Quite a number of Sales Enablement lessons in this talk by Kent Weathers on ‘How to launch a product’ in Sydney on 17-Sep-2019:
Frequent Launch Issues
- Is the sales force ready to sell the product/service/solution?
- Are sales and marketing (Sales Enablement) collateral complete? (Translated, adapted to different geographies where you intend to launch in terms of currencies/prices/availability/culture/etc?)
- Did you do the positioning as per April Dunford below?
- Do you have a one-pager/FAQ as per the photo below?
- Is the sales training sufficient? (Did you get feedback on it, has it been translated, is it optimised for knowledge retention, recall, micro-learning etc?)
Summary of the talk by Evelyn Ong, Product Professional, Sydney:
- Launch goals/metrics = business case goals/metrics. (That way, sponsors/stakeholders are on the same page from the get-go about what success is.)
- Contrary to popular belief, the launch is not a one-time event. It’s a continuous part of strategy/strategic execution.
- Mitigate risks by checking off your plan against frequent launch failures (see photo above).
Why do new products fail?
“Why do some products fail? Unsurprisingly most often due to corner cutting at the early stages of product inception. Take the time to know your market and customers, and focus on solving a problem in a differentiated way.”
(Summary by Erin Howell, Product Manager at Cloud Conformity)
Kent writes: 40% of all product launches end in failure; but why?
“The Product Launch is the most visible activity in a product’s lifecycle, but, it is not a one-time event. It’s not about the public party when we are ready to make our product available in the market. It’s about the highest-value work we must do before the launch.”
Creating and sharing a ‘launch plan’ at the correct time is a key factor for a successful product launch/go-live!
April Dunford aprildunford.com @aprildunford is the Toronto based author & speaker & blogger aprildunford.com/blog with a deep understanding of Marketing & Positioning. Her book, Obviously Awesome, shows you how to find your product’s “secret sauce”—& then sell that sauce to those who crave it. Having spent years as a startup executive (with 16 product launches under her belt) & a consultant (who’s worked on dozens more), she speaks with authority about breaking through the noise of a crowded market.
Positioning: A definition
(April Dunford aprildunford.com @aprildunford)
Components of positioning:
The positioning process:
B2B Sales Enablement and Sales Tech SaaS 