New Product Launch–Sales and Marketing Agreements

After reading Bob’s blog post… Why Online Product Launches are Different, Better, Cheaper…I thought I would chip in with my own experience.

Sales and Marketing Internal Agreements

New product or service offer launches are, to say the least, challenging both from a market competition perspective and an internal coordination perspective.   Internally there are several potential points of failure that, with a little formality can be reduced. One of the tricks I learned is to create formal agreements between teams involved in the launch.

As an example, let’s use sales and marketing teams. The idea is to describe on one or two pages the commitments these teams make to each other related to the launch. Once the Internal Agreement is finalized, we get the team leadership to sign off and ensure adhesion.

In this case, the agreement should cover:

1. Marketing Message
   1. What benefits does the offering deliver
   2. How does it compete
   3. Timing of promotion
   4. Purchasing details
2. Result Metrics for example
   1. Number of sales ready leads expected from promotion in a specified time frame
   2. Number of sales follow-ups expected
   3. Number of demos or meetings expected
   4. Revenue anticipated
3. A description of the” Ideal Prospect” for example
   1. Company Size
   2. Industry
   3. Ideal contact level
   4. Location
4. A definition of a “Sales Ready Lead” for example
   1. Expression of interest
   2. Request for demo
   3. Request for meeting
5. Composition of Sales Team for example
   1. Dedicated resources?
   2. Resource selection
6. Sales Feedback (my favorite)
   1. Timing of follow-ups
   2. Format of Sales Call Reports
   3. Is the benefits statement getting traction
   4. Positioning  recommendations based on field experience
7. Agreement Follow up
   1. How often should the teams meet to review results
   2. What type and format of progress reporting should be used
   3. Ongoing communication mechanism
   4. Recommendations for post launch phase

The internal agreement can refer to additional documents but the idea is to have one master agreement that captures the essence of the commitments the marketing and sales teams are making to the success of the new product or service.