Sales Training and Communication Playbook for New Product Launch

Sales Training and Communication Playbook for New Product Launch
A new product is about to be launched! After thousands of hours of market research, analysis, product design and manufacturing, the big day is here. You have the crucial role to train your sales teams to sell this revolutionary product. Training Needs for the New Product Launch: Your sales reps need to be armed with information and skills they need to make your new product a success in the market. They have to get trained on the product’s features, advantages, benefits and much more. These components form a significant part of a new product training program:
  • Getting the reps excited about selling your new innovation
  • Training them to uncover customer needs
  • Teaching them how to tailor the new product message for each buying persona
  • Addressing objections that arise during the sales cycle
This guarantees that your reps have the right knowledge and skills to navigate through tough situations in the sales cycle. Here is our step-by-step guide to create a good sales training program for your new product roll-out.

Step 1 - Build excitement through Internal Communication:

Though this step might seem like a function of the Marketing team, the training team can contribute significantly by getting involved early. Communicate about the new product launch with your sales team, months in advance. Utilise your monthly or quarterly training programs to sneak in some of this information. This builds excitement among your reps. You can choose to communicate:
  • The origin of the product and the problem it is solving
  • Let them know why this product will matter to your customers
  • Share the supporting data– initial trials with focus groups, research data, and any other supporting data about the product
The biggest benefit of early communication is that it helps sales reps to uncover needs in advance, thus building sales pipeline even when the product hasn’t been launched yet.

Step 2 - Develop supporting assets for sales and sales training:

Sales training assets support your launch and help in developing your sales reps’ expertise on the product. The most common assets are:
  • sales playbook
  • competitive landscape or battle cards
  • sample talk tracks that address primary benefits
  • new product walkthroughs.
  • Buyer family and buyer personas
Create these assets in such a way that they extend beyond the features and benefits and provides guidance at every stage of the sales cycle. Use them to share best practices in the following areas:
  • Positioning
  • Qualifying
  • Asking problem questions
  • Articulating the new product’s value proposition
  • Product differentiations
These assets will be used by your sales reps throughout the sales cycle. So, make sure to include examples that showcase great selling behavior.

Step 3 - Training Plan to build their confidence and mastery of product knowledge:

Sales teams have to learn a lot of new information and concepts before the new product goes live. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to upskill a team and give them the resources they need. Here are some effective training methods to consider in order to streamline your product launch:

Regular Reinforcements

Break down complex training content or marketing collaterals into bite-sized segments. These segments can be short videos, images or simple text. Share this information at regular intervals. Make this information easy to reference on demand, when and where reps need it. Such regular reinforcements will help sales reps to retain more information about the new product.

Use Quizzes to Increase Recall of Crucial Information

Regular assessments provide an effective way to enable sales teams to recall crucial information. Interspace the regular reinforcements of information with 2 or 3 questions in between. These questions will help them recall what they have learnt.

Ensure Uniform Messaging while Reps Talk to Customers

Practice makes reps perfect at selling. Role plays and video coaching are some of the best ways to get your sales reps to practice selling the new product. Just the simple act of making your reps “say it out loud” can boost their learning up to 15 percent.

For example, ask your sales reps to record a 2 minutes video of pitching the new product. Share a sample video of a good pitch with them, to illustrate the lesson and the best practices.

These steps put together make the perfect plan for you to train your sales team for a new product launch. It will lead to better sales readiness and higher sales.

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