Program Ready versus Product Ready

New product innovation is fundamental to the revitalization and continuation of company growth. Whether it’s innovation on an existing product or a breakthrough new concept, the introduction of new products is central to the generation of revenue, margin, differentiation, and market relevance.

It’s a challenging task to bring a new product to market. “Product ready” implies that the core solution is ready for sale to customers and channels. The market opportunity has been researched thoroughly, functionality has been developed to meet market requirements, and differentiation has been achieved via design. The product has been tested internally and externally, and it’s ready for customer adoption.

It’s even more challenging (and essential) to achieve “Program readiness.” A program adds the essential elements to the core product to collectively comprise a “solution” for the customer. Program readiness means that the following partial list of program elements have been defined, developed, tested, and are ready for delivery in conjunction with the product.

• Early Adopter Testimony – the endorsement of early adopters and testers provides evidence to the market of the product’s capabilities (references, testimonials).
• Market Segmentation – specific target market segments, the “prospect profile” for each segment, and the specific (named) targets in each segment.
• Use Cases – the applications and environments where the product will be utilized.
• Value Proposition and Benefits – clear articulation of how customer benefits will exceed their investment in your product.
• ROI Model – interactive tool for the calculation of customer ROI.
• Supply Chain – readiness to support market requirements in the areas of materials, costs, production, quality system, and availability.
• Demand Generation – activities that will engage targeted segments to generate early AIDA (awareness, interest, desire, action).
• Pricing – comprehensive pricing for all program elements, defined by channel, with clear pricing policies (i.e. discounting, rebates, incentives, etc.).
• Packaging – creation of all required packaging, inserts, and materials.
• Branding – program specific branding and its alignment with overall company branding and product branding strategies.
• Competitive Analysis – understanding of competitive offers, your product’s differentiation, anticipated competitive reaction to your launch, and the subsequent actions you could take in response.
• Market Positioning Strategy – clear positioning strategy for the specific product, and in conjunction with other company products, against competition.
• Marketing Communications – comprehensive and integrated plan to ensure awareness in target segments and the industry infrastructure.
• Promotion – incentives designed to increase and accelerate market demand.
• Channel Readiness – overall readiness of channel partners to quickly engage in selling and promoting the new program, including inventory, training, and sales materials.
• Parts and Supplies – the availability, cost, and pricing of components required for aftermarket support of the program.
• Documentation – preparation of all required documentation including user guides, instructions, package inserts, registration forms, etc.
• Customer Experience – clearly defined step-by-step readiness to support the customer process in each area of the value chain to ensure optimal overall customer experience.
  • Ordering / Procurement
  • Fulfillment
  • On-Boarding
  • Support / Service
• Market Feedback Loop – documented process for the collection, review, and reaction to conditions experienced during the program launch to ensure that required adjustments are quickly identified and implemented.

From this partial list, it’s easy to see that a new launch requires the condition of “program readiness” to achieve success. Organizations often blame the product (which could be accurate) when in fact market failure may be attributed to missing elements of the overall program. Just think of the challenges if pricing is disconnected from the market perception of a product’s value, or the product is poorly positioned against competition, or the customer experience is less than desirable. On the other hand, just imagine the possibilities of great success if each of these program attributes are carefully planned, developed, and executed.

The next time you are engaged in product development, think about changing (or sharpening) your mindset to program development. It will be a lot of work, but I think you will find it worth the effort.