What to do when your product launch goes all wrong?
My Worst and Best Day Ever
Have you ever had one of those days when you said, “This could not get any worse?”
“Jim, take a long breakfast. We are having difficulties getting the applicator to work consistently.”
Mine was August 24, 2023, while we were starting to introduce Earthrings to some potential clients.
The problems started at breakfast, before we could even finish our eggs. We had brought in two prospects and a client, all from Canada, for a Factory Acceptance Test at our applicator assembly plant in Chicago. In the middle of breakfast, I get a call from our plant manager. “Jim, take a long breakfast. We are having difficulties getting the applicator to work consistently.”
I’m an honest guy, so I tell the prospects about the issues. They are seasoned veterans of startups, so they understand. We linger over coffee, then tour the plant, answer their questions, and take a long lunch.
Strike One.
Driving to lunch, I get a call from my printer/die cutter.
“Jim, we have to bail out of this project. We just are not getting the speeds we need to be profitable, and there is too much waste, so we are out.”
“Jim, we have to bail out of this project…”
This time, I am not telling anyone.
All smiles, we get on with lunch—and we stretch this meal, too, as there are still some machine issues back at the plant.
Strike two.
We finally get to show off our applicators back at the plant, but not at the 300 cans per minute we thought we could. Ugh. The client and prospects say they understand, but I can see some skepticism and angst on their faces.
Strike three.
The day wraps up with an amazing sunset boat ride and dinner on Lake Michigan. But after dropping everyone at their hotel, I see a missed message from earlier in the day from my paper supplier. I know him well, so I called him even though it was late.
“Hey Jim,” he says. “I just want you to know that we are really having problems running the paper the way you want it. We need to have a call with the plant tomorrow to see what our alternatives are.”
Strike four. Are you kidding me? We’re not even in baseball territory anymore.
Driving home, I’m crushed. I have worked 18 months developing this product and these machines.Two weeks ago, all seemed fine. And now this?
But.
I am an entrepreneur. Failure is what I do until I get it right. Sounds simple, but I live by a life principle: “I can’t go backward, I can only go forward.” (Simple, but if ingrained in your psyche, it helps on days like this.)
Applying the principal of “only forward,” I sit down and write out what we need to do to resolve this:
Sit with the applicator engineers and fabricators to analyze what happened and within 48 hours, get a list of exactly what needs to be fixed, redesigned, or corrected.
I ALWAYS have a backup when I am dealing with suppliers. Now, for the printing/die cutting, I need to get my backup supplier to recommit to the project, list their issues within 48 hours, and work quickly to correct them.
The paper for this project is custom-developed, so I want to stay with this supplier. The paper works great for what we are doing and is much better than what else is in the market. My plan is to get on a plane and go to the factory to help figure out alternatives and plan how we move forward. I will also visit my backup supplier and see if they can make the same paper we want but are struggling with.
No matter what business you’re in, relationships are what make it work, and those relationships are what make suppliers stick with you in times of trouble. Notice I go straight to them to work things out— not by phone or video call: I am committed and I want them to be equally committed.
Here are my lessons learned:
When you fail, it’s important to be open about it with your team and suppliers. This includes the sales team which can be delicate.
Lay out a vision of how to correct the issues as a team, and put a timeline on it. I recommend 48 hours.
Keep your relationships at the center. In my case, I involved the suppliers in the actions needed to correct everything back to our original goals.
ALWAYS STAY POSITIVE. Never give up, and take responsibility to lead. Ask hard questions, don’t blame, look for solutions and always remember the goal: Deliver a great product in the marketplace that WORKS.
In the title of this piece, I called it my worst AND best day ever. Well, we did get that Factory Acceptance Test accepted, and we did get the machine to run at 300 cans per minute. We also got an order from another prospect that had visited, for two new machines at the 300 cpm speeds. Over the next 18 months, we upgraded the original machine with a brand-new one, solved our paper problem, installed the other two units, and all are running fine. In the end, we managed to “go forward” pretty well.