---
title: "When Launching New Products, the Most Overlooked Aspect is the Key Account Launch Action Plan"
description: "As offline foot traffic continues to decline, it's crucial to maintain the fundamentals of offline channels through meticulous, professional management. This article, part of a series by New Distribution and former Coca-Cola China executive Cao Yang, focuses on the often-neglected customer-specific launch plans for new products in modern trade, providing a detailed framework to improve success rates."
author: "曹扬Geoffrey Cao"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2022-11-26"
language: "en"
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# When Launching New Products, the Most Overlooked Aspect is the Key Account Launch Action Plan

> As offline foot traffic continues to decline, it's crucial to maintain the fundamentals of offline channels through meticulous, professional management. This article, part of a series by New Distribution and former Coca-Cola China executive Cao Yang, focuses on the often-neglected customer-specific launch plans for new products in modern trade, providing a detailed framework to improve success rates.

**Editor's Note:** The continuous decline in offline foot traffic has become an indisputable fact. However, this does not mean that offline channels are no longer important, or that we can reduce attention and investment. Compared to embracing the endless stream of new retail formats, holding the line on the fundamentals of offline channels is even more critical in today's volatile market environment. How to hold the line? Only through meticulous cultivation and professional management to increase volume and efficiency.
To this end, **New Distribution, in collaboration with Mr. Cao Yang, former General Manager of Key Account Management Group Channels at Coca-Cola China, has launched a series titled "Key Account (KA) Management Practice," hoping to provide frontline channel managers with a complete methodology for managing offline key accounts in these "turbulent times."** This series comprises approximately 20 issues, and this is the thirteenth issue.
This issue introduces the new product launch plan for modern trade customers. According to national FMCG statistics, the success rate for new products is less than 1%, so most new products are likely to fail. Even products that the company has high hopes for, with significant R&D efforts and substantial promotional spending, often end in failure more often than success. Why? Any link in the chain—R&D, production, storage, transportation, marketing, or sales—can cause failure. This issue focuses not on the company's new product launch plan, but on the customer-specific launch plan that extends from the company's plan. Generally, company new product launch plans are very professional, but the customer launch plan is often overlooked and prone to problems because sales teams simply execute the company's plan. The company plan is primarily internal, targeting departments and channels, and when applied to a single customer, it lacks granularity. If the sales team copies the company plan verbatim, problems are more likely to arise at this stage.
# **In Modern Trade**
# **Is the Customer Launch Plan Effective?**
A common problem we encounter is that when the customer's buyer does not fully understand the product's features, and the account manager has not thoroughly explained them (without prior rehearsal, the explanation won't be comprehensive), the buyer may form a one-sided view and decide not to fully promote the product. From national teams to regional teams to provincial teams, 90% of teams do not refine the customer new product plan. A few national chains do well, with account managers formally introducing product features and target audiences at the customer's headquarters, and providing samples for trial. But at the provincial level, the customer new product plan is only well-executed for a few major customers, with quality declining for others. • Inadequate communication with the buyer • Poor supply chain execution • Failure to achieve sales targets per annual goals • Poor store-level execution In summary, for most key accounts, execution is not detailed or professional enough. General managers and directors see reports of poor turnover and sales, but there are many underlying issues that senior executives are unaware of. The customer launch plan is a blind spot in company management. This issue will focus on how to create an effective customer launch plan to increase the probability of new product success.
# **Why Must We Launch New Products?**
### From the company's development perspective, new channels, new customers, and new products bring continuous, sustainable growth increments. The importance of new products to the company is well understood.
From the customer's perspective, they also need new products to drive growth. Their KPIs include new product metrics and enforce a last-place elimination system to make room for new products. From the sales team's perspective, today's bestsellers were once new products; new products are the new growth engine. Many people are reluctant to invest effort in new products, lacking foresight, focusing only on monthly targets, and unwilling to go the extra mile for new products.
# **Creating a New Product Plan for Customers**
**1. Differences Between Company and Customer New Product Plans** Generally, ordinary customers can follow the company's new product plan because their operations are relatively simple and don't require more detailed planning. Modern trade customers are different; they have formal and professional management, with their own product management rules, so a tailored new product plan is necessary. I'll use a diagram to illustrate the differences:
The company's new product launch plan includes 7 elements of the product plan and 5 elements of the action plan, with the action plan being a general approach for different channels or the entire market. The modern trade customer plan also includes the 7 product elements, but the biggest difference is that the action plan has 7 elements, each tailored to the customer. I'll share the details below.
**2. The 7 Product Elements**
1) Product Features: Includes launch background, consumer needs, product characteristics, etc.
2) Launch Timing and Duration: Includes the launch date; for seasonal or short-term products, specify the start and end dates.
3) Target Audience: The demographic the product suits, e.g., age, occupation, gender, etc.
4) Suitable Consumption Scenarios: Where the product is consumed, e.g., on-the-go or at-home leisure.
5) Packaging: Includes small packs, family packs, case packs, etc.
6) Brand: Category, brand name, etc.
7) Price: Prices for different packaging and brands.
The 7 product elements of the customer new product plan can be copied directly from the company's product elements. Next, I'll introduce the 7 action elements, where the differences are most significant.
**3. The 7 Action Elements**
Compared to the company's plan, which is primarily internal and secondarily external, every one of the 7 elements in the customer plan is customer-related. This is crucial. The success or failure of the company's new product plan at the customer level is often overlooked by management and the sales team. **1) New Product Goals** When setting annual goals with the customer, make sure they clearly understand current sales progress and the estimated sales volume this new product will bring. In reality, account managers often focus on the sales volume the new product will bring this month, without considering the annual sales target. Much of our work is tied to annual goals, and new products are no exception. This detail distinguishes between doing and not doing, reflecting the account manager's macro-level control and planning ability. Beyond sales volume, new product goals also include distribution targets, ground display goals, and shelf space goals. Key Point: Buyers are busy and won't check every supplier's annual goals and progress. If the account manager informs them, the buyer will remember. The buyer's professional evaluation of you accumulates from these small details, which have a subtle influence. Buyers typically manage hundreds of suppliers and can't oversee every detail. We advocate for concierge-style service to make the buyer's job easier and more reassuring. The more you do, the greater the return!**2) Market Resources:** Resources include general ones like TV or multimedia promotion, such as hot variety show placements at launch, sustained KOL presence, and topic seeding. Exclusive resources include customer-specific new product premieres, KOL store visits, and promotional resources for major events like the Olympics or World Cup. Display and activity resources: For in-store displays and activity costs at the customer's stores, including display execution plans. Key Point: Securing better "exclusive" resources for the customer is a vital part of your customer plan. You may not always succeed, but the customer will notice and remember your efforts. Resources are always fought for, starting from the planning stage! For customers, becoming a strategic partner with the supplier and qualifying for Joint Business Planning (JBP) also grants access to more exclusive resources.**3) In-Store Execution Points** Includes shelf space requirements, floor display requirements, new product activation rate, etc. Execution points are the detailed display requirements for each store, ensuring timely, accurate, and 100% store coverage, which is critical for new product turnover! Key Point: Execution points guide the buyer in issuing store-level directives. After securing supplier resources, the buyer has the duty to urge stores to execute. The more detailed the execution requirements, the easier it is for the buyer to communicate with store supervisors and stores, and the greater the chance of successful execution through collective effort!**4) Market Activities** Includes online O2O and offline consumer activities, which you're likely familiar with. Execution Points: O2O activities are an excellent way to promote new products and are increasingly valued. New product launches can offer discounts like "Try it now, save X yuan" to encourage more consumers to try the new product.**5) Incentive Programs** Includes rewards for overall goals and per-store rewards, typically for large-scale new products. Rewards are only given when new product tasks are broken down to the store level.**6) New Product Setup and Tracking** This is a critical part of the plan, involving internal departments (KA, sales operations, quality control, marketing) and external customers in the new product setup process. Many tasks must start 60 days in advance, such as quality control's enterprise standard reports and inspection reports, and marketing's samples, inspection reports, and relevant certifications. External customer systems include the progress of new product setup, shelf placement, and warehouse opening, ultimately leading to valid orders. Key Point: Internally, obtaining reports and certifications for new product launch is a prerequisite for timely launch at key accounts, especially large chains. Externally, each customer has its own new product launch process; if the account manager is unfamiliar, it can get stuck at a certain step, delaying the launch.**7) New Product Sell-In Training** New product sell-in involves rehearsing to develop communication methods with customers to gain their approval and support. This includes the 7+7 elements, how to address customer objections, and how to sell in smoothly. Sell-in rehearsal is necessary for all customers; for small traditional grocery stores, the methods are simpler, but for large accounts, it requires time to rehearse. Most account managers overlook this step. Why? We often see account managers get interrupted by buyers after just a few sentences, with buyers interpreting the product based on their own understanding. If rehearsed, the account manager can handle it calmly; if not, they resort to weak explanations like "great value, strong launch support, attractive pricing" to counter the buyer's doubts. Or they simply push a shipment and end it, leaving the new product to sit in inventory for a year! And so, the boss's hard work on the new product launch ends hastily... How to achieve professional and detailed product sell-in? Role-playing and repeated internal rehearsal are simple and effective methods. First, clearly present the 7 product elements, and crucially, address the customer's questions. Account managers often avoid directly facing buyer questions, which undermines the customer's confidence in promoting the new product. **Understand customer needs, combine them with the new product's strengths, and give the customer the motivation and desire to push the new product.** Exchange resources, such as celebrity or influencer store visits, new product premieres, or Olympic resources, for customer support in displays, activity scheduling, and venue space. The above are just examples; you can see that many are details, and professionalism is reflected in these details.
# **In Conclusion:**
Cao Yang, an expert in key account and modern channel management, has worked at a world-renowned Fortune 500 company from frontline to headquarters, holding positions as Regional Manager, Key Account Manager, Group Key Account Director, and National Key Account Channel General Manager. He localizes world-class marketing experience and explores industry transformation paths.


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