Jul 14
11
Book Review – “Launch” by Jeff Walker
Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Jeff Walker’s and have purchased a number of products from him, including his current book titled “Launch, An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams”. I’ll just call it “Launch” from now on.
Let’s look at the PRO’s and CON’s of Jeff’s book…
PRO’s
Great Value –
Jeff Walker has sold his full “Product Launch Formula” for thousands of dollars and this book contains some of the key parts of his iconic program, so it is certainly an excellent value at less than $12 on Amazon.com (paperback) or less than $8 in Kindle format.
Interesting Case Studies –
Jeff presents examples from dog agility training to an organization that trains psychologists. Maybe there is a joke about Pavlov’s dogs in there, but the point is that the applications of his Launch process are widespread. While his own launches have made “6 figures in 7 days” and even multi-millions, Jeff seems most proud of the fact that he can point to over $500 million worth of launches by his students. As they say, “Your results will differ“, of course, but if you plan to launch a new product or program, isn’t this book worth a read?
CON’s
Big picture (Diagram) Missing –
You would think that something as technical as an internet launch would have diagrams showing the interaction of the various components. Maybe Jeff felt that it wasn’t needed but I found that I needed to see all the parts on one page to fully grasp what is needed for a “Jeff Walker-style Launch”… so I created a visual diagram I call the “Launch Phase Checklist“. I also created the high-level diagram (see below) for anyone who would like a simple 6-step version of the launch process without all the details of my full Launch checklist. Download the full Launch Phase Checklist for free here.
A Couple Holes in the Process –
I admit that I am probably nitpicking at this point. Jeff certainly over-delivers with all the bonus material on the companion website that goes along with the book but there are still a couple areas where I needed more info.
As I started putting together my “cheatsheet” or “Launch Phase Checklist”, my hope was that I would simply take the things I learned in the book, list them in appropriate order with a few check boxes and I would be done. It was going along fine as I made the diagram for the “Pre-PreLaunch Phase” and then the “PreLaunch Phase.” Both were super clear and easy to understand in the book. The next phase is when things got sketchy.
The Launch Phase was discussed quite a bit in the book, but it did not have anywhere near the details that the Pre-Launch had in terms of how to make the appropriate marketing materials or messages. Maybe Jeff thought that most of the work is in the PreLaunch and it probably is, but I would still have liked some details about what makes a good Sales Page for the Launch. After I had the Launch Phase outlined for the Checklist (with some additional research of my own), I realized that the Launch isn’t complete if you do not give the customer what they purchased during the launch. Jeff talks about what kind of products are possible in various parts of the book so this might not be considered as much of a “hole” but it did take a bit of work to pull together that part of the Launch Checklist.
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION:
BUY IT and download our free Launch Phase Checklist !
The book is destined to become an important part of anyone’s library if they are doing business online (or would like to). Certainly there are other ways beyond launches to do online business (straight sales, old style sales letter pages, etc.) but the ability to do a “Jeff Walker-style Launch” is something that should be in everyone’s marketing tool box. Right alongside our Launch Phase Checklist from gps-SpeakerMarketing.com !
