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
Avoid these 7 mistakes in developing new products: 1) Imagining customer needs. 2) Relying on sales reps to capture customer needs. 3) Counting on just a few VOC experts. 4) Using hand-me-down consumer-goods methods. 5) Gathering only qualitative customer feedback. 6) Listening only to immediate customers. 7) Ignoring competitors when you design your product. ... Read More
No one likes to be average—another word for mediocre—in something as important as growing their business. Of course, half of all businesses are below average in any given year. And few in the above-average ranks for B2B growth are confident they can stay there year after year. This can change for your business. You can ... Read More
Portfolio management links strategy with execution for new product development. A Voice of the Customer program maximizes ROI for all new product initiatives, whether incremental or breakthrough. ... Read More
Has your business correctly answered 4 questions? 1) Would better customer insight improve our innovation success? 2) Should we take a DIY approach to customer insight (vs. using “hired guns”)? 3) Should we learn improved customer insight from external trainers (vs. training ourselves)? 4) Should gaining this customer insight capability be a top priority (vs. other priorities)? ... Read More
Use these 5 tactics to improve your solution brainstorming: 1) Begin with a problem to be solved. 2) Embrace two distinct phases of divergence and convergence. 3) Schedule for adequate time. 4) Choose a diverse team. 5) Conduct pre-session training. Then move on to 5 “advanced” tactics. ... Read More
New Product Blueprinting provides these typically overlooked benefits: 1) Learn the unknown unknowns. 2) Unlearn the things we do know… that aren’t true. 3) Align the development team for action. 4) Make better decisions through market intuition. 5) Build sales relationships. ... Read More