Throw out the product launch process!

How do you define product launch? Different companies probably define it in hundreds of ways. It’s an event for some and sales training for others. Sometimes it is a marketing activity, other times it’s all about product readiness. Is it beta site installed or first revenue customer live? A good launch plan should have a goal or objectives. However, most of the time the goal is not specified, and success is defined as simply completing the launch activities check list.

The goal for product launch should be significant repeatable scalable revenue growth. It doesn’t matter how much content you produce, how nice it looks, how well the sales teams are trained or how much the initial adopters love the product. The only thing that matters reaching profitable significant and growing revenue. With a repeatable processes, not just a few sales made by the CEO or a top sales rep or implementation done with an all-hands-on-deck approach. Scalable meaning leveraging the resources deployed to increase profitability and customer satisfaction. The definition of significant revenue growth will vary, but flat revenue it is not. This is the goal a launch plan or go to market plan needs to focus on.

While reaching repeatable scalable revenue growth is important to large companies to insure good return on investment, for start-ups and small companies it is paramount for their survival. So much time, money and resources are invested in developing and building new products that launching the product should involve more thought, planning and execution than simply training sales and hoping people buy it. 

It took me years to formalize a better launch plan approach. I began to understand a product launch was not just an event. For complex B2B solution sales there are often multiple steps and interim sales that must be made before the final revenue sales can be made. Too often companies fail to identify the existence of these interim sales or to understand their significance. Those companies that do recognize these initial launch activities, usually just try to use the same messaging and materials developed for end user sales to close these interim sales. In the hands of adept sales professionals, or senior executives, this can succeed despite the lack of proper messaging and sales. For most companies, this just prolongs the process and path to success, if it does not doom it altogether.

I call my approach the Ramp to Revenue Plan. The critical task in creating a Ramp to Revenue plan is to identify all steps that need to be completed to achieve the desired significant repeatable scalable revenue growth. I’m not talking about development steps. In most solution sales, you can’t simply start selling your solution to end users once development is complete. Complex solutions usually require integrations into other systems. The owner of those other systems needs reasons to spend time and effort developing and testing the integrations. Often implementation and support partners need to be convinced to support the solution before it can be sold to end users. If sales go through channel partners, then first they need to be convinced to add the product to their portfolio and sales teams trained.

Solutions for the financial services industry and retail technology solutions both are good examples of complex solution sales that could benefit from a Ramp to Revenue Plan. Most financial and retail solutions products require integrations to other systems, payment certifications and most are sold through multiple sales channels.

The first step in creating a Ramp to Revenue plan is to map the steps that need to be completed along the way to hitting the sales ramp goal. I find the best process to do this is to map it out on a white board starting with the end goal and working backwards. If there are multiple sales channels or multiple target markets, the Ramp to Revenue steps should be identified for each.

After each step in the Ramp to Revenue Plan is identified, a plan to “win” each step needs to be developed.

Summary – What is this step about, what needs to be accomplished, why it is important and how will it be accomplished. The summary should include when the step can begin and any prerequisites. 

Owner – Who within the project team owns this step?

Target – Who is this step targeting? Users, resellers, sales people, partners, etc.

Target Problem/Needs - What is the problem you are solving for the target or what need are you trying to fulfill? And more importantly is this a problem or need they want addressed? If you don't understand this, you will never be able to define the right goal and messaging.

Goal – Define the goal for this step. What are you trying to accomplish? Train sales people to be effective in selling the new solution? Convincing a service provider to offer deployment, help desk, and support services?

Objective – What quantifiable activities should be used to measure success of this step. First sale? 5th sale by a salesperson? 20 active resellers? In most cases the objective should not focus just on completing one of something whether it be a sale, integration or other agreement. One of something is self-service, email campaign, etc. The overall goal of this process is to reach the significant repeatable scalable revenue growth level. So honestly, what measurement for this step will assure that the overall launch objective is achieved.

Messaging – Crisp, clear and memorable Why, How and Benefits messaging is required for each key buyer in each audience, and for complex solutions, potentially for each component of the solution. The messaging will then drive the content for all the deliverables.

Materials/Tools – What is required for this step? Marketing materials, video, web site, brochure, FAQ, demos, etc. Everything required should be listed, along with the person responsible, resources required, budget and completion date.

Messaging Delivery – How does the message get delivered to the target audience? Who delivers the message? How is the message delivered? For instance, sales, business development or marketing, in person meetings, webinars, web site, etc.

Schedule – The schedule to for each task or deliverable for each step as well as the schedule for the overall step should be clearly identified to track

To insure successful complex solution product launches, a thorough understanding of each of the steps necessary for success is required and as well as plan to “win” each of the interim steps. Doing that will increase the odds and decrease the time to achieve repeatable scalable revenue growth.