Consider two new-product success modes. In Success Mode A you launch a well-protected, premium-priced product. In Success Mode B, you thoroughly search the market segment, but find no unmet needs you can address. So you walk. May not sound heroic, but it’s the only way to ensure enough resources for more Success Mode A. Market Satisfaction Gaps let you distinguish Mode A from Mode B.
More in white paper, Market Satisfaction Gaps
Surprises in quality or cost control are unpleasant. But innovation relies on surprises. Without “non-obviousness,” an invention cannot even be patented. When a previously hidden customer outcome becomes known, the discovering supplier has the luxury of seeking solutions in a competition-free environment.
More in 2-minute growth video #25, Let your customers surprise you
Some products deliver enormous profits for decades, carrying whole businesses and careers on their sturdy shoulders. And then there are the tired, the poor, the huddled masses of wretched new products you wish were on your competitors’ teeming shores. The most popular way to fail is guessing at customer needs.
More in white paper, Guessing at Customer Needs
One is throwing more money at R&D in a Soviet-style arms race. Another is exhorting the troops to do better. An all-time favorite is asking tough project-review questions… but not training teams in the skills needed to find the answers. What if all your teams had the highest possible skills in understanding customer needs? Might this work better?
More in e-book, Reinventing VOC for B2B
Confirmation bias is the “tendency for people to favor information that confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses, regardless of whether the information is true.” It’s what happens when you take your lovely new-product hypotheses to customers. This systematically distorts data on customer needs… and that can’t be good for innovation, right?
More in 2-minute video at 35. Insist on data-driven innovation
According to the authors of The Challenger Customer, “The limiting factor is rarely the salesperson’s inability to get an individual stakeholder to agree to a solution. More often it’s that the stakeholders inside the company can’t even agree with one another about what the problem is.” To overcome this, try Key Account Blueprinting… New Product Blueprinting applied to one large account at a time. This forces stakeholder agreement.
More in white paper, Key Account Blueprinting
Your new product development should start where it ends: with the customer. When you take your “pride and joy” hypothesis to customers and ask their opinion, two bad things can happen: 1) They tell you what they think you want to hear. 2) You hear what you want to hear. Start by uncovering their needs, not testing your pre-conceived notions. And be sure to use quantitative interviews to eliminate confirmation bias.
More in 2-minute video at 35. Insist on data-driven innovation
Lean Startup methodology refers to “Leap of Faith Assumptions,” and recommends testing assumptions with customers at the first opportunity. For B2B, this “first opportunity” to learn comes before a prototype is created… through VOC interviews to mine the foresight of knowledgeable customers. Don’t miss this B2B adjustment to Lean Startup.
More in white paper, Lean Startup for B2B (page 6)
Avoid “technology push.” But should you just leave your technology quivering on the lab bench? Hardly. Conduct customer interviews without mentioning your technology. If customer outcomes match your technology… wonderful! Otherwise, look for different technology (for this market), or look for another market (for this technology).
More in 2-minute video at 21. Give your hypotheses the silent treatment
Technology development is science-facing and converts money into knowledge. Product development is market-facing and converts knowledge back into money. Both are critical, but don’t confuse them. And never do any product development until you have quantified, unbiased, unfiltered data on customer needs.
More in white paper, Commercialize technology in six foolproof steps
In many areas of life, there’s the “old way” and the “new way.” Does your company still develop “hypotheses” internally, and then meet with customers to validate them? This can lead to confirmation bias for you and stifled yawns for your customers. In the “new way,” you start by uncovering customer needs, not by internally “ideating” your solutions.
More in e-book, Reinventing VOC for B2B
With a high-certainty project, you can accurately predict your financial profits. With an uncertain project, you face significant potential downside and upside profits. In B2B markets, you can understand the downside very early. You’ll kill the project cheaply if the downside cannot be eliminated. And reap big upside profits if it can.
More in white paper, Innovating in Unfamiliar Markets (page 5)
Three conditions must be met: 1) A market segment (cluster of customers with similar needs) is clearly defined. 2) The segment is worth winning in terms of size, growth, profit potential, etc. 3) The segment is winnable, i.e., it’s not defended by a well-entrenched competitor. Overlook these conditions and you’ll waste resources. Great market segmentation is key to successful innovation.
More in 2-minute video at 16. Segment by markets for innovation
The “Build-Measure-Learn” cycle in Lean Startup begins with a hypothesis, and is great for B2C. End-consumers can seldom tell you what will amuse them or increase their sense of self-worth. But knowledgeable B2B customer can predict their desired outcomes. So start with a “Learn” pre-step. Customers will tell you all you need if you know how to ask.
More in white paper, Lean Startup for B2B (page 3)