The Most Overlooked Part of a Launch (That’s Costing You Sales) with Amy Traugh
- Amy Traugh
- Sep 10
- 10 min read
🎧 The Metrics Maven: Data Driven Business Growth Strategy for Solopreneurs is streaming on all platforms. Listen here. Also streaming on YouTube.
Why Every Solopreneur Needs a Post-Launch Debrief to Boost Sales
If your launches feel exhausting or inconsistent, the gap in your process might not be your offer, it could be what happens afterward. A post-launch debrief helps you identify wins, close gaps, and set up your next launch for stronger sales.
Launching can feel like a rollercoaster. Maybe you hit your goal, maybe it’s crickets—but either way, you’re drained and ready to move on. That’s how I used to feel until I discovered one simple shift that changed everything: the post-launch debrief.
This step is often skipped, but it’s the difference between guessing your way through launches and creating a custom playbook for repeatable business growth.
Why a Post-Launch Debrief Matters
A debrief isn’t about judgment—it’s about clarity. Instead of starting from zero every time, you’re building on real data from your own business.
You spot hidden wins like audience growth, better engagement, or stronger messaging.
You uncover where the gaps are—was it your offer, your messaging, or maybe just traffic to your sales page?
You build confidence by replacing anxious “what ifs” with clear evidence.
This is how you stop leaving money on the table and start treating launches as part of a long-term growth strategy.
The Common Trap Most Entrepreneurs Fall Into
After a launch, your instinct is to either celebrate or collapse. You’ve put in so much energy that digging into numbers feels overwhelming—or worse, intimidating.
But ignoring the data doesn’t make the problems disappear. Without reflection, you carry the same struggles into your next launch, hoping for better results. That’s why so many solopreneurs stay stuck in the same cycle of inconsistent sales.
A Client Example: From “Failure” to Doubling Sales
One of my clients dreaded her debrief because she thought her launch had failed—she only hit half of her sales goal. But when we reviewed her numbers, we discovered something huge: her sales page was converting beautifully. The real gap? Hardly anyone was clicking through to the page.
Instead of scrapping her entire strategy, she focused on getting more people to her sales page next time. The result? Her next launch more than doubled in revenue.
This is the power of a post-launch debrief.
Five Questions to Ask in Your Debrief
Grab a notebook and reflect on these:
What worked well?
What didn’t work as planned?
Where were the gaps or breakdowns?
How did it feel?
What adjustments will you make next time?
Even small adjustments can make a big impact. This process helps you refine, simplify, and grow without constantly reinventing the wheel.
The Bottom Line
Your launch isn’t over when the cart closes. A post-launch debrief is what turns all your effort into a growth strategy you can repeat with confidence.
Instead of guessing, you’ll know exactly what to keep, what to adjust, and where your sales gaps are. That’s how launches stop feeling like a gamble and start feeling strategic.
So celebrate your next launch, then block off 30 minutes for a debrief. That’s the small, strategic step that will make each launch easier, more profitable, and far less stressful.
If you're ready to finally ditch the data drama and create a simple, repeatable process for growth, this is exactly what we do inside Metrics Mastery.
Get started for free at amytraugh.com and let’s build a business that’s backed by strategy, not stress.
Until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
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Transcript for Episode 434. The Most Overlooked Part of a Launch (That’s Costing You Sales)
- Amy Traugh (Amy Traugh)
Have you ever wrapped up a launch and thought to yourself, oh, I am so glad that's over. Maybe you celebrate, maybe you sigh in relief, but regardless of what you do, you move right on to the next thing.
That was me too. And I will be totally honest with you. I used to hate launching, literally hate it.
It was completely exhausting. I was drained. I would pour my heart and soul into it. And regardless of the results, whether it was an awesome launch or a silent launch, I would just collapse at the end of it and completely dread doing it ever again.
It felt like I was starting from scratch every single time. But now I actually look forward to launching and it feels lighter, easier, and almost, dare I say, fun.
So how the heck? Did I go from completely drained to energized by launching? Because no, I have not lost my mind and it wasn't some magical, mythical thing that I started doing.
It was because I started making the time to do a post-launch debrief. By taking the time to do just this one small thing, I became so much more clear, strategic, and confident with every single launch.
And if you are skipping this step, I can say with 100% certainty that you are leaving money on the table.
So what exactly is the post-launch debrief? It's simply taking the time to intentionally reflect on what worked, what didn't, and most importantly, why.
This is the part of a launch that turns it into a. repeatable growth strategy for your business. And most business owners aren't taking the time to do this.
They're heading into their next launch going, okay, I hope this works better than last time. But it's a gamble.
A debrief gives you hard evidence, allowing you to double down on what's effective, adjust what isn't, and stop wasting your energy on guesses.
Instead of reinventing the wheel over and over and over, what you're doing by taking the time to do this debrief, you're creating your own custom playbook built on your data built for your business.
Not what's working for someone else, but your business. And not only does it help you fine tune your strategy, it really helps you do some other really cool things as well.
The first of which is identifying hidden wins. because you Even if you didn't hit your sales target, there are other wins that you achieved that you may not even realize.
Maybe your audience grew. Maybe you got a lot more engagement. Maybe you're seeing that your message is finally resonating.
These are signs of momentum worth building on. What it allows us to do is uncover those hidden gaps and bottlenecks because maybe you hosted a webinar and it was packed.
You had like 50 people in the room, but you got one sale. Or maybe people opted in. You had a bunch of people sign up, but they didn't actually show up.
By taking the time to debrief, you are seeing exactly where that breakdown is. And what that does is it builds your confidence.
Because when you see those numbers on paper, it shifts you from this anxious guessing to confident execution. It's just like.
Like when you're driving, you know, your gas leak comes on. You can ignore it, but eventually you're going to end up stuck.
Taking the time to do this, it doesn't change the reality. By ignoring what's happening in our business, it's not going to change the facts.
This empowers you with information. And information creates that peace of mind, which changes then how you show up. It gets you out of your head so you don't feel like, oh my gosh, what if, what if, what if, you know, it's that the spiral of thoughts that our brains create.
And what this does is it makes your launch sustainable. We want to make sure we're building a business around our life.
And if you're constantly feeling drained, that's information. And what we do with the debrief is we get this information so that we can adjust so that you're like.
that Launches actually fit your life. We forget as business owners that we get to choose. And that is the coolest part.
But I want to be really, really clear. When you are taking the time to do this debrief, it's not about criticizing yourself.
It's not about over-celebrating yourself. No, we're just literally equipping ourselves with information. And this is how you make launching so much easier.
More effective and more profitable because now you're not starting at zero every single time. You know exactly what's working, what's not, and where those opportunities are.
So if this is so great, why aren't most business owners taking the time to do this? Well, I think a lot of it comes down to by the end of the launch, you've given so much energy away.
You've been showing up, creating content, nurturing. Closing sales. Maybe you had to build out a sales page. All the emails.
All of these things. So of course, you're human. Your instinct is going to be to collapse, celebrate, or move on.
Not to dig into the metrics. And it can also feel really intimidating to do that. You know, especially if you had a silent launch and your results did not meet your expectations, you might worry that a debrief will actually confirm your fears.
Like maybe you're not doing as well as you thought. Maybe you're failing. And if you don't know which metrics matter, the whole process just feels overwhelming.
It's another soul-sucking task on your never-ending to-do list. So we internalize it and we create these stories. And on top of that, entrepreneurs, we're fast movers.
After one launch ends, we're already on to the next thing. And a lot of times because a debrief doesn't bring in this.
immediate revenue, we just kind of push it to the side. But the key here is to start seeing the debrief as an actual part of the launch, not as an optional extra.
I had a client that fell into this trap. She dreaded going back and looking at her launch because she felt like it didn't work.
And she was like, I just need to move on. She only hit about half of her sales goal and was ready to totally call it a failure.
But when we took the time to do this debrief together, her story shifted. We found that her sales page was converting at an incredible rate.
The people who landed on it were actually buying. But the bottleneck that we found was that hardly anyone was clicking through to her sales page.
So that's a completely different problem to solve than my offer isn't good enough. I must have priced it too high.
And once she realized, What did it do? It gave her a huge wave of relief. So instead of launching her entire strategy, she refocused her energy on getting more people to the sales page for the next round.
And guess what happened? Her next launch more than doubled in revenue. This is the power of metrics. This is the power of having a strategic plan.
So how do you actually do one? I want you to pause this episode for a second and grab a notebook because I'm going to walk you through five questions that you can ask yourself.
And the key when you're going through these questions is I want you to answer these questions honestly and without judgment of yourself, because when you do this, you will walk away with clarity.
And clarity builds confidence. So question number one, I want you to look at what worked well. Which channels brought in the most leads or sales?
What did your audience respond to in your emails, your posts, and your DMs? What felt good? Where did you feel that momentum happening?
So that was question one. What worked well? Question two, what didn't work as planned? Were there parts of the launch that felt really heavy, clunky, really didn't convert?
Did certain offers or platforms really underperform? And where did things break down? Did you have issues with tech, your messaging, your timing?
So question number two, what didn't work as planned? Question three. What? Question number four, how did it feel? And question number five, what would you adjust next time?
I want you to identify those little tiny adjustments that could make a big impact. Start testing, start getting curious and decide what you want to eliminate altogether.
So question five, what would you adjust next time? So the next time you go to launch, please do not skip the debrief.
You have already done the heavy lifting. You've invested so much energy into creating, marketing, showing up and taking a little more time to reflect.
It ensures that all of your effort compounds instead of evaporating. Because when you take the time. You're not just collecting information.
You're creating direction. You're writing your own custom playbook for your next launch so that you can walk in with clarity and confidence instead of anxiety.
You are saying goodbye to guesswork and hello to evidence-based strategy. And most important, you're designing launches that work for you, your business, your audience, and your life.
I want you to imagine how good it will feel going into your next launch knowing exactly what to repeat, what to drop, and what to adjust.
You're not scrambling. You're not guessing. You have the clarity, confidence, and ease in your business. And a post-launch debrief makes this possible.
And the most important thing... I want you to remember as I leave today, this isn't about nitpicking yourself. This isn't about judging yourself.
You are equipping yourself. You are respecting the effort you have already put in and making sure that it carries forward instead of starting over every time.
So I challenge you after your next lunch, first celebrate the heck out of yourself and then block out time on your calendar.
It doesn't have to be much. can be a half hour. It can be an hour, but I want you to schedule a non-negotiable time on your calendar, a meeting with yourself to do the debrief because when you do, you are making each launch smoother, more strategic, and more profitable.
If this episode resonated with you, this is exactly why I love helping clients with my signature one-on-one program. You can get started for free at amytraugh.com. And until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
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