Innovation is the lifeblood of any organization. It provides a competitive advantage and ensures that you stay ahead of the curve in an ever-changing world. One company that knows this better than most is Strategyn, whose outcome-driven innovation process is changing the way that companies create useful products for their customers. In today’s blog post, we will explore this process and how it can help your business grow!
The Importance of Innovation to Your Business
If your business isn’t constantly innovating, it’s in trouble. While people all over were once happy customers of Blockbuster, the growing digital marketplace shows them that Blockbuster was actually less convenient than they thought. When the company had the opportunity to become more digitized, it rejected the offer. This in turn allowed Netflix to dominate the market share significantly. If you don’t focus your time, energy, and research on innovation, your company will also be surpassed by a company that accomplishes your customers’ goals better.
Understanding Customer Needs With Outcome-Driven Innovation
The outcome-driven innovation process is key because it allows you to understand your customers’ needs. By identifying the outcome, or desired consequence of a product, you can create something that will fulfill those desires better than any other product on the market. The reason it is so effective is that it defines a product as something that can help a customer get a job done, rather than just fulfilling a want or need.
For example, if you’re looking for a new car, you might go to a dealership and say that you want a car. However, the outcome-driven innovation process would define the product as something that helps people accomplish their goal of moving from one place to another safely, efficiently, and comfortably. This means that instead of just looking for a car, you would also be looking for features like spaciousness, fuel efficiency, and durability.
Furthermore, the car market would be defined not only by those who sell cars but also by those who help others get the jobs that the car does. If a customer buys a fast BMW because he wants to look wealthy and garner attention, for example, the car dealer’s competition is not just modes of transportation. They are competing against other flashy objects like designer clothes, jewelry, watches, and other things that could satiate that personal urge.
Creating a Product Strategy With Outcome-Driven Innovation
The way to effectively execute this strategy is by first having a clear understanding of what your customers’ jobs are. To do so, you have to conduct user and market research to understand their needs. From there, you can find out what customers are not getting from their current solutions, which would represent the underserved markets that your company could improve upon.
Once you have this information and can quantify these underserved markets, you can start to create a product strategy. This will include the products you plan on creating, as well as how you plan on marketing and selling them. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important that your products help customers get the jobs done better than anything else on the market.
When using an outcome-driven innovation process, you can be sure that your company is set up for success. By clearly and deeply understanding your customers’ true needs and creating a product strategy that meets them, you can create a winning formula for your business.
