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Typically, when companies roll out new products or services, the main focus is external - that is, on the customer.  This makes sense, since the customer is where your revenue comes from.  But have you sufficiently sold this product or service internally?  Are the people in your company as excited about this new product or service, as you want your customers to be?  Is everyone singing the same lyrics to the same tune?  If not, you might want to delay that launch.  You've got some internal selling to do.

Non-existent or ineffective internal selling can have a drastic effect on the selling equation.  Here are some examples:

Back in the early 1990's (practically the dawn of the modern information age), a successful data research firm decided to launch a new product.  They had a long, successful history, first providing custom research reports to their customers, then adding a pre-Internet dial-up online searchable database.  These two products were happily complementary, and the sales force was comfortable in their understanding of them.  Product Development team then launched a new product - a CD-ROM set, containing the company's research databases.  The intent was to provide a more cost-effective solution for the customer - they could pay one fee, and have unlimited access to the data, and receive regular updates.  Unfortunately, the sales force didn't see it as a great idea for them and made little effort to sell it.  This product was going to negatively impact their sales commission, as the cost of the CD-ROM set with updates was considerably less than many high-usage customers spent in online fees and for custom reports.  The fatal flaw here was launching a product that was good for the client, before working out a compensation plan that was good for the sales people.

More recently, a web-based search engine and pay-per-view content provider was trying various promotions in order to increase their name recognition, and to enlist more subscribers.  One senior executive had a passion for a major professional sport, and so a lot of marketing promotions were aimed at that audience.  The only problem was, promotions were periodically launched at a given sporting event without notifying the customer support department.  As a consequence, when the sport fans started contacting customer support to claim their complimentary document, the support reps had no idea what they were talking about, and turned away the initial requests.  Imagine how the company looked in the eyes of those customers!

A major IT company launched a new partnership program to support sales of a new product solution.  The success of this product launch was highly dependent on selling with partners in order to bring a total solution to the customer.  Mid-year, it became clear that the sales force was not clear on why they should sell with a partner rather than just sell the product themselves.  What was the joint value proposition for the sales person to work with a partner sales person and visa versa?  It was also clear that there was an uneven understanding of what the joint product offerings really were all about, and what specific benefits and differentiators needed to be communicated to the ultimate customer.  It was necessary to develop a communications tool to help the sale people better understand what was in it for them, for their partner counterpart, AND what was in it for the customer.

So, to whom do you need to sell, internally, before you can effectively sell to your external customers?  Practically everyone in your organization!

·          SALES - The obvious starting point.  If your sales force does not understand or believe in your product, they will not sell it effectively.  Salespeople are human beings.  They want to make a good impression, and they want to be confident in what they are saying to customers and prospects.  Therefore, the better they are schooled in the uses of your product/service, and the advantages that they bring to the customer, the more likely they are to conduct an effective sales pitch to that customer.  Taking it another step further, the better they are compensated for selling a particular product or service, the more effective their sales pitch will be. And the easier you make it for them to communicate and sell a product, the more successful that product will be. 

·          MARKETING - In order to position the new product/service so that it reaches its intended audience, the marketing team has to have a street-level understanding of your customer's needs, and be able to articulate exactly how your product/service can provide value to the customer.  It's not enough to know the features on the widget; they've got to know what problem needs solving, and how this widget can help solve it.  Only then can they effectively and accurately position the widget to the proper audience.   Where do they get that street level view?   Spending quality time with customers and with their own sales people.

·          CUSTOMER SERVICE - The minute that a new product/service is launched, customers are certain to have questions, concerns, and comments.  The customer will reach out to the service department, and will expect them to be experts on this product/service.  Customer service representatives should know their company's products, especially their newest ones, from top to bottom – before the product is launched in the market place.  Customers count on that, and when they deal with a service rep who is unsure of a product, it shakes their confidence in the entire business.

·          TECHNICAL SUPPORT - It's not enough to know how something works, or should work.  Tech support has got to understand how your customer wants it to work for him.  Tech support needs to understand what the customer is trying to accomplish with your product or service, and then be able to explain how to utilize that product/service in order to achieve those goals.  Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than hearing that this doesn't do that, or that can't be done with this.

·          PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - The people who develop new products need to be involved in the sale of those products, to ensure that everyone internally knows what the product/service will and will not do, so that realistic expectations are set with customers.   At the same time, they need to hear how the customer wants to use this product/service, and figure out ways to make it easier or more productive.

·        FINANCE - It is crucial for those people who handle the money that these products and services generate to understand their value to the customer.  If someone is refusing to pay, finance must understand the nature of the customer's disappointment with the product/service.  And they need to know who to work with internally to get the customer’s issues resolved.  Similarly, if someone wants a credit or a refund, the finance department needs to understand what the customer was trying to do, and what exactly did not work, in order to warrant the refund.

·          EXECUTIVES  - It is imperative that all of the top brass in your company be familiar with your products and services, and have a solid understanding of customer requirements and desires.  Before a new product is launched, make sure that every executive, regardless of department or division, knows of its existence, and its competitive advantage.  Your leaders do not have to be experts in the minutia of the product or service, but they should have a keen grasp of how it works, and why customers use it.

·          ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF - Few things are more frustrating to a customer with a problem, than to try to leave an important technical or complicated message for a manager, only to have that message be misunderstood by the administrative person recording it.  Administrative staff should have a basic understanding of the company's business, and its products, services, and customers.  A knowledgeable assistant is as valuable to the customer as he/she is to the boss.