Failure to launch

I have a disturbing statistic for you. Did you know that nine out of ten buyers would never consider asking their supplier about what other services they can offer? This is based on recent research carried out by Flyte Consulting. This is worrying.

Design, fulfilment, data management, and installation are all potential important parts to your offering. Extra services such as these are an important way to increase revenue and, most importantly, profit margins. However, based on this research, companies in our industry are not taken seriously when it comes to services other than their core offering.

There is an important lesson to learn here: it is vital to launch new services correctly.

If you launch new services correctly, you will not just increase turnover and profits. You will actually improve relationships with your customers. Your customers will start to see you as more than just a provider of, say, ink on substrate. Instead you begin to become a supply partner. That is a much more powerful position to be in.

However, a service that is not launched in the right way can work against you. Your customers will see that you have failed with the new services. They will have the impression (perhaps correctly) that you should simply be a provider of wide-format print, for example. That means that you are more likely to stay a commodity supplier rather than a true partner.

Do not wade into offering new services before checking the waters first, and making sure there is demand for what you propose

How do you avoid this situation?

Here is a seven-step process to successfully launching new services:

1   Decide exactly what you are offering

The prospective customer needs to understand your new service in detail. That means you have to be able to describe it precisely. Saying that you offer a design service is not enough. You should be able to describe what you specialise in. You should understand exactly how you are going to price the new offering. You should be able to describe your design strengths. Customers should understand why they should use you. That brings us to the second step of the launch process.

2   Talk to your current customers

Before going any further, it’s important to get feedback from your best customers. Are they interested in the new service you are offering? What feedback can they give you about your plans? What would make them sit up and buy straight away?

Sometimes your best customers may not show much interest in your new service. Then it may be time to revisit stage one of this process. But if they sound positive and enthusiastic, it is time to progress to step three.

3   Create your sales pitch

Whatever service you are launching, you will almost certainly have competition. It is not enough to tell a customer that you provide extra services. They need to be persuaded why they should use you. I am a great believer in using the TPD Principle to create a compelling sales approach.

It focuses on three elements: target audience, pain, and difference. Are you now all ready to launch once you have completed your sales pitch? Certainly not: there is two more stages to go.

Ensure your sales team are fully briefed on the new services, enabling them to sell on them when the time is right

4   Launch some test jobs

Before rolling out a new service to all your customers and prospects, it is worth doing a soft launch. Try some smaller campaigns with customers who are not your key clients. This gives you time to smooth out any problems and make sure that everything is working as expected. It prevents embarrassment with the customers that really matter. It also helps you achieve step five.

5   Gather testimonials and case studies

Your sales approach for a new service will be much more compelling if you can show successful projects and case studies. It also helps if you can show enthusiastic testimonials from other users. Now you are nearly ready to launch fully. But there is one more thing you must do first.

6   Brief and incentivise the sales team

I often see enthusiastically prepared launches that fall flat on their face. The reason for this is that the sales team have not been involved in the right way. Firstly, your sales team needs to know exactly what you are offering.

Brief them with your ideal types of prospect and job. Most importantly, incentivise them to sell these new services. Often, sales people receive more commission for selling standard services, so they concentrate on these. Remember, once the sales team are out and selling, the process does not end.

7   Market your new service

Make sure that it is given full coverage in your:
• Company website
• Company newsletter
• E-mail campaigns
• Social media
• Direct mail

Here are three things to do now to get your new launch underway:

• Set a sales goal for new services
• Create a full launch schedule for your first new service, based on the seven steps we have covered
• Put together a team of staff who will be responsible for handling the launch

Once you have undertaken these three steps you will be in a good position to be taken seriously when offering a new service. Unlike most buyers, your customers will be happy to ask you what else you can do for them.

Key actions:

• Decide exactly what new services you are going to offer
• Ask your customers whether this is something they would be interested in
• Try out a ‘soft launch’, running some smaller campaigns with customers who are not your key clients
• Ensure your sales team know about the new services and are able to sell on them
• Get the word out there by marketing your new services