Product launch

Are Readiness Gaps Holding Back Your Product Launch?

In life sciences, a product launch is a high-stakes endeavor—years of research, development, and investment come down to one thing–execution. Yet, nearly 40% of new prescription medications launched worldwide between 2009 and 2017 failed to meet their two-year sales forecasts. A primary culprit? Readiness gaps.  

Readiness gaps appear in many forms, including:  

• Misaligned objectives – When cross-functional teams operate with differing priorities and unclear goals, efforts become fragmented, leading to inefficiencies, miscommunication, and missed opportunities. Aligning teams under a shared launch vision is critical for success. 
• Inadequate market understanding – A lack of deep insights into market needs, competitive dynamics, and payer landscapes can result in poorly targeted strategies. Without a clear understanding of HCP and patient needs, launches risk failing to resonate with key stakeholders. 
• Insufficient training and coaching – Without comprehensive and continuous training and coaching, sales and field teams may struggle to effectively communicate the product’s value proposition, differentiate against competitors, and confidently address stakeholder objections. A strong learning, coaching, and reinforcement strategy is key. 
• Fragmented communication – Disconnected communication channels between marketing, sales, medical affairs, and access teams can cause delays, inconsistent messaging, and execution gaps. Establishing clear, streamlined communication structures ensures alignment and agility throughout the launch process. 

Without addressing these gaps, even the most innovative therapies risk underperformance, market delays, or missed opportunities. But the good news? These challenges are avoidable.  

How to Identify Readiness Gaps Before They Impact Your Launch

A successful launch doesn’t happen by accident—it’s the result of proactive planning and strategic execution. Here’s how to ensure your team is truly ready:  

Conduct a Launch Readiness Assessment

Most companies believe they are prepared until they face real-world execution. A structured assessment helps you identify readiness gaps before they become systemic roadblocks.  These include: 

• Developing a comprehensive launch plan – Clearly define key milestones, responsibilities, and timelines. Ensure alignment across commercial, product, marketing, and sales teams to create a seamless execution roadmap. 
• Implementing a launch readiness tracker – Use a centralized dashboard to monitor progress, identify gaps, and enhance cross-functional visibility and accountability. 
• Engaging cross-functional teams early – Involve representatives from all relevant departments to proactively identify risks and opportunities. Collaboration across commercial, medical, and market access functions is critical to execution success. 
• Reviewing past launches for lessons learned – Analyze previous launches to uncover recurring challenges, best practices, and areas for improvement. Use these insights to refine and de-risk your current launch strategy. 
• Identifying salesforce ability to execute against brand imperatives – Can your reps confidently articulate clinical differentiation, handle objections, and tailor messaging to different stakeholders? 
• Aligning marketing, sales, and access teams – Are teams operating with a shared understanding of launch priorities and strategy? 
• Understanding market insights and competitive positioning readiness – Do you have a comprehensive view of market access challenges, competitive response strategies, and physician adoption hurdles? 
• Ensuring the availability of real-time data to support agile decision-making – Can your teams quickly adapt based on launch performance indicators? 
• Equipping field force for engagement and front-line leaders for coaching readiness – Are your front-line leaders equipped to reinforce and sustain key behaviors with their team’s post-launch? 

Create a Sustainment Plan for Long-Term Success

Even the best workshops and learning sessions will lose impact if not reinforced. A sustainment plan that embeds the critical behaviors for launch success and augments coaching helps teams maintain consistency and adapt as market conditions evolve.  

High-performing organizations implement:  

• Ongoing coaching to elevate customer engagement skills – Coaching should be embedded into the flow of work, not treated as a one-time or planned event.  
• Timely field coaching reports to track execution effectiveness – Provide leaders with real-time insights into rep engagement, HCP interactions, and competitive shifts. 
• Top-down, leadership-driven accountability – Ensure senior leaders reinforce key behaviors and remove roadblocks to execution. 
• Post-launch debriefs to capitalize on opportunities – Regular assessments ensure quick adjustments and continuous performance improvements. 

Sustained coaching ensures that what’s learned in training is applied in the field. According to an article by LTEN.org, organizations with strong coaching cultures see 1.5 to 2.1 times greater impact on sales performance compared to those that rely on training alone.  

Flawless Execution Begins with Readiness

Your product launch is too important to leave to chance. Closing readiness gaps ensures your teams are equipped to execute with confidence, making the difference between a launch that struggles and one that thrives.