Tao is the Chinese word that means “path” or “the way.” Here the letters T-A-O reveal the essence of Blueprinting Discovery interviews and the fundamentals of B2B innovation: “T” for techniques, “A” for attitude, and “O” for order. ... Read More
Consider this logic chain for growth: A) Your only path to profitable, sustainable growth in in creating customer value. B) The only way to create customer value is by improving important, unmet customer outcomes. C) Most companies do a poor job today of identifying which customer outcomes to improve. D) Proven methods are now available to confidently target a market’s important, unmet outcomes. ... Read More
“The Voice of the Customer”, an article by Abbie Griffin and John Hauser from 1993, joined the parallel worlds of academic market research with the practical discipline of new product development. As such, “The Voice of the Customer” built upon the leading framework at the time for building new products, QFD. (“QFD”, or “Quality Function ... Read More
Most B2B companies waste millions of dollars in failed product development. This often isn’t because their scientists can’t come up with good answers… but rather they’re working on the wrong questions. Good customer insight lets you move into the Non-Obvious zone, working on customer problems your competitors miss. ... Read More
More than anything else, short time horizons restrain B2B organic growth. And this leads to “internal friction” in your growth machine, specifically in 4 areas: 1) available time, 2) required skills, 3) team motivation, and 4) organizational disruptions. ... 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
To move from supplier- to customer-centric innovation, B2B producers should shift their thinking in four areas: 1) new markets to new supplier, 2) validating hypotheses to uncovering outcomes, 3) competitive products to customer alternatives, and 4) competitive pricing to value creation. ... Read More
With New Product Blueprinting, you use creative foresight and a detailed plan for new product development… similar to an architect’s planning before breaking ground. The process includes 7 steps: 1) market research, 2) Discovery interviews, 3) Preference interviews, 4) side-by-side testing, 5) product objectives, 6) technical brainstorming, and 7) business case. ... 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
The “consumption job” may be the most important concept that you’ve never heard of. Consider this. We are all unique, or we think we are, with this problem: our products are becoming more and more like commodities. You know, gasoline, steel, topsoil. Our superior product dreams are trampled under the heavy feet of commoditization. Wouldn’t ... Read More
We call our bosses “leaders” out of respect for their organizational position. But do they drive B2B organic growth? How many would pass this one-question pop quiz: What is the foremost duty of a business leader? What’s your answer? I believe the correct answer is: Leave your business stronger than you found it. Some might ... Read More
How critical is it to target customer needs? Imagine three situations where you might face the question of a bigger payload vs. a better targeting system: missiles, cancer treatment and gold mining. A bigger payload would be a larger warhead, radiation dosage and backhoe shovel. Better targeting would be more precise hits on enemy positions, ... Read More
Everyone wants to use metrics to monitor their innovation. That's fine… but unless you’re using “intermediate” metrics, you could be missing 3 qualities of a good metric: 1) predictive, 2) insightful, and 3) actionable. Consider these 12 intermediate metrics for your business. ... Read More
Most B2B companies struggle with organic growth because they don't rationally deal with these 5 harsh realities. This article compares the futility of “penny pinching” in the front end of innovation… to the way DuPont invested in New Product Blueprinting training. ... Read More