144: (Part 2) Behind the Scenes of My Boldest Launch Yet (with Claire Pells)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Courage & Clarity | Episode 144: (Part 2) Behind the Scenes of My Boldest Launch Yet (with Claire Pelz)

Release Date: July 14, 2025
Host: Steph Crowder
Guest: Claire Pelz, Host of the Get Paid Podcast

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Introduction

In Episode 144 of the Courage & Clarity podcast, host Steph Crowder delves into the intricate details of her most ambitious launch to date—Sold Out Group Programs, a Mastermind program designed to help female entrepreneurs achieve remarkable success. Joined by Claire Pelz from the Get Paid podcast, Steph offers listeners an in-depth look at the strategies, mindset shifts, and unexpected challenges that shaped this bold endeavor.

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Setting Ambitious Goals

Steph embarked on this launch with a progressively ambitious target:

• 10 Participants: Considered a good goal.
• 15 Participants: A better milestone.
• 20 Participants: The best goal, aiming to "reach for the stars."

Quote:
“At 00:02:56, Steph Crowder:** '20 was like we are reaching for the stars. I mean, for me to think about getting 20 people into the program when I didn't have any resigns... I ended up with 12, and I'm super, super happy with that.'

This ambitious target pushed Steph to elevate her approach, forcing her to innovate beyond her usual methods to bridge the gap between her current results and her lofty aspirations.

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Mindset Shifts and Confidence

Steph discusses the critical mindset transition required to pursue the 20-person goal:

• Belief Limitation: Initially, Steph struggled to believe that 20 participants were attainable, especially with no prior resigns.

• Self-Talk Transformation:
  At 02:41, Claire Pelz asks: 'What is the difference between Steph going from 10 to 20?'
  Steph responds by describing her internal dialogue: 'I'd be like, I don't believe we could do 20. That's insanity... If we did believe in 20, let's just pretend that we believed in 20.'

• Creative Expansion:
  To achieve 20 participants, Steph had to embrace creativity and abandon her usual, more predictable tactics.

Quote:
At 05:43, Claire Pelz: 'None.'
At 05:44, Steph Crowder: 'I couldn't be better than anything. It couldn't be above anything....'

This shift from a constrained mindset to one of boundless possibility was pivotal in her approach, even though she ultimately secured 12 participants.

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The Role of Coaching

Steph emphasizes the power of coaching in navigating her launch:

• Commitment to Coaching: Since 2022, Steph has consistently engaged with a coach, DL Sharon, underscoring the value she places on continual guidance.
• Identifying Gaps: During a coaching session, Steph realized she wasn't maximizing her engagement strategies, leading her to utilize tools like ChatGPT to uncover overlooked opportunities.

Quote:
At 06:01, Steph Crowder:
“If you were to look at all of your actions, there are things that you were doing that created the conversation that you are. That you aren't doing anymore.”

This realization prompted Steph to re-evaluate and enhance her engagement tactics, reinforcing the importance of external perspectives in business growth.

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Engagement Strategies

To counteract the initial quietness of her launch and foster engagement, Steph implemented several innovative strategies:

a. Surveys

• Purpose: To gather insights directly from her audience about their biggest challenges with group programs.
• Implementation: Sent out an anonymous survey asking for obstacles and hesitations.
• Outcome: Although response rates were low (around 10-12 from a list of nearly 3,000), those who responded provided valuable feedback, allowing Steph to tailor her content and follow-ups effectively.

Quote:
At 16:04, Steph Crowder:
“I was able to go back to them and be like, hey, thanks for you shared. Your problem is this....”

b. Instagram Lives

• Initiation: Steph ventured into Instagram Lives for the first time in this launch, conducting three sessions focused on addressing common objections.
• Content: Each Live session tackled specific hesitations, such as the misconception that summer is too busy for new clients.
• Impact: Even with minimal live attendance, the engagement from comments provided the desired interaction and feedback.

Quote:
At 06:01, Steph Crowder:
“I said I was going to be live on Friday. And so I did a live about summer sales... I just celebrated the hell out of that. I was like, oh, my God, so cool.”

c. Broadcast Channels

• Creation: Steph launched a broadcast channel on Instagram named Sold Out Secrets.
• Function: Served as an insider, behind-the-scenes hub where she shared voice memos and exclusive content.
• Engagement: Attracted approximately 50 participants from her 4,500 Instagram followers, fostering a sense of community and insider access.

Quote:
At 19:48, Steph Crowder:
“It made me feel like again, the people are there. It helped bolster that belief of like they are paying attention.”

d. Webinars and Interactive Tools

• Webinar Resource: Introduced a Group Program Revenue Calculator, allowing attendees to visualize potential revenue gains from group programs.
• Purpose: To provide tangible value and demonstrate the financial benefits of investing in her program.
• Engagement Boost: Offered as a bonus for webinar attendees, enhancing the incentive to join and participate.

Quote:
At 22:02, Steph Crowder:
“It helped stoke their belief of like, do you really think you're not going to get four new clients over the course of the next year?”

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Advertising Efforts

A significant component of Steph's launch strategy involved targeted advertising:

• Collaboration with Claire Pelz: Leveraged Claire's Get Paid Marketing program to design and deploy effective ad campaigns.
• Ad Spend: Invested approximately $2,000 in ads, yielding substantial returns.
• Results:
  • Conversion Rate: Secured 2 out of the 2794 leads from ads, translating to a remarkable 8x return on investment.
  • List Growth: Expanded her email list with over 100 new leads, enhancing her outreach for future engagements.
  • New Client Acquisition: Half of her new clients were entirely new to her, coming through ads or referrals sparked by ad exposure.

Quote:
At 23:47, Steph Crowder:
“With half of the people from ads, it got a hundred new leads just about for a webinar that I was already going to be doing.”

Claire Pelz's Insight:
At 25:22, Claire Pelz:
“This is why I say if you're going to launch, run some fucking ads to your webinar.”

Steph's advertising strategy demonstrated the effectiveness of combining organic efforts with paid campaigns to maximize reach and conversion.

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Adaptations and Experiments During the Launch

Throughout the launch, Steph remained flexible, making real-time adjustments based on performance and feedback:

a. Cart Close Bonus

• Introduction: Offered a 30-day fast track sales challenge as a bonus to incentivize quick sign-ups.
• Purpose: To help clients achieve a return on investment swiftly and foster a sense of urgency.

Quote:
At 29:16, Steph Crowder:
“I decided to change that. That was a bit kooky one.”

b. Changing Call to Action (CTA)

• Experiment: Shifted the primary CTA from 'Apply' to 'Book a Call' to lower barriers for potential clients.
• Outcome: Despite numerous attempts, this change did not result in additional conversions, indicating that the application process was not a significant barrier for her audience.

Quote:
At 29:16, Steph Crowder:
“And I put that in a good at least half dozen emails. Nobody actually did that.”

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Lessons Learned and Key Takeaways

Steph shares several pivotal lessons from her boldest launch:

1. Embrace Creativity: Stepping outside comfort zones and trying unconventional methods can unlock new opportunities.
2. Stay Open to Feedback: Utilizing tools like surveys and coaching sessions can highlight overlooked areas and improve strategies.
3. Leverage Multiple Platforms: Disseminating content across various channels (emails, podcasts, social media) increases engagement and reach.
4. Balance Metrics with Intuition: While metrics provide insights, overanalyzing them during a launch can hinder performance. Focus on qualitative feedback and meaningful engagement.
5. Leadership Through Example: Demonstrating commitment and adaptability sets a positive example for clients and fosters trust.

Quote:
At 34:50, Steph Crowder:
“I have to be willing to go first. I have to be willing to be the hardest core... leadership to me. That's true leadership and a launch.”

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Leadership and Example Setting

A recurring theme is the importance of leadership in navigating challenges:

• Leading by Example: As a coach, Steph acknowledges the responsibility to embody the actions and attitudes she expects from her clients.
• Self-Motivation: Even when faced with setbacks or discouragement, focusing on providing value to others kept Steph motivated and proactive.
• Empathy and Service: Shifting focus from personal success to assisting clients ensured that interactions remained genuine and beneficial.

Quote:
At 32:26, Steph Crowder:
“And so, if nothing else, when I didn't know how this was going to end, I had the thought, if nothing else, at least I set a damn good example.”

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Conclusion

Episode 144 of Courage & Clarity offers a comprehensive exploration of Steph Crowder's most ambitious launch yet. Through candid discussions with Claire Pelz, Steph reveals the blend of bold goal-setting, creative engagement strategies, effective advertising, and unwavering leadership that contributed to her success. Listeners gain valuable insights into the importance of mindset, the power of coaching, and the necessity of adaptability in achieving business goals.

Final Quote:
At 32:26, Steph Crowder:
“That really helped me. That inspired me so much to just keep going.”

This episode serves as an inspiring blueprint for female entrepreneurs aiming to elevate their ventures with courage and clarity.

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Connect with Steph Crowder:

• Instagram: @heystephcrowder
• Podcast: Courage & Clarity

Connect with Claire Pelz:

• Podcast: Get Paid

Transcript

[Steph Crowder]

Foreign welcome to the Courage and Clarity Podcast. I'm your host, Steph Crowder. I'm a former sales training director who's helped thousands of entrepreneurs earn a living doing something they love over the past 10 years. On your journey, you'll need the courage to be bold, to take risks, and to do what looks crazy on paper. You'll also need the clarity, the brass tacks, simple strategies that actually work. And on this podcast, we deliver both in equal measure. Oh, and by the way, we've got absolutely no time for bs, gross marketing tactics or get rich quick schemes. Just sustainable business strategies for good humans with big dreams. If that sounds like you, you're in the right place. Let's go. Hello hello my friends. Welcome back to the podcast. You are about to listen to part two of my launch debrief. Getting into all of the nitty gritty details of a recent launch that I did of my Mastermind program called Sold Out Group Programs. Like I said, this is part two and so if you missed part one, you're going to want to jump back one episode in the feed and make sure that you catch that one. We get into more of a context, but these two episodes together, there's so much juicy goodness. I really hope you love the episode. Big shout out to my friend Claire Pelz of the Get Paid podcast for coming onto the show to talk all of the details with me. I hope you love this episode and if you do, please come and find me over on Instagram. You can DM me @ hey Steph Crowder, if you have any follow up questions or something that you wish I had covered that I didn't cover, let me know. I would love to hear what you think and answer all of your burning questions. We're gonna jump right in with no preamble again picking up from where we left off in part one. So I hope you enjoy the show. So 10 was the good goal, 15 better, and 20 was the best goal. 20 was like we are reaching for the stars. I mean, for me to think about getting 20 people into the program when I didn't have any resigns, keep in mind, I usually get 20. Half of them would be resigns that felt like doing the impossible. And so I did focus a lot in this launch on going for 20. Even though that's not where I landed, it did force me to show up very differently because I had to ask myself, who is the version of me that is going for 20? How does that version of me show up If I am trying to do what feels like what is impossible. So in the end, I ended up with 12, and I'm super, super happy with that.

[Claire Pelz]

Okay, I want to know what is the difference between Steph going from 10 and Steph going for 20? I guess I want to know the thoughts, the feelings, and the actions.

[Steph Crowder]

It was very easy for me to believe that 10 was done. You and I talk about this sometimes. We'll be talking about our goals. We'll be like, 10 is done. And what we mean by that is not that we wouldn't have to do anything that is just, like, going to magically happen, but what that means is looking at the plan that I have, looking at all the actions that I have scheduled, all the emails I have going. I did a webinar for my. My launch event. You know, knowing everything that I know, having the plan that I have, do I believe that I can get to 10? I was. I think I was in pretty high belief that 10 was possible. And so that felt like the mindset of 10 felt like, well, as long as I do what I'm supposed to do, as long as I show up and I go through the. This a bit of a go through the motions that I think I could have gone through the motions of this launch and probably gotten to 10, maybe I could maybe 8 in the end, something close to 10, right? But 20. 20 felt like, okay, like, first of all, I didn't. I spent a couple weeks of my pre launch not Even believing that 20 could be remotely possible. So it definitely stretched my belief. And I had to go through this whole exercise of. This is how I talk to myself. I'd be like, I don't believe we could do 20. That's insanity. We've never done anything like that. And then I would talk back to my brain and I'd say, okay, no problem. If we. If. If we did believe in 20, let's just pretend that we believed in 20. Guys, this was like, every day of my launch, I had to say to myself, every day, every day, every day. I was like, it can't be 20. There's no way. Okay, Steph Crowder. But if we did believe, what would we do? Let's just play pretend. What would we do? Well, we would try this. This is going to be the theme of this launch. Guys. The theme of this launch was try everything. The version of me at 20 was so creative, and I didn't start out that way. In the launch, we're going to talk about that. I'm sure Claire is going to ask me questions about that. She witnessed It. But I got to the point where I was like, all right, like, some. Like, this dam just broke in me where I was like, I literally felt like the beginner version of myself in the best way. Like, the version of myself that used to just make stuff up and be like, let's see if this works. I want to be clear, not in a frantic way, not in a scrambled way, not in a little, like, chicken with my head cut off way, but just in a getting out of the humdrum way of launching that. Like, some of us fall into, who've been doing this for years and years. It's like we just follow the steps and get the results, and that's fine. But if I was gonna get to 20, I knew I was gonna have to be new and different. I was going to have to be extra creative. I was going to have to. That I wouldn't previously have been willing to try. There could be no entitlement.

[Claire Pelz]

None.

[Steph Crowder]

I couldn't be better than anything. I couldn't be above anything. It was all on the line. Like, every idea I had, I was like, we're going to try it. And I think that ended up being the thing that got me to 12.

[Claire Pelz]

So, like, what things did you do that you hadn't done before?

[Steph Crowder]

Oh, my God. Would you like to hear my list? I have a full list. Okay, So I. I'm going to go to this one moment that I know we wanted to talk to talk that helped me. And this is the power of coaching. Everybody knows I always talk about, like, every. All of us need a coach. Okay? And I don't just say that because then you'll want me to be your coach. I say that because I. I've. I've said it from the day I came back to business in 2022, that I would never go without a coach again. And I haven't. Okay? So I have a coach. Like, I walk my talk on this. I. I get coaching almost every week. The only reason I don't is when my schedule. I can't get there with my kids, right? So I try to get coaching every single week. And I went to my coach. My coach. Claire and I both get coached by DL Sharon, Shout out to DL and she was having this call, and I. She was talking about strategies on this call, and I felt myself like really shutting down. And I was like, this is really. I was like. I was feeling this discouragement, and I was like, all right, I need to raise my hand and, like, talk about what I'm feeling. And so I did And DL coached me for a while. And what. I was hurt. I was like a week or two into my pre launch, so my emails are going out, I'm promoting my webinar, and my overall sense was just like, it feels really quiet. People are signing up. You know, I was putting out my content, I was doing my thing. But I was like, I mean, y' all know, if you've been listening to me for a while, I'm a conversation girly. Like, I am like, we need to. Like, the co creation has always been a fabric of how I do business. And I had really convinced myself that that was just over. I was like, 2025, they don't want to talk to me anymore. Fine. And I think I was a little. I was like, fine, they don't want to talk to me. I don't want to talk to them. That's not a problem. And I really tried to get on board with that. And I think a minute, for a minute I was. But then I talked to DL about it and I was like, I had to get honest. And I was like, I'm actually really uncomfortable with this, like, quiet. And she said to me, you can you listen to the coaching so you can tell me if I get this wrong? But like, my recollection was she, if they used to be talking and they're not talking anymore, you're doing something different. There are. If you were to look at all of your actions, there are things that you were doing that created the conversation that you are. That you aren't doing anymore. There are things that you are in my. At first I was like, I'm. I mean, I was like, I am doing everything. That's not true. I'm like, I. I have all of these. I'm sending more emails than ever before. I am showing up on social media. I. My podcast was like two times a week. I was doing everything. But then I thought about it, and I think this is where you. You brought this back up. Like during the call, when she got done coaching me, I went to chat GPT. And I can't remember what I prompted it, but I think I was like, if I were going to do more things to get more conversation going, what are more things I could do? And it just started spitting ideas at me. And it's not even that they were the best ideas. Some of them were fine. But that made me say, because I looked at. I looked at what it said and it was like, oh, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. I'm not Doing that I'm not doing. Damn it. Okay. There are things that I'm supposed to be doing that I could be doing that I'm not doing. And that was the first moment of like getting real with myself because I think I had been telling myself, but I am doing everything. And that was not true. I was not doing everything that I possibly could.

[Claire Pelz]

You know, we've been talking over in my business with my clients, with Sarah Lucille especially. She's the one who brought this up. Actually, that Sarah Lucille is my copywriter and also our copy coach in the program. She's like, people are engaging with email in a very different way. They are reading, but they are not responding. And sometimes they're just not reading. I mean, everyone in our industry has seen a reduction in click through rates.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah, right.

[Claire Pelz]

People just aren't clicking. They're reading, but they're not clicking. They are engaging on platforms that are built for engagement.

[Steph Crowder]

Right, right.

[Claire Pelz]

On social media.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah.

[Claire Pelz]

So what do we have to do to like, if we want engagement? And you know me, I'm not on social. I didn't do any social for my GPM launch. I did the emails and the podcast, but I also didn't expect anyone to be talking to me.

[Steph Crowder]

Exactly, Exactly. I think that's the difference. It's like if you are okay with the fact that, like, it's gonna be quiet up until the launch. I think I wanted so bad to be okay with that. And I finally just made my peace with the fact that, like, it's just not me. It's just like not how I do it. It's not how I've ever done it. I get antsy. I explained this to another client yesterday who was feeling this and I said it reminds me of like, you're about to run a marathon. And I'm just like, I was just like standing at the finish or at the starting line and I was like, can I start? Like, I was just ready and I was holding myself back and like, I felt like I was sitting on my hands. I had this antsy energy. And after that conversation with DL, I was like, let me just get, let me just get going. Let me just like start to expend some of this energy. My launch was all planned in advance. That was new. I had all my emails scheduled. A podcast was done and I didn't know what to do with myself. I was like, this is like crazy. And so I just started doing things. So I'll share some of the things that I did because I think that this just created here's the thing. It. This is the. This is the takeaway. It created so much energy. So Claire and I talked about this, too. In any moment through the launch, when I was tempted to start spiraling and I was tempted to start being in negative emotion, I would just go do something instead. And at the very least, the very least, it was a distraction. It was a distraction from the. And I think you said this to me at one point, Claire, you're like, okay, well, you could either spiral or you can go do. To go do something. And that could be getting more sales calls on your calendar. It could be. For me, it was like going live on Instagram. Like, but every time I went and took an action, it felt like it was unblocking something for me. And I didn't even really, like, I didn't take time to look at the metrics of how any of this stuff was doing. I didn't care. That wasn't the point. I just had the mentality of, like, have an idea, let's try it. Have an idea, let's try it. And I really was in belief that all of these ideas snowballing together would create momentum for me. And people did say that. I had people reaching out, saying, like, you were. You were really visible in this launch. Like, you just. You were different. And I think that was because I just gave my permission, myself, permission to try it all. And one more thing on this, I. I think it was our friend Jereisha Hawk, who I heard saying this. And it really stuck with me that the idea of being willing to be seen trying, that was something I embraced in this launch, where in the past I might have been like, how is it going to look to people if I'm. If I'm posting on Instagram and getting seven likes, they're going to think I don't look legit. I just let all of that go and was like, I'm going to go live, and if nobody's there, I don't care. Like, I'm willing to be seen. Like, I'm will. I'm just willing. I just, like, increased my willingness to be. To look like I was trying, right? Like, sure, yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying hard, and I'm okay with myself appearing that way. Whereas maybe in the past, my energy was like, I should be above this at my level. I shouldn't have to try so hard. I'm not a beginner. I should just kind of coast through this. And as soon as I let that go, I think I started showing up very differently.

[Claire Pelz]

That's what has been missing for so many people when their revenue started to dip in. Yes. Whatever year it started to dip. It seems like it happened for different people at different times, but it's like that double doubling down on doing the same.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah. You know, and not judging like the like. Again, I cannot emphasize enough. Stay out of the metrics, okay. Don't be looking at how many people watched your live. I don't. I don't care.

[Claire Pelz]

Stop telling me how many people opened your email, because that metric really isn't real.

[Steph Crowder]

It's not.

[Claire Pelz]

Really isn't real. So people are like. But they're opening.

[Steph Crowder]

They're.

[Claire Pelz]

But no, they're not. They're not clicking. But maybe they are. Like, all of those things are. I get all. I get these same people clicking on every single email because it's fucking bot.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah. You know, exactly like, oh, great.

[Claire Pelz]

People are clicking. No, they're not. But guess what? They're still buying.

[Steph Crowder]

You have to be open. You and I talk a lot about launch magic and being open to. Like, I'm gonna. I'm going to share this one. One client that I signed is new to me and she'd never heard of me before. And she told me somebody said your name on LinkedIn, guys, you don't have influence over. Like, there's no Instagram metric. There's no open rate. There's nothing that you. There's nothing you can put in to measure that's gonna yield that result. That's what I mean. When I really do choose to believe that, like, me just showing up a lot and being in a lot of different places, maybe that's why that person mentioned me on LinkedIn that day. I don't even know who they were. Right. But like, I was showing up. And so when somebody said, hey, my. My new client, she's like, who do you know that teaches people how to do this? This person said, steph Crowder, that's launch magic. I signed this. That's a client right there. And so I think a lot to your point, a lot of people are really trying to read the tea leaves. They're trying to look on the back end of the ads manager or the this, the that. And it's like back bad stuff. I always tell my clients, dig in there as much as you want when your launch is over, but until that clock goes down to 000, you should not be overanalyze or really analyzing in any way, except maybe if you do something that seems to really work. Like if you get a lot of engagement on something. Okay, fine. Lean into that. Like, if. If it's very clear. Whoa. This was a runaway success. This one post I did. Okay, let's do more of that. Other than that. Just stop. Just stop. You can analyze. There'll be so much time for analyzing after it's over.

[Claire Pelz]

Okay, you've almost said, like, three times the things you actually did, and I think people are chomping at the bit. So what did you actually do?

[Steph Crowder]

Okay, so this is in no particular order. I think one of the first things I did is I said I was again in the effort of kind of. I wanted to have things to respond to. I wanted to have some back and forth. I wanted to have, like, what are they thinking? I wanted to kind of have something to. To go off of. I sent a short survey to my list. I told them it would be anonymous, and it was anonymous. And I said basically, like, tell me your biggest group program obstacles right now. What's your biggest hesitation, your biggest obstacle, your biggest challenge with group programs? And it was just an open field. And then I said, and I thought this was really different. I said, if you give me your email or Instagram handle, I think I asked a question. Would you like me to pop into your inbox with some ideas based on what you shared? If yes, put in your email or Instagram. Almost every person who did this survey wasn't that many people that did the survey. I want to say, like, maybe 10 or 12 people of my list of nearly 3,000, but, like, every one of them, almost every one of them did end up putting in their email or their Instagram. And so then I was able to go back to them and be like, hey, thanks for you shared. Your problem is this. Like, here's a one little thing I'm going to be covering at my webinar. Here's a little podcast I did recently. Like, I was able to just again have some of that conversation. But that alone gate helped me have the thought, okay, the people, like, they're out there. Because that's what my brain was wanting to do. It was like, they're so quiet. Nobody's talking, Nobody's coming. That was why the quiet was creating problems for me, is because I was believing nobody was coming. And so by doing this survey and getting people telling me, yeah, I do have problems and hesitations and obstacles about group programs. Off the bat, I started creating a lead list. I just started writing down people's names of like, okay, this person responded, that's somebody to follow up with. This person had A question. That's somebody I'm going to make sure watched my webinar, see if they want to apply. Right. So that was one of the first things I did. I did my first Instagram Live in forever. I've never been a big Instagram Live people. I used to go live on Facebook a lot back in the day, but Instagram Live just never really was a thing for me. But I decided I got that coaching that we talked about on Wednesday night. I was like, I'm going live on Friday. And so I did a live about summer sales, because I know one of the big objections people have is like, I don't really think I should be like, let me join your program, Steph. Let me join in the fall. Like, summer's too busy. Nobody's buying right now. And so I decided to bust that objection by sharing 10 examples of different niches and how I would leverage the summer. Why summer is an Amazing time for 10 different niches. And so I prepared those, and then if anybody was there at the live, I said, tell me your niche in the comments and I'll do yours. Okay. Not a lot of people came, but, like, I. I mean, who knows how many watched in the replay? But I think two people did comment and said, like, this is my niche. What do you think? And I just celebrated the hell out of that. I was like, oh, my God, so cool. Like, they responded. That's exactly what I wanted, was for just one person to find that valuable. So I did that Instagram Live. I ended up doing two more Instagram Lives, three through the launch. And I based those on other objections. So I would go live based on something that people were telling me on my sales calls, and then I would put those on the podcast. So I ended up with a couple extra podcast episodes, and those episodes were really good. I listened back and I was like, dang, this is. This is highly valuable stuff. And so going live. I went live three times during the launch, and that was not in my plan, and that's not something I normally do. That was a new thing that I tried. All right, I'm just gonna keep going, and you can cut me off when you want to. Claire.

[Claire Pelz]

I'm loving it. I'm loving it.

[Steph Crowder]

Keep going. Okay, cool. I created a broadcast channel on Instagram. Have you guys seen these broadcast channels? I've never had one of these before. I called it Sold Out Secrets. Again, my program is called Sold Out Group Programs. And I positioned it as an insider, behind the scenes, place to be. And I dropped some voice memos I dropped some encouragement. I just kind of made it like an extra special little inside track with me. And I think like slowly people were trickling in there. Maybe like 50 people ended up being in there out of my 4,500 Instagram followers. Wasn't a ton, but it made me feel like again, the people are there. It helped bolster that belief of like they are paying attention. And so that was cool and new and different. I created a special webinar resource. Okay. I created this thing I called the group program revenue calculator. So you had to come to the webinar or watch the replay to get it. I only mentioned the link that the link didn't go out in emails. You, you had to be there and then I gave the link or you could watch the replay and you would see the link. Right. So the Group Program revenue calculator helped people kind of play with the numbers of how much revenue they could add in their business with group programs. And it just helped them like play around from a revenue planning perspective. I thought it was really cool. It was something that I wish I had because I'm always doing these numbers on paper. And so that felt really fun. I've never done any kind of like show up bonus or extra little gift if you come to my webinar. But it felt like this fun extra carrot to dangle. Plus I think it helped stoke their belief of how possible it would be. It was like, oh, if I just, you know, for example, if I just, you know, get four clients at 2,000 apiece, I could cover my, my investment in Steph's bro program. So I really wanted to create that possibility and show people, like, do you really think you're not going to get four new clients over the course of the next year? Of course you're going to be able to do that. Which I think made investing a bit safer for people. Okay, lots of other things here. One of the big things I know we're going to want to talk about is I did ads. We did ads.

[Claire Pelz]

That's right. I forgot all about that. I'm just like sitting here like wrapped, you know, just like, wow, she's so smart. And then.

[Steph Crowder]

That's right, ads, Ads. So I am in Claire's get paid marketing program. And so I had help from Claire and the team and all the resources there to get ads going for sold out group programs. And guess what? I did. What felt like the impossible is we converted cold leads. So I 8x to my investment in my ads, half the people x 8x.

[Claire Pelz]

You put in a dollar and got $8 back.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah, yeah, I spent. Yes, I know, right? I spent. And I grew my list too, so we'll talk about that. But I spent like, Yeah, I spent 2000 on ads and I.2 of 2 cold people from ads joined the program for 16k. 2.

[Claire Pelz]

2 cold. Okay, so what were the ads for? Like, what did the ads point people to?

[Steph Crowder]

Mainly, like eighteen hundred dollars of that spend was the webinar. So it was cold. It was too cold for the webinar.

[Claire Pelz]

What cold means, FYI, because everyone kind of has a different definition of it in the sense of cold traffic. It's people who likely have never heard of you before. I mean, there's always a little bit of warm traffic mixed in. Like, that's just how Facebook will always start with your warmest people. But as soon you know, very quickly they're putting your ads in front of people who have never heard of you before. And to get people from totally cold to convert at an 8k program in like the course of what, 10ish days? 10 days to 2 weeks is very impressive.

[Steph Crowder]

Thank you. Why thank you. Fun. Cool stat along with that is 50% of these clients were new to me.

[Claire Pelz]

That's wild. Like, new.

[Steph Crowder]

They're from how. What's that new how? Like you said, either from ads. Either from ads or like the person who told me that someone just mentioned them wasn't an ad, but like they were just mentioned. So they looked into me, booked a call and. And signed. Two people were referred to me like a similar referred to me in a different way. Like referred to me by somebody else. Weren't previously on my list until somebody else happened to mention my program. So half of the people were like not paying attention before this launch.

[Claire Pelz]

Wow.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah.

[Claire Pelz]

That's also the dream.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah.

[Claire Pelz]

Is that.

[Steph Crowder]

And I think a lot of us believe that's not possible because it is crazy to think like then I also had like three of. So two people. Beyond that, two previous clients came back, which I always love. I'm like so happy to have them back. One upgraded from my lower ticket program, same day sales, my more entry program. And then three of the new people that haven't worked with me before have been following for two years or more. So it's definitely a mix. But I've definitely walked around. I think a lot of us walk around with the belief like, oh, people have to be paying attention to me for years and years and years. Some people, some people. That's true. But I was not expecting for half of my Clients to be ready to work with me pretty much off the street.

[Claire Pelz]

This is why I say if you're going to launch, run some fucking ads to your webinar.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah.

[Claire Pelz]

Because you're already doing the work. You're already writing all the emails. You've already worked hard on the sales page instead of posting about it 1900 times on social media.

[Steph Crowder]

Or if you're me, do both. Do both.

[Claire Pelz]

Yeah. Not instead. Really do both.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah, do both.

[Claire Pelz]

But like so use, use one of those posts as your ad copy and your creative put some money behind it.

[Steph Crowder]

That is also what we did at your recommendation. So a lot less money. But I had these. Every time I launch, I have client interviews on my podcast. It's one of my favorite things that I do. We did four of those and we put a little bit of money behind those ads or sorry, behind those episodes driving people to go listen to those client stories. So those were originally reels, little 90 second clips of my clients and at Claire's suggestion we also ran some ads to those. So that's another idea of like again I to your point, I already had the interviews running on the podcast. Might as well help more people see these amazing client stories. That felt really good as well. With the. Just one more thing about the ads. With the webinar, I had 227 people total register from the webinar. That's a combination of the ads. Some of them coming in organically through my form. The rest, a lot of them were from my list already. But out of 2, 2794 of those were from ads. So almost half came from my ads. So that felt really cool as well. I got a hundred new leads just about for a webinar that I was already going to be doing.

[Claire Pelz]

Love it.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah, love it. Okay. I'm running, finishing out here with other things that I tried because I have more. Let's see, I did for the first time a cart close bonus. In the last couple of days I decided to do a 30 day fast track. Where we're going to focus is basically going to be like a 30 day sales challenge to help speed up my clients getting a return on their investment. Which I think just really helped with the idea of like what if I don't make my money back? I decided to really lean into that and say with my co coach Haley, what are we going to do for 30 days to really focus on helping people get that money back so that the rest of the year with me can just be profitable learning. So that was pretty fun that we Added as well. I think those are the big. I did some other things, but those are the big, juicy new things that we tried. One more thing, and this would think was your idea too, Claire, is whenever I did an Instagram Live or a reel, because I also did some reels and at least one carousel post, I put that into the emails and I invited people. I said, so for example, if I did a live and then I turned it into an email, keep in mind, I would do a live, I'd put it on the podcast, and I turn it into an email. ChatGPT is a huge help with this. Feed it your transcript, it'll do the rest. Right? And so, like you already said it once, so disseminating it out to the different platforms, I think is key. But if I had already done an Instagram Live and I was writing an email about it, I would put at the top. Would you prefer to watch this email as a video? Click here and it would take them to the Instagram Live. So there were some emails where you have the option to read the email, watch it as a video, or listen to it as a podcast. And that felt really fun to give people. This was not for every email, but for the emails that it did make sense to do it with, it was fun to be able to give them three different ways to consume the content.

[Claire Pelz]

I love it. I want to talk about one thing, and I know we, we have to be cognizant of time here, but did you at one point change your call to action from apply to book a call?

[Steph Crowder]

Yes, I did experiment with that and nobody did it, which was really interesting. So we just for context for everyone, the primary CTA call to action once my doors were open was Apply. Apply so that you can book a call. Right. And then once my Fast action bonus expired, 48 hours in, I have a Fast Action bonus. I think it was 72 hours this time. Actually, I decided to change that. That. I was like, well, maybe, maybe the application is a barrier for people. Let's take away the application. Let's just give people the fast lane to my calendar calendly link. Hey, you want to talk about it? Want to get on my, on my calendar, book a call? And I put that in a good at least half dozen emails. Nobody actually did that. Every person who ever ended up on a sales call with me filled out an application first, even if they had.

[Claire Pelz]

To go looking for the application link. Like, did you get applications after the Fast Action bonus?

[Steph Crowder]

I did. I did.

[Claire Pelz]

That's. That's the number I Also want how many people converted in time to get the fast action bonus and how many were after.

[Steph Crowder]

So I did that a little bit differently this time. I decided to tell people just because I had so much conversation going like that. That right there is, like, conversation begets conversation. Like, is it any coincidence that I focused on conversation? And then when my cart opened, it was like, I had a lot of convo going. That felt really great. Like, I remember on day one, I was like, whoa, I have sales calls. Like, right away. My first day of sales calls was really busy. So I ended up telling people, if you apply and get your sales call on the books by the deadline, then you qualify. And typically, it's like, you gotta be in. That's the way I've done it in the past. But again, I just had, like, so much going. I really felt like I. It didn't feel fair. It didn't feel fair that people hadn't had a chance to have a call with me. So as long as they're. They had. In my mind, they had plenty of time to get a call, at least booked. Right. So as long as their call was booked, they got the bonus. I don't know if I have that number handy. The vast majority of people did end. I. I know that the Friday is when my fast action expired. I was definitely doing plenty of sales calls Monday, but those had been booked, so those people would have gotten the bonus. So probably, I would say maybe like, 75% of people did end up getting the bonus, but not. Not everybody, but.

[Claire Pelz]

So that's what's super fascinating in almost every launch. And like, I know our coach says every launch is different, and yours was the prime example.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah, this launch was kooky.

[Claire Pelz]

Different.

[Steph Crowder]

It was kooky. Yeah.

[Claire Pelz]

But nobody joins. In my case, almost nobody joins after the fast action to. To the point where it. It's like, why do I have the cart open still? And why am I still selling? But you, like, this is. You're like, the prime example here of. You kept selling.

[Steph Crowder]

And it.

[Claire Pelz]

It made a difference.

[Steph Crowder]

It did. It did.

[Claire Pelz]

So I'm glad.

[Steph Crowder]

I mean, it.

[Claire Pelz]

It certainly inspires me.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah, it did end up making a difference in the end. It was a bit of a kooky one. Tell me the.

[Claire Pelz]

The ways real quick before we wrap. Tell me the ways it was kooky besides it being quiet, because I know, like, once you were getting on calls with people, it started to also feel, like, wild.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah. I always attract people across all different industries, which I love. It's like one of My favorite things about my program is we have people in so many different niches. But I think this one was even more than usual. Like, just different niches that I. Different. Like, people from all over the place. People with wildly different world views. Like, definitely very. What's that word? Like. Like holistic or just very, very diverse, I suppose. Very diverse. And so I kind of was jumping on these sales calls, not really ever knowing what I was going to get. Very different ages. So it was kind of interesting for me to just, like, come on to these calls being like, I don't know where. What I'm going to get. I've just. I sort of had to wear lots of different hats on my calls. But, you know, and it did. I had to expand, like, a lot of the times on these calls. I wanted to talk myself out of, well, maybe this person wouldn't be a fit because of this, or I haven't worked with somebody like that before, or I haven't. And I just decided. And you really helped me with this, Claire. I gotta give you big credit for this. I was like, once I shifted to, I'm just gonna try to be helpful on these calls. I'm just gonna try to be useful. I'm gonna try to be of service. I'm just gonna, like, let's just get on this call and see if I can share a little nugget that helps somebody on their journey. And if they end up working with me, great. That really shifted my energy. I gotta be honest. Even as the sales call conversion, I'm, like, kind of the queen of converting, as you called me. And I accept my cr.1. I remember getting off one call being like, damn, I felt desperate for that one, and I don't want to do that again. I was like, I just wanted it so bad. I wanted to work with that person so bad. And what shifted it for me was, like, instead of focusing on me and focusing on, like, I just want to work with them. I just. I want this so bad. I focused the rest of my calls on, I just want to help this person. I just want to see if I can be helpful. And every person after that call closed. Every single one. And so paradoxically, it ended up being the best thing that I could do. Very cool.

[Claire Pelz]

Very cool and interesting and kooky.

[Steph Crowder]

Kooky, kooky and fun and cool. And I just want to say one last thing, which is that one of the things that really helped, and I want to encourage everybody listening to this to think about how this might apply to you in the moments when I wanted to stop doing stuff, I thought about my clients and I thought about my leadership. And I thought to myself, I'm asking my clients to do all the ideas in their brain. I have to be willing to go first. I have to be willing to be the hardest core. Right? And I think that's what I did. And so, if nothing else, when I didn't know how this was going to end, I had the thought, if nothing else, at least I set a damn good example. And that is leadership to me. That's true leadership and a launch. And so I think every person out there, even if you're not a business coach, you can think about how the way you're showing up is an example of your leadership. That really helped me. That inspired me so much to just keep going.

[Claire Pelz]

Fabulous. Yeah, I. I do remember thinking that, like, you, what would you say to your clients? I think I said a million times, what would you say to your clients at this.

[Steph Crowder]

Yeah. Yeah. And it really helped to just show up on a totally different level. Claire, thank you for helping me debrief. I know there's so many things here we could talk about all day long, but I appreciate you. I appreciate you spending some time with me.

[Claire Pelz]

My pleasure. It is always, always a pleasure.

[Steph Crowder]

All right, everybody. Wishing you the courage and clarity to go after what you love. Bye.

[Claire Pelz]

Bye.