Launch Clinic

Your product launch won’t be successful if your sales team doesn’t trust you

Have you noticed that your sales team isn’t very excited about your next product launch? You’re getting a “yeah, whatever” vibe from them and it’s driving you crazy. So crazy you’re at the point of believing the launch goals are in jeopardy, and you should.

How did the last launch go?

This problem started with a previous launch; probably the last one. You know, the one where you got the Sales team all hyped up and then failed to deliver. It’s another checklist product launch that crashed and burned.

They didn’t get hyped up because of the product. They got hyped up because they believed the product was going to be the fast path to reaching quota.

This idea was set in motion perhaps by you (or the CEO, or development, or…), and you were a hero until your sales guys realized that the product a) was much harder to sell, b) took much longer to sell, c) wasn’t as interesting to buyers as they were led to believe.

Now you have an uphill battle on your hands.

Hero to zero

Your salespeople stopped selling the old product and focused their energy on selling the products in the portfolio that would help them make quota. By this time they’re behind and they are pissed off (sorry, Mom) they were led down this garden path that wasted their time.

Their sales leadership didn’t really care that the new product wasn’t selling. They wanted answers to why quota wasn’t being hit. And when they found out it’s because the team was selling a product that buyers weren’t buying, they were told to stop selling it immediately.

And they won’t soon forget.

Brute force produces temporary results

You might be thinking that since everything is dialed in the next launch, you can get the CEO to force the sales team to sell the product. If they were required to sell X dollars of the product as part of their compensation they would see what a great product it is, and sell even more of it.

Don’t count on it. This is about compensation not about the product. The sales effort will be superficial just to make a point. The result will “prove” the product doesn’t sell and the CEO will drop the mandate.

And you’ve lost even more trust.

A stick doesn’t work so try a carrot

The pressure is on for you to deliver a successful product launch. You know your sales team will be skeptical and you have your work cut out for you. Don’t try to fix the trust problem all at once.

First, consider your audience. We hire sales guys to sell stuff, not to be product experts. Always keep that in mind and you will make good choices.

Next, focus on enabling your sales team to sell (notice I didn’t say “sales training”). I’ve covered this in previous posts:

3 Tips for Product Launch Marketing Success (part 1)

3 Tips for Product Launch Marketing Success (part 2)

3 Tips for Product Launch Marketing Success (part 3)

By enabling your salespeople with the knowledge they need to move a buyer through the buying process, they’re more likely to listen and embrace what you’re sharing with them. Continue down this path and you’ll regain trust and be viewed as a partner in helping them achieve quota, not a supplier of stuff when they want it.

Product Launch ebook “Is your product launch Doomed?” now available

My new ebook - “Is your product launch Doomed? 10 ways to identify an impending product launch disaster” is now available for download. In typical Pragmatic Marketing fashion there is no registration, just click, read, enjoy and pass along to your friends (definitely not your foes). 

All the cool kids are reading it.

Are registration forms getting between your ebooks, whitepapers, brochures, etc. and your potential buyers?

10 Ways to Identify an Impending Product Launch Disaster

Here are ten easily identifiable signs to watch for that can help forecast if a product launch may be in trouble and suggested course corrections to make before it’s too late.

The process of introducing a product to market is a serious undertaking, but for many companies it’s an afterthought. The level of effort and resources applied to the creation of the product often dwarfs that of the product launch. It becomes a “throw-it-over-the-wall” process with dismal results, followed by blame storming.

Here are ten easily identifiable signs to watch for that can help predict if a launch may be in trouble.

#1 - There are no goals for the product launch

Launch goals are the cornerstone of a successful product launch, yet so many companies fail to establish them. All CEOs have an expectation of what success looks like, but often those expectations aren’t translated into goals understood by the people entrusted to plan and execute the launch.

Establish launch goals as early as possible with the management team and communicate them in meaningful ways throughout the organization.

#2 - The launch strategy is based on a set of deliverables from a launch "checklist"

A launch checklist is not a launch strategy. An effective product launch checklist is developed after establishing launch goals and then choosing the best strategy to support them. A launch checklist usually gets created after a botched launch. Someone goes around the organization asking each department what they need for a successful launch. The result is a bloated wish list of deliverables and activities with questionable value often growing with each successive launch.

Once launch goals are established, formulate the launch strategy and then define the deliverables needed.

#3 - The launch plan contains unrealistic timeframes and expectations

Optimism is wonderful but it can blind you to the realities of constraints and capabilities within an organization. It's wise to evaluate the organization within the context of the product being launched to identify readiness gaps. Once identified, allow enough time to address the gaps before they develop into problems that negatively impact the launch.

Acid test launch goals against the ability of the organization to execute. Then develop a plan of action to fill the readiness gaps.

#4 - Sales enablement training is based on product features

Sales enablement training is one of the most critical components of a successful launch. Unfortunately most training sessions are packed with information about the product with emphasis on the newest features. Successful salespeople solve problems for their buyers, they don’t sell features. Inevitably some of the product features your buyers find most valuable are not necessarily the newest ones.

Become experts on your buyers, why they buy and how they buy.

#5 - Significant effort is spent creating collateral  for people who never read it

Ninety percent of sales tools are never used by salespeople, yet marketing teams keep producing them. They also include a staggering amount of gobbledygook. Does it really matter to your buyer that you’re “the leading provider” of anything or that your software is “robust”?

Break the cycle by focusing on a deep understanding of your buyers, then build sales tools to influence them through the buying process.

#6 - No single person is responsible for driving product launch results

Many organizations have just one window of opportunity to launch per year, yet don’t give it the high priority they should. Accountability for results is fundamental to the success of an organization and without it the organization loses focus. A launch owner provides a single point of accountability ensuring product launch planning and execution have the high priority they deserve.

Assign the responsibility of achieving the launch goals to a launch owner, and provide them with the flexibility and resources to make it happen.

#7 - The launch plan is based on hunches, not market evidence

Hunches may be great for the casino but not for successful product launches. Hunches are based on "gut feeling" not market evidence, and are guesses. With an initiative as important as a product launch there is no room for guessing. Watch out for “I think we should…”.

Make launch planning decisions based on market evidence not guesses.

#8 - The launch plan mimics your competitor

Just because one company chooses a particular launch tactic doesn’t mean it will work for another. The easy way to launch a product is to mimic competitors and expect good things to happen. However, there are too many factors at play to guarantee the same tactic will have equivalent outcomes. Mimicking a competitor assumes they are smarter than you.

An intimate knowledge of buyers and the buying process provides the best guidance for the most effective launch tactics.

#9 - Existing customers are not adequately considered in the launch plan

It’s staggering how many organizations fail to recognize the impact a new version of a product can have on existing customers. They get so focused on acquiring new customers they forget about existing customers who, if not properly nurtured through the migration, may feel compelled to evaluate competitive alternatives.

Existing customers need special consideration from buyers. Ignore them at your own peril.

#10 - The launch team isn't a team

It’s Susan and she’s overwhelmed. Product launch is a team sport involving a range of expertise. No single individual can possibly know all the details, especially in large organizations. This necessitates the creation of a cross-functional launch team, where individuals with unique perspectives and experience can contribute to a successful launch. The reality though is team members have full-time responsibilities outside of the launch team impacting their timely contribution.

Make participation in a cross-functional launch team a priority and reward their contribution.

Conclusion

Checking another completed deliverable off the launch checklist isn’t a product launch. A successful launch is about generating sales velocity. But it’s easy to slip into a routine of committing resources and budget to produce deliverables, without ever questioning their value. A successful product launch is anchored in goals clearly understood throughout the launch team, using a strategy that supports these goals with an understanding of the operational constraints of the organization.

Slides from ProductCamp Austin

The slides from my preso at ProductCamp Austin Summer 2009 are up on Slideshare. You can view it below.

10 Ways To Identify Launch Disaster (Pca)

View more presentations from Pragmatic Marketing.

Watch the webinar

I delivered a webinar on this topic where I went into more depth.

A humbling experience at ProductCamp Austin

Product Camps are an amazing phenomenon. There’s no fee to attend. The agenda isn’t known in advance. And the attendees get to choose the sessions. How cool is that?

I attended ProductCamp Austin last Saturday (August 15, 2009). It was my first and although I believe I understood the concept, in execution it was so much better.

For my session I proposed “10 Ways to Identify and Impending Product Launch Disaster”. Out of 50+ sessions proposed, my session was one of the 30 chosen. I had a great group of attendees with lots of questions and input for their peers.

The biggest surprise of all was that I, yours truly, was voted best presenter. It was a great honor and a humbling experience. I can’t wait to try my hand at another ProductCamp when the opportunity presents itself.

Thanks to Paul Young and everyone who dedicated their time to organize and pull off a great event! And a special thanks to the folks who thought my topic was interesting enough to be heard and good enough to deserve best presenter.

Email campaigns – consider your audience and your offer

I am a raving fan of Sony Ericsson mobile phones. Recently I received an email from Sony Ericsson as part of what appears to be a customer retention program. The subject of the email is “More tips and tools for your W380a Phone”. The subject was interesting enough for me to open the email, as I’m always looking for ways to get more value out of the things I buy, especially my tech products. The subject got me in but I was disappointed after that.

Their offer, my expectation

OK, I didn’t expect that SE would provide me with tips and tools to turn my W380a into an iPhone, but I did have an expectation that I might find something useful that would validate my decision to buy a SE phone (and maybe another one in the future).

Sometimes there are hidden features in a technical product that are incredibly useful, but are hidden from plain sight (this is a completely different rant best handled by my colleague Steve Johnson). An email coming from the folks who designed and built the phone with an offer of “More tips and tools for your W380a Phone” got me excited that I would learn something new about my phone and hopefully solve a problem for me.

Another important point is I purchased an unlocked phone directly from SE. That places me in a special group of mobile phone owners in the USA. I can do things with my phone that my carrier might otherwise block. As a persona that puts me in a different buyer category than the person who gets a phone exclusively from his carrier, and SE knows this.

Here’s what I received…

The design is pleasant and the layout is easy to follow. I know that it’s definitely from Sony (good brand support, of course) and I know it’s about my phone (image/text).

But did you notice something? There’s a complete absence of tips or tools in the body of the email. I clicked on the link titled “Assistance and enhancers – go to the W380a Support zone” and this is where I landed…

 

It was the product support landing page for my phone. I would have had to go hunting for the tips and tools that were promised in the email subject line. You probably guessed I didn’t go any farther than this page. I expected tips and tools, but got hunt and peck.

I want to use this example as a learning tool. It’s not intended to slight SE in any way and I don’t know the context (and associated pressure) for why this communication was created.

This email and landing page is just one example of a pervasive problem. In our haste to do something we run the risk of damaging our brand or breaking the bond of trust we’ve worked so hard to earn with our customers. 

What’s the point?

Most likely this email is part of a customer retention program. The Apple iPhone is selling at a blistering pace and it is wise for SE find ways to keep the customers they have. Unfortunately this approach isn’t it.

The landing page reminds me of the feature-speak approach so many technology companies use. The “spray and pray” method shows every possible feature with the belief that readers will find the answers to their problems their own. That just doesn’t happen.

What should Sony Ericsson have done differently?

A huge opportunity was lost. My guess is that a boilerplate email template was created where customer names and phone models were pulled from a marketing database. There was nothing tailored to me and my phone at all, just generic links that would work regardless of the phone model.

SE had an opportunity to validate my decision to buy an unlocked phone from them. They also had an opportunity to plant a seed about future products and services. Instead they annoyed me. Annoyed customers seek alternatives.

SE should have a better understanding of their user/buyer persona (me). An empathetic understanding of their personas would have provided clear guidance on what the persona would value.

My challenge to you

Sending email to your customers as part of a customer retention program is more than just a “touch” or an item to clear off your checklist. You have a responsibility to make every connection as valuable as possible. Knowing what would be valuable and what isn’t comes through a buyer persona profile – the ability to see through the eyes of the customer.

Are you using buyer persona profiles to get into the heads of your customers?

Did you fulfill the promise of your offer? How do you know?

Is every communication to existing customers based on a goal, an outcome?

Are you doing what Sony Ericsson did? Are you sure?

Product Launch Webinar Series coming

I just got word that the product launch seminar series I have been working on has been scheduled. There will be 3 webinars in the series and they are free. If you can't attend for the live presentation, register anyway and we'll send you a link to the recorded version as soon as it's ready.

Top Ways to Identify an Impending Product Launch Disaster

There are 10 easily identifiable signs that can help forecast a product launch may be in trouble. Signs you can address and fix before the launch becomes a disaster.

The process of introducing a product to market is a serious undertaking. Unfortunately for many companies it’s merely an afterthought; a checklist of deliverables created at the end of product development. When the level of effort applied to the creation of the product dwarfs that of the product launch, it’s no wonder launches fail to achieve the sales velocity anticipated.

Date/Time:        August 21, 2009 at 10am-11am Pacific (1pm-2pm Eastern)

Register:           https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/267576136

Tips for Product launch Marketing Success

A big product launch is coming soon. You’re tasked with creating the marketing plan. You’re agonizing over an array of tactics. Some you’ve come up with and some, others in the company are recommending.

Imagine a scenario where every time you approached the creation of a marketing plan for a launch, you had the confidence to know which tactics were most likely to attract the right kind of buyers.

Date/Time:        August 28, 2009 at 10am-11am Pacific (1pm-2pm Eastern)

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/747940592

Product Launch Owner: Superhero of a Product Launch

A product launch is a major undertaking for many organizations. Every important company initiative has someone at the helm, organizing and driving the project to achieve the desired goals. When a launch is arguably the most important initiative your company will do this year, who do you have in charge of the launch? What you need is a Product Launch Owner.

Date/Time: September 4, 2009 at 10am-11am Pacific (1pm-2pm Eastern)

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/317118281

Google’s Wonder Wheel simplifies search

Google has a cool new feature called the Wonder Wheel. For those of us who regularly use Google as a business tool, this is a fantastic addition.

As you search using Wonder Wheel, topical extensions are shown around the perimeter of the previous search term. Below is a screen shot of a search that started with “product launch” and then to “product launch strategy”. Note the terms around “product launch strategy” include “product positioning”, “product launch secrets”, “product launch metrics” and “product launch campaign” as well as a few others.

Instead of searching through a page of results you get them neatly organized by topical area.

How to use Google Wonder Wheel

Step 1: Search on a term – in this case “product launch”

Step 2: Choose “Show options…”

Step 3: Choose “Wonder wheel” from the left navigation

Step 4: Navigate!

copyblogger: The Billy Mays 5 step guide to easy selling

My family loved watching Billy Mays’ show Pitchmen. What fascinated me about the show was the process they followed to select a product, estimate the unit potential and develop a pitch. It’s cool to watch the reaction of inventors who finally see their product take off after years of refinement.

Copyblogger’s post The Billy Mays 5 Step Guide to Easy Selling is a very good summary of the keys to Billy’s success.

I’d like to add a 6th step, which is that Billy had an intuitive understanding of his buyers. With that understanding he could quickly determine which products were winners. Which allowed him to present the perfect solution to the buyer’s problem.

Take the time to understand your buyers and you’ll find that your work as a marketer will be more focused and deliver a higher ROI.

ReadWriteWeb: Google Voice now available to military personnel

ReadWriteWeb reports that Google Voice is now available to military personnel and they will activate .mil email addresses in 24 hours.

As a former Army brat I can tell you this is awesome news for the families of the men and women overseas.

When my dad was gone for a year at a time the most efficient form of communication we had was writing letters and mailing recordings of our voices on audio tape.

3 tips for product launch marketing success (part 3)

The final article in the 3 tips for product launch marketing success series explores techniques you can use to discover the buying process without making the Sales team feel like you’re treading into their territory.

Successful marketing teams know that an understanding of the buying process is fundamental to product launch marketing success

Part 1 discussed the need to develop an empathetic understanding of buyers through the use of a tool called a buyer persona profile. In complex B2B sales we’re likely to encounter multiple buyers, each with their own set of problems and agendas. This requires multiple buyer persona profiles for each person that will influence a buying decision for your product or service.

Part 2 connected the buyer persona profile to the buying process, which is the missing component of many product launch marketing programs.

The sales team owns selling

Now I want to share some tips with you on how you can discover the buying process without freaking out the sales team. There’s a big turd you could step on without even realizing it. The selling process is the domain of the sales team. The moment you appear to be encroaching on that territory you are opening yourself up to a lot of unwanted attention from said sales team. They will be wary of your nosiness and could see it as a threat. And being that they are usually better connected to the CEO, they will win.

Buying process vs. selling process

Most likely you’ve been exposed to the concept of a company’s selling process. It’s the flow of steps that lead to a sale from the perspective of the salesperson. Sometimes the steps in a selling process are well defined and implemented in a sales force automation system (insert your favorite rant here). Other times it’s an informal process. Yet other times it’s completely ad hoc.

The buying process on the other hand represents the sequence of steps the buyer goes through to make a buying decision. It shows where each buyer persona gets involved in the process. If you think about how you buy a car for your family you’ll immediately connect that the way you want to buy a car isn’t in alignment with how the car salesman wants to sell it to you.

Discovering the buying process

There are three things you can do now to get you started on figuring out the buying process. These activities should be done together as part of an ongoing effort because buying processes change. Sometimes it’s because of a regulatory change and other times it’s because of the economy, for example.

Interview your top salespeople

Do this first. It’s a good way to get an understand of how your company sells and it gives you an opportunity to build bridges with the sales team. However, I want to leave you with a caveat shared by Mike Bosworth in his book CustomerCentric Selling. The top 10% of sales guys aren’t always capable of describing the selling process that makes them successful.

You are looking for patterns in the selling process across a number of interviews (avoid a single data point). When the pattern reveals itself you are ready to proceed to the next step.

Win/Loss analysis

At Pragmatic Marketing we can’t say enough about the value of Win/Loss analysis as a tool to gain insights about what’s working and what’s not – products, buyers and marketing programs.

There are two important points about Win/Loss. The first is that the sales team shouldn’t do them. Period. They are too close to the sale and are not in a position to be objective. Second, it’s an open-ended interview, not a survey.

Win/Loss analysis reveals details about the buying process, which buyer personas are involved, and when they get engaged in the buying process.

Buyer persona research

In Part 1 you learned about the importance of building buyer persona profiles. As you conduct research on your buyer personas, you should regularly probe into how the buyer buys. What steps do they go through? Who approves the purchase? How long does this take in your company?

Connect marketing programs to the buying process

Now that you’ve developed your buyer persona profiles and have an understanding of the buying process, you have a blueprint for mapping marketing programs to each step in it. Instead of reacting to demands of the sales team for the sales tool du jour, you can systematically connect marketing programs to discrete steps in the buying process with a more focused approach that influences buyers at the right step at the right time.

Are you constantly reacting to the sales team’s request for one-off sales tools?

How much more power would your product launch marketing programs be if they were based on how the buyer buys?