Adding new products (or eliminating them) should be a regular part of the product lifecycle at your institution. To help with this task, we’ve developed a new product launch checklist for banking products designed to get you or your product management team thinking in the right direction.

Does your new product solve a customer need?

Solving a need (either an obvious need, a latent need, or an unknown need) is an important step in your product launch process. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Does your new product solve a need for the customer? Can your sales team match the need with this new product? If this product solves an unknown need (I didn’t know I needed that!), how will you convey the unknown need and how will your sales team uncover that unknown need?

What is the purpose of this new product?

While your product needs to solve a need for your customer (see above paragraph), internally, you need to state the purpose of this product. The purpose will be the internal way the product is described so your sales and operations teams are clear on the outcomes your client’s will receive when using this product. If your internal team does not know the outcomes, it will be difficult for them to match a customer’s needs with the product and the product will fail.

What is the target market for this product?

The target market for this product generally falls within your institution’s target market. If your institution services 90% consumers and you are introducing a business product, you might have a product-target-market mismatch. An exception to this would be if you are looking to increase the percentage of business customers.

When building your new product, fully define the target market. For instance, if we are introducing a remote deposit capture product for business, you could define it as: The Owner, CFO, Controller, Accountant, or Office Manager at a Businesses with between 1 and 10 million dollars in sales, processes over 25 deposits per month (daily deposit), who has offices over two blocks away and values faster cash available balances.

How are you going to market this product?

Your new product won’t sell by itself. “If You Build It, He Will Come” never works. You have to tell your target market about it. Building a full marketing plan for your new product generally does not fall to the product management team, any help you can give to the marketing team is appreciated and helps.

Are there branding opportunities for this new product?

Most of your products (if not all) are outsourced to third party providers. Many of these providers can brand them to your institution’s branding. Logos, single sign on, and customized prompts and dialog boxes are just a few of the branding points you may want to consider.

How are you going to train your sales and operations staff?

Training generally falls into to two areas: Sales and Operations. Many times, we see product managers train the sales team on how to sell the new product. Sometimes they bring in a third-party to train the sales staff. The operations and customer service personnel who support the products must be trained as well—not only on how to properly implement/setup the customers on the new products but also how to maintain the product itself in the system.

We recognize that there are many other steps that could (and should) be added to our new product launch checklist, but we hope this is a good starting point for your next product or service launch.

Have any good ones to add? Let us know in the comments.

Looking for ideas to expand your Treasury Management reach to new business customers? Look into the TMClarity Framework, our comprehensive and transformative training and Treasury Management business management system that leads to greater sales success, higher margins, and increased customer retention in a competitive marketplace.

Business and consumer loan products, deposit account products, treasury management products and services, and your institution’s website are all examples of “bank products,” and all these bank products deserve a product manager. This week, we are taking a look at 10 essential roles for a banking product manager.

The problem is that institutions’ marketing departments focus on marketing “all products” but there is no operational owner for the individual products. Therefore, products are like orphans. They are birthed and then are left on their own to go through life. While that may be a drastic analogy, that is exactly what happens with products at most financial institutions resulting in product failures, no accountability to maintain products, or no one knowing each product’s profitability.

The Marketing Committee (if you have one) is a great place to start the discussions of individual product management. Although it’s a good idea to work together as a team on the marketing of products, each product needs and deserves the attention of one non-marketing person accountable and responsible for managing the product through its life cycle.

We recommend formally defining the role of a Product Manager.  What does it entail to be the banking product manager for a specific product or line of products?

Let’s study the overall responsibilities of a Banking Product Manager:

1. Solve Customer Needs with a Solution

Product Managers ensure that it’s always all about meeting customers’ needs! They survey customers and research what’s available in the market as well as competitors’ offerings.

2. Product Ideation and Creation

Once a Product Manager knows what customers are asking for, the next step is to answer the question: Are you going to create/develop a new product or are you going to see what the market already offers? Most institutions don’t have the resources to develop products internally, so they look at market options.

3. Define a Clear Target Market

Product Managers know exactly what type of customer (business or consumers) will buy your new product before launching new products. Furthermore, to sell business products, knowing who inside a business is your target “persona” helps you create a “personalized and customized marketing approach.”

4. Manage Vendor Relationships

Product Managers select the right vendor whose product will integrate best with your core system and is a critical step in the implementation process. Additionally, they must follow the vendor due diligence established on your Vendor Management Program.

5. Manage Product Profitability

For some reason, in the past, community banks and credit unions have offered products that they believe account holders expect for free. Yes, there are some products that, unfortunately, because every other financial institution offers for free, then you feel obligated to give it away. However, you must be very careful to study the actual product cost of development and ongoing maintenance. This includes what the core system provider or third-party vendor charges your institution on an ongoing basis. Once again, bank product management ensures profitability.

6. Collaborate with the Marketing Team

The Product Manager should hold a seat on the marketing team and ensure a marketing plan for each product exists. They can also assist the marketing team with messaging for similar products such as Remote Deposit Capture and Mobile Deposit and educate your customers as to which may be a better fit for them.

7. Ongoing Surveying and Communications

The Product Manager continually requests feedback from product users. That is the only way to continue improving products. Similarly, it may be the only way to discover a specific product is no longer needed/wanted and needs to be sunset. Sometimes you may decide to switch vendors and the existing product will have different functionalities or a new look.

8. Product Reporting

The Product Manager collects data and report to the Marketing Committee as well as to the leadership—especially if the institution made a significant investment in a new product. There should be an ROI for each product.

9. Product Life Cycle Management

Product Managers ensure the product is launched successfully, monitor the life cycle of each product, and recommend if, at any time, it’s time to end a product. Often, retiring an old product and creating a brand new one gives the institution an opportunity to create awareness about services that your existing clients didn’t even know you offered.

10. Product Training

Product Managers are responsible for making sure the sales and operations teams are fully trained in each product. Everything from results, benefits, features and onboarding procedures need to be trained to the staff.

Bonus Item: The Right Talent

Banks and credit unions need to allocate the right talent and experience to fill the position of a Product Manager. Some of the key talents needed are project management, leadership, ability to communicate with customers, peers, technical staff, operations, and sales teams. In addition, you need someone who can handle multiple priorities and work with the various teams on different parts of the project simultaneously.

Many financial institutions see the Product Manager position as an expense because they don’t necessarily bring sales to the institution. However, having a Product Manager will ensure that your institution is on top of new products, that your products are solving customers’ problems, and that products get the individual attention they deserve to live through the life cycle successfully. Defining, developing and staffing the Banking Product Manager role shows your institution is trying new things and continuing to look for solutions to your customers’ needs.

Looking for ideas to expand your Treasury Management reach to new business customers? Look into the TMClarity Framework, our comprehensive and transformative training and Treasury Management business management system that leads to greater sales success, higher margins, and increased customer retention in a competitive marketplace.