these spiritual podcasts and I and I told them we have to adjust here This none of the people listening to this podcast will care about the book that I wrote Uh, then I started getting on more podcasts of people that were more The nine to five that are thinking about starting a side hustle Not my clientele, right again, so I would Be very strict about looking at where are you deciding to do interviews?

Where are you showing up to? What events are you promoting it at?

Where are you posting online? Because it is shocking how often we just don’t think we’re like, oh another opportunity. Yes. Yes. Yes But then you miss out on actually being focused. So in [00:09:00] hindsight, I should have focused on like a target 12, you know, my Father taught the Dream 100.

If you can get on a hundred podcasts, yeah, that’s great. But I would even say, can we limit it to who are the twelve that if you get on just one, it could completely change your world? So, who are those twelve best, biggest, most in alignment with your ideal client? Podcasts, uh, bloggers, uh, events, right?

Finding those lesser ones that produce the higher ROI is better. I’ll tell you, uh, 

A1, 

Tommy Mello, was a podcast that I got on, and I still to this day continue to get clients, because he has a great podcast, and it’s a bunch of, um, more home services. So it’s real businesses that are working on selling more garage doors, or selling more HVAC, or selling more carpet cleaning, and, you know, it’s not the sexy, uh, you know, um, digital [00:10:00] marketing crowds that have all these automations.

No, it’s just people that are trying to make more and spend less time doing it. And so that resonates. So who are your ideal people? Buyers, and where do they spend their time? If you don’t know, here’s a really good tip that we tell our clients to do. Can you go and do a survey from your best clients and ask them, What podcast do you listen to?

Where do you spend your time? Where do people like you spend your time? Where are you online? Where do you spend your time offline? If we can get hyper vigilant about focusing on the Better places, where your better buyers are, then your book will sell more, and then you’ll sell more services on the back end of that book, right?

The third way to ruin your book launch is to have a message that only talks about you and what you want to talk about versus thinking In the shoes of your prospects or your clients, what do they want to hear? 

What 

[00:11:00] keeps them up at night? What would actually serve them if you gave them solutions to?

So, I will tell you, when we were promoting my book, I thought, Oh, let’s lead with, you know, we can… Get nine times more clients with the same moves you’re already making. We should lead with that. Or, let’s talk about the fastest, least expensive way to double sales. We could talk about that. Or, you know, I have this, uh, case study of how a client generated 42 million in seven months, spending less than 50, 000 on advertising.

Let’s talk about that. I had a few people read the book that were a part of my team, and after they read… Portions of it that were new, that I had added in. Unanimously, everyone said that we should lead with my foreword, Dear Dad. Which was the last thing I would ever think we would lead with. It is a very personal story, um, or a letter that I wrote.

Uh, Julie Eason recommended, my book coach at the time, had recommended that I write a, uh, the foreword instead of Dear Reader, it should be Dear Dad. And, um, it [00:12:00] came out very vulnerably, and um, I do sometimes read it at keynotes, I just read it at a keynote yesterday for a manufacturing group and actually got some of the tough men to, to shed a tear or two and they admitted it to me later on, but um, People wanted to hear more about humanity.

People wanted to… feel that connection because we hear all day every day about people pounding their chest saying this is how I was so great, this is what I’ve done instead of just being honest and sincere and transparent about what’s going on. So that resonated with my audience and I’m glad that I had a great team around me to pivot me because that was the last thing that I wanted to do.

Also, I’ll give you another example. Um, I hired somebody to help me get on television. I wanted to do a couple of key spots on television because it’s nice in reels, you know, to see, Oh, she’s been on television. That’s great. [00:13:00] And, um, the press release that went out kept talking about, Um, Amanda Holmes has released a new edition of The Ultimate Sales Machine, a book that is beloved by all, right?

It was all about me. We call that the Me We Syndrome. Me, me, me, me, me. My product is great, it’s different from the rest. This is why you should promote me, because it’s all about me. Well, it’s very hard to get spots when you’re just talking about yourself. You have to talk about what’s relevant to you. The person that you’re trying to get in front of..

So, I happened to find a television station that was a referral from a friend, and I thought, Oh, okay, here’s my chance. I’m going to use a chapter from the Ultimate Sales Machine, chapter 7. We talk about press releases. My father talked about press releases where you shouldn’t just talk about you, you should talk about, um, what people want to hear.

So I changed the press release to, Every single day, 3, 076 businesses are [00:14:00] closing. Introducing one simple strategy that saved a quarter million companies. One of the most recommended sales books of all time has a new edition out that’s not only doubling sales, but so real, it’s making grown men cry. This book has strategies used by Warren Buffet’s business partner, Charlie Munger.

So, that’s a pretty… I mean, there’s so many reasons why that’s great, right? And I’m just following the stadium pitch concepts here, for those that know Chapter 4 of Ultimate Sales Machine. So I have that stadium pitch title, uh, every single day. 3, 076 businesses are closing. 

So, 

that got me my television debut, which was wonderful.

Actually, I’ve been on television before. But for the book launch, I got on television within a week. I was on TV, uh, with that press release. So, looking at… What you’re doing to get on podcasts, stages, television, press, is your [00:15:00] messaging talking about just you? Hey, we’ve released a book. Or is it talking to the painful problem that your prospects are experiencing?

The fourth biggest mistake you make to ruin your book launch is holding back valuable content. Now, Chet Holmes was famous for always saying, give your best stuff away for free. He had clients that spent hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to hire him as a consultant and then to hire our clientele, or sorry, Our staff to follow the principles that he taught in this book.

But this book would normally charge you, I mean he had clients that were actually upset that they’d spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with him and yet now people could read everything that he gave away to the Fortune 500, to Charlie Munger, co chairman of Berkshire Hathaway for only 17. It was a steal.

Now… He never held anything back and he made sure that he gave one [00:16:00] chapter away for free, which for all of you that are coming out with a book, make sure you give that one chapter that’s the best chapter that you have. Give that one away for free. I remember as I was writing the new edition, every time I’d say, Oh, this is so good.

Should I really share this? Should I hold it back? The answer was always Yes, share it. I’ve also heard this from those that are very successful on social media that have, you know, viral videos every week that they also say don’t hold back your best stuff. If you’re gonna get to be known, you have to say great things.

You can’t just put it out there in vanilla. So it’s, it’s a different mentality of I keep And I covet those things that are great. No, share it so people understand it. And that’s what I also did in Chapter 4 of the new edition. So, what is your best stuff? And how can you put it into your book if it’s not already there?

And then also, what are you doing with the free chapter? Because I will tell you that… [00:17:00] We have an opt in on online where people can opt in to get Chapter 4. And we say that it’s the chapter that our clients call, you know, it’s the chapter that changed their lives. Uh, like how I say that they say that, not that I’m saying it.

And then also I print out physical copies of Chapter 4. This is \ my business card. I don’t give out a business card. I give them Chapter 4. And people go, this is for me? I can have this. They’re actually honored and excited about having this. And it’s something you can read on a plane ride, which very often I’m at events, or I’m in first class, and I’m talking to people in first class, and instead of saying, oh, this is what I do, and they try to figure it out, and you have a dialogue, if you have your best material in just 20 pages or less that you can give somebody, they can become a raving fan instantly.

Overnight, it’s the same thing with decision makers. Maybe a CEO has read Ultimate Sales Machine, but then there’s five other decision makers in their [00:18:00] business that are now having to agree with the Ultimate Sales Machine methodology. I say, you know, if you don’t read a whole book, no problem. You don’t have to read the whole book.

Just read Chapter 4. That’s something you can read in an hour. Maybe or less and it will give you an idea of our kind of business and what who you’re talking to It’s a quick way to win serious respect I mean we have rabid fans because we give our best because it gets serious results It’s based on decades of trial and error.

It’s not just something that we pontificated on and then asked AI to write for us, right? It’s true blue from experience. So they read that, they become raving fans. So make sure that you are giving your best stuff away for free just to get them realizing, right? Then they’ll come to you for more.

And the fifth biggest mistake to ruin your book launch is Not putting a call to action in your book. You spend all [00:19:00] this time, money, and energy to write the book to…

push

out the book. And then, I had a client that wasn’t going to have any CTA at all. No call to action whatsoever in the book. And I forced him to, at the very last moment, to put something in there to call people back to him.

Now, it’s one thing to just say, go to this website. You should have an absolutely It’s an irresistible offer in your book and it shouldn’t just be on the first page, because very often people just put it on the first page, hope that people will see it, or put it on the last page and hope people will see it.

It should just be throughout the entire book. You continually offer free resources, um, special tools. Uh, quizzes, tricks, scripts, templates, you know, people love all of that and just keep reminding them to go. Uh, we used to have it where it would be at five different e uh, websites, which then we had to continually maintain five different websites.

Make [00:20:00] sure it’s all on one website, where if they just opt in, then they get all of the resources from the book. Way easier, speaking from experience.

So to summarize, the five ways to ruin your book launch. Number one, lack of a clear goal. Do you just have vanity, vanity metrics? Are you actually tracking to generate?

sales from your ideal clients. Number two are you wasting your time on opportunities that do not speak to your ideal client?

Why waste your time? Just focus on where you need to be, where your ideal client is. Number three, having irrelevant messaging that’s just me, we, just focused on you instead of focused on your ideal prospect and what’s keeping them up at night.

What’s a painful problem that they need solved.

Number four, holding back your most valuable content. Give your best stuff away for free. That’s how you will live on and that’s how people will remember you. And then number five. Forgetting to [00:21:00] have a call to action from the book to tell them the next step to take. Make sure it is an irresistible offer that is peppered throughout the entire book.

Those are your five ways to ruin your book launch. So I hope that you have a successful one. And if you’re thinking, maybe you watched all of this and thought, Wow, I’d actually like to write a book now. Um, we have helped actually several of our clients. With their books, we actually did the research to give them so that they could back it by um, true resources and give them a little bit more context to the structure in which they should write their book.

So if that’s something that’s of interest to you, you can go to empireresearchgroup. com and ask about a core story. Uh, you can also go to howtodoublesales. com if you want to know more about how you can leverage your book more throughout your business. We can help you with that [00:22:00] in your marketing and sales process, so you can boost sales.

That’s howtodoublesales.com.