Who Needs New Products?

By: Norm MacLeod 

OP veteran and marketer extraordinaire, drops in to give us some tips on the launching of new products.

Having endured way too many ineffective new office product presentations over the last 30 years, the movie scene that usually comes to mind, both during and after the meeting, is from Dumb and Dumber . In the scene, the Jim Carrey character asks Lauren Holly if he has a chance of ever making it with her and she replies coldly, “One in a million”. At first he’s crushed, then his face lights up and he joyfully proclaims, “Yes, there is a chance!”

Vendors seem to think the continual launch of new products is the driving force to increased sales and market share. Some companies even mandate the amount of their sales they want  driven by new products. The result is a never ending parade of new products being developed and pitched to the industry usually tied around the annual catalogue reviews. What tactics do vendors need to consider when presenting new products to the sales/distribution channel?

 Let’s look at the motivators (or de-motivators) for the people involved in the introduction and launch of new products first. For the merchandising people who are the initial decision makers, they will ultimately have to sell and take responsibility for the addition to the rest of their organization, they literally could be putting their job and future on the line.

To the marketing people, new products are a major make work project. Whether the item has much future or not, there is a pressure to expose it to the danger of being sold. That means creating some sort of launch and promotional plan for it.

From the viewpoint of the dealer’s purchasing agent, new products are an unnecessary evil, another sku to maintain inventory on and a no-win shot-in-the-dark for that first order. Order too much and the item bombs for sure, too little and you have an instant out of stock.

To the dealer’s database people, it’s more setup work not helped any by the usual lack of support material; material that provides them with key sales features and modern essentials like search words consistent with the needs of their web-site’s search and sort functions.

 From the dealer’s sales person’s viewpoint, it is a distraction from their real job which is to keep current accounts happy and find new accounts.

How do you mitigate all these negatives? Simple! Do the brain work up front analyzing what elements of the new product make it a suitable candidate for the particular customer you are pitching it to. Answer these questions for the customer first:

• Is it a truly new product meeting a need that nothing else in their assortment meets?
• Does it have a superior feature set vs an incumbent item?
•  Is it a me-too product that will provide a better cost/higher margin opportunity (does it need a listing allowance or some other financial inducement)?
• Is it a line extension capitalizing on an existing positive sales trend?
•  Does it take out an existing product, is it a transition or is it an assortment expansion?
• Are there any customer tests, focus group results, market research studies that support the need for the new product.
• Is there a marketing campaign planned to expose the product to the customer base or will you support a dealer driven campaign with additional coop funds, sampling, spiffs etc?

After you have answered all of the above, you have to ask the hardest question of all…Does the item actually make sense for that customer? If it doesn’t then don’t pitch it. The more solutions you provide to the initial decision maker for all of the negatives detailed above throughout their organization, the more likely that you will succeed in getting placement.

Finally, if you have decided to pitch the item, then really sell it. Show some enthusiasm, do it with some pizzazz. Even then if it is rejected, the merchandising person will at least appreciate the effort you’ve made. It keeps the door open. 

 

          Norm MacLeod has been a Marketing / Merchandising executive in the Office Products channel for over 30 years. At the dealer level, with Willson Stationers, Compucentre and most recently Basics Office Products and at the vendor level with Blueline Inc. Currently in a semi-retired state as a photographer at large and special projects gun-for-hire for the Basics Dealer group.

         He can be reached at: nwmac123@gmail.com