Why Do Products Fail?

Three in every four new products fail to deliver desired results once launched Success products are more than a service, widget or some software. Launching and scaling a product requires a clear understanding of target customers, sales and marketing tactics, pricing, value propositions, delivery, support and training services, and operations and possibly manufacturing plans.

Why do things fail?

Product failure often flows because one or more of the elements of the total project are flawed – poor pricing, poor service delivery, ineffective value proposition, … Yes, you have to get the total product right to achieve breakthrough success. There is no “if we build it, they will come.”

Here are two more insidious reasons product fail:

We delay failure. Most of us are afraid to fail, yet success is always built on the shoulders of productive failure. Whether your just starting out or nearly finished with a product, there is power exposing our work to prospective customers and learning from them. The cost of delaying failure is very high, get the big issues solved quickly and cut your costs and risk.

We sabotage from within. Sometimes people or even entire teams unwittingly undermine their product development efforts. There are many reasons:

• Conflicting priorities,
• Lack of skills and knowledge,
• Being too committed to an idea, or
• Even having too many ideas.

Learn to recognize these disruptive situations in yourself and in leaders, peers, and subordinates and practice powerful tools like tough love, active listening, and team first to stop it cold.