A large, unexpected revenue upturn this quarter is good news, right? It certainly feels good, but the satisfaction is fleeting. What you really need is growth that is unrelenting, earned and reliable. When business executives don’t understand the nature of “good” B2B organic growth, they risk three pitfalls. B2B Organic Growth Pitfalls Pitfall 1. “Let’s ... Read More
What is the value proposition of a product? The Value Proposition of a product is a formal statement describing the competitive advantage of a new product for a given market segment. Though many examples exist, the jobs-to-be-done methodology provides a precise template upon which to build a clear, concise, unambiguous statement. It tells WHAT we’re ... Read More
Consider these best practices for recruiting customers for interviews: 1) Value representativeness over sample size. 2) Include respondents along the value chain. 3) Recruit some respondents with internal resources. 4) Use outside recruiting if you get stuck. 5) Get the sales team on board. 6) Use a script for recruiting calls. 7) Email an agenda. 8) Send respondent to www.haveyoubeendiscovered.com. 9) Start with a big list. ... Read More
Unless you deal with two growth problems, you'd better get used to mediocre organic growth: 1) You only “earned” a small part of your growth today; the rest is “inherited” and “market” growth. 2) If you and your competitors are all planning to growth faster than the market you serve, someone will be disappointed. ... Read More
Even if your Stage-Gate® reviews are highly evolved, I’ll bet they’re missing a critical element: I doubt they separate your projects’ Execution Quality and Opportunity Quality. In this issue, we’ll see why this is holding you back. We’ll also look at a brand-new release of Blueprinter® software that remedies this. Imagine you’ve got two project ... Read More
The “old way” of interviewing was to “validate” your idea with customers… but this leads to confirmation bias. With the “new way,” you focus on their needs and gain 5 benefits… 1) add new outcomes to your design, 2) eliminate costs for unimportant outcomes, 3) learn why they want outcomes (for better pricing), 4) engage them more, and 5) move faster. ... Read More
Quality guru Edwards Deming taught us that “94% of problems in business are systems driven and only 6% are people driven.” With the right systems, a company will grow and thrive. And few are more important than the “feedback loop.” Unfortunately, this term has been used so broadly that the original and powerful meaning has ... Read More
A market segment is a “cluster of customers with similar needs.” You should focus your innovation on individual market segments for optimal effectiveness and efficiency. Follow these four market segmentation “rules” for success. ... Read More
What is idea generation? Idea generation is the process of generating and selecting ideas to solve discrete problems. However, within the context of new product development, the goal of idea generation is to solve customer problems. After all, every new product begins as an idea. Therefore, if there’s an innovation job that we’d better do ... Read More
Lean Startup is a powerful methodology, but B2B suppliers need to make some adjustments to avoid serious pitfalls. Instead of using a Build-Measure-Learn cycle, B2B producers should use a Learn-Build-Measure-Learn cycle. In other words, they should begin with B2B-optimized customer interviews. ... Read More
If you develop new products, the design thinking process can help. All the more so if you’re a B2B innovator: You can upgrade the most important parts of design-thinking in ways consumer goods developers can only wish for. Here’s what you must do differently for B2B-optimized design thinking. Imagine a chemical engineering student taking an ... Read More
Your sales force is a vital part of B2B voice-of-customer. But don't count on them doing this work by themselves or you’ll miss 4 objectives: 1) Concentration on a single market segment, 2) meeting with the right customer contacts, 3) using strong probing skills and tools, and 4) aggressive follow-through. ... Read More
Our research asked B2B professionals what drives profitable, sustainable organic growth. The #1 answer was delivering strong, differentiated value propositions. And the #1 differentiator between the best and worst value-creating companies was superior front end of innovation work (www.whatdrivesb2borganicgrowth.com). The Front End of Innovation – Key Steps There are important front-end steps top-performing companies take to strengthen their value ... Read More
Every large company has a system for new product growth. And yet, it’s often pushed aside, not understood, and taken for granted. Some view it as too technical. Some see it as complex. Most don’t recognize the potential energy it could release. What is this critical system? It’s the new product development process (or NPD ... Read More