The Sales Development Podcast
Solving the Marketing and Sales Alignment Problem in Product Launches
Mon Jun 05 2023Description
The episode discusses the challenges in the launch process for tech sales teams and presents a more coordinated and proactive approach. It explores Ignition's methods of user interviews, customer research, competitive intelligence, and portfolio management. The use of generative AI for personalized messaging guides is introduced, along with the benefits of Ignition's platform and future plans. The hybrid model of Ignition, combining freemium and sales support, is highlighted as a potential success.
Insights
Launch Process Challenges
Sales teams often lack preparation due to last-minute information about new features or products. Coordinated planning and communication are essential for effective product launches.
Ignition's Approach
Ignition emphasizes user interviews, customer research, and competitive intelligence to shape messaging and refine product stories. They aim to bridge the gap between product marketing assets and sales enablement tools.
Generative AI for Personalized Messaging
Using generative AI, product marketing creates personalized messaging guides based on contextualized data. Salespeople can ask questions to receive relevant assets and recent launches, eliminating the need for manual asset search.
Benefits of Ignition
Ignition offers project management tools, launch measurement tooling, and AI automation for faster and more personalized launch strategies. Future plans include tools for external communication of launches.
Hybrid Model and Success Potential
Ignition follows a freemium product-led growth approach, allowing users to sign up for free with sales support available for complex needs. The host believes Ignition's solution will be successful.
Chapters
- The Launch Process in the Tech Sales World
- Coordinated and Proactive Launch Process at Ignition
- Generative AI for Personalized Messaging Guides
- Benefits of Ignition and Future Plans
- Ignition's Hybrid Model and Success Potential
The Launch Process in the Tech Sales World
00:00 - 07:02
- Sales teams often find out about new features or products at the last minute, leaving them unprepared to sell effectively.
- The goal is to create a more coordinated and proactive process for product launches.
- In an ideal scenario, product marketing starts planning the go-to-market strategy as soon as the product is on the roadmap.
- Product marketing conducts research, gathers feedback, and develops messaging and assets before the product is fully built.
- There should be a centralized launch calendar that provides visibility into upcoming launches for everyone in the company.
- Regular communication from product marketing to sales ensures that positioning strategies, messaging, and assets are shared effectively.
- The coordinated process allows sales teams to focus on what will drive deals and enables timely customer outreach on launch day.
Coordinated and Proactive Launch Process at Ignition
06:36 - 13:39
- User interviews and customer research are integral to the upfront process of building a product.
- Competitive intelligence is automated at Ignition, allowing for insights to be drawn from ongoing monitoring of competitors.
- Customer research and interviews help shape messaging based on real customer insight.
- Quantitative research, such as pricing and message-testing, further refines the product's story.
- Portfolio management becomes crucial when dealing with multiple launches in parallel, requiring a central launch calendar and accessible source of truth for messaging.
- Ignition is developing a solution that integrates product marketing assets with sales enablement tools to bridge this gap.
Generative AI for Personalized Messaging Guides
13:18 - 19:42
- Product marketing team is using generative AI to create personalized messaging guides for salespeople based on contextualized data.
- Salespeople can ask questions about how to talk about a product to a specific persona, and the AI will provide a messaging guide with relevant assets and recent launches.
- Current process involves salespeople digging through sales enablement tools to find assets, while future process allows them to simply ask questions in their CRM or Slack.
- Generative AI eliminates the need for translation between different teams and provides more accurate information.
- The current process of launching products is painful, expensive, and involves coordination through meetings.
- New features and product updates are valuable for sales teams in closing deals.
Benefits of Ignition and Future Plans
19:12 - 25:46
- 10% of all corporate revenue is lost to poor launch
- Solving launch problems can save money and increase revenue
- Ignition can be used by any company launching products or services
- Ignition offers project management tools in addition to launch planning
- Generative AI will be launched at the end of April
- New launch measurement tooling will provide pre- and post-launch impact reports
- AI automation will help generate launch strategies faster and more personalized
- Future plans include tools for external communication of launches
- Ignition has a freemium model for sign-up, but also offers direct sales support
Ignition's Hybrid Model and Success Potential
25:17 - 26:56
- The company has a hybrid model with a freemium product-led growth (PLG) approach.
- Users can sign up on the website and start using the product for free.
- For those who need more assistance or have complex needs, sales conversations are available.
- The website is haveignition.com, but they also use we.haveignition.com as part of their branding.
- The guest's background is in launching products and the host believes the solution will be successful.