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What is the purpose of a "mass control" or PLF style launch?

by dsiomtw
11 replies
Can someone share the primary logic behind a "mass control" or PLF style launch? You know, the ones where you sell a ton of stuff in a few days or a week and then the product almost always is taken off the market?

I can understand if the product revolves around live training or coaching, but even the products that don't seem to follow the same "strategy" and the product is taken off the market. For example take Frank's recent List Control product. There is no one-on-one coaching or anything involved, so there's no reason it couldn't be sold to unlimited people.

I understand that if you say you're taking the product off the market it creates a sense of urgency and therefore that would logically and usually lead to some increase in initial sales. And I understand it's cool to make a bunch of money in a short period of time. But ...

I have a relatively new product that's doing really well. I get a few hundred sales per day, every day, for the past 6 months or so. If I had done a mass control or PLF style launch and then took the product off the market after a week, there's no way I would have made as much as I've made over the past 6 months.

I also understand that sometimes the products are brought back on the market as "version 2.0" or whatever 6 months or a year later, but I still fail to see how this method generates more sales than if you just did a big "launch"/initial promotion but also left the product on the market...

What am I missing here?
#launch #mass control #plf #purpose #style
  • Profile picture of the author Dan Bainbridge
    There are a lot of reasons, but to create scarcity and urgency - these will really help to sell your product - if someone is vaguley interested but knows they can get your product next week they will just make a mental note to come back another day (but maybe never will), but if someone knows the product won't be available they may buy out of impulse.

    I know from my own experience of running sales that the 2nd email I send out - the one telling people the sale is ending and this is their last chance to buy brings in more than double the $$ that the announcement email which lets them know the sale has started brings in..

    There are a lot of other reasons too, all which focus around improving conversion rates, creating a mass amount of interest, getting multiple jv partners to all mail out at once so it really does look like the whole internet is talking about your product, creating social proof - really getting on peoples radars in a big way in a short amount of time..
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  • Profile picture of the author rickkettner
    submp3s nailed it, and another factor is not having to provide ongoing customer support. It's nice to have an "off-season" when you are doing well financially.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Bainbridge
      Originally Posted by rickkettner View Post

      submp3s nailed it, and another factor is not having to provide ongoing customer support. It's nice to have an "off-season" when you are doing well financially.
      Hmm, yes, definitely This is probably overlooked, but if you could sell the same amount of product in 1 week that it takes you 6 months to sell then wouldn't you go for it?

      Think of the 5 months, 3 weeks that you would have (mostly if not completely) free of customer service, buyers questions, promotions... instead you spend this time developing your next product, and setting up key JVs for it

      ... even if you sell only 75% of the amount you could argue it is worth it if it frees up all of this time... but with all the other factors including urgency, hype, social proof, limited availability, discounts, etc etc it is designed to increase conversions and help you sell more..
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  • Profile picture of the author dsiomtw
    Thanks for the replies.

    I understand some of what you guys are saying, but things like customer service, questions, ongoing promotions etc. are things that are (or should be) mostly handled by your support staff - so I don't really see that it frees up much time in that regard. I mean, at this level, you really shouldn't be doing that stuff yourself unless your product is based around personal one-on-one coaching from you the product creator (which is something I'd never do, and most of the big launches ala List Control aren't based on this).

    I dunno ... there's just something I'm missing here. The site I mentioned in my first post runs on almost complete auto-pilot ... I can't imagine shutting it down. Even if I did a MC or PLF style launch and said it was only going to be available for a week, and I got the whole Internet talking about it, I still can't imagine making as many sales as I've made just in the past 6 months. There's just no way.
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
    Originally Posted by dsiomtw View Post

    I have a relatively new product that's doing really well. I get a few hundred sales per day, every day, for the past 6 months or so.
    What exactly do you sell and for how much?

    Honestly, if Frank and Jeff sold hundreds of MCs and PLFs everyday, I don't think they'd need to close the market down LOL. They might need to hire a few more customer support staff, but that's about it.

    Also, just to add to what the others have said, taking one's product off the market protects can protect from saturating the market. MC and PLF both contain powerful information. Aside from all those other reasons (i.e. scarcity, only getting action-takers to sign-up, capacity for customer support, etc.), those products could have been pulled to make sure that those who did bought would have an unfair advantage over those who didn't.

    This doesn't apply to products like "how to build your list", "get your ex back", and "learn french" because it wouldn't diminish the value of the product for each individual customer if tons of people bought.

    But if the product contains some secret ninja tactics, then it would be in the product owner's interests to limit access to the product.

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  • Profile picture of the author ChadH
    Some of these product launches are absolutely enormous in what they can generate in a few days let alone a few weeks.

    You need to look at the entire sales funnel. The sense of urgency and scarcity gets an enormous influx of cash quickly. In between launches the guru's are still making a large amount of money being a JV or affiliate for their "buddies" launch. They do this at pretty much the push of a button to their own lists.

    On the topic of customer service and support, I really question how much "support" you actually provide for a product launch item. At the end of the day a lot of them are a series of videos and e-books. So if it's not software, really it's about purchases and refunds, and much of that is automated.

    As for your own product, you're in an excellent position definitely. I bet if you did a limited time upgrade launch you would kill it for sure.
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    • Profile picture of the author dsiomtw
      What exactly do you sell and for how much?
      I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. But it's not based on one-on-one personal coaching, live one-time webinars, something where the effectiveness would be diminished if I sold "too much" of it, etc. Really it's no different than something like List Control as an example.

      It's not as expensive as List Control, so maybe all these MC and PLF style launches are really meant just for super expensive stuff? If so maybe that's the piece I'm missing. Maybe with the really expensive stuff the "limited time" and sense of urgency factor is just so big and increases conversions so much that that's why they do it?

      Aside from all those other reasons (i.e. scarcity, only getting action-takers to sign-up, capacity for customer support, etc.), those products could have been pulled to make sure that those who did bought would have an unfair advantage over those who didn't.

      This doesn't apply to products like "how to build your list", "get your ex back", and "learn french" because it wouldn't diminish the value of the product for each individual customer if tons of people bought.
      Yeah that's kind of what I'm getting at. So let's use List Control as an example. Obviously, customer service should not be a constraint to anyone with a "serious" operation - you just hire a few more people if you need to. No big deal.

      So using List Control as an example, what specifically is the benefit to doing the kind of launch Frank did? The only thing I can come up with is the scarcity factor and getting people to take action immediately, but it sure seems like you could achieve the same results with bonuses, etc. without having to take the product off the market.

      Still missing something here. Maybe I'll get lucky and Frank or JW will chime in ...
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      • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
        Originally Posted by dsiomtw View Post

        I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. But it's not based on one-on-one personal coaching, live one-time webinars, something where the effectiveness would be diminished if I sold "too much" of it, etc. Really it's no different than something like List Control as an example.

        It's not as expensive as List Control, so maybe all these MC and PLF style launches are really meant just for super expensive stuff? If so maybe that's the piece I'm missing. Maybe with the really expensive stuff the "limited time" and sense of urgency factor is just so big and increases conversions so much that that's why they do it?



        Yeah that's kind of what I'm getting at. So let's use List Control as an example. Obviously, customer service should not be a constraint to anyone with a "serious" operation - you just hire a few more people if you need to. No big deal.

        So using List Control as an example, what specifically is the benefit to doing the kind of launch Frank did? The only thing I can come up with is the scarcity factor and getting people to take action immediately, but it sure seems like you could achieve the same results with bonuses, etc. without having to take the product off the market.

        Still missing something here. Maybe I'll get lucky and Frank or JW will chime in ...
        I didn't pay as much attention to Frank's List Control launch as I should've, but if I remember correctly, it was a live webinar coaching thing, right? The lines can only hold so many people...plus, it would be beneficial for early movers to limit spots so that people would have a better chance of getting their questions answered live on the calls (or by support staff).

        Also, Mass Control and PLF were physical products. It would be a headache to have to constantly worry about inventory and fulfillment.

        Curtis
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    I think it's all about time.

    What they're doing is focusing the market.

    By using these launch tactics they get 'most' of their potential market to pay attention and take action. Using scarcity to sweep up not just the usual early adopters, but also the massive launch and partners to grab most of the other prospects.

    So with a few months work they can make a years profit.

    This means that after 6 months, they've already created the next product and are warming up the next launch of something 'new' that can tap into the same process.

    It means they can do several big launches in a year because they're highly focused.

    If they're not getting all the sales they expected - they send an emergency "Sell My $%&T" message to all their friends and partners and get them to boost sales.

    Remember - most of these big players are affiliates for each other too, so when Kerns launch is over he'll be emailing you about Mike Koenigs latest venture and so they're layer launches so that they get huge revenue boosts on a regular basis.

    With the right number of people onboard it's a continual gravy train.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsiomtw
    I didn't pay as much attention to Frank's List Control launch as I should've, but if I remember correctly, it was a live webinar coaching thing, right?
    No not at all. The course material is delivered via videos in a members only area. There is a live weekly Q&A call (for 4 weeks) but I don't see that as being a big driving force. It wasn't a big part of the offer, from what I've heard most people don't even get to ask their questions (because there are 2000 members and the calls are only 2 hours), and the 4 calls could easily be made available to new buyers.

    Also, Mass Control and PLF were physical products. It would be a headache to have to constantly worry about inventory and fulfillment.
    It's not a headache to worry about inventory and fulfillment. That's what fulfillment houses are for - they take 98% of the headache out of the process. Again, I just don't see this as being a "big deal" that would be a major reason to structure your offer a certain way.
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
    Regarding LC, I guess I got the format wrong But you can be sure a couple of the videos/calls will be made available to the public in some way, shape, or form, just like the Core Influence thing. These video packages and live coaching calls make great bonuses for future promotions as well.

    There are also the issues of buzz building and the pre-launch sequence. These are integral parts in the "selling" process.

    If you're part of the target audience, you'd be much more likely to buy having gone through the whole pre-launch sequence rather than if you just randomly landed on a sales page.
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