1. What’s your motivation for launching?

There are a variety of reasons you may want to launch a new product or service, but not all of those reasons are “good” ones. Before committing the time and energy required to successfully launch something new, examine your own motivations to make sure you’re launching for the right reasons. Below are some less-than-optimal reasons our research team has heard over the years.

· I “should” launch something new, everyone tells me it’s necessary.

· I have this great idea/I “know” this will work (but haven’t researched it yet).

· I have to do something to save my business, so I’ll launch a new product.

· My current products aren’t selling, so I need a new one.

If these are your thoughts, please carefully reconsider your launch plans, at least right now. Doing anything in life based on “shoulds,” fear, or without a plan is asking for trouble. Try talking your ideas through with some trusted friends who’ll tell you the unvarnished truth and help you make the best decisions about whether to launch or not. Better reasons for launching a new product would be:

· My core business is running smoothly. I have the time and I want to challenge myself in a new area.

· My customers love my current offerings and they’re asking for more.

· I’ve examined the marketplace and see an unmet need that I have the right expertise to fill.

· My marketing is working so well, I can’t squeeze more out of my current products – I need to expand.

· I am committed to business growth, have examined a variety of strategies for driving growth, and have determined that a new product launch is the right next step. I know what it takes and I’m ready.

2. Have you done your research?

Many times, I’ve seen entrepreneurs launch new products because they “knew” they had a great idea, without doing much (if any) research. Let’s face it, it’s not just entrepreneurs – some of my huge corporate clients have done the same thing. On more than one occasion, one of my corporate clients has paid us $100,000+ to conduct research on a new product. When we recommended that they not launch because our research showed lack of interest among their target, they launched it anyway! I hate to say, “I told you so,” but in every one of these cases, the product failed in market.

Research can save your butt. It saves you time, money, embarrassment, frustration. It makes you money in the long-run (when you heed the results) by ensuring that you stay focused only on developing products and services that demonstrate strong potential. Don’t guess. Ask! Ask your current and prospective customers what they will pay for and plan your new offerings around what they tell you.

3. Do you have a roadmap?

Even if you’re in it for the right reasons and you have research that shows your product/service idea has ready-made demand, you will not do your new product justice if you don’t have an implementation plan. Essential questions for the planning process include:

· What are my revenue projections (best, worst, and expected cases) for this new offering, over what time period? (How many units do I expect to sell, at what time, over the first 1 – 2 years?)

· What are all the costs associated with developing, launching, and marketing this new product? (Note that between these two questions, you will create a budget so you know you have a profitable idea.)

· Who are all the people I need help from to make this launch happen? (Don’t forget your tech/web team, your assistant, a coach you’re working with, etc.)

· What actions need to be taken by me, and by each member of the team, by when, in order to ensure a stress-free, successful launch? (Timeline the whole thing out, making sure everyone on the team has the big picture and also knows their individual responsibilities.)

· How am I going to market this product? (Overlay your answers with your timeline. Do you need to start building a list now so you have ready demand at the time the product is physically available?)

Take the time to carefully map out every step of the process, get familiar with what you expect to happen with the money, and get your team on board with your plans. Doing this will give your launch the best possible chance of success.

A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, recently revealed there are five distinct types of women in business. Each of these five types has unique approach to running a business – and as a consequence, each of them has a unique combination of characteristics and factors. Here in Part 2, we will profile the other two of our five Jane “types” and the things they should keep in mind as they plan for (and launch) new products.

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.

If you’re the Jane Dough type, chances are good that you feel totally confident about this launch. You’re a big-picture gal, and you probably believe this launch will benefit your business. But before you go ahead with it, do the following:

1. Make sure your marketing for your existing products and services is working brilliantly. If it’s not, you’re leaving money on the table. Your time might be better spent testing and fine-tuning your existing marketing BEFORE you create a new product. Time spent now improving your marketing for existing products and services will benefit the new launch too!

2. Plan out the launch step-by-step. Because you are a big-picture visionary, you may not always map out all the steps and inter-dependent parts of the project. Make sure to include your team in this process, explaining how the launch will benefit your business and what roles everyone will play. By doing so, you and your team can be certain of a less-stressful launch. As you do so, be realistic about the time required to make sure each phase is optimized.

3. Do your research. The most effective launches take the needs and opinions of your target customers into account. Take the time to assess your market so that you know you have the right features to compel them to buy. Make sure your message is clear and compelling and that your price is attractive.

By taking the time to test the new product idea and map out each and every step you’ll ensure an easier launch, a quality product, and you’ll minimize the likelihood of mistakes or delays.

Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, but whose business is not performing as well as she needs it to, financially. As a result, she’s working longer hours and making less money than she’d like. Nevertheless, Tenacity Jane is bound and determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women in business, Tenacity Janes are the largest single Jane type.

If you’re a Tenacity Jane type, you’re no stranger to challenge. As you contemplate launching a new product, focus on the following to make sure the launch moves your business in a more profitable direction without exacerbating your financial situation:

1. Be certain there’s a market before you launch by doing your research (read the advice above to Jane Dough). Sometimes, entrepreneurs believe passionately in a product, spend enormous energy creating it, only to find there are very few interested buyers. It might simply be that the message isn’t right – or there may just be low demand. Research before you begin will help ensure you have a winning proposition that will positively impact your business’ bottom line.

2. Make sure the timing is right. Carefully consider your current financial situation – are you able to afford a new launch or will spending on it now jeopardize your business’ future? If you don’t have sufficient resources to promote the new launch, it won’t sell well. Yes, a product launch can substantially boost your business – but it also can suck your resources dry.

3. Map out the launch step-by-step. Following the advice for Jane Dough above, plan for every step of the launch so there are no disastrous mid-launch crises.

4. Make sure your systems can handle the demand. You’ve done your research and know you have a compelling product. You have the resources to create and market it effectively. Your final step is to make sure your company is prepared to meet demand. Assuming all goes well and demand is high, are your business systems prepared to take a lot of orders, process lots of payments, and get products out the door in a timely fashion? If not, you run the risk of having dissatisfied customers or, at the very least, leaving some of the money you’ve worked so hard for on the table.

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients – but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”.  Because she wants to “say yes” to so many opportunities, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. During the worst of times, Go Jane Go may tend to run herself ragged or feeling guilty about all the things on her “to do list” that aren’t getting done quickly enough to satisfy her exacting demands.

If you’re the Go Jane Go type, you should think long and hard before deciding to develop a new product or service right now. Yes, you may have come up with something truly innovative that will help the market you serve. But remember that not everything needs to be done at once. Sometimes, when you have a great idea, you don’t need to say “no” – but you DO need to say “not right now”.

Create a special file for yourself of where you put all the fantastic ideas you come up with. Before allowing yourself to put another item on active projects list, first require of yourself the discipline to make room for it! This is especially important if you are feeling like your plate is too full already.

When you truly feel ready to commit to the new product or service launch, several things can make it easier for you to experience success without frustration:

1. Find something you are doing now that you can remove from your list or delegate to someone else – this gives you time to work on the new project. Alternatively, hire someone (even part-time, virtually) to design and implement the new product for you, under your direction.

2. Estimate how many hours of your personal time the new project will take. Then triple your estimate. (As a Go Jane Go, you’re excellent at what you do – but you may not realize just how much effort you’re putting into tasks. To preserve your sanity, you need to give yourself plenty of cushion for the inevitable unexpected events.)

3. Don’t just put it on your list – actually put each step on your calendar. This way, you are assured of reasonable timelines and also will take things in smaller steps, rather than falling behind and feeling like you have to do a major crunch at the end.

Merry Jane. This entrepreneur tends to have other pursuits in her life that are critical beyond building her business. She’s using her company as a fantastic way to do something she loves in her own way and time, and most Merry Janes choose to keep the business as a part-time venture. Her business means the freedom to work when and how she wants, while still leaving room for her other priorities in life. Although she may recognize that there’s an opportunity to make more money through her business, she will not sacrifice her freedom in pursuit of those extra dollars.

As a Merry Jane, when you come up with a new product or service idea that you are considering launching for your business, you want to make sure it really makes the most of your time. So before you begin, make sure you put in a step to research your market’s interest in the product first. A simple way to do this is to reach out to some of your current customers today to find out if they are interested in the overall business idea. You can ask provocative questions about the topic on your blog and see if it generates response. You can send out a quick survey or even call some of your most trusted customers on the phone. Choose the method based on the size and type of customers you have.

By putting this step in place, you can feel confident the new idea is worth the investment of your time to develop. And, by reaching out to your customers first, you will likely gather information that will help you refine and strengthen the idea even further, ensuring yourself a successful launch.

Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have started making something that served her own unmet needs and found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Accidental Jane enjoys what she does and is creating a satisfactory level of income.

If you’re an Accidental Jane, you love where your business is right now, so you may feel uncertain about whether to launch your new product idea or not. The key to making this decision lies in visualizing the various scenarios that could play out if you did decide to launch it. By creating a pros and cons list for each of the scenarios, you can determine which path is most likely to create results you desire. Below are some probing questions to ask yourself about your new product idea before taking the additional steps to create it:

1. Will doing this be something I really enjoy? Will it give me “job satisfaction”?

2. How much time will it take to create this new product the right way? Am I willing to add that many more hours to my plate? Are there things I can give up to make room for it, without diminishing my income or happiness?

3. What if this new product really takes off? If there’s more demand that I can serve right now, what will I do? Will I feel comfortable hiring people to help me? Will I feel comfortable letting go of other work I’m doing today to make room for it? If it really took off, how would it change the financials of my business and how I spend my time?

4. If this new product doesn’t work out, how will I feel? Will I be willing to invest additional time required to fix it or market it to make sure it works? Will I feel like a failure or do I see this as an important opportunity for personal growth, even if it fails?

Since Accidental Jane is generally happy with the way things are right now, using these questions as filters to determine whether or not to launch a new product will help her make sure she doesn’t “accidentally” create results that take away some of her joy or income.

Even though all three Janes – Go Jane Go, Merry Jane and Accidental Jane – have distinct ways of doing business, each can benefit from the launch of successful new products and services. The key to doing so lies in appreciating herself, her own business needs, and pursuing new opportunities in a way that will really serve the life she wants to live.