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