9 Things to Check before you Green Light a Product or Service: Green Light Checklist

Get a Free Green light Checklist

If you are about to Greenlight a new or enhanced product or you are about to launch a product…

How do you know that your product has what it takes to succeed? You need a green light checklist.

Here are 5 things your product must have to be successful.

1. Positioning:

Do you clearly understand the position you wish to develop in the market for your product in relation to what the customer wants to do and how the competition is addressing that need or want?

This is because the first question your prospective customer will ask is:  

How is this different than XXX product?  

If your marketing, sales and support/service people can’t answer with a quick, easy-to-understand elevator pitch… You know what will happen.  The product won’t sell.  

I recall a dotcom company running radio ads saying if you buy their product you will get “points”.  Didn’t say what the points would be for and/or how they can be used.  You just get points. I suspect that their advertising agency went to a school where if they did well they got “points” and thought everybody got “points” and will do things to get “points”.  That company probably exists anymore.

2. Unique Value Proposition:  

Is there a compelling reason for the targeted persona to want to buy your product?  The value proposition must answer the questions:

• What is the product?
• What it does?
• How it does it?
• Why it’s better than anything else on the market?

Plus, it must be done in a way that stresses credibility and a sense of urgency.  Or fewer sales will result.

3. Distribution:  

Do you have an active distribution channel that maps exactly to where your targeted customers live?  If not, do you have the resources to develop a whole new channel (because that’s what you will need to do)?  If not, do not Greenlight.

4. Brand:  

Does the product fit/match the company’s brand… the company’s promise?  If the company’s brand is thirst-quenching drinks, then don’t launch a line of salty chips that make you thirsty.  Don’t laugh.  It’s actually been tried and, yes, it failed.

5. Values:

Does the product meet the values of your company?  I’d put this first but lots of folks would laugh at it.  But if the product does not map directly to the company’s values it will fail.  For example, if a company says one of its core values to cherish its customers, but when they call for help with the product there is little or none it creates a disconnect that will contribute to product failure.

I mentioned in the headline of this article that there are 9 things to check before green lighting.  If you would like the additional 4, click here to get your free green light checklist.