Don’t Think Out of the Box, Add Boxes

I’m on my way to another “let’s think out of the box meeting”. You know these meetings. A couple of senior executives sit around the room and try to brainstorm on the logical extensions to the business and products that can open up new sources of revenue. I’m sure if you are like me you’ve sat through your share of “out of the box meetings”. I surely have as a senior member of the management team and also as a consultant. Every time I sit through another one of these meetings I caution the attendants that these meetings have one thing in common no matter what industry you are in - out of the box meetings provide false hope because even if you can think out of the box the execution may be far beyond your current resources, capabilities, and budget. Out of the box meetings always end with questions of how and when and then someone stands up and tells everyone, “We’ll do it next year”. Guess what by next year it is forgotten or worse you schedule another “let’s think out of the box” meeting.

There are four product / sales / marketing problems that we see today in every business we work with. I’m not saying you have all four but you probably have at least one or two.
1) Sales, Marketing and the Customer are saying different things about your product weakening your value proposition and making it hard for the customer to determine why to switch or use your product. This may lead to aggressive pricing to win the customer.
2) The product is over-engineered, costs are high, pricing is competitive and you are close to break-even or losing money on each sale.
3) You are so busy hunting for new customers that no one is tending to existing ones. Customer retention may be next year’s problem which will drive pricing even lower.
4) You have no time to think about growth, innovation, or new products and the cycle downward continues putting stress on the business and all the resources.


Let me introduce Stages of Innovation’s 4BOX Marketing process. Why think out of the box when I can show you how to expand the boxes and make more money today, with today’s funding, resources, and capabilities. Could it be that simple? The answer is yes. SOI’s 4BOX Marketing process leverages your current customers, capabilities, resources, and budget. SOI’s 4BOX Marketing process:
- Aligns Sales, Marketing and the Customer
- Packages the optimal set of features to maximize profit
- Creates the reason for customers to switch or begin using your product versus other alternatives
- Finds the right channel, to reach the right person, so your salespeople and collateral can say the right thing.



Call or email us to learn more.
Rob Goldberg 2009
rgoldberg@stagesofinnovation.com

Product Developments Offensive or Defensive Moves

As a practicing product developer the primary objective is providing enhancements, new and improved, or new to our customer base products and services, with the result being growth. Very offensive. When I put on my strategy hat I can’t help but think about defensive moves we need to make and how I may be able to block the competition from achieving their goals. Whether I’m playing the offense or defense product development and IP can play a role. On the offensive side IP may take a backseat to growth. I want to get my product out into the market quickly and not disclose what I am doing and how I am doing it. On the defensive side it may at times be the primary objective. I want to block others from doing this or I want to block my competitor form moving into a certain market or position.

There isn't a marked difference between invention and innovation. Don’t trade off innovation with invention. Look at invention as one potential means-to-an-end within the innovation cycle. Innovation should provide direction and help manage the gap between where I want to be (my desired end state) and where I am (my beginning state).


Need help, visit us at http://www.stagesofinnovation.com/. Our unique approach will help you understand where you need to play offense and defense to achieve your business goals.

The Hiddens Skills of Product Development

Is B2B product development a skill or an art?


It's a little bit of both but in this short article I'm going to show you how to make it more skill than art. Here's a couple of things you need to perfect as you move your product from concept to launch.


First Things First - Develop a Project Plan

Here's a good place to start because the best product development project can become derailed quickly if you don't know how to properly plan. My motto is THINK, PLAN, DO. Follow this and you will never go wrong. Over the years I've personally witnessed companies that have jumped to DO bypassing the other two steps and have found themselves unable to react during the development and incubation stages.


If you are familiar with any of the popular project software, like Microsoft Project, feel free to use it. Don't be intimidated though if you are not familiar with any of these. You don't need sophisticated software to prepare a project plan. Remember, it's not the equipment, it's the player.


OK, so you know the devil is in the details so be as specific as possible. It's OK if you miss steps but every project plan should cover processes (steps), people, and time required. The more plans you write the better you will get at it; promise.


Prepare a Budget

I'm often asked, within what margin should the budget be. It may take a while to get a feel for this so be patient and pay attention to what it costs to build your products. Whether you have to use an outside company for development or are being cross charged from an internal department, know your products, the components, and make sure you stick to your plan. Remember my motto, Think, Plan, Do. I guarantee you will overrun your budget if you go straight to DO.

The next question is should you account for the people time. Some of my larger clients who have mature product development departments are capable of allocating full time resources so it is easy to account for the cost of their time. Otherwise, these are sunk costs and trying to account for time other than x% is not worth the effort.


Translating Needs into Requirements

I use a proprietary approach I developed that allows product development teams to quickly identify the stakeholders and map to their needs. Once you know the needs of your target base it's easy to figure out what features need to be built that the customer wants, will keep you within budget, and can be launched within your time frame. Remember, you don't have to build everything in the first phase. I'm a big believer in launching the basic requirements and phasing in new features in future releases that can be publicized. The key is getting the first set right. Too many companies release products that do to much and end up confusing the target market and can't be priced correctly. My Marketing Optimization Grids ensures this never happens.


The Battle for Customers' Minds (Value Prop)
I want to spend just a second talking about value proposition. Here's my definition. I want the customer to do something different than what they do today at a cost (lower, the same or more) that will provide some added utility versus their current product or process. So you see if you add in a lot of features it makes it hard for the customer to understand how this may fit into their current process. The customer may be open to new solutions but if you make the comparison too hard it inertia takes over. And, as I always say, "you can never underestimate the power of inertia".

I'd love to know your product development stories. Write me here or visit me at Stages of Innovation.

Rob Goldberg 2009

Beating the Recession

This economy hasn't been easy. I have the unique perspective of working in a large company but also being a small business owner. There are a few things that I've done in both that has made it easier to survive.

1) Wait 60 days before you make any large purchases. Unless absolutely necessary put all expenses on hold. You will be surprised with what you can do without after 60 days.

2) Require customers to pay a portion up front. Cover your cost, defer your profit. Customers gets what they need, you get the the work and a revenue stream.

3) Increase the attention on your existing customers. Last thing you need is to lose customers. Retention has been a big focus this year. Take a look at http://www.stagesofinnovation.com/whatwedo/savemycustomers.html

4) Look for areas that you can cross sell other products or services. Once you have your customer's attention look for ways that you can offer more.

Feel free to contact me rgoldberg@stagesofinnovation.com or visit http://www.stagesofinnovation.com/ for more ideas on how to break the recession.

See how other companies are fighting the recession.
http://communitymarketing.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/how-25-professionals-create-success-in-a-recession.html

Rob Goldberg 2009