Ideas are worthless unless you can actually turn them into a tangible thing, whether its a prototype or a business responsible for its delivery.
Once you’re ready for customers its time to launch your product or service into the market.
Get this right and the business will move into a high growth trajectory after some initial ramp up. There are also a few things that you should give careful consideration before getting this right, especially in the sales and marketing department.
1) Start Executing Your Sales And Marketing Plan Before Your Product Is Market Ready
Due to the costs of establishing a business supplying a new product or service its going to take some time before the business moves into break even or profit.
Generating sales for an unknown brand is much harder than for an established business so its going to take time for you to get your message to the right people and create enough influence and interest in your market.
The more product or service you’re able to deliver the more profitable your business cam become. Its the “elasticity of demand” or “economies of scale” that allow the same business infrastructure to support an ever increasing consumption of its products and service, until the upper limits are reached.
2) Consider Outsourcing And Bring In House Only What You Really Need To
Marketing and sales people are expensive things and with large overheads that are not yet generating leads and sales at an optimal rate the business will struggle to elevate its position into a break even or profitable situation.
Finding a good agency will help you engage your market without the permanent staffing overhead.
3) Research And Test Your Marketing And Sales Strategies – Don’t Just Assume Their Right
New product or service launches consist of many incremental steps.
Its easy to assume that your market wants something and in a particular way, only to find out later on that not enough prospects are converting into customers.
Unless you can identify this soon enough you run the risk of wasting both money and time on your marketing and sales activities.
Market research will point you in the general direction, however until your engaged with your market you’ll never know exactly how your market is going to react.
The sooner you find who the right prospects really are, those that really need you and buy into the way your present your product or service, the sooner things will start to happen.
4) Don’t Let Your Business Plan Force You To Commit To Commercial Strategies That Aren’t Working
Markets are changing faster than ever before and plans can be easily scuppered because of new trends or changes in market competition.
Businesses that are married to their plan are often unable to change before things are too late, innovation becomes stifled and the business stagnates and dies.
The faster you realise things are changing and adapt by creating products and services to meet these new market evolutions, the greater your chance of survival and eventual success.
5) Be Prepared To Shut Down What’s Not Working
If you’ve identified that something isn’t working and that change or timing is not enough to resolve it then its time to let go and shut it down before you waste any more time and money.
Many businesses have shifted their traditional marketing spend from static ads in magazines to internet marketing because of the return on investment and measurability that it offers.
The same goes for products like TV’s and radios that have moved from standard analogue to digital reception because of changes in broadcast specification.
6) Let Your Product Do The Selling
Products that are noticeably different, which people can experience quickly are sales tools in themselves.
The sooner people see it for themselves the more likely they are to work with you. Online software service companies provide free service accounts that allow users to try before they commit.
Sampling is another great way of getting your product and service in front of prospective customers and to start building early champions for your brand.
The Take Away
You’ve got to get your idea out there into the market as soon as possible. The longer you leave it the less chance you have of maintaining any advantage so you need to get your business ready to engage customers asap.
The sooner you get sales coming in, the sooner your business is likely to reach profitability so prepare your businesses lead generation and conversion strategies as soon as you have something useful to demonstrate.
Don’t over commit resources to areas that don’t justify it when you’re ramping up. Instead find outsource partners that can help you build operations like marketing and sales which you can quickly test and adapt without committing huge time and money.
