B2B Growth Marketing: New BtoB Revenue & Profit

2007 is off to a roaring start: some people have already forgotten the holidays! Of course, our 2007 objectives are front and center. But I wonder, do we have the right targets—and metrics? Let's use new product (service) development as an example.

New Product Development Metrics

Do you have targets like: launch 1 new product and 2 enhancements in 1Q, 2 in 2Q, etc.? I can't count how many times I've had those targets (the objective usually says "launch new widget X and enhancements to Widgets A, B and C in 1Q," etc.). What's wrong with this picture?

Start with the basics: how did we do last year? How many new products were launched? What % were successful 6 months after launch? 12 months? 3 years? How many launched on time? on budget?

If we have this information, we can find better, more strategic metrics.

Product Roadmap--not

Product roadmaps-- timeline pictures showing products and features scheduled to launch each month--are great communications tools. They inform the sales force and customers what to expect and when. Those involved in product launches can use the roadmap as a planning tool.

But senior management needs more. The roadmap is a result, a tactic. It is not a strategy. If we know we launched 5 new services last year with 3 on time, 2 on budget and 4 meeting initial 6-month targets, we can do better. We want all 7 of the new services targeted for 2007 to launch on time and on budget, then meet their 6 and 12 month targets. But is this realistic, given our track record? Probably not.

Strategic Product Launch Objectives 

The solution? Start with strategic priorities: e.g. launch 70% of new products on time, on budget and meeting 6 month financial goals, with the remaining 30% no more than 15% over budget, 2 months late and/or 25% off financial targets. Is this realistic? Probably--if we give these goals to our team as they are creating the roadmap.

Of course, there are other strategic factors, like cycle time (product development from official start to launch), % of revenue from new products, etc. But those can wait if all we have is a product roadmap!