Before you launch: Imagine your product has failed. Conduct a pre-mortem.

Positive thinking is great. Blind spots... not so much.

“What could possibly go wrong?” is certainly a question that merits asking during any product or project’s development. However, a managerial technique known as the pre-mortem takes the process a critical step farther.

The pre-mortem process in three easy steps:


“We haven’t launched this product yet. But let’s imagine that it’s a year after the scheduled launch – and the product has failed. Okay, everybody, what went wrong?”

To give your team the opportunity to answer this question as thoroughly, as thoughtfully, and in as many ways as it merits, you’ll want to follow a process that encourages prospective hindsight, a method of thinking as if something has already happened.

First of all, set aside two hours. Sure, you are busy developing the product. Make no mistake (yes, that’s a play on words) you are NOT too busy to perform a pre-mortem, which is far less painful and expensive than the potential post-mortem you will perform when and if the product fails. Start with a two-hour meeting. Select a facilitator.

Second, have everyone in the room begin by independently writing down all the possible reasons for the product’s failure. Have each participant read one reason from his or her list, and repeat the process until all potential reasons for failure have been vocalized. Meantime, the facilitator writes down every reason.

Third, discuss.

And, finally, post-meeting, plan and make changes to accommodate what you’ve learned through exercising prospective hindsight via the pre-mortem. This may require additional team meetings. Again, it’s time well spent.

The research on pre-mortem effectiveness:

Harvard Business Review reported that “Research conducted in 1989 by Deborah J. Mitchell, of the Wharton School; Jay Russo, of Cornell; and Nancy Pennington, of the University of Colorado, found that prospective hindsight — imagining that an event has already occurred—increases the ability to correctly identify reasons for future outcomes by 30%.” Using prospective hindsight allows team members to think out some of the lurking problems that haven’t been brought into the light of day in ordinary planning meetings. It slows the rush toward completion to allow more balanced perceptions to arise.

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“Why did our product and its launch fail?”
Participants' sample answers


We failed to market aggressively and one of our competitors then seized the market advantage as if we hadn’t been first.

We didn’t ask the market if it was interested in this product – and no one was.

 We didn’t make sure the technology worked seamlessly. Early fails damaged our image.

 Production was too expensive, and we tried to charge more than the market would bear.

 A recession killed demand for “extras” and our product wasn’t a must-have.

Consumers slammed it in reviews.

 Our CEO cut the budget just as we launched and we didn’t get to trade shows.

 We didn’t train the sales team to sell this complex offering, so they kept selling the old stuff instead.

 

 

 

Top five truths to review before your marketing launch

Recently I had the privilege of speaking to a group of entrepreneurs and business leaders to share facts they needed to know for any marketing launch.

There is nothing better than speaking to a crowd to vet what matters most to real businesses launching real stuff. It was a great experience, and I look forward to giving the same presentation again.

Among the 50 facts I shared, there are perhaps five basics that are most important for launchers to understand. These can form the overlay for all your efforts to follow.

1. You should exercise the full power and the breadth of launch marketing.

If you can offer “something” and it’s worth offering at all, it’s probably also worth launching. This means that you can conduct a marketing launch not only for a new product or service, but also for your brand, your messaging and even your point of view and organizational changes.

2. Many companies give up marketing at the least indication that “it’s not working.” Yet if you keep on marketing, you are already one BIG step ahead of the game. Many times, it takes repeated exposures to a brand, product or idea before a prospect becomes a buyer. By giving up too soon, you fail to achieve that critical number of prospect touches.

3. On the other hand, if you don’t believe what you’re saying, don’t say it. Sometimes we’ve worked so hard on something that we feel we have to keep pushing it along, no matter what. Consider the principle of sunk costs. Peddling a bad concept? Selling a product that should be retired already? Adapt, pivot or drop it.

4. ROI is important… and you won’t always have the means to track it. Sure, it’s important to make sure you’re getting results. But there are some really great forms of marketing (media relations, speaking engagements and cause marketing are just three examples) with which you won’t always be able to quantify precisely the fruits of your efforts…especially not immediately. Don’t get caught up in bean counting. Do the marketing anyway.

5. Assure prospects that they are not about to make a mistake in dealing with you. People seldom buy what they can’t understand. Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) kill the sale. Solving the problem of FUD makes the sale. Just remember, fear of regret is a very powerful anti-motivator.

Remember that basic wisdom - that which is most easily forgotten - can take you far.