When product launches fail, it’s often not because of the product itself, but because the Product, Marketing, and Sales teams aren’t aligned enough. Too many misunderstandings persist about each team's role, leading to vague targeting, poorly constructed messaging, and mismanaged objections. The result: a product that’s poorly sold and underutilized. In this article, Hortense Bouzoud, Head of Product Marketing at Thiga, shares the six most common mistakes that sabotage your launches.
Once their work is done, Product teams tend to fully hand off responsibility to the Marketing and Sales teams. After all, it’s their job to sell, right? Well, if that’s what you think, let me tell you — you’re way off track. Too often, Product teams assume their role ends with delivering features, and that Marketing and Sales can handle the launch strategy on their own. But you have a role to play, too! Here are four widespread assumptions about the Sales team that doom your product launches to failure.
Misconception #1: Marketing is in charge of the launch
We’re not saying that’s entirely wrong — it’s just overly simplistic. Many believe that Marketing can define a launch plan entirely on their own. Of course, the Marketing team is largely responsible for coordinating and executing a launch: defining messaging, creating landing pages and visuals for acquisition campaigns, running those campaigns, managing press relations… Marketing must integrate Product launch initiatives into its broader roadmap.
But one of the challenges Marketing regularly faces is identifying where to focus their efforts — and when. The solution is to give them visibility into the expected business impact of the planned developments. This allows them to identify which initiatives deserve communication efforts. You got it: a clear Product roadmap is the essential starting point for any launch plan! It’s a deliverable that the Marketing team must be able to make their own.
My advice: As a Product Manager, when you're addressing a new user need, knowing the business impact of that development should be a non-negotiable condition for its prioritization in your roadmap. These goals — adoption, retention, customer acquisition, upsell, etc. — must be clearly communicated to all stakeholders so they can anticipate their own contributions and define the appropriate action plans.
Beyond the roadmap, you need to maintain regular contact with the team and give them visibility into the progress of product developments and whether expected outcomes are being met — especially during beta tests. This helps them better anticipate their actions. Based on how mature the development is, the Marketing team will be able to determine the timing and level of investment needed to communicate the product’s value, depending on how confident they are in its value proposition. Go-To-Market starts with product strategy!
Misconception #2: Sales knows which prospects to prioritize
It’s true that the Sales team’s expertise lies primarily in identifying the right contacts within a company and negotiating with them. But that doesn’t mean they have a clear vision from the get-go of which segments to target for a new product or feature!
Too often, the Product team develops a feature, tests it in beta, gets positive feedback, and expects Sales to promote it to all clients. But not all clients have the same needs! Without an upfront discussion about the product's strategic intentions — why this development? To address what need? For what type of company or user profile? — Sales may end up with an offer they don’t know exactly how to position or to whom it should be addressed. It’s not their job to deduce a targeting strategy from a technical explanation.
My advice: The target of a launch — just like its business goal — should be defined collectively upstream of the Product roadmap: Which market segment? What client profile? In B2B, that means defining the types of companies to serve (size, industry...) and their buyer personas. In B2C, it could be a geographic segment, an age group… or a typical persona.
These questions are essential to clarify the business impact of an opportunity. Don’t hesitate to do additional market research (size, competition) and customer analysis (needs, willingness to pay) to evaluate the opportunity more effectively and ensure there’s real business potential. Because not all customers are alike!
Misconception #3: Marketing will naturally know how to position and promote your product
While Marketing is indeed responsible for defining positioning and crafting messaging to promote the company’s digital offerings, you should avoid assuming these elements will just “come out of a hat.” Positioning work isn’t a creative exercise. You need to confront real customer needs to stay relevant — otherwise, teams risk completely missing the mark.
Good positioning answers this question: How does my product solve my customer’s problem better than the current alternatives? Knowing those alternatives is absolutely essential! For an existing product, the Marketing team can easily centralize customer feedback and identify current alternatives. They can then redefine positioning by identifying what makes your offer unique.
However, if we’re talking about a new value proposition, chances are Marketing might be a bit lost — especially when it comes to understanding existing alternatives on the market. And chances are, you’ll have more insight than they do.
My advice: Identifying alternatives is a key exercise in Product Discovery to ensure you're genuinely delivering value to your target users. The insights from this research help define the expected positioning of the new product or feature you’re working on. This work should guide the design of the solution — not come afterwards!
In fact, in the FOCUSED method of Discovery Discipline, this corresponds to the “Claim” stage: defining a promise before moving into detailed solution design. It’s the perfect time to bring the Marketing team into your thinking and give them visibility into your progress. They can start working on messaging to promote your product while you move forward with designing the solution.
Misconception #4: Sales always has a handle on market trends
Dear Sales folks — no offense intended! I’m not saying you don’t understand your market — far from it. But I do believe we shouldn’t assume Sales has a solid view of market dynamics. People often think that since Sales teams speak with prospects every day, they naturally keep up with the latest trends in their sector. But the opposite is often true!
Since they mostly interact with already-engaged leads — who’ve been drawn in by the company’s current messaging (based on already identified trends) — they fall into a confirmation bias and struggle to detect new market shifts.
My advice: It’s essential to train the Sales team on market dynamics and work with them to identify how to leverage these insights to adapt their messaging. This helps sell the company’s value proposition more effectively. Identifying trends takes resources — especially time — and shouldn’t fall solely on one person.
It’s a topic worth making collective: involve leadership (especially the CEO), Marketing team members who can run ad hoc studies and gather insights from acquisition channels (SEO analysis and social media are great tools for spotting trends), and customer interviews — whether done by the Product team during Discovery, or by Support and Account Management when those teams exist.
Misconception #5: A product launch is make-or-break
You followed all the best practices. You built a solid product strategy, with each initiative tied to a clear business impact and a well-defined target. You nailed down the positioning, giving Marketing a solid foundation to craft messaging and action plans. Everything’s ready. The campaigns are live… and then — boom. The results aren’t there.
It’s tempting to think you made the wrong bet and should move on. But keep in mind: the marketing side of a launch is full of unknowns — and just like with a product, you need to know how to experiment!
My advice: Messaging is created using the customer’s own words. And it needs to be tested! To fine-tune your messaging, it’s essential to incorporate feedback from beta testers. Start by sharing it with a small, targeted group — ideally in one-on-one settings — to gather detailed input. This lets you adjust and sharpen your communications before rolling them out at scale, ensuring they truly resonate.
If a message doesn’t land on one channel, switch it up — change the message, the channel, or both. The great thing about communication? When something flops, most of the time, no one notices. So go ahead and try something else — you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Misconception #6: Sales always knows what to say
Launching a new product or feature doesn’t automatically mean Sales will be able to sell it effectively from day one when faced with objections. Sure, the best reps will know how to improvise, reframe, and find the right angle as conversations progress. But if you want the entire Sales team to perform — and make that skill scalable — it requires structured investment.
Sales is a very individual profession; everyone develops their own reflexes and strategies. And they don’t always share them with their peers. That’s where the need for structured enablement and collective intelligence comes in — to capitalize on best practices and equip all reps consistently. This can be led by Sales leadership, a Sales Enablement lead, or supported by a Product Marketing Manager when there’s no dedicated resource.
My advice: When launching a new product, help Sales anticipate objections and craft responses based on the product’s strengths and limitations. In mature organizations, PMs or PMMs even join some client conversations, especially pre-sale, to better understand the field challenges and adjust positioning strategies accordingly. This kind of collaboration is crucial: expecting Sales to be instantly ready to pitch a new offer without any support underestimates the complexity of the sales cycle — and the need to structure the team’s ramp-up.
You’ve got it: a successful product launch doesn’t begin at the moment of launch — it starts way before, at the very beginning of product and strategy definition. As a Product team, don’t underestimate your role in that process! You need to ensure that the problems being solved and the value proposition align with Sales and Marketing strategy. Otherwise, you risk ending up with a product that’s hard to sell and falls flat commercially.
It’s crucial to make sure every development fits into a clear vision, with defined business objectives and a coherent positioning. That way, the Go-To-Market becomes a natural extension of the Product strategy — not just a last-minute execution.
To dive deeper, check out our article on Go-To-Market strategy!
