Know-How Exchange : Strategy

How soon is too soon?
- if the product is awesome from the customers stand point and you've done the testing to figure out why they'll buy and why they'll buy from you... get in their mind ASAP.

Al Ries & Jack Trout: First in mind better than first to market.

How late is too late?
It's too late when the resources you're going to be putting into the product will be unrecoverable. If there is money to be made, it's not too late, unless of course it's going to hurt your current/future revenue in other parts of your business. This includes hurting your brand, creating lots of customer support issues, etc.

How do you freeze the market?
What do you mean?

How do you freeze sales of competitive solutions?
Exploit their stupid moves. Attack them directly. Sabotage them (probably falls under unethical in most cases.)

PS: Go towww.ponderpearls.comand enter "melvin" as the giftcode. Download and install Ponder Pearls to enjoy wit & wisdom from histories brightest and most enlighted minds. It's my gift to you.

Simple ... you can't freeze anything!

The very best thing you can do, if you can, is get calling and visiting that prospect list.
I did some work for a big UK telco some years back, a £60m development, it was CRITCIAL that as soon as we got the nod and could talk about the solution we did.
Like you, we didn't want the window to close on us ... but unfortunately it did! And sales were lousy.

MY LEARNING POINTS:
We didn't engage the sales team enough, we didn't give them the very best in presentation materials, sales messages. We didn't go out an buy a prospect list, we decided to do it all in-house!

Engage your sales team, buy a good prospect list, and work it hard and fast. Provide top quality marketing and sales material (presentations, demos, sales support etc). IMPORTANT: Get a VERY professional sales presentation.
Keep working that prospect list, do not let them do anywhere else without a fight.

Good Luck

Andrew

As usual Andrews has hit the right buttons. I agree that the one thing you can do is to energize your sales force (sales channel) and build enthusiasm for the new offer. An enthusiastic internal team (receptionist to CEO) will go a long way in helping to get in the client’s (as Melvin @ Volcanic mentioned) mind.

You might also start to create some buzz in the market. Drop hints on industry forums and in news releases, but don’t give all the facts. This was a very successful tactic, years ago, with auto manufacturers. They never showed the new cars until September, but several months before they would start dropping hints about design and features. As a kid we would do anything we could to get a look at the new crop of cars.

Timing is important, but I don’t believe anyone outside your industry and company can provide a good answer. You will have to look at the value proposition of the new software to determine if it can stand up to the competition, evaluate competitors strengths and weakness, and determine what your critical success factors are and then make a decision.

Harry Hallman

If your new product requires a change in thinking compared to existing offerings, now is also a great time to think about defining terms in the media to favor your product when it arrives. This might involve forging a relationship with an independent authority, like an academic, analyst, or other industry influencer, who can help explain to the world why the old views are no longer adequate and define a vocabulary that serves your message.
Marge