May - 2018

Lateral thinking:
Absolutely.

Our blog posts

May 9, 2018
5 min

The Jobs-to-be-done Hierarchy

Jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) is a great concept helping to create innovation strategies, new products and value propositions which people find meaningful and valuable. It reframes the customer problem by asking, what jobs customers are trying to get done, the perspective of developers and innovators changes towards more customer focus almost immediately. The idea behind JTBD was initiated by Ted Levitt, the originator of the quote «people don’t want a drill, but a hole in the wall»

May 6, 2018
1 min

True customer understanding

Line managers tend to be biased by their role and function. Sales thinks in terms of price. Engineers think about technology. Marketing people think about customer segmentation and communication channels. That’s why they ask customers one-sided questions and hear what they like to hear. As a consequence, innovation is misguided, the growth strategy might be flawed. Isn’t it frustrating that this happens despite knowing the customers? Understanding is different. It is digging

May 6, 2018
1 min

Everyone can be creative!

Everyone can be creative! Our ideation sessions confirm what David Kelley from IDEO says in this TED talk. The Vendbridge creativity sessions include a mix of “normal” people from our clients. And all sessions generated a list of at least 10 innovative concepts – and many more good ideas! Our recipe: a) Ask a precise ideation question focusing on an unmet customer need and b) apply moderation techniques that enable people to think out of the box. Here is his TED talk: #Creati

May 6, 2018
1 min

Do you still believe Innovation is like looking for easter eggs?

It is so much fun to watch my kids running around in our garden trying to find their Easter nests. They try and fail, and try and fail, and… Of course, I always know if they will find something or not. Probably this is the reason why it is so much fun to watch. It is still a widespread belief that innovation only works by trial and error. In this respect, innovation is like looking for Easter eggs. If this was so, I would still believe in the Easter bunny. We say: Innovating

May 6, 2018
1 min

Close the gap between customer insights and implementation

To become more customer-centric and innovative, many companies carry out market research or ask their sales force to identify what their customers want. Only to find quite generic insights that are already known. For example, banks find out that “relationship is key”, mobile operators that users want “good network quality” and life insurance companies that clients want “more flexibility”. Not very useful to guide engineers and product developers, we thought. And co-created in

May 6, 2018
1 min

People don’t want Christmas gifts

«Customers don’t buy a drill. They buy a quarter-inch hole», said marketing guru T. Levitt already in the 1960s. And he meant: Think differently about how to address the needs of your customers. It seems that Levitt’s thought never made it into innovation. Not more than 10% of all new products are successful, that is, still on the market after three years and fulfilling needs. Apparently, the remaining 90% don’t fulfill customer needs. We look at innovation from a different a

May 6, 2018
1 min

Where good ideas come from

#Creativity #Ideas #Innovation

May 6, 2018
1 min

Geschäftsmodell-Innovationen

May 6, 2018
1 min

Are your customers committed?

If yes, they recommend your products or services to friends and colleagues. If not, they just use them with the risk to switch to other products later. Think about yourself as a buyer. Which airline do you just use, and which do you recommend? Which supplier is not just a supplier, but also a pleasure to work with? Or which executive search firm would you directly call without considering competitors? It is our aspiration that our clients’ customers are committed with heart a

May 6, 2018
2 min

The concrete wins over the abstract

All companies that have been in business for some years say they know the needs of their customers. They mention needs like «quality», «flexibility» or «service» as being the key drivers for purchase and usage. There is only one little problem: Those needs don‘t resonate with customers. That‘s why most products are perceived as equal. And bought on price. Where is the issue? Executives are trained to conceptualize. They think in abstract terms in order to cope with the increa

May 6, 2018
2 min

Value proposition: what grabs the customer?

Question 1: Do we bring our clients added value? No, is the loud answer. Neither we nor our products bring added value; it is the customers themselves that create added value. In B2B, products help to achieve more sales, to increase the price or reduce operating costs. In B2C, for example, products lead to a better appearance, a faster healing process or a comprehensive sense of security. The idea that we as a company create the value is not customer-focused. So, question 2:

May 6, 2018
1 min

We only accept successful innovation

In 2008, the top 1000 innovation companies spent USD 532 billion only on R&D (Booz Allen, 2009). However, success rates of new products have been dramatically low for years – less than 10% meet ROI targets (Business Week, 2005). The majority of new products withdraw from the market within a few years. Companies seem to create products that customers don’t want. Hard to accept? We thought so too. That’s why we apply a methodology with practical tools to put the customer first

May 6, 2018
2 min

More agility at the front-end of the innovation process

From a workshop with Marco de Polo from the Roche New Concept Incubator in Silicon Valley. When it comes to innovation design, there is the wrong way, the conventional way and the new agile design way. We thought about combining the most promising elements of these approaches in order to get the best out of it: Quick, but still profound outside-in understanding of unmet consumer needs, iterated with focused ideation sessions and rapid prototyping. The wrong way of innovation

May 6, 2018
1 min

Customers want more value, not a lower price

A cup of coffee costs 5 cents traditionally prepared, but many people pay 50 cents for a Nespresso. Mineral water is 500 times more expensive than tap water – at the central station even 3,500 times more. Despite the crisis, a global nuts&bolds dealer is able to increase sales in the upscale market for special bolts. Kia and Dacia sell low-cost cars but are not market leaders. One of the world’s leading producers of citric acid defies Chinese low-price products with European

May 6, 2018
5 min

How to enter the premium grill segment: customer pains provide the clue

How do we enter a new segment? What is most relevant for premium grill users? We have plenty of ideas in the pipeline – but are we betting on the right things? How do we achieve true innovations rather than incremental improvements? These were our client’s questions. The answers lay in understanding users’ perspective. The Challenge OUTDOORCHEF, a DKB (www.dksh.com) Household brand, is a leading manufacturer and seller of premium grills. Over 25 years ago, the company became

May 6, 2018
4 min

Letter to the Customer Insight

Dear Customer Insight! I finally want to thank you. We have been knowing each other for more than 35 years. Today, everybody is acquainted with you. If I google you, I get more than 200 billion hits. They say you are essential for good promotion and strong messages. Product innovations that don’t care about you will fail. They even use you to formulate ground-breaking business models and strategies. Everybody seems to know you, but no one actually knows precisely who you are.

May 6, 2018
10 min

From Insight to Growth – It’s the customers who set the rules

To grow in a market, a company needs products that offer either greater value or a lower price. From a financial perspective, the former is more attractive. Since value is subject to the customer’s momentary perception, decision-makers need to be perfectly clear on what their customers really want, what they are doing to accomplish a task and what is getting in their way, whether consciously or not. The challenge here is that with each new solution in the market, customers’ v

May 6, 2018
2 min

Case study: Hearing the hearing impaired

Applying a job-based approach to customer insight discovery in product innovation in the implantable hearing solutions market ABSTRACT The continuous development of innovative product solutions that profitably address evolving customer needs is a critical success factor in the medical device industry. Market success is dependent on the innovators’ understanding of the unmet needs of a number of key customer groups like physicians, payors and patients. The first task in innova

May 6, 2018
1 min

A story on 4 wheels

What BMW understood is that the customers don’t care about a list of technical features. What the customer convinces is a whole story about what your product is. For BMW the message is clear: You don’t buy a car, you buy special moments of joy. A BMW guarantees the pleasure you experience while driving, no matter the circumstances. Joy is a very intimate, personal feeling and most of us strive for it. Because in moments of joy you are fully with yourself, you are fully alive.

May 6, 2018
1 min

Innovation – Not a question of chance!

Innovation leads to growth, but innovations fail often. The article shows why this is the case and how in three systematic steps organic growth through innovation can be achieved and sped up – while significantly reducing the risk of failure. Find the full article here (German): #Innovation #Jobstobedone #Strategy

Lateral thinking: Absolutely.

Our blog posts

Lateral thinking:
Absolutely.