Managers enjoy being involved in success and so will be full of enthusiasm as sales of a new product start to take off. Expansion and sales development from an increased range of products or a wider geographical area will not find enthusiasm or hard work wanting.
But how do we foresee the end of a product’s lifespan? Be prepared for it with a policy for new products and product improvements.
1. Prepare a product improvement plan
If your present products are selling well you cannot be blamed for feeling satisfied. However, your competitors are watching you with envy and will not have been idle. They are probably working at this very moment on a product with a few advantageous features, so don’t ever think that your current product design is the ultimate. There will be changes in style, custom, fashion, new technology etc. Ensure that your programme of product improvement keeps you ahead.
2. Be wary of demands for changes in product design
How often do you have sales conferences at which there are complaints about product design, such as its colour, size or capacity? These can be excuses for poor sales, and not genuinely constructive ideas for product improvement.
3. Market product improvements correctly
When you see the TV adverts for consumer products, you have to marvel at how a minor product change is launched to the public; it is so successful that sales increase. The improvement may be very slight, but nevertheless those professionals seem able to take advantage of every single product improvement as an opportunity to put over yet again all the features and benefits of their particular product.
4. Provide incentives for product search
Few of us are capable of thinking of something that is absolutely brand-new. However, that doesn’t mean to say that there isn’t someone in your organisation who may perhaps inadvertently come up with a good idea. So provide an incentive. Have a competition for your employees and give prizes to those who produce good ideas for new products and product improvements. Give double prizes for those who come up with new products that can be made from existing standard components and piece-parts.
5. Ask the market for advice on new products
Don’t forget it’s the market place that determines demand. Encourage ideas from customers and your own sales staff who are regularly in touch with the market place. Sometimes we can be guilty of thinking that ideas from customers and sales staff are really criticisms, but listen carefully and you will learn what the market really wants. Customers often come up with the best ideas.
6. Pay attention to installation and service engineers
The people who really know how good your product is in practice are your installers and service engineers, and your dealers and outlets that have to make the product work. They can often make recommendations which are more readily listened to, as they are not putting over a sales pitch.
7. Obtain the commitment of dealers and sales staff
Enthusiasm for a new product can often wane just as the product is about to be launched. This is because an idea is now becoming a reality and those who were in favour of a particular product development are now faced with the task of having to turn that enthusiasm into hard-earned orders. For any new product to be successfully launched, it is of the utmost importance to get the complete commitment of your sales staff, dealers, customers etc before you incur any expenditure.
8. Avoid being misled into believing that a market exists
How many times have you heard people say, ‘There is an enormous market for it’, or ‘the market potential must be huge’? A market exists only where there is money available which can willingly be exchanged for your goods. Don’t be misled into believing that a market exists just because somebody else is enjoying high-volume sales of a particular product.
9. Monitor expenditure on new products
It is easy to incur unnecessary expenditure in research and development. Product development must not be the whim of any one person. It must be based on sound commercial strategy and the financial department should be closely involved in drawing up a detailed budget to be agreed both by those incurring the expenditure in product development and those who will be responsible for recovering that expenditure in future sales.
10. Keep up-to-date with what is going on in the world
A number of managers, especially those who have been in the same company or trade for most of their lives, tend to feel they know it all. They are guilty of taking a limited or restrictive view of business developments. Perhaps they are too set in their ways. Analyse yourself and your staff and see whether or not you need to take a step outside your present environment for a short while, just to make sure that you are really up-to-date with modern market needs and new technology. Then you can return to the task of making sure that your company’s products are the best, most modern and will bring really good returns for your business.
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