Many innovations come from a deeper level of customer and market understanding. They go beyond what current customers say they need. They solve problems that customers either don’t realize they have or didn’t know could be solved. These innovations create needs and performance gaps only once customers start using them and get turned on to the possibilities. Continue reading →

Advertising executive, Charles Brower once said, “A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right person’s brow.” Continue reading →

Early in my sales career I was introduced to the Law of Averages. It’s been a key concept of direct sales for many decades. The Law of Averages basically teaches salespeople that if you want to double or triple your sales, you need to double or triple the cold calls and sales presentations you make. Continue reading →

Success is one of the leading causes of failure. Market and customer research is a leading cause of tunnel vision.

When trains were first developed, the King of Prussia confidently predicted,”No one will pay good money to get from Berlin to Potsdam in one hour when he can ride his horse there in one day for free”. Continue reading →

The environment of most organizations is too poisonous for innovation and organizational learning to flourish. A mistake is generally a CLM — career-limiting move. Making a mistake in front of many managers is like cutting yourself in front of Dracula. So people become defensive. Continue reading →

Make sure that you and people throughout your organization spend lots of time in external benchmarking and “corporate tourism” mode, looking for good ideas to swipe. Many of the opportunities or problems you’re facing now are old hat to somebody somewhere. Continue reading →