Products and Services Inevitably Commoditize. Companies Don’t Have To. Dean McMann, Founding Partner of McMann & Ransford, discusses the importance of Customer Intimacy.
Customer Intimacy Overview Video
Innovating Past the Customer: The Limits of Innovation
In our line of work, we often see companies which innovate past the point that customers need or will pay for.
We have seen this phenomenon in almost every B2B product group.
The cause? A mistaken belief or assumption that companies can compete only through continuous innovation which is translated as continuous product differentiation. At a certain point this leads to product over-engineering – too many features, product bloat, unnecessary complexity, and product extensions which customers dislike. Technology replaces common sense.
Developing True Solutions – Not Product Development
Typically in the Form phase of the Customer Intimacy Journey, you will develop the initial True Solutions™ sets and take them to market. Like product development, a framework and process exists to define, develop and take your Solutions to market in a deliberate and defined manner. This building block is key to your Intimacy Engine™ success, so it is important to recognize early on what is different about developing True Solutions™ compared to typical product development.
So what is different?
The Customer Intimacy Journey: A Blueprint for Change
The challenge for any significant change initiative is maintaining motivation and focus throughout the effort. Most change initiatives fail because of this very issue. Both individuals and corporations suffer from this phenomenon – personal improvement (like weight loss) is difficult because the change in habit must be maintained for a long period of time without … Continue reading “The Customer Intimacy Journey: A Blueprint for Change”
