Beat Walther tells how the concrete wins over the abstract:
Do you also notice that many new products simply don't excite the customers? They don't resonate and don't give a reason to switch from an existing solution to a new solution.
Why is this?
One cause is that the scoping for an innovation strategy or a new product is too conceptual and abstract. Let me give you some reasoned example from our clients:
A new insurance product should offer better transparency. Transparency in what sense?
A company says: a new line of washing machines should be more sustainable. What exactly is sustainability in the eyes of the customers?
A machine tool company says: our next generation machines should be more convenient to use. Convenience is a vague concept.
Or a medtech company asks for innovation that should bring more value to patients. What is value really?
Customers think, decide and feel on a concrete level. They want to know what a new product brings to their daily live. They don't want to make an effort to figure out what this abstract concept really means. And simply stop listening. That's why our Customer Focused Innovation process or "CFI" captures at the source how people measure success. A single job is broken up in more than fifty concrete metrics. Metrics can be quantified and ranked from most relevant to least relevant. This informs the innovation strategy and guides the developers towards concrete unsolved problems. And it helps your marketing people to craft truly compelling messages that resonate and win the hearts and minds of your customers. CFI helped more than 100 companies to win with the concrete over the abstract. In dozens of industries, in B2B, B2C or healthcare. Challenge us, we love to frame it for your industry.