If you have spent a lot of time developing training to support product launches, you know that the need extends far beyond a single launch meeting. For sales reps to be successful, you need a plan before and after the launch meeting that teaches and reinforces key knowledge and skills.
This is why we frequently design product launch curriculums using a four-phased approach. Basic facts and processes are established in pre-training, followed by skills practice at the launch meeting, supported by reinforcement tools and activities after the launch. A toolkit approach to development ensures sales affiliates can easily operationalize the training and helps product managers update it quickly as information changes. The model looks something like this:
While we discuss this model at length in our product launch white paper, it takes practice to put the concepts to work in an actual product launch. When Leanne Batchelder and I led a session on product launches at the 2015 LTEN conference, we created an activity where participants identified what sales reps needed to learn for a launch, then shared where they would introduce each learning objective within the launch. We also discussed when to begin reinforcing each objective.
We have created a simple worksheet that allows you to go through the process of planning a product launch curriculum using the three phases. We have also included ten characteristics of a successful product launch curriculum at the end of the worksheet to help you visualize what type of learning solutions might be used in each phase. The worksheet is available for free download here. If you’d like an example of a finished worksheet, we would be happy to provide a sample. Just contact us and indicate you would like to see the sample copy.
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