business
Who is using my product in a way I never intended and how
Once a product has sold, it’s pretty much out of your control. You may have an idea why people will buy it, and what they’ll do with it, but the most you can ever do is guess. So why are you assuming that you know what your customer
Can I recombine existing components to create new products for customers I don’t currently serve?
Magazine publishers are in the same predicament as the book-publishing and recording industries before it. How do you keep your customers believing that your content is worth paying for when there is endless free content available on the Internet? Some fashion magazines are experimenting with making their print issues feel
Can I create an on-demand version of the product?
Do you need to have a finished product in order to make a sale? Is there any way that not offering a finished product would actually give you an advantage, or even become a selling point? My children have long since outgrown toys, but my grandkids have more than once
What will future customers’ buying criteria be
A big part of any business is being aware of, and responding to, the life cycles of the industry and its customers. Some of these are easy to see; you only need a cursory understanding of the effect of OPEC on gas prices in the early ’70s to understand why
Who will not buy my product because they feel something is objectionable about it
Have you ever purchased a product that others hated? Or what about the opposite .. .have you ever seen others using a product or service that you absolutely despised? The flipside to any positive emotional connection is a negative one. If you are producing a product or service that is inspiring
What Industries Are Analogous To Ours
No matter what business we are in, we are all fighting essentially the same fight—designing a product that a customer will prefer over that of our competitor. To do this, we need to constantly be aware of how our business environment is evolving, how our customers are changing, and
How Can I Take Advantage Of Emerging Trends And Fads
“Weak signals” are the equivalent of a canary in a coal mine. They are the unspoken needs and wants of your customers, and they are also the arrows pointing to what your customers are going to need and want in the future.
What Customer Segments Will Emerge In 5 Years
With any radical idea you will see the corporate antibodies come out of the woodwork, giving all the standard reasons why the idea will “never happen.” Remember, the fundamental assumption of the corporate antibody is that the future will be the same as today. Your customers are going to change.
Ignore The Obvious speech on Innovation at Argyle Executive Forum (slides)
This morning I gave a keynote at the Argyle Executive Forum event in NYC. The title of the talk was “Ignore The Obvious” covering a wide range of areas to help the audience better understand and use innovation as a competitive advantage: Doing the obvious is what everyone expects Doing the obvious
My Latest Forbes Column – When Should You Buy The New, New Thing?
My latest column for Forbes has just been posted … One way technology companies make money is by pushing their latest and greatest gadgets to their most rabid customers—and charging a premium for it for as long as they can. The question: Do you plunk down early and often to get an edge on […]
