The key to high growth businesses is usually successful new products. This is both good news and bad news. The good news: over the last half century, new product sales have grown in contribution to corporate revenues from 15% of total annual revenue dollars to over 50% for market share leaders in most US industries. The bad news: studies have shown that new product launch failure rates approach 50% for most companies and are over 80% for selected business segments. The impact of missed launch objectives is frequently most visible in lower than planned performance by the sales team – and with it the planned and unplanned exit of team members.

One of the root causes of this dilemma is the lack of sales tools and training materials available prior to and during the launch. A recent online article (www.revenuejournal.com/sales-versus-marketing.php) cites a B2B salesperson’s lament “I tried to get the marketers to understand how urgently I needed more and better selling tools. Like the dog begging for a stick to be thrown, I was at their mercy. My commission depended – in no small part – on their output, and they never seemed to understand the gravity or urgency of my need for selling tools that worked. … To make up for the selling tool shortage, I did what most salespeople do: I created my own presentations, sales letters, and mailers.” This point is further substantiated by the research findings of a recent CMO Council study – most salespeople view up to 90% of sales materials created by marketing as valueless.