Before you ask the business to sell more

A launch tends to concentrate attention on the moment someone buys. The offer is being refined, the campaign is taking shape and everyone wants to know whether it will attract the right response. All of that deserves attention, but the quality of a launch also depends on what happens once the campaign begins to work.

For an established business, a successful launch can increase the demands on a team that already has plenty to deliver. The important question is how that extra work will be absorbed while the existing customer experience is maintained. More demand is useful when the business understands what it will take to serve it well.

Follow the customer beyond the purchase.

Work through what a customer will encounter after they buy. Consider the confirmation they receive, what they understand about delivery and who answers when they have a question. If there is a handover between sales and delivery, look at what information changes hands and whether someone is clearly responsible for the next step.

This is often where an apparently small omission becomes visible. A customer may have been given a delivery expectation that the team has not seen, or an exception agreed during the sale may never have reached the person doing the work. The brand’s promise needs to travel with the customer through the business.

Agree what the business can deliver.

The plan should have a view of capacity, including the assumptions behind it. A service business may need to consider the time and expertise available; a product business may be looking at stock, fulfilment and support. The question is what can be delivered within the promise being made, and what would need to change if demand exceeded that level.

Naming a delivery owner helps connect the campaign with those operating realities. That person needs to know which decisions they can make and when to ask for a change to the plan. Without that agreement, a team can find itself trying to preserve a promise that no longer reflects what the business can support.

Decide when you will look again.

A launch is a plan made with incomplete information, so it needs a way to respond to what is learned. Agree the evidence that would prompt a review and the person who can decide what happens next. That might concern the pace of the campaign, the offer itself or the way delivery is organised, depending on the business.

It is easier to have that discussion before the team is under pressure. You can agree what must be protected, what has room to change and who needs to be involved. When conditions do change, people have a basis for responding together.

The campaign and the operating plan should be developed in conversation with each other. Doing that work in advance gives the business a better chance of turning attention into a customer experience it can be proud of.