How To Get A Product To Market

Edit Story

Five Steps To Bring A New Product To Market

Forbes Business Development Council

COUNCIL POST

Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

| Membership (fee-based)

POST WRITTEN BY

John McCoy

John McCoy is the vice president of sales at Komet USA.

I love the fact that my company continues to add to our product portfolio in a strategic way. We rely on our product management team to research the industry and determine the market needs by conducting "voice of the customer" interviews. We continue to develop key opinion leaders (KOLs), or influencers who are experts in their industry, who challenge us to create product line additions. For us, the product line additions must work in the U.S., or we will not bring them to market. In the medical device industry, it's all about creating systems that work for the end user. Here's how we do that at my company and how you can follow in our footsteps.

Step One: Hire Specialists

Hire specialists with the expertise you need to handle the roadblocks and objections that a new product will endure in a highly competitive market. Having industry experts can ramp up the learning curve for the entire organization. Specialists should be the go-to for the salesforce when they need product information.

Step Two: Assess Your Staffing Needs

Upgrade the sales team when the opportunity presents itself. When employees leave the organization, it's a good opportunity to adjust the hiring process if necessary and understand the persona of the ideal candidate to fill the role. As your organization adds product lines, the sales process will become more complex, so you should hire sales reps that have the skill set to present a multitude of products procedurally. They will need to work closely with the product specialists to stay up to speed.

Step Three: Create A Coordinated Product Launch

The marketing and product management teams, along with the corporate trainer, will need to coordinate their efforts to guarantee a successful product launch. This includes working together to create a marketing campaign that drives your innovative product to the market. In step three, you can also introduce your product to relevant educational institutions that specialize in your industry; they can help you conduct research for future additions to your product. For example, in my industry, the faculty members in dental schools will evaluate manufacturers' products and determine the efficiency of the products, as well as how the products will fit into the industry.

Step Four: Utilize Key Opinion Leaders

Partnering with the right key opinion leaders (KOLs) in your industry can be paramount to a successful product launch. As a sales organization, we rely on our KOLs to promote products that help our customers be the best clinicians they can be. I've found that potential customers will listen to the experts if they truly believe in the products they promote. A dynamic speaker with stage appeal is always a huge plus for creating buy-in.

Step Five: Build Your Social Media Presence

Building your social media presence is the last step needed to promote a new product line. Share online press releases and marketing campaigns to help create the stir you need to bring a product line to market that can change the playing field in your industry -- and definitely in the organization.

In conclusion, the five steps above can help an organization enter a competitive market with a differentiated product that will find its place and reach projected sales levels for year one. After that, you should create projections for year two through year five to prevent backorders that can deflate momentum and derail the future of a product line. It all funnels down to offering solutions to the end user with systems that are logical and solve problems for the user. A successful final product that has superior results will help build the momentum for immediate sales success and future product additions. Be innovative by creating a multitude of systems to create the buzz that your organization is the front-runner in developing products that are relevant -- today and tomorrow.

John McCoy