As it relates to your sales channel and channel partner readiness, there are two things to consider when developing your own product launch time line. First is the size of your sales channel. The second is the complexity of the sales cycle. By focusing on the sales channel and channel partners you address what is typically the most time consuming and riskiest part of a successful product launch.

Size and of Your Sales Channel and Channel Partners

Get your sales channel and channel partners ready for product launch is often the most critical and time consuming part of product launch. You can deliver the best promotional programs on the planet but if the sales channel and your channel partners aren’t ready (or haven’t embraced the new offering) your success in the market could be severely impacted.

The size of the sales channel and channel partners has a direct relationship to the amount of time it takes to prepare it for launch. Let me illustrate.

When the sales channel is limited to 6 direct salespeople in one office, you can get them together over lunch. But when the sale channel is a combination of direct salespeople and channel partners scattered across three continents you have to plan ahead. Sometimes months in advance.

Let’s say that Acme Software has a direct sales channel of 300 salespeople in North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. They are in 15 countries and speak equally as many languages. Additionally there are channel partners in 10 other countries.

In the case of Acme Software you may need to start the product launch planning process of sales enablement training 6 months in advance of the target launch date just to coordinate training dates. If you have the added constraint of not being able to get everyone together in one place at one time, consider traveling to them or conducting sales enablement training online.

The Complexity of the Sales Cycle

The complexity of the sales cycle can introduce another dimension into your product launch planning. Products that are relatively simple to understand and sell, lend themselves to a much easier sales enablement training regiment and therefore a shorter planning horizon. On the other hand complex products take longer to understand and require much more involvement from buyers before a purchase decision can be made require a longer planning horizon.

Complex sales cycles require much more training about the problems addressed, who is impacted within the buyer’s organization, and what will they need to know in order to make a recommendation to buy.

Let’s build on our Acme Software example. Assume Acme is launching a new solution and for the first time will introduce to the channel a product with a complex sales cycle. Management is anticipating a 9 to 12 month sales cycle with no fewer than 8 to 10 people from the customer’s organization to be involved in making a decision to buy.

We’re presented not only with a new product to launch but a change in the way our sales channel will sell. This introduces risk. In order to minimize risk we may have to consider sales enablement training a year in advance by focusing on the problem, the market, buyers, and how they buy.

Another consideration here worth mentioning is sales culture. It’s not uncommon to see a sales culture where it’s OK to sell what’s not yet available. It’s another opportunity to introduce risk. Only this time the risk is about negatively affecting current sales before product launch. When we start sales enablement training we may run the risk that salespeople start talking about the new product immediately and inadvertently stop the deals they are working on today.

While I’m a strong advocate of a sales culture what sells what we have, I’m also a realist when it comes to long, complex sales cycles. If we wait until the product is announced we’re starting from scratch to build a pipeline. If we have a sales culture that sells futures, we start building a pipeline for the new product but run the risk of reducing the size of the pipeline for current products. Sometimes we’re in a no win situation. Err on the side of getting the sales channel and channel partners prepared to sell and leave the problem of selling futures to the VP of Sales and the CEO to resolve.

What are you struggling with?

Let me know by leaving me a comment below or sending me an email at ddaniels@pragmaticmarketing.com.

Marketing to B2C buyers is the same as marketing to B2B buyers, right? Not one bit and to understand why you need to start by examining the buyer.

In a B2C market the buyer is spending her own money.
In a B2B market the buyer is spending his company’s money.

In a B2C market the buyer makes the purchase decision without needing the input of others (except maybe my wife).
In a B2B market there is likely multiple buyers fulfilling different roles: the one with the budget, the ones who will use the product, and the ones who have to make sure it will work.

In a B2C market we connect with the buyer’s pain, fear, and guilt.
In a B2B market we connect with a business problem that needs to be solved.

Trying to use B2C marketing approaches in a B2B world (and vis-a-versa) can be costly and ineffective.

The moral of this story is to get a deep understanding of your buyer and what makes them tick before you waste your company’s resources.

I’m often asked to describe the difference between lead generation and demand generation. It’s not uncommon for the terms to be used interchangeably, but they are very different. Let me explain.

Lead Generation is about a single buyer.
Demand Generation is about a market of buyers.

Lead Generation is tactical.
Demand Generation is strategic.

Lead Generation is reactive.
Demand Generation is proactive.

In a previous post I introduced you to John, the product marketing manager. John is very busy and has his share of frustration. Most of John’s frustration is because his role is misunderstood. Product managers think he should do one thing. Marcom another. Sales yet another.

How did John get here?

For many technology companies the job title of product marketing manager is a fairly recent addition. The job was introduced to fill a void between product management, sales, and marcom. It happens when product managers are so consumed with product development issues, they don’t have the bandwidth to work with sales or marcom. The resulting problem is a sales force that is not prepared to sell and marketing that misses the mark.

Why is John frustrated?

He is frustrated because the line between what John should do and what the product manager should do is fuzzy. One time he gets scolded because he did something the product manager felt was her responsibility. Another time he gets scolded because he didn’t do something assuming the product manager is responsible. Finger pointing is not a solution.

What is John’s role?

There are activities in the Pragmatic Marketing Framework that are about using products and there are activities that are about buying products. One way of clarifying responsibilities is to have product managers accountable for activities related to using products, and have product marketing managers accountable for activities related to buying products. Another way of looking at it is product marketing managers are experts on buyers and how they buy, and product managers are experts on products and how they solve problems.

Are you clear about your role as a product marketing manager?

Are you defining the role or waiting for someone to do it for you?

Many of you know me from teaching Pragmatic Marketing’s Effective Product Marketing and Product Launch Essentials classes. In this role I get the privilege of working with many marketing directors, product managers, marketing executives, and product marketing managers. This experience I wanted to share with you from the product marketing manager’s perspective.

The role of the product marketing manager is evolving and becoming more standardized. By that I mean the importance of the role is better understood and the activities they are accountable for are more clearly defined. What I can report is the role of the product marketing manager has become more strategic and more valued than ever before.

Before getting deeper into roles and responsibilities of the product marketing manager it’s important to understand his persona. Please let me introduce you to John. John is a product marketing manager at a B2B technology company. He is 34 years old and he has a technical degree. About 30% of the time he has an MBA. His path to becoming a product marketing manager was not a direct one. His previously could have been a sales engineer, a product manager, or had a sales role.

He’s married, has two small children, and lives in the suburbs.

John is part of the marketing organization and reports to either a director/VP of product marketing or the VP of marketing. He gets a base salary and a bonus based on the performance of the company and the products he supports. Revenue is the primary measurement of success.

John may have the job title of product marketing manager, or he may be known as a marketing manager, segment marketing manager, or industry marketing manager.

John’s primary responsibilities fall into the following categories:

• Develop messaging for the products he supports
• Differentiate products from alternatives in the marketplace
• Develop content and sales tools including presentations, website content, brochures and white papers
• Conduct sales enablement training
• Create demand (lead generation)

John complains about the following issues:

• “Urgent, last minute requests from Sales like custom presentations, RFP responses, and demos are common requests that keep me from focusing on more strategic activities that I know will come back to haunt me.”
• “I have no clear way to prioritize my work. Every priority is the same: HIGH”
• “The sales team constantly complains about their sales tools. I keep delivering what they ask for but they still complain.”
• “Continuous changes in company, marketing and sales strategies have me bouncing from one project to the next. I’m working hard but not feeling like I’m getting anything done.”
• “I have to justify the ROI of marketing programs but I don’t have a set of metrics to use to prove my contribution.”

What about you?

Strategic Product Manager listed Launch Clinic as a top product management blog for 2012 – booya! Thanks, Stewart!

Hopefully this whole ‘the world is going to end thing’ doesn’t pan out and I’ll earn my way onto the list for 2013.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Marketers struggle to say ‘No’ to requests they know are frivolous. Sometimes it’s just easier to go with the status quo than make waves. But admit it: you (and your team) do a lot of extra stuff that is a waste of time and resources.

Part 1 was about linking everything you do in marketing to the goals the CEO values.

Part 2 discussed the importance of knowing your buyers.

The final installment of “How to Say ‘No’ Without Getting Fired” is an exploration into one more thing effective product marketers need to know: the buyer’s process for making a purchase decision.

Buyers follow a process that leads to a purchase decision

Why should anyone in Marketing be concerned about how buyers buy? Your Sales team takes care of that, right?

Salespeople are expected to know how buyers in an individual deal make a purchase decision. Marketing should know how buyers in a market segment make a purchase decision.

First, there are patterns (steps) in the way buyers in a market segment arrive at a purchase decision. The pattern is logical and predictable. Second, there are different buying roles that get involved in making a purchase decision, and they get involved at different times in the process for different reasons. Third, is the two previous items sets the stage for identifying marketing gaps that can facilitate a purchase decision, and help prioritize marketing projects.

According to the Corporate Executive Board…

“57 percent of the purchase decision is complete before a customer calls a supplier, providing a large opportunity for Marketing to influence the early stages of the purchase process.” – www.executiveboard.com/sales-marketing/challenger/insight-led-marcomm/index.html

Where do you go from here?

Three things are needed to confidently say ‘No’ to frivolous marketing requests without getting fired:

1. Having a clear understanding of business goals and how they relate to what you do
2. Mastery of the people who influence a purchase decision
3. Knowledge of the purchase decision process

Saying ‘No’ Without Getting Fired is about knowledge not power. Oh and it makes it much easier to say ‘Yes’ with confidence too.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Product marketing managers struggle to say ‘no’ to requests they know are frivolous. Sometimes it’s just easier to go with the status quo than make waves. Admit it: you (and your team) work on stupid stuff that you know is a waste of time and resources (believe me, you’re not alone).

In Part 1 of How to Say ‘No’ Without Getting Fired I discussed the importance of understanding the goals that matter most to the CEO and translating it into what you do as a product marketing manager.

But even if you have a clear understanding of the business goals, a limited understanding of your buyers would not prepare you to say ‘no’.

Companies don’t buy products

Companies don’t buy products, people do. That was sage advice to me early in my career and it still applies today.

So if companies don’t buy products and people do, who are these people? How well do you know them?

I’m comfortable you could tell me their job titles, but what else? What is their annual salary? How do they get compensated? Who is their boss? What is their personal win?

In any market there are patterns. One of the patterns relate to buyers. We call this kind of pattern a Buyer Persona. A Buyer Persona helps you identify a likely buyer in the wild, and how to get inside his head.

Understanding buyers isn’t a desk job

Getting a full appreciation and perspective of your buyers requires work; field work. You can’t make it up and you can’t rely exclusively on your salespeople or the one subject matter expert in the company.

Think like an anthropologist. Find time to interact with real potential buyers in the wild. Observe them in their habitat, how they eat, raise their young, and forage for food.

Building an understanding of your buyers takes time and it takes perseverance. But the payoff is huge. Saying ‘No’ is especially empowering when backed by market evidence.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Kodak has been heralded for its work in social media, even writing a social media tip book. But recently Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection. As a kid I enjoyed photography as a hobby and the excitement of developing and seeing my photographs.

Jonathan wrote a piercing blog post on his blog