Product Launch Burnout
July 16th, 2008 | by ScottIt appears that you're new here, if you like what you read, please subscribe to the news feed or sign up for the Leap eTips news and updates email list. Thank you for visiting :)
Just a quick posting here with some random thoughts floating in my head after deleting no less than 3 dozen emails today about another “BIG PRODUCT LAUNCH”…
Now, most of the folks involved (in the product and in clogging my Inbox today) are actually really decent people (some I know personally) and I get that they’re all just trying to make a living–but they do it all wrong in my opinion!
Seriously, I know some of them are making a killing in this business, but I still think they’re fubaring on products and launches most of the time.
Here’s why, I never liked the Dodge Neon when they came out. It’s not that it was a bad car, it was okay for a compact and the pricing was great. But, within weeks of hitting the market I’d seen a million of them on the road (my own mother had one) and had to sit through twice as many commercials telling me how great they were for the price. I formed a negative opinion from all of the inundation overload before ever even sitting in one.
And guess what, I never once considered buying one of those affordable Dodge Neons.
On the other hand, I’ve only seen a handful of Dodge Vipers on the road over the years, I’ve never seen a single commercial for them (though I know they made at least 1, but I’ve never seen it so it may have been just for car shows or something) and I’m near willing to trade my left arm for one I’ve wanted it so badly for so long.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Same company, same basic core product (a car that could really only go as fast as the speed limit allows on the highway)… yet one makes me feel ill to think of while the other gives me happy dreams at night.
What’s the difference? It’s obvious to me, when you create a Viper you don’t have to beat people over the head with how good it is, they know–and you can charge an arm and a leg for it.
Build a Neon and you have to beg people to buy it.
Same deal with any sort of product. The better you’ve made it, the less you have to convince others to try it.
So, whenever I get buried in product launch emails that are all telling me how great this newest, latest, what-cha-ma-call-it is the first thought in my mind becomes “yeah, well if it was so great you wouldn’t have to tell me about it”.
Now, this doesn’t mean they’re being dishonest with me, it may be that this latest what-cha-ma-call-it really is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I’ll probably never know because you lost me at hello…
My point here isn’t to bash on anyone, and this type of marketing blitz does work to a degree when your hitting email lists of tens of thousands of people. It’s kind of like a blind person playing darts, after enough throws they’re bound to hit the bulls-eye with a couple.
But my actual point is that the constant flood of cheaper “greatest thing ever” products and launches sort of seems like a huge time waster for everyone.
If we were all smarter about our products and launches we wouldn’t be building Neon-like affordable products to sell to the masses, we’d spend our time building high ticket Vipers and quietly, covertly, create a waiting list of “lucky” buyers who would be privileged enough to own them on our time tables and terms.
A few are doing that already, and my bet is they make comparable earnings as the hard working hustlers among us; but with a lot more free time through the year.
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