I am ashamed to say that there are 4 iPod's in my house, and 2 of them belong to me. While the iPod is honestly a revolutionary product, Apple took a strangle hold on the music manufactures not straight through the iPod (a goods innovation) but by bundling the goods with iTunes (a service innovation).
While the iPod is sexy and gets all the attention, it is iTunes that was the disrupter. One of the unique things about purveyors of technology such as Apple and Intel is that they are not interested in incremental improvements to existing products. They are shop makers.
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Real money is to be made in building new markets as was the case with innovators such as Starbucks, and Cirque du Soleil. In a study completed by the authors of The Blue Ocean Strategy, a narrate of 108 associates revealed that of their major goods launches, 86% were line extension which represented 62% of sales and 39% of total profits. 14% were entirely new products, and represented 38% of sales and 61% of total profits.
Tips for seeing Key Differentiators that will separate You from Your Competition
1. Challenge the paradigms of how your products and services are delivered. Starbucks was a new delivery law for coffee, Amazon a new channel for books and Southwest an alternative routing law for travelers. Zip Car is disrupting the delivery law for auto transportation, spicy the assumption that cars are worth owning. Offered primarily in urban markets, Zip Cars are available at a low cost at the time that people need them (such as college students visiting their parents out of town for an afternoon).
- Look at delivery systems for products surface your manufactures and look for applications to your goods or service. For example, Nordstrom's personal shopper notion could be applied in many service industries.
- Convene a buyer advisory board or 4-6 customers and dig deep into their specific enterprise problems and opportunities. Ask them what your enterprise can do to lead the pack. This interaction is a self fulfilling prophecy: your best customers who helped you to build the strategy and tactics will buy in and be early adopters.
2. Progress your bundle of services. Globalization has led to new competitors entering every market, and gigantic goods proliferation, changing the balance of furnish and demand. Approximately every goods has come to be commoditized. It is more necessary than ever that associates Progress their bundle of services to generate points of differentiation.
- Lowes has upped the ante on their competition by contribution free next day delivery and "haul away" for used appliances. By inspecting the customer's entire cost of ownership, Lowes is providing an innovative value added service by reducing the customer's cost and aggravation by picking up used refrigerators, washers and dryers.
- Take an action based costing coming to evaluating steps in your service offering. Most merchants no longer need signatures for small credit card purchases as the risk of customers spicy the charges is smaller than the labor of securing it.
3. Reverse engineer buyer needs and preferences. service innovations are discovered straight through reverse engineering how people and associates use products, and straight through comprehension their behavior. The top buyer goods associates such as Procter and Gamble use innovative design houses like Ideo who supervene consumers around, and watch them straight through one way mirrors to understand their shopping and consumption behavior. Ideo brought us the first standup toothpaste and truly made the world a best place.
- show the way monthly buyer satisfaction surveys and rotate in specific questions about your services and how they can be improved. Make buyer satisfaction a success metric and engage team members to share in the results and solutions
- furnish a structure for front line employees to identify buyer problems and record them to senior management. Jack Welch made his town hall style meetings with junior staff legendary. Bonus innovation with the people closest to the customer.
4. Win with data as a differentiator. Last year I began a new food regimen that included protein for breakfast. I became hooked on Jamba Juice, in part because of the faultless nourishment data offered in a binder within the store. When Robeks opened 3 blocks from my house, they did not have any nutritional data to offer on low calorie smoothies. This comprehension and corresponding advantage has created buyer loyalty (in my case) that has nothing to do with quality, option or price.
- considered narrate the data that you make effortlessly available on your website, including goods specifications and ordering requirements.
5. Use 3rd Party Certifications as a differentiator. The Internet has provided a new venue for buyer feedback. Restaurants are rated by Zagat, hotels by Trip Advisor, thousand of merchants straight through ratings on eBay. Marketers are seeking third party validation straight through J.D. Power, Iso, and the Good Housekeeping Seal.
- Seek out 3rd parties who can validate your service claims, or training of key personnel.
- Do a touch point assessment, and have a 3rd party narrate your website, online ordering system, phone, reception area, invoices, etc to value how easy it is to do enterprise with your company
On Strategy - Use Points of Differentiation to create Your Unique Selling Proposition LOWES
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