Address these PIVOTAL questions and you will get more growth

You know you will get growth if you make your products and services more attractive to customers.  You focus on adding value to attract customers rather than extracting short term profit from them.  

Step 1. Understanding customers problems

It is a truism that people only spend money when they see something that helps them solve a problem.  

But precisely because this is so obvious, it can be easy to forget how important this is to designing products and services that customers want to buy.
Solving a problem is the only reason you ever get your credit card out or put your hand in your pocket. Funnily enough, customers are the same.

What we mean by problem means different things in different markets
  • In food and drink. the problem is an occasion, event or time of day when you need something
  • In business services, it is to get something done you cannot do your self either for reasons of time or skill
  • All the gardening products we have worked solved problems in the garden, green, weeds, growth
  • In technology products it is about enabling you to do more more things at once, or more often or in more locations  the problems are time pressure and the desire not to be tied to location
So if you focus on who the customer is and what their problems are, this provides the start point for getting your products and services right.

Step 2. Solving them better than competitors

The idea behind POSITION is really simple.  It is about standout.  But getting the right answer for your business  and delivering it everyday is hard work.

There is a lot of stuff written and talked about with regard to positioning strategy, but Game Changers look at this in a particular way.
You need to know "how do I solve this problem better than my competitors?"  "What are the alternatives the customer can consider?" and "How can we stand out?"

The frame for this positioning standout is how to solve the problem better.  This is not always about being different or differentiation, it is about standout.  So for example
  • You could be available in more places than anyone else e.g. Coca Cola
  • Some people try to be cheaper (this is very tough to sustain)
  • It can be through design and beauty
  • In food it has a lot to do with taste and health and quality
But the right answer starts with understanding the customers problem and then you identify the sustainable means by which you can be better than others at solving it

Step 3. Creating products customers love

PERFECT brings the positioning alive.  When you create the products and services that deliver the standout positioning, then you prove your standout to customers. 

With real products and practical proof the growth energy gets going in your business.  
Your positioning provides the platform for developing the products and services that solve real customer problems and address real customer needs.  

You know that to develop the best specific product ideas you have to get the whole business team excited about it.  After all it is operations, sales, marketing and finance who will work together to make it happen.

For this to happen everyone needs to understand the positioning.  Words alone are rarely enough to communicate this and to create a common understanding of it.  Words alone arenot enough to get everyone excited.

The step and this question as all about proving the promise in the positioning.  You move into action.  This step is all about making it real.  Here are some real examples in the market today where we had some input.
  • Celebrations - everyone likes all the brands, none left over
  • Miracle Gro moisture control compost - does not matter if you forget to water the plants
  • Galaxy Jewels - creamier more indulgent chocolates to share but you can still afford them
  • Mars Milk - keeps your energy levels going for longer (and tastes great)
  • Link Oil and Gas professionals - we don't just get you the right job, we will look after you and get you the next one as well
  • Fridaysmove - we are proactive and will get the house transaction done when you need it.  timing is everything

Step 4. Making sure customers can buy them 

When you have a great product or service, then 2 things need to happen for you to make sales.  

The prospective customer needs to know about it and understand what it is.  

Then it must be easy for them to transact and make the purchase.
 In the corporate world this is sometimes called channel strategy. There are two types of channels

Pull - ways that people find out about the product and understand what it has to offer
  • Advertising, 
  • Word of mouth, 
  • social media, 
  • PR
Push - ways that stimulate people to buy
  • Retail display
  • Web advertising/web shop
  • Promotion activity/price reductions
  • Direct mail/email
Knowing where you should prioritise is essential to be efficient and effective with marketing spend

Step 5. Making it happen

You know that ideas are worth nothing on their own.  It is the implementation that creates the value.  This needs to whole business to be inspired to get behind the plan

All this thinking, strategy and brilliant ideas come to nothing if the wider business team does not get excited about and get behind it.
Examples of who needs to be inspired and what needs to happen include
  • The board - need to approve investment and resource allocation
  • R&D - have to develop products and technical solutions
  • Operations - need to make it happen
  • Sales - need to communicate with customers
In the PERFECT step we discussed how Game Changers must have real ideas and great visual tools to communicate the products and services.  But Game Changers also know that having a great pitch is deeper and more profound than this.  

Having a great PITCH makes the whole plan more likely to succeed as this embraces a number of elements
  • A pitch story that is easy to follow (can be explained in under 2 minutes)
  • Evidence about why it will work based the business capability and customer insight
  • Robust financial assessment
  • Samples, visuals and video that get the idea across
  • Internal supporters throughout the business
Business leaders who know this and practice this are much more successful growth leaders than those who don't

Attractive Thinking

Chris writes about being a Game Changer and is always looking for great examples of Game Changer thinking and practice to learn from and share with you.  You can follow this on our blog
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