By Mary Poul

Those of you familiar with Jeffrey Shuman’s book and work on the Rhythm of Business are already flaming, ‘doesn’t she get it – failure is part of the rhythm of a business.’ In this case, I am referring to the ultimate failure – shut down the business and close up shop.

After wrapping up our interview with expert Mohan Sawhney, with whom we developed iCanPilot’s software, Design Your Value Proposition, I realize that losing the rhythm is how value propositions, and then businesses turn bad.

When asked how he has seen companies screw up their value propositions and what are the consequences, Mohan had this to say,

‘Well one situation that I see very commonly is that a product is brought to market and thrown over the wall to the marketing department, and there is no clarity around who is it for, what does it do, and they are then supposed to come up with some sort of a marketing plan for a product that really had no customer in mind. So that’s one problem that I see – that you have a product without a clear market or a clear segment or a clear customer in mind – so it fails in the marketplace.

Another problem that I see is, when there is a lack of clarity around which customer and what situation or scenario you build your product for, the tendency is to throw in everything but the kitchen sink with respect to product features. So you end up with products that are designed with too many features that are actually not relevant for a majority of the customers. So you get the bloated product that is too expensive and really doesn’t appeal to anybody in particular. It does something for everybody, but everything for nobody in particular. So these are some common problems that I see when companies don’t have clarity around the value proposition right from the get-go when they’re building a product, right to the point when they are taking it to market.’

A bloated product that doesn’t get the job done for anyone – not exactly an entrepreneur’s dream. And yet Robert Cooper and other product innovation experts find this to be the most common cause of failure since the dawn of new product development. Sadly, this hasn’t changed over the 30+ years it has been tracked either. Are we doomed to a world of failed businesses that are unable to keep in tune?

The obvious answer is to do better customer research. My observation as to why research hasn’t raised the success rates of new product launches over so many years is that the timing and the pitch is off. No wonder we lose the rhythm! As Jeffrey Shuman has documented, successful business ideas remain in flux throughout their development and launch. If your company is not prepared to evolve what you are bringing to market as you continue to get smarter from customer interactions, put away your harmonica before the show begins. No ideas remain completely intact from conception to birth.

What is the point of getting smarter if you can’t employ what you have learned? Adoption of customer insights even after a product launches is critical to assure your value proposition doesn’t go stale as new competitive options emerge and your customers’ work evolves. As to the pitch, what and who you research can get tricky.

Mohan has a model he refers to as the Teeter-Totter framework to make sure all of the critical attributes of a Value Proposition are addressed. Often forgotten are the balancing attributes to your value and differentiation. How well do you understand what your company will need to do to adopt your company’s solution? Have you researched how they inventory what they purchase now? How employees are trained? What certifications or approvals may be affected if they switch to buying from your company? To learn more about the Teeter-Totter framework, you can go to the Resources page on http://www.icanpilot.com and listen to the full interview with Mohan Sawhney.

Working Smarter is a rhythm – Learn > Get Smarter > Evolve >Learn > Get Smarter > Evolve.. .. It has a nice beat when you keep it going.

Work Smarter with iCanPilot

www.icanpilot.com

About the Author: Mary Poul is President of

iCanPilot

, a software company that helps marketing teams perform like experts on the job regardless of current skill levels. Mary formerly deployed marketing excellence initiatives globally for 3M.

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for information on iCanPilot’s work with Mohan Sawhney to Design Your Value Proposition.

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