Originally posted on LinkedIn
In education, the sales curve always looks like a “J” — but the valley period gives you serious anxiety 🫣
You launch the program and the early “believers” who’d been following your brand jump in. That’s about 15% of capacity.
And then — down we go. From 15% in 2 weeks to under 10% a month in.
At this point I feel everything. Is this whole thing pointless? Was the last cohort just luck? Has the competition lapped me 20 times and I didn’t notice and we’re going broke and everything’s falling apart and what have I done with my life this past year and a half? Total. Anxiety. 🫠
Right now, about ~50% of the company’s operating margin gets defined in the final stretch before programs start. There’s nothing quite like that gut-sinking feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen.
And then the top of the J arrives. The Sandler-style sales system (thanks Dan Macías!!) starts working through all the follow-up.
Suddenly, 50% of capacity closes in those 2 weeks. And even after the application window closes, more interested people keep coming in — enough to start a waitlist of “mega believers” for the next cohort.
Last Friday we closed applications and this week Action Lab 2.0 kicks off — fully enrolled 🔥. 40 new fellows (and 3 scholarship recipients from the community 🚀). The J ran its course and now the good stuff begins.
Building in education is an even wilder roller coaster than anything I’d done before. Now to run the same process again with our new bootcamps and programs.
How does seasonality in sales play out in other industries and models? Coming from SaaS it was almost flat except for a couple of peak months — it didn’t feel this brutal. I know retail in January is rough.