Technology-driven, Market-driven, or RETURN-DRIVEN? Here’s what innovation is and is not!

Tuesday: Return Driven Strategy FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: Innovation is an important factor for business. It helps you, you keep up with your target market’s varying demands and preferences by ensuring that your offerings meet their needs. As business owners, we need to ask ourselves:, “How do we see genuine innovation in the firm or company?” Read on to learn some of the best practices for innovation and why it is needed. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Technology-driven, Market-driven, or RETURN-DRIVEN? Here’s what innovation is and is not! “Should we be technology-driven or market-driven?” This is one common question managers ask themselves every time they think of how to innovate their firm’s offerings. What do you think about it? Should innovation be technology-driven or market-driven? Well, if you want to generate and maximize your firm’s wealth, then you have to know that the answer to the question above is neither of the two choices. The truth about what innovation should be? It should be RETURN-DRIVEN! This means regardless of existing technology platforms and historical lines of business, you have to target unmet customer needs to justify the resources required for innovating your products or services. Return-driven firms consider all aspects of a potential offering and “what it does” for the customer. These aspects include the: Traditional product component Service component Psychological component Oftentimes, businesses will focus less on an offering’s features and more on the benefits to customers. While this is on the right track, salespeople should make sure that this is in line with fulfilling unmet customer needs. What does this imply? As someone who manages your own firm as an independent professional, you must innovate anything that affects your customer’s mental perception of your offerings. Always keep in mind that how your customers receive your offerings is AS IMPORTANT as the physical functions of your offerings. Make sure that you and your team are working well on this aspect. “Innovation is the only viable solution to the commoditization of goods.” Every business that has displayed high performance over long terms has shown an ability to “reinvent itself,” as if it were dying. Some of these successful firms have chosen to move into entirely new industries, such as how Nokia moved from being a paper company to a telecom equipment manufacturer, while others simply stepped out into related industries like how Kimberly-Clark has shown more steady change in business focus. “Innovation means experimentation.” The road to returns is paved with failures as a regular part of every day. It’s impossible to innovate without making mistakes, though you shouldn’t always use mistakes as an excuse to settle for less in your brand’s offerings. The key to innovation is making mistakes at the right levels and at the right times. BUT! This doesn’t mean you and your business should pay for failures. This simply means that failures are necessary for success. You still need to have compensation plans to be able to address negative issues or concerns ahead of time. Inspiration and innovation are real sources of wealth-creation. Troubles only exist mostly when firms focus their efforts on existing offerings instead of looking for new ways to fulfill unmet customer needs. Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s Return Driven Strategy! Learn more about what a good brand offering can help you on your journey as an independent on next week’s Return Driven Strategy!