Customers, Competitors Are Source Of New Product Ideas
Listening to management guru Tom Peters at one of his high-powered seminars, I was struck by his claim that 27,000 new products were pushed our way during the past year.
This means that, in order to be competitive, today’s business operator must be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to introduce product variations and improvements to their customers. But coming up with new ideas ain’t easy.
Q: I realize that my company’s future depends a lot on its product line. We haven’t introduced anything new for the past seven years, and I guess it’s about time to do so. How does one go about finding a new product to offer?
A: Keep your eyes peeled. Your best input is going to come from your customers, your competition, and your employees, so you have to be sensitized to their feedback.
A survey by Inc. magazine revealed that most people get their good ideas while working. They - or their employees - either saw an unfilled niche in the marketplace, or saw some other company trying it and figured they could do it better. Less than 10 percent of the respondents said their discoveries were a result of systematic research or a “brainstorm.”
While it’s satisfying to be first into the market with a new idea, it’s often more profitable to be second and let some other firm do the expensive, exploratory “missionary” work in the marketplace.
There’s a lot to be learned from your competitors’ sweat, suffering, and mistakes, so monitor their new offerings carefully, evaluate their worth, determine if they can be adapted to your unique strengths and advantages, and move quickly once you spot a winner. In today’s rapidly churning markets, being third could mean you’re too late.
Perhaps your best sources of product enlightenment are your customers. Make sure you listen to your customer contact people carefully. They are your “window to the world.”
Schedule regular de-briefings if they are not routinely forthcoming, and give them assurance that you are interested in complaints as well as compliments.
Make it a point to review all customer correspondence to find opportunities for progressive change in what you offer and how you offer it. Face-to-face get-togethers with key customers sometimes gives you a chance to ferret-out suggestions they might otherwise not be willing to proffer.
Formal research among potential customers can also help. One of the best tools is the focus group, a method for scientifically soliciting reactions, opinions, criticisms, and suggestions from a carefully aggregated group of volunteers.
It works like this: You invite a dozen or fewer individuals whose demographics, interests, and attitudes resemble those of your target market. At a comfortable, round-the-table meeting, you probe their reactions to your ideas or product proposals. The more specific you can be, the better.
You also ask them for their ideas about goods and services that appeal to them, ones they would conceivably pay for, and that would have wide enough appeal to be worthwhile for your firm to provide. These meetings are best organized and led by a professional marketer who has experience with this technique and is familiar with your industry and your firm.
The downside to this approach is that people generally have a hard time reacting productively to things they have not yet seen or used. Frequently, products have to exist and be operational to have appeal. Remember, fifteen years ago the “idea” of a computer in every home was not only foreign but also frightening.
A recent survey of small and midsize companies by the Executive Committee in San Diego revealed that more than half of them regarded current customers and networking as their top sources of market research for new products.
Slightly less than half depended on gut instinct, polls of potential customers, and information about companies in the industry. Only a small percentage got their inputs from focus groups, consulting or research firms, or the library.
The last place they look is the local university.
Q: I understand that the U.S. Trademark Office now has an on-line computer address. Can you tell what it is?
A: The online address for the Patent and Trademark Office is: http:www.uspto.gov. If this gives you trouble and you want to talk to a real person, call (703) 308-9000. And if you are as old-fashioned as my ol’ uncle Ollie, you’ll probably want to write to: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2121 Crystal Drive, Suite 1100C, Washington, D.C., 20231.
xxxx Paul Willax is the Sandifur Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at Eastern Washington University.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Paul Willax The Spokesman-Review