Launch Clinic

Sales enablement: critical to product launch success

According to the “Business-to-Business Launch Survey Executive Summary” conducted by the Center for Business Innovation at Babson College and Schneider Associates, 55% of companies rank sales enablement as critical to product launch success. I guess for the other 45% of companies their product must sell itself.

Yet if you’ve seen how sales enablement training is conducted at many companies you’d walk away with the impression that it isn’t sales enablement training at all but training on product features.

If you want to enable your sales channel to be effective at selling the product you’re planning to launch, focus on training them about buyers, their buying criteria and how they prefer to buy. Your primary tools are the buyer persona profile and interacting with real potential buyers in the wild. Sitting around a table and hypothesizing with your colleagues about buyers and their hot buttons is wasted time.

Technorati Tags: product launch,sales enablement

Who is responsible for product launch results in your organization?

I recently conduct an informal poll using the LinkedIn polls feature. I asked one simple question:

“Who is responsible for product launch results in your organization?”

The operative word in the question is “results” so I was hopeful it would cause poll takers to stop and consider who really is accountable for achieving the launch goals. My statistics prof wouldn’t approve the results as being statistically significant given the sample size, but I’m going to run with it any way. Since each response can be tied to a LinkedIn profile, the poll includes some interesting ways of viewing the data. Note that due to rounding the percentage does not add up to 100%.

Poll: Who is responsible for product launch results?

I have a one question poll on LinkedIn that I’d like for you to participate in. The poll question is “Who is responsible for product launch results in your organization?”. The poll is open to all LinkedIn members.

Initial results are very interesting. Add your voice.

Click here: http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/43135/blzpm

My LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkeithdaniels

Technorati Tags: product launch

Why you need a launch owner

A product launch is a major undertaking for most organizations with the primary goal of creating sales velocity. Every important initiative has someone at the helm, organizing and driving the project to achieve the desired goals. A launch is arguably the most important initiative your company will do this year. Who do you have in charge of the launch?

This is the role of the launch owner and every product launch needs one. A launch owner is the project manager of a launch and drives the process to a positive conclusion. This is the individual who you designate to have the accountability for achieving your launch goals, aligning resources, and achieving results. He’s the superhero of launch. It’s not someone that herds cats and ensures deliverables are completed on time.

Learn more about planning and driving a successful product launch by attending Product Launch Essentials.

Technorati Tags: product launch,launch owner

A product launch checklist is not a launch strategy

Last week I was asked again about product launch checklists and why I hate them. I’m not averse to checklists and have no ill will toward them. I just have a problem when people use them as if they are the launch strategy (more on launch strategy is covered in Product Launch Essentials).

Launch goals come first. Then the launch strategy is developed. Only within the context of a launch strategy does the creation of a launch checklist become a useful activity. It’s a project management tool.

Even after a solid checklist is created it may be completely irrelevant to a different product launch in your product portfolio. The launch checklist is not a “living document”. You create it, you use it and move on. When you launch the next new product or new version of an existing product, you start fresh based on the best launch strategy.

So you think “re-branding” will make things better?

I recently received an email from a marketing professional seeking advice on re-branding and re-launching a product. No detail for the reasons behind re-branding were provided and I have to assume there was a legitimate business reason.  But it made me recall experience I’ve had with re-branding and re-launching technology products.

Most of the time, re-branding is a response to poor sales. Rather than seeking to identify the reasons for poor sales performance, which could be many, it’s decided changing the name of the product and a new look with fix everything.

Changing the product name and its look won’t overcome:

• A product that doesn’t solve a market problem
• The wrong sales channel
• Positioning and messaging that doesn’t resonate with buyers

Before you waste a bunch of money, time and resources re-branding a product, do yourself a favor and find out if there’s something wrong with the product first. Don’t ask each other. That won’t get you anywhere. Get out of the building and talk with real potential buyers in their native habitat.

Photo credit: WalletPop – Yes, that’s Frito Lay Lemonade.

Technorati Tags: product launch,rebrand,relaunch

The Product Launch Pledge

The time has come for a product launch pledge. Kind of like the Hippocratic oath. A pledge that can demonstrate our commitment to the highest standards of product launch excellence. It’s a compilation of observations over the years that reflect the practices of many companies that have launched technology products.

It’s a work in progress that could use the benefit of your insight, experience and sound practices.

1. I promise to not make goals for my product launch so it will be easier to blame others for failures
2. I promise to plan my next product launch based on a meaningless set of deliverables from a launch “checklist”
3. I promise to launch using unrealistic timeframes and expectations
4. I promise to conduct sales readiness training based on product features and price, and avoid all discussion of markets, problems and buyers
5. I promise to spend significant sums of money and time creating mind-numbing collateral for people who will never read it, and use powerful action words like “mission critical”, “scalable”, and “the leading provider of”
6. I promise to not make any one person responsible for product launch results so that no one can be held accountable
7. I promise to plan the next product launch based on hunches, not market evidence and a sound process
8. I promise to mimic the efforts of my competitor’s recent product launch because it won’t require any ingenuity
9. I promise to completely ignore existing customers on my next product launch because migrating them to the new product is such a hassle
10. I promise to update the web site with new content weeks after the product is announced

Technorati Tags: product launch

iPhone 3GS launch fun

OK kids here’s an example of either a) what not to do, or b) a very clever marketing program by Apple and AT&T.

Step 1: Get your most loyal fans worked up into a lather that a new iPhone might be announced at Apple’s World Wide Development Conference (WWDC)

Step 2: Do a great job of unveiling the new iPhone 3GS at the WWDC (today)

Step 3: Announce that prices of the old model iPhone 3G can be had for as little as $99 along side the new iPhone GS for $199

Step 4: Infuriate your fan base by telling them they have to pay a big upgrade fee to get the new iPhone 3GS if they are still within their contract period (and aren’t eligible for a discounted upgrade)

Step 5: Have your key U.S. launch partner, AT&T, do a poor job of sales readiness (customers are reporting AT&T customer service agents aren’t aware of the new iPhone 3GS). As of this writing the AT&T web site has no information on the new iPhone 3GS (but it is available on the online Apple Store).

Generally, Apple does a great job of product launch. In the case of the iPhone 3GS I don’t have any inside information about their launch process or the nature of their relationship with AT&T, but if I were Steve Jobs I would not be happy.

The iPhone has one of the highest ARPU (average revenue per user) in the mobile phone business. It’ll take a few days for this to settle down and the upgrade confusion to clear up. No doubt there are business decisions behind the pricing and upgrade policies. I expect they’ll sort that out too.    

UPDATE: I’m an AT&T customer and tested the upgrade path through Apple’s online store. I was eligible to upgrade and was presented with the new $99, $199 and $299 prices. So it looks like Apple was ready and AT&T wasn’t.

UPDATE: TechCrunch – AT&T Fails iPhone Users Once Again

UPDATE: TechCrunch – Why the iPhone 3GS may be a Sucker’s Bet Right Now

UPDATE: VentureBeat – The 3 things Apple didn’t say today

UPDATE: AP – AT&T relents on iPhone pricing for upgraders

Links: Crunch Gear, iPhone

Technorati Tags: Product launch,iPhone,AT&T,Apple