It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~W. Edwards Deming
A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem. Albert Einstein
Twitter
I was at a TAB meeting when one of the participants asked me if I was on Twitter. When I replied “No”, her response was, “You have to. You’ll learn so much.” And so I signed up. My initial impression wasn’t great as I seemed to only be learning about weather anomalies. Thankfully, I figured out that it’s a matter of whom you follow so I “un-followed” the Weather Channel and started looking for credible business Twitterers. In the interest of full disclosure: I’m a neophyte given that savvy social networkers follow thousands of people while I find my current 126 like drinking from a fire hose. C’est la vie. Interestingly enough, my meeting companion proved correct in that I learned some things. Well, maybe re-learned would be a better way of putting it. Regardless, it got me thinking.
First, I discovered an interesting article on Social Media that suggested that social media isn’t about advertising. It’s about (wait for it) socializing. Really? Interesting concept, albeit not new. Lots of people have been suggesting for a while that the online rules of engagement shouldn’t differ significantly from face to face interactions. Still, it did seem somewhat novel given that I think many forget this simple common sense concept, even many of the apparently Twitter-wise. Pestering is annoying and when something is annoying we just want it to go away. And while some might get away with doing things like sending promotional e-mails without an unsubscribe feature typically it just demonstrates ignorance and hurts credibility.
Innovation
I also came across a link to a book that will be coming out soon about innovation. I won’t put in a plug for the author given I haven’t read it and to be truthful I’m not sure I’m going to. But his premise did intrigue me; that you need to innovate to stay viable in business. While this concept also isn’t new, it got me thinking. For example:
· What’ job’ does your product or service ‘get hired’ to do?
The answer generally isn’t as obvious as you might think. For example, years ago I read, “The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth” by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor. There was one story that stood out for me: a quick-service restaurant chain wanted to increase their milkshake sales revenue. When they asked their customers “What job are you hiring the milkshake to do?” they found out, to their surprise, that people were ‘hiring’ their milkshakes as a breakfast alternative when they had long commutes. The milkshake could be handled easily while driving and wasn’t as likely to be as messy or difficult as bagels or breakfast sandwiches. It could also be made to last which took some of the boredom out of the commute. The findings were significant: people would sacrifice healthier alternatives for convenience and still being able to make it to lunchtime without feeling uncomfortably hungry.
I’ve often wondered if this singular insight is what drove the plethora of Smoothies being introduced into the market: a logical innovation. Smoothies provide everything the milkshakes did but have the added benefit of being a healthier choice.
The factors that innovators need to take into account are:
· An innovation is only worth pursuing if it is better at accomplishing the customer’s desired aim/job than existing alternatives.
· Entrepreneurs/Businesses need to understand what those jobs are.
· Sales and Marketing people are good at understanding customer’s needs. Engineers are not; they’re good at developing technical solutions. As Engineers are typically the innovators, they need to work with Sales/Marketing to understand what the customer wants.
To put this in perspective, Jim Collins (author of “Good to Great”) says that great companies have indicated that technology was way down the list on factors that contributed to their success. But it is important to note that this is not the same as being able to practically apply, or adapt, technology in a way that resonates with the customer. It may seem like a minor distinction but is consistent with ‘Guru’ Collins evangelizing “First Who, Then What” as being critically important.
Product Life Cycles
Which brings me to Product Life Cycles because it’s not something most entrepreneurs think about but they should.
· Where is your business/product/service in its life cycle? Young? Old? On its deathbed?
Some businesses have much longer life cycles than others which are affected by many factors such as:
· The current market
o How do competitor’s offerings address getting customer’s ’jobs’ accomplished? Where are they in their life cycle? Are you in a different/unique space or fighting in a crowd?
o What effect is the economy having?
· Where is the market going or trending?
o No one has a crystal ball but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that manufacturing is on the decline, as is printing. Printing is long in the tooth, technology- wise, and manufacturing is more economically viable in other parts of the world. You don’t want to be left trying to sell buggy whips when the market is moving on.
o Will the economy improve, stay flat or worsen?
o If not manufacturing, then what? Pundits believe that business offerings need to be creative. Hence consultative types of businesses are on the rise.
o Are new competitors likely to emerge? How will their offering differ/address the job they’re being hired to do?
In summary, business owners need to figure out how to evolve. The only constant is change. Unfortunately, many business owners are way too bogged down in the current crisis of the day to focus beyond the here and now. They can’t see the forest for the trees. Too bad because it’s the ones who keep their focus on satisfying customer’s needs (help them to accomplish the jobs they’re trying to do) in the most effective way possible, that will have the best chance of long term survival.
