Awkward Reality #530

Are you experiencing the Red Queen Effect?

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In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, Alice was dismayed after much running to find she and the queen were still in the same spot. The Red Queen explained, “My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go any­where, you must run twice as fast as that.” What are you doing that truly lets you “run faster” than competitors? Here’s one that works: Understand customer needs better than them.

More in 2-minute growth video #2, Superior B2B growth is challenging

Awkward Reality #529

See the Whole Picture with The Jobs-to-be-Done Pyramid™

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Why do people really buy what they buy? It’s a question that has reshaped how we think about customers, markets, and innovation. Thanks to the foundational work of Clayton Christensen, Tony Ulwick, Bob Moesta, and Lance Bettencourt, Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) theory gave us a breakthrough insight: “Customers don’t buy products—they hire them to get jobs done.” ... Read More

Awkward Reality #528

Never sell or solve during customer interviews.

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Send commercial-technical teams on interviews… but don’t let them sell or solve. If you sell during voice-of-customer sessions, customers know you’re not really interested in them. If you solve, you’re jeopardizing your intellectual property. In either case, you’re wasting precious time better used to understand customer needs.

More in e-book, Reinventing VOC for B2B (page 24)

Awkward Reality #527

Skip quantitative interviews if you’ve got extra R&D resources to squander.

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After qualitative interviews, seek customer ratings on key outcomes: “How important is abrasion resistance on a 1-10 scale? And how satisfied are you today with abrasion resistance on a 1-10 scale?” This lets you converge with confidence on only those outcomes customers care about… those with Market Satisfaction Gaps over 30% (important and unsatisfied).

More in white paper, Market Satisfaction Gaps

Awkward Reality #526

Got a new product hypothesis? Give it the “silent treatment” during customer interviews.

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I love it when our clients have cool technology and clever ideas. But don’t mention these to customers during VOC interviews. From the customer’s perspective, the interview should look exactly the same whether or not you’ve got a great hypothesis. Give your hypothesis the silent treatment for now. Simply listen to the customer.

More in 2-minute growth video #21, Give your hypotheses the silent treatment

Awkward Reality #525

Strong innovation metrics should be insightful, predictive and actionable. Not missing.

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Strong intermediate (vs. ultimate) innovation metrics share these qualities: 1. Insightful: They help firms understand relationships between cause and effect. 2. Predictive: They measure behavior that will foretell ultimate success. 3. Actionable: Their short “feedback loop” allows rapid adjustments to be made. Are you using such metrics?

More in white paper, New Innovation Metrics

Awkward Reality #524

The most overlooked innovation practice? Understanding customers’ alternatives.

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Sure, the most important practice is understanding customer needs. But most overlooked? Few suppliers ask customers 1) for the most important, unsatisfied outcomes, 2) what test methods measure these outcomes, and 3) how satisfied customers are by various test results. Without these questions, you cannot properly assess competing alternatives.

More in growth video #36, Benchmark competing alternatives

Awkward Reality #523

Awkward Reality #522