Very few companies think about Innovation from the customer’s perspective. One way to find true innovation is to take an existing customer need or requirement and break it down into its component parts. By deconstructing a job from beginning to end, a company gains a complete view of all the points at which a customer might desire more help from a product or a service. This method gives the company a comprehensive framework with which to identify the metrics customers themselves use to measure success in executing a task.
Many companies are focused on the new products and services they’re already developing, or on the ones that competitors are offering, rather than the help they must give existing customers on the steps of a job or process that already exists.
A prime example is while other MP3 manufacturers were concentrating on helping customers listen to music, Apple reconsidered the entire job of personal music management and came up with a solution to acquire, organise, listen to and share music.
As a contractor, you’re often asked to turn a customer need or requirement into new and innovative solutions- here are some questions to ask to get the thinking process started:
• Can the job be developed into a more efficient or effective sequence?
• Do some customers struggle more with execution than others? Why is that? Is it related to their function or something else?
• What struggles or inconveniences do customers experience because they must rely upon multiple solutions to get the job done?
• Is it possible to eliminate the need for particular inputs or outputs from the job?
• Is it necessary that the customer executes all the steps for which they are currently responsible or can the burden be eliminated altogether or shifted elsewhere?
Happy Innovating
Contact Melvin Day at mday@marketingmoves.com
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