20 Critical Path Steps to Launch
1. Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) exercise with key staff, partners, affiliates, investors.
• Learn the industry
• Evaluate your competitors
• Access your skills
• Hire a support team
2. Expand your idea into a vision declaration.
3. Develop your mission statement, write your story, select a charity to support.
4. Choose your business model.
5. Define your product offerings.
6. Define your market (niche).
7. Select a marketing services company.
8. Secure a financial analyst.
9. Retain a corporate attorney.
10. Choose a compensation plan developer.
11. Review and select a compensation software design company.
12. Investigate and select credit card processing and tax software.
13. Review and select a graphic artist, photographer, and printer.
14. Choose a website developer.
15. Explore affiliate opportunities.
16. Develop a recognition program for your field sales force.
17. Create a promotion and incentive calendar for your first year.
18. Define your field development strategy and lead generation process.
19. Design your communication “touch points.”
20. Identify operational requirements.
20 Critical Errors to Avoid
1. Don’t try to do everything yourself.
2. Focus on your launch, use a critical path analysis.
3. Keep your word.
4. Do not show favoritism.
5. Control your budget.
6. Avoid launching before you are ready.
7. Plan your retention strategy before you launch.
8. Don’t buy into the myth of finding “heavy hitters” promising to bring their teams to your company.
9. Drop the “we vs. them” attitude.
10. Manage your inventory.
11. Carefully analyze requests from the field for changes to policies.
12. Stay informed on new methods of recruiting.
13. Keep turnaround of orders and kits timely.
14. Always send, deposit, or process earned commissions and bonuses on time.
15. Measure key metrics regularly.
16. Avoid making changes to your compensation plan, infrastructure, product line or shipping procedures in your first year.
17. Be accessible.
18. Monitor inconsistencies.
19. Don’t ignore the DSA Code of Ethics.
20. “Never, ever, rest on your laurels.”
Mary Kay Ash