Too many companies make innovation way more complicated that it needs to be. The best source of new product ideas or problems to solve will usually come from observing your customers or directly from a customer request. Once you have identified a few promising ideas, take them to your customers and get feedback – would your customers really find big value if you solved this problem or added this new benefit?
If the answer to this question is “yes”, the next step it so identify a very small group of willing customers to work side-by-side with you in further exploring and developing the idea into an actual product or service.
The goal at this stage is to quickly get a simple working prototype up and running – a proof-of-concept. It need not be perfect and flawless. What you want is something functional that expresses the core purpose and heart of this particular innovation effort.
Once you have something “real”, you can begin to test it. Testing your new beta idea with real customers will enable you to quickly draw out the weaknesses and flaws, helping you to quickly transform your rough sketch into a finished masterpiece.
Once the product or service is ready for prime time, your marketing department can leverage the partner-based relationship that was created by the development team and your customer for a rich source of marketing and promotional material – there is no better sales rep that one of your own satisfied customers.
Copyright 2006 Christopher A. Gayle & Capital Genesis LLC ©. All Rights Reserved.
