The launch of a new product offers incredible potential. It creates cross-sell and upsell opportunities, opens doors to new markets or customers, and sets the stage for future growth.
But it’s not simple.
Despite its potential, launching a product is among the most complex initiatives to execute, with 1 in 4 product launch initiatives failing within a year of their launch.
So, why do so many product launches fail to reach their potential?
In many cases, failed launches trace back to a lack of GTM alignment. . When product, marketing, and sales teams sprint toward launch day without a unified strategy, the result is fragmented execution and missed opportunities.
That’s where enablement becomes a steadying force. It’s there to bridge gaps, align teams, and create a unified path to execution. Keep reading to learn how to create a predictable, repeatable launch strategy.
A strategic change agent: Enablement’s role in product launch
To maximize the launch moment, every GTM organization needs a change agent—a function there to bring all the moving parts together and create a shared, overarching strategy.
“Enablement can really be a change agent during a transformation,” said Devi Madhavan, CRO & GTM Strategy Consulting Partner at Savitumas Group Consultants. “Enablement has the opportunity to take a leadership role because the function looks across multiple roles in the go-to-market and brings them together with a succinct strategy.”
When enablement bridges the gaps between GTM teams, the entire organization gains a shared vision, unified strategy, and clear set of roles and responsibilities that keep the launch on track. With enablement acting as a change agent:
- Marketing gains a trusted partner who can help roll out its new product message, content, and resources to sales
- Product gains an interpreter, who can translate technical information into user-friendly guidance for non-technical reps
- Sales gains access to the knowledge they need and is better equipped to hit the ground running on launch day
Every GTM team benefits. And the business does as well: Organizations with a defined launch process saw 10% higher success rates with GTM launches than those without.
So, how can organizations develop a defined launch strategy, and what role does enablement play in the process?
The launch equation: A formula for repeatable success
Every product is unique. The process for taking it to market shouldn’t be. With a repeatable, predictable launch process, organizations are better equipped to align teams and maximize the impact of each new product investment. One approach to creating a standardized launch motion is grounded in a deceptively simple formula.
“I’ve created a formula that, if we can make improvements in each element in that sum, we get a better outcome,” said Catherine Young, director of sales enablement at Wordline Global. “The formula is: Visibility plus efficiency and consistency equals repeatability and predictability.”
Visibility, efficiency, and consistency: Together, they create repeatable processes and, therefore, drive predictable outcomes. Using this framework, enablement teams can focus on pulling the high-impact levers most likely to influence launch processes and outcomes, starting with:
Efficiency: Creating seamless cross-functional execution
One key challenge that stalls successful launches is siloed execution. When reps don’t know where to find content to support the launch or struggle to surface technical documentation, they waste time hunting for critical resources and are more likely to go off script during customer conversations.
To reduce friction and connect key GTM workflows, consider centralizing resources with a unified platform:
- New product content in a searchable and user-friendly environment
- Sales Plays that contain content, technical documentation, messaging, resources, and guidance
- Training experiences to build pre-launch readiness and drive consistent execution
When key GTM resources—from marketing content and product specifications to sales training—can be found in an accessible source of truth, no team stalls due to misaligned messages or buried resources. Every team executes with newfound efficiency, with less time lost to non-essential activities.
“Efficiency is an area where we reduce friction by looking at ways to improve processes, collaborations, and cross-departmental communication,” said Young.
Consistency: Readying GTM teams to hit the ground running
For every launch, enablement is there to build, reinforce, and strengthen knowledge across the GTM organization. To do so, it needs to create a consistent process and familiar approach, so GTM teams always know what to expect and where to turn when a launch moment is at hand.
“Consistency is about processes, structure, and technology being built in a consistent way so that it’s understandable and, more importantly, scalable,” said Young.
In practice, this looks like creating a standardized pre-launch process:
- Align on goals and priorities with leadership-level stakeholders
- Create an agreed-upon bill of materials to support the launch
- Announce the launch internally and assign training
- Distribute supporting materials, including marketing content and messaging guidance
- Enable managers to reinforce learning through coaching
By creating a consistent, phased approach to be executed ahead of every single new product launch, GTM teams know what is coming down the pike—as well as how they’re responsible for supporting it.
Visibility: Understanding what’s working (and what’s not)
No matter how well-laid the plan, unexpected headwinds and unpredictable responses can lead launch outcomes astray. Real-time visibility allows GTM teams to adapt before performance suffers.
It comes down to visibility. Think about it:
- Without insight into content performance, marketing can’t optimize messaging and sales is left with ineffective materials that don’t build urgency with buyers
- Without data on buyer engagement, sales can’t prioritize what works, leaving valuable resources underutilized
When GTM teams operate from a unified platform, they have a unified data model to show what launch tactics are driving engagement, generating pipeline, and closing deals. Using those insights, they’re able to take the actions that drive outcomes—and not waste time on those that don’t.
“Visibility comes back to the data points,” said Young. “Don’t be siloed in who sees the data and be as transparent as you can because that way lies understanding.”
By tracking performance and sharing learning across teams, enablement can reinforce successful tactics and scale those behaviors across the GTM organization.
Every product launch is a process. Enablement makes it predictable.
When every team is running in the same direction—and operating in the same space—the result is a successful product launch that drives impact well beyond launch day
At launch, sales owns the delivery. But it’s enablement that ensures that every rep, and the entire GTM team, is ready to land the moment.
“Sales leadership is really focused on execution,” said Madhavan. “Enablement is really focused on learning and having the opportunity to practice in a mock environment.”
