Day Two Syndrome

It's the point in time to which everyone looks forward. The big launch. The unveiling. Go day. Teams are pumped. Buzz is spreading online. E-mails are flying, There's a palpable energy in the air, built on a mix of adrenaline and caffeine.

And then comes day two.

If you're like many executives, your go-to-market plan is brilliantly sketched out through the first 24 hours of launch (or for lucky ones, the first week or month). But move beyond that initial, euphoric entry of your "baby" into the world, and detailed plans likely encounter a steep decline.

We know your pain. Having launched seemingly every manner of product, service or concept over the past couple of decades, getting teams excited about day two is incredibly difficult. They want to bask in their new-found glory, trying to make is last while getting a well-deserved breather. [Multiply this by a factor of 10 if you happened to have launched at an industry convention in Las Vegas!]

At McDougall Travers Collins, we're on day two ourselves. Even with some of the best minds in the business, we're not immune to these issues either (although we keep hoping for the discovery of the day two vaccine, available for convenient dosing at your local Walgreens).

So what can you do? Build at least a basic post-launch structure, and then set the expectation of how your teams will need to execute against it. Speak to the launch as not a singular day, but as a series of interconnected events. Implement a rewards system beginning on day two for continued incentive. Rotate out staff who are burning the midnight oil, giving them some much-needed R&R.

Most importantly, acknowledge the common day two slump, and ask your team to work together to overcome it. They circled the wagons to get your idea off the ground, and keeping them engaged and excited sets apart a manager from a true business leader.

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Do you have a day two tip or insight? Share it here.