Why use quantitative questions for interviews, not just qualitative? Two reasons. First, qualitative interviews give you reams of customer quotes with no good way to prioritize customer needs. Sure, you could count the number of times customers cite a certain need, but frequency of remarks is a poor substitute for customer eagerness to improve. More ... Read More

New product innovation is a tough business. You don’t get to decide what customers want, or how fast your market grows, or if the laws of science permit a breakthrough product. But you can decide how much commercial risk you’d like to absorb… if you are a B2B supplier. This isn’t as true for B2C. ... Read More

In 1965, DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek synthesized the first Kevlar polymer, an amazing fiber with five times the strength of steel. DuPont invested several hundred million dollars to commercialize the technology for tire cords, with disappointing results. It would be another decade before the company found its first major market for this material: bullet-proof vests. ... Read More

You can triple profit growth by engaging customers in your innovation process. Do this by “moving up” in these 6 levels of customer engagement: 1) our conference rooms, 2) asking our experts, 3) customer survey, 4) qualitative VOC interviews, 5) quantitative VOC interviews, and 6) B2B-optimized VOC interviews. ... Read More

Back to the future! Let’s revisit this interview with Dan Adams from 2010. It appears that we still have major opportunities to improve B2B innovation! Contact us here and let us know what changes that you’ve seen! *Interview with Dan Adams; from May, 2010 Interviewer: How do you assess how well a B2B firm’s ability ... Read More

Dan Adams: Congratulations! How long have you been working on this project? Scott Burleson: Thanks! I started working on a book  about 14 years ago. It was originally going to be a comprehensive guide for product managers. But the deeper I went, the more that I realized that my true passion was much more about ... Read More

“The less I know, the more I like it.” That’s how a business leader described his experience with big R&D projects to me. What looks wonderful at first often perishes later, sometimes dragging careers with it. During your project reviews, is management hearing, “Trust me, you’ll love this”? There’s a better way, one that puts ... Read More