Mature Products ... 3 Things You "CAN DO" About It

Mature Markets & Products ....

Has your market peaked?

Have your products reached the mature stage of their life cycle?

Is it getting harder and harder to differentiate yourself from your competition? 

Is it a challenge to hold price levels due to competing products dropping their prices?

Are competitors trying to take your people to get your customers?

I try to help business owners and corporate executives with the challenges of a maturing market ...... maturing products ........ often times I have to identify the problem in my consulting engagements or partnerships ........ but when it comes to maturing markets and products, business owners and corporate executives usually already "get it" when it comes to identifying their problems or it is not hard to get them to understand what the problem is ....... they are smart people .... the challenge I find is getting them to take action to deal with the problem.

I have no doubt you have heard these 2 comments before .....

1. When your horse is dead .... get off .......... 
2. When you keep doing things over and over and over & expect different results, it is defined as insanity! 

Why is it that I keep talking to so many smart people running companies who understand their problem of maturing market and products ...... but month after month.....quarter after quarter......year after year......they don't take the actions to do anything about it?

Please understand that I am not being critical when I say nothing is being done about it ..... I have been there........ trying to fix your business challenges is often like trying to repair an airplane while it is flying .... no time to land and fix it in the hangar .... got to find a way to make the repair at 30,000 feet.....

The real challenge is trying to figure out why it is sometimes easier to do nothing than to try and fix a problem that isn't going away and must be taken care of before it gets worse.

I truly believe we don't always take action on many of the things we face in all parts of our life .... whether it be the personal or the professional areas ..... because we often don't see the answer and thus don't get started ..... or we see the answer and don't know how to get from Point A to Point B ..... or we need results now and don't have the time or the needed focus to work on creating the solution.....as the saying goes .... easier said than done!

Maturing markets and products create problems for your business that don't go away ..... there is not a "wake up in the morning idea" that will solve your problem .... often times not having that idea/the answer to our problem NOW prevents us from getting started ....

In situations like these, I believe the solution is to commit to just get started ....an approach NOW ... a process ... a SMART PATH you can be confident will help you navigate as efficiently and successfully as possible from where you are to where you need to be .....

Commit To Taking These 3 Steps TODAY ..... it is the right path .... the SMART path .... these 3 things will give you the confidence to discover the right answer for your company!

Here goes .....

• Clarify Your Target Customers ..... If you haven't done this in awhile and committed it to writing, you don't have clarity. It doesn't matter how long you have been serving this customer....doesn't matter how well you think you know them .... if you haven't gone through the process of documenting who your target customer is, you don't have the clarity you need. ..... I have heard others call their target buyers a "muse" or "avatar" ...... identify the characteristics of your ideal muse or avatar .... create 3 profiles .... The "best" target ... the "middle of the road" target .... the "least likely to succeed" with target. Clarity on all this will be the foundation to stay focused as you take on the next 2 steps.

• Create a Product Funnel Model .... You may think you have this in place, but if you are in a mature market and your products/services have reached the mature stage of their life cycle, you need to start from scratch and recreate your product funnel. The key is to set up your products/services so each one leads to the next. First introduce your customers to products at an introductory level with a key focus on building trust and rapport, delivering value and helping them achieve results ...... Then have higher value products available as customers want more from you as your relationship deepens with them ....... Create a product funnel/suite that has the next product ready and keep moving your customer "up the product path" as you escalate the relationship ..... Again, the key is to recreate your product funnel suite by assessing your current products to improve competitive advantage and package the knowledge and expertise that has come from years of taking care of your customers into products/services that will help you build a new and more robust product funnel.

• Differentiate Your Marketing & Sales Approach .... now that you have clarity on who your target customers are and have created a new product funnel, look at new and better ways to connect with your prospects and customers. The way you sell directly to your prospects/customers and the approaches you can recreate with your channel partners can truly differentiate you from your competition and grow your sales at rates above industry average. There are many ways to be different and effective. One is integrating an online strategy into your selling efforts. I talk to so many people who think about this, but don't know how to do it. Trust me ... it is not that hard .... you just need some guidance on how to get from where you are to where you want to be.

If your horse is dead ....get off ...... stop doing the same things over and over and over, expecting different results. 

Take action today ... commit to a SMART Path to addressing your mature market and products .... it only takes 3 steps .... have the confidence to get started even though you don't have clarity on the answers you are looking for ...... This 3 step process will get you from where you are to where you want to be......

Let me know how I can help!!

 
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Growing Sales - New Approach for Creating Trust & Rapport with Prospects & Customers

Are you finding it harder to connect with your target prospects and customers?

Is technology making it easier in some ways to connect, but harder in others when it comes to trying to build trust and rapport?

Do you find yourself trying to get to the sale faster these days ..... before you have built the right foundation of connection between you and the buyer .... when you reach someone are you concerned because you don't know how often email and voice mail and text messages will stand in your way the next time you reach out?

Online sales communication strategies and systems are ready to effectively integrate with the more traditional phone and face to face sales methods to more effectively build trust and rapport with targets.

I have been spending a great deal of time over the last 6 months learning the best practices for building a business around Thought Leaders and Experts. People who have a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain topic. Someone who takes a specific topic/focus for what they have learned ... have become an expert in ... package it in a way that a target audience will find it useful and of high value .... and willing to "pay for it."

It has been an interesting journey from positioning to developing integrated suite of information products to the latest online sales campaigns and the technology infrastructure required to deliver messages and products. As is always the case with technology, things have changed so fast in the last couple of years, what is available now to support this kind of business online is so simple to set up and the costs are nominal to get started. I wish these alternatives existed 4 years ago when I was working on my own online "pilot" in partnership with an NBA Team. I would have spent less time and money on technology development & management and more time focusing on proving the concept and strategy.

As I have been taking my own years of business building experience and adding the "Expert" niche best practices to it, I have gotten into many conversations with people. Exploring opportunities with those who fit the Thought Leader/Expert role and how I can help them build a business around their area of expertise.

All this has also gotten me considering how the new best practices for online product marketing and sales will ultimately be more effectively integrated with the more traditional phone or face to face selling methods. When looking at the online marketing industry through the "rearview mirror," the perception is not always a good one ...... it is all about sell .. sell .. sell...do and say whatever you have to say to sell something to someone online.

Looking through the "windshield," There is a big shift taking place. Rather than sell .. sell .. sell....it is about "giving to receive." Online sales campaign best practices are more about building trust and rapport with a target audience without even discussing the product sale until multiple interactions with the target customer has delivered real value at no cost ..... regardless of whether or not they buy anything. This approach is building relationships online through trust and rapport that typically was not happening in how the online strategies were once implemented.

Now that the online sales strategy & implementation capabilities have come so far with new cost effective solution alternatives that are easy to get started and manage, I believe more and more businesses should be creating integrated suites of information products for their target audiences. Some of these businesses may choose to provide these new products bundled with their core offerings ..... some will see these new products as an opportunity for new high margin revenue streams. Whichever way these companies decide to go, I envision the approach to selling in these companies will be changing and will be using these online approaches to support the more traditional methods of building trust and rapport in the sale process to manage customer relationships and close more sales.

Are you trying to better differentiate who you are in your market?

Are you competing in a mature market & finding it harder and harder to differentiate other than price reductions that keep squeezing your margins?

Get started today and create a real tangible way to differentiate. Create high value informational products or programs that complement your core offerings. These products can truly address needs and pain points your prospects and customers are searching to address.  Start today building this into your product strategy and integrate online sales campaigns with your current phone and face to face approaches to close more sales.

Let me know how I can help!!!


 
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Position Yourself as a Thought Leader ... an Expert

Think about all the things you have learned on your career journey .... the things you have mastered ...

Consider positioning yourself as a thought leader in a "select" topic area .... someone with knowledge, advice and "how to" information that helps/adds value for a target audience ....

Take a specific topic/area of focus for what you have learned .... package it in a way that a target audience will find it useful and of high value ..... and willing to pay for it .....

Provide high value to others by "creating" information that can improve results ..... focus on creating products around your area of expertise .....

6 Steps to Building a Business ..... around your area of expertise ....

1. Choose a topic/area to focus on ..... decide what you will teach & choose a target audience to teach it to
2. Discover your audience's problems ...... identify their pain points and needs
3. Position your expertise ... create your story
4. Create something to sell .... create a product suite .... make it easy to experience & learn what you know and can share .... create a "buyer's path" that continues to add value and keeps them buying from you
5. Create an online infrastructure for marketing, sales, fulfillment & customer service .... this is not hard or costly ... there are low cost & easy to implement online systems available today .... systems that are managed and maintained online by others.
6. Create sales campaigns .... step-by-step communications to actively sell your products online and through promotional partners.

Get started today leveraging your career journey of learning .... create and sell products & services around your area of expertise.

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Discovering Your New Product Concept

I find myself thinking all the time what might a new idea or concept be that I could launch & build a business around. I am also asked the same by others ... "How can I identify an idea or concept to build a business around." Many of us are looking for that next opportunity we can launch!

My recommended approach is to consider the target audience you would like to serve. Gather information from those target customers. The information you learn from them will often create the path to identifying a new product or service they may be willing to pay for if you were to create it.

Here are some questions to ask and sentences to finish for use when gathering insights from your target audience. The insights you get from the people you talk with will leave you clues on what kind of products, programs and/or services you might consider creating.

Here goes ....

1. My target customers feel they are falling short in this area ....
2. Most of my target customers would pick a fight to protect the belief that ....
3. Most of my target customers have no idea how to .....
4. Most of my target customers have the goal to .....
5. Most of my target customers deeply value ....
6. Most of my target customers are terrified that ......
7. Most of my target customers are frustrated with these things .....
8. Most of my target customers are held back by these things ....
9. What are your target customers trying to accomplish this year? (learn this ......, master this ....., achieve this ....., have this ...., to be this ....., to feel this ...., to experience this lifestyle ...., avoid this forever ......
10. What do your target customers need to double the results they are responsible for in their business?
11. What strategies have your target customers tried to improve their desired outcomes? What has worked? What has not worked?
12. What do your target customers search (google) for ..... topics and key words?
13. What do your target customers hate to do?
14. What do your target customers love to do?
15. What do your target customers pay good money for?
16. What are the 10 questions (FAQs) your target customers seem to always have?
17. What are the 10 questions your target customers should be asking and they are not yet asking?
18. How can you add more value for your target customers and make their lives more interesting?

After gathering all the above information from your target customers, ask yourself what products, programs or services you could create that would be perceived as high value by your target customers. Would they be willing to pay for them?

Take action now to learn these customer insights and you will be 1 step closer to identifying that new product idea or concept you can get excited about! 

Let me know any comments or questions you have in the comment section below. I will respond just as soon as I can!

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Plan for 2013 - 4 Questions to Ask Yourself

As you consider your plans for 2013, ask yourself these 4 questions.

1. What frustrates you the most about your business?
2. What are you trying to accomplish this year?
3. What do you think you'd need to double your business this year?
4. What strategies have you tried to improve your business that worked and didn't work?

Share your thoughts with your Advisor or Business Coach for discussion on how she/he can help you.

I would love to hear some of your comments in the comment section below this blog. I will personally take the time to respond.

 

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Product Path to The Future - Do You Have Clarity?

Is your company's growth rate at or below your industry's growth rate?

Is your annual growth rate greater then your industry's growth rate?

How much time do you spend focusing on your products and services?

Are your product/service initiatives focused on increasing your productivity?

Are your product/service initiatives focused on maintaining your current revenue levels or getting you incremental revenue growth?

Are your product/service initiatives focused on outcomes that will grow market share and reach annual growth rates exceeding your industry's growth rate?

Most companies will find 90% of their product/service initiatives are focused on streamlining and improving their margins or maintaining revenue and at best attaining incremental revenue gains. This is especially true as industry and product life cycles reach the maturing stage of development.

The key is to fight the urge to do what everyone else is doing and shift some focus and $$ to product/service initiatives that will help build your market share. When this is done successfully, your rate of growth will exceed that of your industry's growth rate.

Consider where your competitors are focused. How does that compare to where you are focused? Ask yourself the following product/service questions about your competitors and your own company.

1. Is the focus on adding additional features to existing products?
2. Is the focus on finding new ways to bundle/package and price our current products?
3. Are there creative approaches to bundling products/services that are outside our types of products that would motivate prospects to buy our products/services if they were bundled together?
4. Are products/services being offered to address needs of specific customer segments?

As industry and company products/services mature, you will find there is a strong focus on adding additional features to existing products or finding new ways to bundle and price current products/services. 

Shift some of your focus to strategies and initiatives that will find products/services outside your product category that your prospects and customers have a high need for and bundle them with your products. 

Also spend time identifying specific customer segments for your products/services. Get clarity on their unmet needs and how you can offer personalized solutions that specifically meet the segment's needs.

Continually finding ways to differentiate your company's products/services is critical at all times. Even more so when your industry and company products/services have reached the mature phase of the product/service life cycle.

Ensure you have the right product/service strategy systems in place. Your products & services ARE your company. Product planning and development is something that needs to be done on a consistent ongoing basis. Without this, your strategy will default to reacting to your competitors. Get clarity on your product path to the future. Put your competitors in the position of reacting to what you are doing.

 
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Selecting a Business Advisor

As you consider the right person to create a business advisory relationship with, ask yourself which of the following is important to you.

1. Is willing to challenge me and any member of my team when necessary?
2. Has special expertise important to the company?
3. Is available outside meetings for advice and support?
4. Has expertise on global business issues?
5. Understands Firm's key technologies and processes?
6. Brings external contacts that are potentially valuable to the firm?
7. Has detailed knowledge of the Firm's industry?
8. Is accomplished at representing the Firm to stakeholders?

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Entrepreneurs - 15 Questions to Ask Yourself

Whether or not you are planning your start-up, launching a new product and/or focusing on what it will take to get your business to the next level, ask yourself these questions.

1. Clarify my goals ... where do I want to go?
2. What kind of enterprise do I want to build?
3. What risks & sacrifices does such an enterprise require?
4. Can I accept these risks and sacrifices?
5. Setting strategy ... how will I get there?
6. Is the strategy well defined?
7. Can the strategy generate sufficient profits and growth?
8. Is the strategy sustainable?
9. Are my growth goals too conservative or too aggressive?
10. Executing the strategy .... can I do it?
11. Do I have the right resources and relationships?
12. How strong is the organization?
13. Can I play the role required? 
14. What knowledge, experience and skills gaps exist amongst my team and I?
15. What advisors can I put in place for support? 

 
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Are Your Products Maturing - What is Next?

Are you facing more and more competition for the products you offer? Is it getting harder to differentiate your company, your brand and your products in comparison to your competitors?

Is pricing becoming more challenging inlight of competitor pricing strategies? Are prices dropping due to competing products? Are your prospects and customers more often questioning your value proposition .. your price?

Do you have a proactive approach for product development and management? How are you positioning your products/services in your markets? Do you find you are reacting to your competition?

Do you have new products in the pipeline or are you finding your efforts are focused on current product feature additions?

Are you searching for how to creatively bundle your products? Are you considering how to bundle the products of other companies in with your products to improve your value proposition and your differentiation?

Consider your current approach to developing & implementing an effective product/service strategy. Is it working for you? Do you need to make some adjustments? Some idea generators are as follows:

1. Identify areas of improvement for current products/services to improve competitive advantage
2. Determine how your products/services have evolved and how they compare to your industry and take the appropriate actions to address the GAPS
3. Ensure you have clarity for  .... who your target customers are.  The segments that are most important to you.....the segments that have the highest potential. Identify the segments you want to ignore.
4. Ensure your product/service packages fit the way your target customers want to buy and are priced at levels they will pay and are acceptable to you. Which of your customer's problems/pain points are you trying to solve? Are there customer unmet needs you are not satisfying? What are your customers willing to pay for? What are they not willing to pay for? Where is demand increasing? Where is demand declining? What switching costs prevent customers from defecting to competitors? Can customers easily find & purchase less expensive products and services?

All products and services will journey through the 4 phases of the product/service life cycle......Introduction....Growth....Maturity....Decline. Often times companies find themselves navigating their way through these phases without a process for effectively managing product/service strategy. 

Your company's products/services ARE YOUR COMPANY. Don't wake up every day reacting to your competition. Develop your own product/service strategy so you can proactively navigate your company towards a balanced product/service portfolio that manages the path for all your products/services through their life cycle.

Get started today. The right product/service strategy processes will provide the foundation for you to make better decisions to ensure competitive advantage in your markets!

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Strategic Partnerships - Advantages & Disadvantages

The Right Strategic Partnership Means:

• Spreading risk and trusting others to act in joint best interests
• A fit between partners so objectives match and activities show synergy
• Identifying complementary skills, competencies and resources in partners
• Sharing confidential information

Advantages - Strategic Partnerships Can Help An Organization:

• Find an outlet for excess capacity
• Gain quick, low risk access to new markets
• Strengthen its technological base
• Achieve economies of scale through high volume, low cost and mass distribution
• Overcome geographic, legal and trade barriers
• Speed up innovation & new product introduction

Disadvantages - Unsuccessful Partnerships May Result In The Following:

• A lack of strategic fit
• An imbalance in the relationship between the partners
• Implementation problems because of differing leadership styles 
• A lack of trust and confidence
• Slow decision making
• Key requirements for a market project are concentrated in one of the partners

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Creating a Partnership 

1. What changes are effecting our markets?
2. How long will these changes last?
3. How fast can we adapt to these changes?
4. Is investment in our own resource levels the best answer?

 

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Things You Can Do to Grow Your Business

As you consider your alternatives for growing your business to the next level .... the following should be on your list:

• Find New Markets
• Grow New Niches in Your Current Market
• Expand Product Lines
• Provide More Total Solutions to Address Customer Pain Points
• Brand Your Company & People as Thought Leaders

As you focus on the above list, you will will need to consider

• New Product Development
• Strategic Alliances
• Acquisitions or Mergers

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Get The Most Out of Your Advisor

Regardless of whether or not you are leading & managing the entire business or a specific area of the company, find the "right person" to "roll up their sleeves" on select activities/projects to increase your bandwidth and/or work in an advisory capacity with you. 

Someone who has built a company and successfully transitioned it through the many life cycle phases of a product and building a business ...... someone who will work with you to create a personalized approach you can count on to fit your style and needs .....  Helping you manage the right mix of working "on" your business vs just working "in" it. 

Too much time working "in" the business will increase the odds that the light at the end of the tunnel you travel through from one phase of business building to the next will be a train coming right at you rather than a successful journey to the next stage. 

The right advisor for you is a confidant & collaborator who understands the context of the things you face. Helping you anticipate and address the issues as well as the emotional & psychological challenges that lie ahead. The right advisor will not only help you with some of the ongoing strategic decisions you will face, but will be "up to speed on your world" enough to "roll up the sleeves" and increase your bandwidth. Playing a role when you or one of your team don't have the time to move a project forward. 

This “been there ally” will help you anticipate the obstacles & requirements for success ahead. Supporting your need to stay rooted in the present while guiding you through the operational challenges for getting to the next level. Always focused on your development & accomplishments.

Once you find the right person, consider the process you will use to optimize your time and effort to keep your advisor "up to speed" .... so he or she always has an understanding of the background on anything you need advice and support with.  The following is a framework I have found to be a good starting place to adjust and personalize in a way that is best for you:

Monthly Review - meet once a month and discuss things that you are .... or will be facing. Consider a framework like the following:

Industry

1. What changes are taking place in your industry that will have a positive or negative impact on your area of responsibility?
2. What impact will the changes have on your company if you take no action?

Markets

1. Are the markets generating 80% of your business growing or shrinking?

Customers

1. What are prospects/customers expectations of your company and staff ... by customer segment? 
2. How do these expectations compare to and/or perform in comparison to competitors today?
3. How is the customer/prospects buying process changing .... especially as you consider different customer segments?
4. What early warning signals are you aware of that could negatively impact your key customer relationships?
5. Is the average size of your "orders" growing or shrinking?

Competitors

1. Who are they?
2. How are they different than your company?
3. Are they growing? Are they failing?
4. Who are you worried about?
5. Who are their key customers?
6. Who are their key employees?
7. What/how much influence are they having on your customer segments, revenue streams, margins and why? 
8. What obstacles are they creating for you in getting and keeping customers?
9. What actions should you be taking, by whom and when?

Technology

1. What technology application can give you a competitive advantage?
2. What technology application in the hands of a competitor will harm you?

Costs

1. What cost line items are rising faster than you are comfortable with?

People

1. What are the symptoms/clues of people being turned off?
2. Who are best in your company and why should they stay 3 more years?
3. Who are average and have the potential to perform better? 
4. Who are the weakest links and why should they leave?

Basic Recurring Problems (BRCs)

1. What problems keep happening and nothing is being done about it? 
2. What are the root causes for these problems?
3. What corrective action should be taken by whom and when?

Resource Allocation

1. Are resources being focused on the right customers/prospects?
2. Are resources being focused on the right products/services?
3. Are resources being focused on the right activities?

Other Questions to Consider

1. What major opportunities do you see ahead?
2. What is your single biggest problem?
3. What is the major threat you see for your businesses and/or your area of responsibility?
4. If you could change one thing, what would you change?
5. Where is your biggest revenue producing opportunity?
6. Where is your biggest cost reduction opportunity?
7. What are you spending most of your time on over the next 3 months?
8. What things are you now doing that you would like to stop doing or would like to turn over to someone else?
9. What one thing is bugging you right now?

Keep Your Advisor Connected on Regular Basis

Look for ways to ensure your advisor has the right "database of intelligence" when it is needed to support your needs.

1. Send him e-mails/attachments providing background he can read on a regular basis.
2. Have him attend select meetings to gain understanding of select topics and staff.
3. Phone, face meeting or email to keep up to speed on select topics so your advisor can be considering feedback for when the time is right.

Select Activities/Specific Role

As you look to personalize a framework to access and use your advisor, time can be set aside weekly or monthly to address your needs.  

Proactive Advice and Feedback

The right advisor will always be "mentally" engaged/focused on your challenges and opportunities and looking for ways to add value.

Last but not least, I recommend you create a monthly retainer relationship with the right advisor. When done effectively, this method is fair to both of you. It protects you against spending more than you want .... and enables the advisor to invest time and effort and to be mentally engaged on a regular basis using his knowledge and experience for you and your objectives .... without either one of you worried about a time clock.

 

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Building Your Business - 6 Building Blocks

Business Building - 6 Building Blocks

When building your business, there are 6 key areas to focus on as you build.

Your Markets - identify and define a set of customers who have needs you can provide solutions for. 


Products and/or Services - develop them so they are the right fit for your customers and you clearly communicate the offering, the benefits and value proposition to the customer. 


Resources - what you need to acquire and/or develop to operate your business ... includes people (knowledge, experience, skill sets), equipment, facilities, $$. 


Operational Systems - processes and systems that need to be in place to ensure your business can operate and scale effectively to manage growth.......sort of like the plumbing in your home. It has to be in place and working or you can't live in the house. Think about your business processes and systems as your organization's plumbing. 


Management Systems - need to be in place for long term success...... includes strategic thinking/planning that leads to a plan you can execute, ensuring staff learns how to manage along with systems in place to manage and measure performance. 


Culture - as you add more people .... values, beliefs and traditions that influence people's behavior, productivity and results become a critical focus of leadership and management.

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