B2B companies have huge advantages over B2C, but they may not be obvious. After all, didn’t the same fellow who bought a rail car of soda ash also buy a can of soda pop? Nope. He changed… a lot. B2B customers are more technically savvy, objective, supplier-dependent, and can predict their needs. Careful reflection of these differences leads to different approaches.
More in article, B2B Customer Interviews: Are They Different?
Isn’t a fill-in-the-blank customer questionnaire a bit… boring? If instead you keep asking, “Any other problems?”… you’ll have absolutely no idea what the customer will say next. Exhilarating? You bet. Uncomfortable? Perhaps… but only at first. With practice you’ll love it, and you’ll never go back.
More in e-book, Reinventing VOC for B2B (page 12).
This is how one B2B marketer described their launch process to me. It’s much better to use a rigorous process, documented in five brief reports: Launch Plan Summary (with strategy, team, activities & results), Prospect Profile, Message Brief, Media Guide, and Launch Results. The middle three address who to tell, what to tell and how to tell.
More in article, How to Plan an Amazing B2B Product Launch (Originally published in B2B Organic Growth newsletter).
How can you know with absolute confidence that you’ve put together all the key elements of a winning product launch plan? Prepare these 5 product launch plan documents: 1) Launch Plan Executive Summary, 2) Prospect Profile, 3) Message Brief, 4) Media Guide, and 5) Launch Results. ... Read More
Customers own “outcome” space. You own “solution” space. Don’t let them into your space… unless you want to become a contract manufacturer. Instead, enter their space to understand desired outcomes better than competitors. This lets you deliver unique value in your solutions, which is handsomely rewarded though premium pricing.
More in article, Should You Develop New Products like Steve Jobs? (Originally published in B2B Organic Growth newsletter).
Experts have bemoaned the low success rates of new products for years. One highly respected researcher, Dr. Robert Cooper, puts the success rate at one-in-four, when measured from the beginning of the development stage. What’s the cause for such a low success rate? Since the early 1970’s, research has shown the main problem isn’t with ... Read More
Tell me to increase shareholder value and I struggle to identify something I can do as an employee to raise earnings per share. Tell me to understand and increase customer value, and I can think of a dozen things to do, most of them actionable, measurable, and beneficial to our bottom line. Many of these I will find inspiring… as will others.
More in article, Why Maximizing Shareholder Value is a Flawed Goal (Originally published in B2B Organic Growth newsletter).
The best B2B innovators understand that their customers know much more about their needs than they do. So they start by pursuing unexpected customer insight. Cuyahoga Falls, OH (December 1, 2016) – for immediate release Cuyahoga Falls, OH (December, 2016)—Imagine you’re building a new factory: Do you want to be surprised? Nope. What if you’re installing a ... Read More
All growth-oriented innovation starts with customer outcomes. This is what customers want to have happen, with no understanding yet of how it will happen. Nothing a company does can achieve profitable, sustainable growth unless customer value is created… which comes only by improving these outcomes.
More in white paper, Catch the Innovation Wave (page 8).
Picture this: A customer tells your sales rep what they want, who hands it off to your R&D. This clever customer tells your competitors the same thing. Terrific. If more than one supplier crosses the finish line, you can forget any price premium. Try this: You choose the race conditions by targeting an attractive market, and exploring its needs better than competitors.
More in article, Are You Squandering R&D Resources?
What if your R&D was guessing at customer needs—and guessing badly? A new study by The AIM Institute shows this is exactly the case for most B2B companies. Cuyahoga Falls, OH (November 13, 2016) – for immediate release Cuyahoga Falls, OH (November, 2016)—Experts have bemoaned the low success rates of new products for years. One highly-respected researcher, Dr. Robert ... Read More
You begin by uncovering, understanding, defining and setting outcomes’ direction… and end by quantifying their value. Skipping just one level dramatically decreases your odds of a highly-profitable new product. Do you know how many levels are baked into your new product development process? If you don’t, it’s less than nine.
More in article, The Science behind Great Value Propositions (Originally published in B2B Organic Growth newsletter).
It’s risky to incrementalize… but “great hope” projects often absorb huge resources and end with a whimper. What’s the answer? Get out more. Spend more time in customers’ worlds to reduce commercial risk. And reduce technical risk through open innovation, tapping into external technologies. You can’t thrive today without external insight. (Hmmm… “exsight”?)
More in article, The Commodity Death Spiral (Originally published in B2B Organic Growth newsletter).
Cuyahoga Falls, OH (October 28, 2016) – For Immediate Release The AIM Institutes’ Dan Adams hosted a live webinar with PDMA on October 27, 2016, entitled “Surprising New Research on B2B-Optimized VOC: Evidence for What Really Works”. The webinar was created for business executives, “owners” of product development processes, technical personnel charged with customer-facing innovation, marketing ... Read More