15

CHAPTER

TO MARKET, TO MARKET: LAUNCHING AND RELEASING PRODUCTS

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

—LAO TZU

Whether you’re launching a major new product or releasing a quick update, this moment in the product’s life is often highly visible. Whether it’s an impactful introduction or a slight change, it’s a time when the product’s customer value proposition is brought to life—or catapulted to a new level. It’s where the structures of the company that vaulted the product into market must now move with agility to deliver the promised business contributions. After all, the company’s money was invested, and now it’s time to make sure the money will come in.

To ensure that you have the best chance to achieve success with your product launches, this chapter is designed to provide you with a context so that you can understand the challenges you might face. Then, I’ll equip you with a clear-cut set of recommendations to improve your launch success, which, of course, will bolster your credibility as a product manager.

One more note before we get started. I’ll ask you to recall the pathways through development en route to market: one based on a linear or phased process, and one based on iterations and releases. If you work in a physical product company, you’ll likely follow a sequential process. If your company makes hardware with integrated software, you’ll combine your methods and sequence your launches and releases to coincide with launches of usable functionality. Lastly, if you’re a purely digital firm, you’re going to be putting out a steady stream of interim releases, and sometimes, an annual or semiannual big release.

As with all products and product types, my goal with this content is not necessarily to show you each nuance with every business model. Rather, I want to help you think more holistically about the strategic and business impact associated with your decision to launch, and how you’re going to add value to the company. Let’s get started.

LAUNCH BENCHMARKING OUTCOMES

For many years, my firm has benchmarked a variety of companies across many industries, including medical devices, scientific instruments, retail banking, pharmaceuticals, transportation services, enterprise software, and heavy industrial equipment. These benchmarks evolved through structured launch audits, organizational diagnostic interviews, and informal conversations with executives. Issues revealed through this benchmarking seem to be common among all companies; there do not seem to be any industry-specific indicators. With thousands of data points in my research, the most frequently seen issues related to product launches include the following:

1.   Customers just don’t have a need for your product, which when traced back to the root cause, is related to a lack of facts and data that defended the investment.

2.   Launch plans are not synchronized with the business case, especially with respect to forecasts, volumes, and other assumptions. This is important because sometimes, teams work to identify segments, drum up personas, and develop value propositions to plan for the launch, when in fact, all of this work should have been done in the Business Case!

3.   Firms fail to establish clear market windows for the introduction of products. The products just make it to market when they’re ready. With some products, this misstep can be quite costly.

4.   Executive champions are not assigned to lead important launches. Even when they are assigned, they do not always keep close enough tabs on the progress of the launch.

5.   Sales force and channel organizations do not have the capacity to sell the product and, in many cases, do not have their compensation plans adjusted to encourage the sale of new products.

6.   Sales and Marketing programs are not ready.

7.   Website updates to guide customers on a buying journey are not clear to the customer, and even if advertising programs drive traffic, conversions are scarce.

8.   Sales training is not carried out on a timely basis, or the training is not sufficient to equip salespeople to sell the product.

9.   Operational systems and infrastructure elements within the business are not ready to support the launch, either because they are brought into the process too late or are not sufficiently staffed.

10.   Launch metrics are missing, incomplete, or ignored.

Just because these outcomes were identified does not mean that all companies failed completely. Some delivered some results, and some went on to deliver successful products. Here’s what I take from this: success is earned when the customer need is clear, competitive positioning is flawless, Marketing is ready, Sales is trained, the website is ready, regulatory approvals secured, and a host of other items that indicate the gears of the organization are well synchronized.

To do some of benchmarking in your own company, locate your current launch or release plan checklists. Yes, checklists. If a flight crew on a space shuttle needs a checklist to launch, so do you. Astronauts and space administrations can’t afford problems for obvious reasons. You can’t either. Take a look at every item and do some investigating. Identify the item that was planned, the responsible functions, the interdependencies across functions, and whether the outcome occurred on time and within budget. This will provide you with some information that will contribute to the achievement of better launch outcomes in the future.

Consider that any go-to-market activity, regardless of your firm’s business model or product portfolio, is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing series of activities that are the result of the goals and strategies you established. While you may find that you uncover issues in your own benchmarking, you’ll be able to contribute to the firm’s effectiveness by fine-tuning launch plans and associated documentation.

PUTTING THE LAUNCH INTO PERSPECTIVE

Launching or releasing a product or an enhancement has one objective: to successfully get the product into the market so that revenue will begin flowing into the company as quickly as possible. This phase is visualized in the area indicated in the Product Management Life Cycle Model, reprised in Figure 15.1.

FIGURE 15.1

Product Launch and Release as Part of the Product Management Life Cycle Model

You’ll probably learn that in some companies, the product release may only be to fix quality issues and so on—minor changes. Those can be mastered as part of the cadences in your own company. I don’t want to get into the minutiae of that work. I really want to focus on launching or releasing value-oriented capabilities that help the company achieve its strategic and financial goals.

Another point I’d like to reinforce is the connection of any product launch to a business case. Any business case that depends on a significant investment for a product surely must contain information on how the product will be brought to life and delivered to market. Therefore, I recommend checking your Business Case documentation to make sure that go-to-market planning and funding is factored into the case.

In a linear product planning and development model such as phase gate or equivalent, the launch is a phase that must be planned for and carried out or executed upon. Whether your company has an existing launch process or not, I strongly suggest that you try to divide the launch plan into smaller, easier pieces. This can help in launch execution through clarity around roles, responsibilities, and dependencies.

Sequencing the launch in this way has additional benefits. First, it allows the product team to make go/no-go decisions, at any stage, about whether to proceed with the launch. Such an outcome can happen because the product manager and the team are continually able to validate market signals, reassess the strategy, test the assumptions of the Business Case, or respond to any other conditions that may be encountered. Second, phased launch execution helps maintain strong communication among cross-functional team members, so that launch work can be carried out and completed with a minimum of frustration and headaches. Lastly, for products that have continuous releases, you have great opportunities to secure customer usage and feedback.

THE LAUNCH PLAN

A launch plan is essentially a project plan. It identifies outcomes, responsibilities, interdependencies, timing, and budgets. In the table marked as Figure 15.2, I’ve provided a template that should be easy to adapt to your own company’s environment. I’ve also included a sample launch item or deliverable.

While these templates should be available in your own company, I’d suggest meeting with product managers, marketing people, or others who have been exposed to product launches to gain their perspective on product launches. In addition to the research I suggested earlier, try to determine how well plans like these were used and assess their overall effectiveness. You can use what you learn to fine-tune some of the launch planning protocols in your company.

FIGURE 15.2

Simple Launch Plan Template

What I’ve learned over the years, and you’ll probably learn this too, is that many deliverables take longer than you might think. These delays can be harmful to the product’s business, so I have a few suggestions for you.

First, establish the ability to do a launch audit in advance. This approach can help you and your team to anticipate what might happen through an examination of past performance. In a simple matrix shown as Figure 15.3, you can set this up so that audits can be conducted later. I’ll introduce the topic of post-launch audits in the next chapter where you’ll be shown how to do a root-cause analysis for any variances between the planned dates and actual dates.

FIGURE 15.3

Setting Up the Launch Plan for Future Audits

The second method I’d like to introduce to help you deliver launches that are on time is called the “counting back” method. The launch, like any project plan, has an explicit end goal (the market window). It’s practical to look at work activity planning for specific launch goals from the perspective of the end point and count backward. I’ll share with you an example: the creation of a product data sheet for sales training. By breaking down the tasks of this launch deliverable from the end point back to the start point, you will be able to see the importance of this approach so that you won’t be late to market. To begin, you have to sequence the project as if you were starting from the beginning. I’ll use the following tasks:

1.   Write and edit content.

2.   Have content reviewed by subject matter experts, including the product manager and those from Marketing, Product Development, and so on.

3.   Make sure that the positioning is clear and consistent with established guidelines.

4.   Have content reviewed by Legal and/or Regulatory.

5.   Prepare design, artwork, and layout.

6.   Locate printers, get quotes, and secure a PO for a printer.

7.   Order the materials.

8.   Ship to a central location for fulfillment.

9.   Conduct sales training.

From these start-to-finish steps, we now construct a project profile of “finish-to-start,” with the finish assumed to be August 30 with a launch announcement on September 15. This is visualized in the Gantt chart shown in Figure 15.4, using the counting back method. This tells the team when they have to start working on the brochure. In this case, it’s March. This could be a big shock, especially if you found yourself in July and you learned how far behind you already are.

FIGURE 15.4

Counting Back Launch Plan

LAUNCH EXECUTION

Even if you have launch plans documented and agreed upon, a lot can happen when the team begins its work. It’s hard to keep your eye on details when there’s so much going on. Earlier, I mentioned we can use phases with checkpoints to carry out our work, and identified those phases as early, middle, and late. These subphases will help you be a better launch orchestrator because they follow a sequencing of thought and action. I refer to the three launch phases as the “three A’s.” The three A’s are activities that allow the product manager to:

1.   Arrange

2.   Activate

3.   Announce

The three A’s provide a slightly more granular roadmap for you so that you can have an opportunity to improve the outcome of the launch. The three A’s are depicted in Figure 15.5. All arrangements are made in the early phase. The activate phase initiates the tangible work required to integrate and operationalize the product in the business. The later phase involves the culmination of all work activities such that the product can be announced to the market. Furthermore, this triple-A roadmap lays the groundwork for other topics that will be discussed in this chapter. I strongly recommend that you create a template of your own for your product so that the launch plan items can be more easily carried out.

FIGURE 15.5

The Three A’s of the Product Launch

Building on this foundation, I’m going to identify some of the important launch activities and provide a synopsis of things to consider. To reiterate, your own company probably has some sort of launch process, so please take care to integrate that plan into your own activities.

EXECUTIVE CHAMPIONS NEED TO LEAD IMPORTANT PRODUCT LAUNCHES

All launch programs require the oversight of someone. A product manager or product director can oversee launches for product updates or enhancements. All of this work is ultimately supervised by a product portfolio review board or equivalent council. However, important launches require an executive champion.

When so much money is riding on a successful launch, a key executive will make sure that all functions carry out their work and can also provide more timely intervention when problems arise. These key executives are usually appointed as corporate spokespeople and are able to interact with analysts, guide public relations activities, and be a face to the market, according to established corporate protocols. If the product is not being launched in a domestic geography, additional, local executive sponsors may need to be engaged for the product’s transition to the market.

One more point of note on this topic. In some large companies, product leaders and other executives are too busy to just devote significant time to their product launches. In these firms, the executive champion appoints a product launch manager, often out of a program office, to serve as primary orchestrator. The key to success in this role is organizational knowledge, domain expertise, and a strong dose of leadership credibility in order to make sure all the gears of the launch team operate in harmony.

CONFIRM THE MARKET WINDOW

Successful product introductions require a clear market window. The market window is defined, very simply, as the best time to launch a product into the market. It’s the point at which the product is strategically positioned as sufficiently unique or differentiated versus the competition. Some organizations have a standard launch time frame (quarterly, semiannually, or annually), and sometimes as collective launches of every new product offering, gathered up from all the divisions or business units.

In some enterprise software companies, releases are scheduled in advanced and noted in the product support section of their websites. These don’t necessarily abide by the idea of a market window. As well, when you check your smart device for app updates, those are done without a formal release schedule because they’re usually focusing on stability, quality, and some minor updates. As I indicated earlier, these are not the types of launches that require the discipline I’m discussing in this chapter. In other words, products released this way are often launched without regard for an explicit market window.

There may be a good reason to launch a specific salable product at a specific time. Very often, a trade show might be the motivation for a launch. When product managers race to meet deadlines of structured, clustered, or interval launches like these, they are forced to make the assumption that the organization will be fully prepared to sell and support the product. Real market windows are apparent when:

1.   There is nothing as unique in the market.

2.   The main competitors are inactive.

3.   The customer need you have uncovered and solved for has no rival.

4.   Seasonal market movements are well understood (fashion, holidays, model year changeover).

5.   Large company budgeting and buying cycles are easily identified.

6.   Major industry events take place (such as the CES show from the U.S. Consumer Technology Association, conducted every January in Las Vegas).

The strategy for your product should be closely tied to the launch by making sure that you answer the question, When do we need to be in the market, and why? What should also drive the identification of your market window is your familiarity with the industry, your market segmentation models, and your competitive situation. Very often the outcomes of beta tests or market trials help the team determine the best time for the product announcement (more on this shortly).

Take a look at Apple and other firms that do a great job creating market excitement for their products. Their launch plans are hatched far in advance to ensure that they can achieve maximum market impact. Business publications and the media do a wonderful job following major market movers. Make it a point to use these examples as benchmarks as you build momentum and excitement in your product team and bring your product to market.

REVIEW MARKET AND BETA TESTS—OR CONDUCT THEM IF NECESSARY

Launching a new product without a market test is like riding a bicycle in New York City while wearing a blindfold: it’s something you would never think of doing because it’s so dangerous. If the team has invested so much time and money to get this far, then it should do a limited test or “soft launch” for the product. When a new restaurant opens, it really doesn’t open to the public during the first few weeks. Even if you walk by and see people at the tables, waiters bringing food, and lots of other activity, you may not be able to simply walk in and eat. In this case, the restaurant is going through a soft opening, in which friends, kind individuals, and others are helping the restaurant owners test every dimension of the business. Every operational aspect of the store is scrutinized and adjusted, including seating, order taking, order processing (cooking), delivery (serving), billing, payment processing, and even the dining experience.

Market tests help to achieve the same goal. More typically suited to consumer products, the market test validates the market segmentation models by answering the question, Do those customers we selected really need this, and will they buy it? Market tests also validate forecasts by answering a key question: How many can we sell on a limited basis, and when those results are extrapolated, will they approximate the forecast? Finally, market tests help the team understand what customers actually think of the product.

In Chapter 14, I discussed the use of beta trials. The beta trial seeks to achieve similar kinds of results in the business-to-business (B2B) domain as a market test would achieve in the consumer world. The goal is to take the product to your intended customers (or lead users), have them use it in the way in which it is intended to be used, monitor the results, and determine whether you should proceed to a complete launch of the product. Even if you arrive at a no-go decision at first, market test and beta trials may increase the odds of identifying changes that could make the product viable—changes that you might be able to implement within the time and budget constraints for launch.

PRE RELEASE/EARLY ADOPTER REVIEWS

A short while ago, I learned about the beta software program from Apple. In this program, you can become part of a user community of testers who can preview or use new features before they’re released to the market. This pre-release program is a best practice in action because it involves willing users who can validate which features are most useful and which ones are not. It also helps Apple to identify issues that can be fixed so the software can be as good as it needs to be.

When your segments are well defined and you can equate your hypotheses about who would use specific functionality or features, you have a better chance to verify the linkage between what a customer needs to do and the feature you developed. Recall in Chapter 11, Figure 11.4, I used a template to validate customer needs with a value proposition because I connected the customer type (user) with a need and an associated feature. With prerelease testing, this can be verified.

A well-defined prerelease program can contribute to your team’s confidence that your product can be adopted and used. When you’ve got the proof of usage and adoption, you’re well on your way to deal with sales events, media activity, and ultimately, market launches.

PRODUCT AVAILABILITY RATINGS

Market testing allows the product team to validate the need for the product and to make sure that all elements of the corporate infrastructure can support the product. Based on market test results, or perhaps on your own accumulated knowledge of the market, a gradual introduction of the product might be the right thing. Many companies use product availability ratings as a control valve to regulate the speed with which a complex product moves to the market. While general availability (GA) is a classification assigned to the product when it is orderable by any customer in any of the chosen markets, there are more limited modes of short-term product release.

One product availability classification is controlled introduction (CIN), which is more common in B2B marketing. It allows for a product to be available to a very tightly controlled market area or customer grouping. Controlled introduction ratings are used when a product is in a beta trial state, or perhaps being test-marketed in segments or geographical areas that are easily “readable.” If the controlled introduction phase exposes the organization to any undue risk, or the product does not work properly, successive launch phases can be canceled and the product investment can be curtailed.

Limited availability (LA) is another rating classification, and one that allows for a slightly wider audience to purchase the product. LA ratings permit marketing efforts and operational support systems to be fine-tuned. It also gives a wider market audience or geographic area a chance to experience or use the product. Close attention is focused on the product and on these customers or customer targets to ensure that the product works as represented, that the value proposition is valid, and that the benefits reported by the customers are those intended by the strategy. LA is also a classification that can be used as products approach the decline phase of the in-market product life cycle, when sales need to be restricted because support structures are being slowly decommissioned—especially if a replacement product is being readied or already available. One prominent risk of the LA classification is tipping your hand to competitors before you have an opportunity to reach your larger target market with an updated or entirely new product.

PROVIDE ADEQUATE SALES TRAINING

Sales teams need to be educated in the most appropriate manner for the industry in which your company operates. In some companies, sales training is incomplete or does not happen beyond the issuance of a new spec sheet or Sales Brief. In some cases, that’s all that salespeople have available. Some sales training teaches salespeople to sell features and technology—an approach that is quite distinct from more engaging, consultative methods. Worse, sales compensation programs are sometimes not changed to provide adequate incentive for salespeople to sell the new product. You can do everything else right, but if your sales teams don’t understand how to properly position and present the product, it will fail.

Sales training can take many forms. Training of sales teams in faster-moving consumer product categories tends to be more structured and frequent than training in B2B companies. Programs should be planned far enough in advance to match the speed of your industry. Training should coincide with periodic “kickoffs,” followed by more formal, scheduled programs. They can also include an ongoing stream of short videos and other easy-to-digest tools so they can always be kept up to date. Product managers and their marketing counterparts should jointly plan training events and make sure that the salespeople can be educated via the most effective methods.

Salespeople are generally auditory and visual learners—they may not like to read as much as they like to observe, watch, or listen. Whatever method you choose, though, sales documentation should be organized to make sure that the following kinds of information are imparted:

1.   The characteristics of the customers who are ideal targets for the product, including buyer types, influencers, and decision makers

2.   The primary, proven needs that drove the development of the product

3.   The benefits and associated features of the product

4.   Methods to ask questions, using consultative techniques

5.   Demos, models, and other visual aids that will help salespeople retain as much as possible

Successful launches depend on well-trained salespeople to carry the product’s messages to the market. Sales teams must understand the product and know exactly why each segment would want to buy it. Lastly, they must be fairly compensated for their efforts.

SALES GOALS AND COMPENSATION

Most salespeople are provided with goals or quotas. In such environments, sales goals are integrated with the sales forecasts in the Business Case. Without these goals, it will be more difficult to fulfill those assumptions. Product managers need to make sure that they negotiate with leaders of the Sales organization early enough to get their products into the “bag” of products carried by the sales force. However, a quota or sales target is useless if the salespeople are not compensated to sell the product. Therefore, part of the negotiation is related to volume commitments, and the other part is to make sure that salespeople will be incented to make the sale! Well-trained salespeople without an incentive will, at best, sell products incidentally—not with purpose.

ENSURE READINESS OF MARKETING COLLATERAL, WEBSITE, AND PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS

Sales and marketing collateral should be prepared in a timely fashion, which means preparations should be made early in the launch sequence. Midsized to large corporations tend to demonstrate consistency in their use of style sheets to portray and maintain the corporate brand, which is a good thing. Still, there is a tremendous amount of variability across organizations, within organizations, and across industries in terms of the actual effectiveness of collateral, including its visual appeal, messaging, and readability. Here are some suggestions to make sure that sales and marketing materials are appropriately created:

   Product managers and marketers should work closely together by clearly defining their roles and responsibilities when preparing sales and marketing materials.

   The product manager should ensure that there is a highly skilled subject matter expert who writes some of the detailed material. However, you need a good creative copywriter or a marketing agency to make sure that the documents are clear, readable, and not full of technology speak, especially when unwarranted.

   Inspections and reviews of sales and marketing documentation (including websites) should take place to ensure that they are readable and understandable. Creative copywriting and editing are required. An executive once said to me regarding his favorite assumption about the marketing collateral and creative copywriting, “They’re in Marketing, they must know how to write content.”

   Allow enough time to prepare sales and marketing documentation, not just for creative writing but also for artwork, layout, legal reviews, printing, and fulfillment.

It is critical that product managers and marketers negotiate the deliverables for each of the documents that have to be created. Try creating a mini-project plan for each item of collateral that needs to be prepared. In most companies, there are standard sets of documents for the sales force, including some kind of sales guide, sales briefs, frequently asked questions (FAQs), objection-handling documents, and so on. Every piece of collateral should be prepared as if it were going to be used to support sales training.

Positioning statements, supported by valid, needs-based market segmentation models, must feed the sales and marketing documentation. Demonstrated proofs used in the Business Case should be the basis for writing about the business and market environment, the situations customers find themselves in, and how the product provides the most compelling benefits to those customers. Ideally, you should use the already-derived segmentation models to support robust marketing communications documents and activities. All vehicles used to communicate to customers, from sales collateral to your websites, should communicate your compelling value proposition. Again, I cannot emphasize too strongly that all marketing collateral and any other related documents, electronic or paper based, must be easy to read, point out key benefits, and allow salespeople and customers to stay as informed as possible about the products—and the value those products create.

LEVERAGe DIGITAL MARKETING

In many companies, digital marketing techniques are used to communicate about upcoming product releases. These programs are often continued as products are used so that the relationship between the company and end user can be maintained and enhanced as product features are added over time.

For major product launches, digital programming can play a significant role to communicate about the launch, generate leads, and the like. There are a few things to think about in this regard. First, traditional marketing efforts don’t fit neatly in the mold of digital promotion. Dealing with things such as deploying hashtags, garnering likes, writing blog posts, producing videos, composing emails, and using influencers to garner engagement and usage requires planning, diligent execution, close monitoring—and rapid pivots in order to track engagement and anticipate future market movement. Digital agencies or a separate (but connected) marketing subfunction can be helpful. However, these are not always within the purview of the product manager. This is why early and ongoing engagement with Marketing is so vital.

ARRANGE COVERAGE BY INDUSTRY OR MARKET ANALYSTS

In many industries and in large firms, product announcements to the market are often coordinated by people who work in public relations or media relations groups. Large-scale announcements are sometimes used for major product launches, but not all firms use these methods to launch products. Yet, it’s important to make sure that people who watch goings-on in your industry are aware of your team’s major product releases or launches. Your job as a product manager is to figure out what techniques your company uses to create visibility for new products. If you don’t have a way to communicate with those who ultimately communicate with your customers, you won’t get the exposure required. The only bearers of your message will be your salespeople and, perhaps, your website.

Industry or market analysts will greatly benefit from face-to-face meetings with designated leaders in your company. Their job is to evaluate your company and its products, especially those that are being launched. All analysts monitor industry or sector trends as well as competitor firms and the products they offer. However, different types of analysts have different parties who depend on them. For example, some industry analysts are actually paid by a community of members so that better informed procurement decisions can be made. Some market analysts operate in a brokerage firm and serve the interest of their clients who are financial investors. Other market analysts work for a business television station, publication, or other media outlet; their job is to communicate with viewers or readers for a variety of reasons.

In any case, your company and its products are constantly under someone’s microscope. It’s up to you to make sure that you work with your senior leaders, marketers, and analyst relations people so that they know you and your product, what your product does, and how it contributes to the company’s strategy and business results.

MAKE SURE DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS ARE ABLE TO SELL AND DELIVER THE PRODUCT

Sales and distribution channels must be able to sell and deliver the product. Often, too many products are simply pushed into retail and/or wholesale channels, and the channels often don’t have the capacity to carry the product to the final destination. This can result in a lack of “shelf space” for the product with distributors, or a lack of real mindshare on the part of salespeople. This undesirable situation is referred to as a channel capacity problem (Figure 15.6).

FIGURE 15.6

The Channel Capacity Problem

My benchmarking results have shown that when capacity issues exist, forecast volumes are not realized within one or two months after the launch and sales volumes tend to be negligible. Worse, however, are the results of product portfolio reviews that show thousands of inactive stock-keeping units (SKUs) with virtually nonexistent inventory turnover for tangible products.

In many cases there is no intermediary between the product team and the channel organization, meaning there is no one to resolve capacity issues, even when they work for the same marketing executive. A channel capacity manager or similar job category, supervised by the product portfolio review board, would be a good way of minimizing this risk. Furthermore, if the capacity issue could be surfaced as a decision-making criterion earlier in the product planning process, some product investments might be curtailed. This would leave room for product investments thought of as having a greater probability of achieving success.

Introducing a product to the market involves a complex array of activities. The cross-functional team is supposed to grease the skids of the organization by making sure that the product can actually reach the market via the chosen distribution channel and be sold by those who are believed to be able to sell it. In retail banking, for example, there are a host of deposit-oriented products, each with terms and conditions and new features that are supposed to stimulate demand. If the retail bank branches are short of staff, there is the likelihood that salespeople in the branch will not have the capacity to even read the internal product release notes, let alone effectively sell the product. Yet, with the proliferation of multichannel options for banks (website, mobile app, electronic payments, etc.), banking customers don’t have to go into a branch—they just access the service through the most convenient channel.

In many companies, software products aren’t sold via a distribution network like physical products. For enterprise software products, sales require high touch and longer sales cycles, so they might follow traditional “demand push” models—almost like the sale of a physical product.

Software-as-a-service products are sold and delivered differently. While they certainly require a high level of outbound marketing, a customer or user operates in a demand-pull environment. Think of it this way. If you go to a physical retail store, you’re drawn there for a reason and you buy what you want—when the store is open. With an online retailer, you’re also visiting for a specific purpose, and you can go any time you want using whatever device you choose. That’s demand-pull in action.

Regardless of how demand is created, you need to make sure you have the capacity to handle the demand. This means that your company’s website must be able to handle peak load capacity as well as sufficient inventory and fulfill orders (if you sell physical goods in an online store). If you’re just delivering software online, you have to pay particular attention to performance, capacity, and usability to make sure that the system or application is as responsive as it needs to be.

ENSURE READINESS OF OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS

Many firms may be able to finish the development of the product on schedule, but this doesn’t mean that operational infrastructure elements are always activated on time. One of the reasons for this failure is poor operational planning. Operational infrastructure elements for the launch are often not clearly documented because too much emphasis for the launch is focused on marketing and selling.

The elements of the operational infrastructure that must be engaged, turned up, or activated include:

   Sourcing and logistics, to make sure that tangible products are available, in the channels or warehouses, and ready to ship

   Order taking, handling, and fulfillment, so that customers can interact with the company, submit orders, and receive product

   Installation or implementation support, which should be readied and handled through the appropriate service organizations

   Repair and return processes, procedures, and actual handling, all of which should be put into place at the right time

   Customer complaint handling via training of customer service agents, appropriate staffing, and adequate IT infrastructure

   Any other IT support systems, or other technology infrastructure elements required, which should be in place and ready to support the product

It cannot be overemphasized that these operational pieces of the business puzzle must be a part of every launch plan. Moreover, as the product moves through the market, product managers and product teams must evaluate the effectiveness of these operational systems and methods and look for greater cost savings and efficiencies.

PREPARING FOR THE INTERNAL LAUNCH

I was working with a senior leader in a major multinational firm. It was about to introduce a product that would reshape how its customers worked—a true game changer. He asked me a simple question: “With such an important announcement about to take place, why aren’t people in the company more excited?” I asked him this question: “How are they supposed to know?” I could tell by the look on his face that he was perplexed. This sparked a conversation that served to enlighten and energize him. It exposed something critical: the internal product launch is often overlooked.

The internal product launch can be an amazing vehicle to communicate with people inside the company. I attended a major launch for a company during which the atmosphere was filled with much fanfare. Executives made speeches, food and music were provided, and balloons were dropped from above. In this firm, its employees are also consumers of the firm’s product. Imagine how hundreds of people can become product messengers to friends and family!

Everyone in the company should be able to rally for the company, but this is possible only when a suitable atmosphere is established. When the proper “buzz” is created, people feel good about the company; they are energized and engaged. It also creates an army of educated people, many of whom interact with customers, vendors, or ecosystem partners.

The purpose of an internal launch is to ensure that everyone is on board and that people are excited that their company is an active, recognized competitor! And by the way, the leader in the firm I mentioned has actually started carrying out internal launches and even keeps a large billboard in the lobby of the corporate headquarters. Everyone at his firm knows what’s going on.

LAUNCH METRICS MUST BE ASSEMBLED AND READY TO TRACK

On a related note, launch metrics are critical operational measures of how well the business is executing on the plans that were set down. For example, each business has its own unique cycles for sales activities, from actual announcement date to the time of the first order. Another relevant sales measurement might be from first order until the time the invoice is sent, or from invoice to payment receipt (order-to-cash). Other metrics might involve time required to fill an order, or even customer contact response times. Each company in each industry should have a set of relevant measurements, meaningful from the time the first public announcement is made, to ensure that all business systems and functions seamlessly execute.

Product managers should track the launches of not only their own firm but also other firms. I routinely watch business news programs and read business publications to learn about what different firms are doing. For example, I recently noticed an interesting product announcement in a press release. The name of the product executive was mentioned, so I looked up his contact information and made a call. I explained who I was and that I was really curious about his firm’s launch practices, both challenges and successes. He was eager to share, given the context I set. This is an example of something you can do, too. I have learned much from these types of discussions, and you can too. As a product management professional, your market focus is as broad as you want it to be. Imagine the insight you could acquire by speaking to a couple of product leaders in other companies that are not competitive with yours!

RISK MANAGEMENT

In Chapter 11, I discussed risk management within the Business Case. The product launch is really an extension of the Business Case, which is why it’s worth taking another look at your risk exposure before you make your final go-to-market decision.

Every organization has a lot of gears that need to mesh and turn at the right time, at the right speed. In addition, there are external market factors that must be given a final look. In other words, there’s a lot to consider, which can be daunting when all internal forces are gathering momentum to go to market. If you’re effectively tracking all these factors, take a good look at these vital aspects of the product launch process:

1.   Ensure that the product works as intended, both from the technical and the customer’s perspective.

2.   Check in with all stakeholders with respect to the forecasts and financials.

3.   Evaluate all ecosystem partners to make sure they’re moving in lockstep.

4.   Verify that all training for all departments has taken place, including Sales, Service, and Operations.

5.   Double-check with management so that it can intervene if escalations are required.

These last-minute checkups will give you peace of mind, knowing that all dimensions of the launch have been covered. When the team meets to conduct the final go or no-go for the launch, you’ll have the confidence required to make the appropriate decision.

BE WILLING TO RECOMMEND GO OR NO-GO FOR LAUNCH

One of the reasons for the use of a phased launch process is to make sure that critical items are covered. Unfortunately, many launch projects continue as if there were no checkpoints and no possibility of cancellation. That’s a mistake, because many things can go wrong, even at the last minute: The product could have a quality or material problem. The software could have too many bugs. The salespeople might not be able to get essential samples. Whatever the problem, the work on the launch might just need to stop. It doesn’t always work this way. Once a product has been built, or even nearly built, teams don’t usually consider a cancellation or postponement of the launch. The cause of this denial is usually behavioral. Stakeholders have so much invested that they assume the product couldn’t possibly be in jeopardy.

Not long ago, I was in a client’s office building when the head of Product Management ran out of his office to usher me inside so he could tell me a great story. During the summer of that year, a grand launch was planned for a product that was to redefine an entire category of products. With a big smile on his face, he said, “We had to postpone the launch!” He explained that the product manager, who had done a great job on the product’s definition, validation, and everything else, had a sneaking suspicion that something wasn’t right. The product was a home security system that worked via the internet and could control lights, locks, security cameras, and heating systems. It was designed to be easily set up by any homeowner. Even though the product worked as designed, the home user setup and test had not been verified. So the product manager arranged for 50 employees to take the product home over the weekend to install and set up. On Monday morning, everyone was surprised that there were so many issues with the setup. These had to do with things such as switch position, color coding, and other items related to usability. The leadership team was apprised and the launch was postponed by 90 days until the problems were fixed. Imagine what would have happened if this astute product manager had not taken this “last look” before such an important product launch!

I very strongly suggest that go/no-go decision reviews be taken very seriously. When products are introduced and customers begin to use them, the last thing they want is a product that doesn’t work as advertised or a customer service representative that can’t answer a basic question when the customer calls. Product work can be stopped at any point along its journey. Like the emergency stop cord on a train, anyone on the cross-functional team should be able to pull the cord, call a timeout, and reassess the state of the product to make sure that any problems can be discussed and solved.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT

One of the most critical milestones in the launch sequence is the announcement. The announcement date is synchronized within the context of the market window established in the launch plan. The product portfolio review board, in its role as overseer of all product investment activities, makes sure that there aren’t any other launches taking place that might confuse the market.

The announcement date is agreed upon by the cross-functional team and represents the time when all launch work activities have been completed. It means that official notices to the market will be provided via the agreed-upon media, PR, and other marketing communication and promotional channels. In the end, the announcement signals to the market that the product is ready to be ordered or purchased. Amid much fanfare, the sales teams hit the road, ready to challenge the competitors, and customers await the arrival of the latest and greatest. The announcement could not be achieved without careful launch planning, which began early in the phases of New Product Planning. Successful launches bring the product to life and fulfill the strategic, operational, and financial goals of the firm.

SUMMARY

One of the most important facts to remember about the product launch is that it is made up of many different activities that are carried out over a period of time. These activities are governed by a launch plan that is a reflection of the product strategy and an outgrowth of a product Business Case. Furthermore, because the launch is a cross-functional team initiative, it requires the skilled guidance of a launch project leader or launch manager, capable creative resources, and a sales force that can be trained to carry the most important positioning messages to the market—and of course, be paid for their efforts. Success has a better chance of being attained when there’s superb collaboration and communication. This can be a big challenge when different departments have conflicting agendas and incentives. This is why it’s so important to have the appropriate corporate and executive support.

There are certainly company- or industry-specific nuances in every launch; however, the most important fact to remember is that you have to start early enough in order to carry out all of the work required to complete the launch, introduce the product to the market at the right speed, and finalize the announcement within the company and to customers, industry analysts, and others who need to be informed. Finally, any plan requires that the most appropriate set of metrics be used to determine the level of success of the launch.