Market Segmentation: The Business Case - · PDF fileMarket Segmentation The Business Case Rapidinnovation.com 3 ContaCt us: info@ The salespeople prospected for anyone in their territory

Market Segmentation: The Business CaseConcentrate on your most profitable customers for greater returns and more effective use of your limited resources

Author: José Campos ([email protected])

Rapidinnovation.com

This is the first in a series of articles about the value, implementation and business reasons for market segmentation

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Market Segmentation: The Business Case

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Executive Summary“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” —Alexander Graham Bell

These are difficult times due to the worldwide competition, limited budgets, and the relentless need to deliver constant profits and sustained growth. How can you increase revenues, decrease costs and reduce risk using your existing resources? The way to do it all is to focus on market segments — selecting the distinct subsets of customers that offer the highest profit and growth potential, and then focusing on capitalizing on those opportunities. This also requires that you avoid customer groups that add to costs, distract your employees and drain your promotional budget while delivering little or no profit.

Market segmentation will:

● Increase revenues by helping you focus on more complete, high-value offerings, where the margins are more attractive — and avoiding segements where margins are low and the cost of selling is high.

● Decrease R&D costs by focusing your R&D resources on value creation for targeted customers eager to procure the right solutions — and cutting waste from product development by eliminating features and services not valued by your chosen customers.

● Reduce sales downtime by avoiding the many sales calls it takes to force-fit a product into the wrong segment and instead focusing on customer groups that find your solutions exceptionally valuable.

● Reduce risks by giving you a deeper understanding of your targeted customers than your competitors. Focusing market-research efforts on targeted segments will make this understanding possible.

Most market segmentation failures result not from the inadequate division of a market into subsets, but from the failure to plan, execute and monitor consistently based on the selected segments, in short lack of tenacity. Success is achieved through a persistent focus, daily and monthly, on target segments — not simply by dividing a market into slices of the pie on a flip chart at the annual strategic planning retreat.

This paper explains the no-nonsense steps to apply segmentation principles and maximize their benefits.

Case Study

The ChallengeHardware and software company MSC Inc.1 introduced a family of mini-supercomputers to be used by scientists and engineers for complex computer simulations. Revenues were not ramping up as fast as desired, and sales costs were high.

A situational analysis showed that, although they were trained on the computer features and supplied with sales tools, salespeople had been given little direction or support as to which market segments to pursue and which customers to call first. Unfortunately, the initial marketing communications programs were also ineffective at generating sales leads because they were too generic and lacked focus.

1 This case study is based on a real-world situation; although, the name of the company has been changed

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The salespeople prospected for anyone in their territory who needed high-performance computing, but this was an inefficient use of sales time, as every situation had to be customized and supported from scratch. It was also very expensive to evaluate each prospect’s software to prove the computer’s speed, as a team of analysts had to work with each customer’s software to convert, optimize and benchmark it.

SolutionMSC divided the scientific and engineering computing market into segments and focused on a few key targets. To implement the program for the first targeted segment, computational chemistry, the company:

● Conducted market research to understand the segment in detail, and designed a strategy to capitalize on the opportunity.

● Wrote a computational chemistry sales guide that included the terminology used by the targeted customers, relevant concepts, customer value propositions and competitive information. The sales guide also had a clear profile of the types of companies in this business, the titles of the individuals who made the purchase decisions and even the initial premise for the sales call with known problems they were trying to address.

● Created ads, brochures and presentations specifically for computational chemists. The message was written in the chemist’s language, and more important, it focused on the types of problems they were trying to solve and included value propositions targeted to their emotions.

● Optimized well-known computational chemistry software programs for MSC computers and made them available to researchers, which created additional value and demonstrated the computational power of the new product in a relevant way to the targeted audience.

● Sponsored a North Atlantic Treaty Organization computational chemistry conference attended by leading researchers from around the world.

ResultsThe salespeople’s time was more productive and the cost of sales decreased because:

● The sales team had a list of qualified prospects to contact to better manage their territory — and avoid targetting prospects where there was little potential for success.

● Salespeople had a carafully targetted and packaged presentation and support material so they didn’t have to research and create sales tools themselves.

● Salespeople were able to communicate more effectively because they knew the challenges the prospects were facing and could articulate the value of investing in MSC mini-supercomputers.

● The company didn’t have to benchmark software for each unique sales situation.

● The R&D team was not distracted with questions from segments that were not selected, so they could focus on creating new value.

● Marketing developed better ways to understand the segments, and acquired a deeper understanding of the selected customer groupings.

Revenue increased because: ● Networking and cross-referencing within the computational chemistry community generated

highly qualified sales leads for prospects predisposed to purchase; this was due to the high relevancy of the messaging and the solutions MSC had created.




● MSC had more credibility because it was mentioned on reference sites and in documented results from users in the targetted segement.

● MSC offered a more complete solution than competitors because public domain computational chemistry codes had been converted and optimized to run on the company’s computers; which could not be done using the “general purpose” strategy, i.e., all-things-to-all-people.

Sales growth was rapid, thanks to increased awareness, more effective sales, a “whole product” and references for added credibility. In just three years, this and similar market development programs helped MSC multiply the product line revenues by 20. Without the multiplying effect of becoming a well-known supplier in a small, well-defined segment, MSC would have continued to struggle with expensive, isolated sales situations. Segmentation provided the focus needed to grow quickly using existing resources.

Review of Segmentation BasicsSegmentation is the division of a market into distinct subsets of customers and the use of those subsets, or segments, in decision-making. It’s the grouping of customer types, based on a clear and verifiable set of criteria, to understand needs, trends, biases, opportunities and threats. Deciding which segments to target should guide every function in a company, from marketing communications to sales and service, and from engineering to manufacturing. It should be considered at every level of activity, from long-range strategic and operational planning to daily tactical decision-making and historical reporting. All functions and levels of the company should focus on those target segments and de-emphasize the others.

For decision-making, companies can use market segmentation to:

1. Prioritize new product development efforts with corresponding product roadmaps based on an approved segmentation. Which ensures that you optimize your limited resources to the areas of highest potential and avoid marginal segements

2. Frame the business case for all new product development around the targeted segments that provide the right gross margin — while avoiding the risk of trying to be all things to all people.

Define your business objectives

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Research the market and perform opportunity analysis

Formulate initial segementation validate against business objectives to reduce risk

Communicate target segments to everyone

Focus everyone on serving the target segments with passion

Apply segmentation to all planning and analysis activities

Update research and actualize your segmentation yearly

Measure against business objectives

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5

6

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High -level Segmentation Process

The above diagram shows a conceptual model of the process to develop and deploy a segmentation strategy.

Note the focus on measuring against business objectives. Also the need for research and validation




3. Adopt a price-for-value strategy by concentrating on those segments that provide the right level of gross margin and are willing to procure the right solution to their problems.

4. Develop customized marketing programs that optimize promotional budgets by focusing on the most profitable segments and avoiding marginal groupings of customers that simply drain the budget and produce little, if any, profit.

5. Optimize R&D and increase innovation by developing only product features valued by targeted customers and not developing capabilities for segments that can’t provide the right gross margin.

6. Establish appropriate service options targeted to the habits of targeted segments.

7. Design a distribution strategy to optimize sales dollars.

Click here for additional areas where segmentation is critical: Appendix A

What Level of Certainty?The enduring question in segmentation is the level of confidence you need to make business decisions. For example, could you make a critical business decision with 30 percent certainty? How about 70 percent certainty? The answer depends on whether you’re a risk-taker or risk-averse. We suggest that any confidence level above 50 percent is sufficient to drive decisions. But you may feel that 50 percent is too risky — and you would be right, assuming you are risk-averse. The key is to understand your comfort zone in making decisions.

The level of certainty in segmentation can be managed. It is driven by four factors:

• The breadth and depth of research you perform to create and sustain your segmentation.

• The validity of the data you use.

• The level of risk management you implement in your model.

• The frequency with which you update the segmentation to keep it realistic and relevant.

Generally, the more research you do, the higher the level of certainty — assuming your research follows industry guidelines for accuracy, discipline, integrity, etc.

Common Mistakes in SegmentationFew would argue against the concept or goals of segmentation, as it clearly has benefits to offer a company. As with so many management practices, failures in segmentation usually happen not because of flaws in the concept, but because of shortcomings in its execution. Here are some of the common mistakes and how to avoid them:

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Segmentation is Not Just a “Marketing Thing”Market segmentation helps you optimize all your corporate resources.

It allows R&D to focus innovation on the valuable and most critical segments. It improves your business models by providing more resolution and clarity to your financial models. It allows for more focused training of your distribution channels by avoiding secondary segments where the cost-of-selling would be too high — while focusing on segments where rapid sales are possible. Your messaging can be more targeted and relevant because it is focused on segments that value your offering




Corporate ritual. This is segmentation as an exercise in data collection and segment definition, usually as part of an annual strategic planning process. The disconnect occurs when the segments aren’t used for subsequent planning and decision-making. As a senior manager, you must use the target segments as a guide to planning and actions throughout the year and throughout the company.

Unsupported segmentation. With deadlines staring them in the face, many teams rush into segment definitions and decisions without proper research. They decide how to divide the market based on their personal experiences and base their assessment of the opportunities in each segment on anecdotes. As the individual responsible for delivering results in the form of profits and growing market share, you should challenge the segmentation process, asking to see the data.

Too many or too few targets. Once they come up with a segmentation scheme, companies often make the mistake of targeting all the segments. If you do that, you’ll end up with diluted, ineffectual programs — some aimed at segments that are not particularly attractive. Other companies overcorrect and focus on too few target segments to meet their financial goals. The solution is a middle ground: targeting a range of segments broad enough to have the potential to meet your business objectives and specific enough to facilitate tailoring a superior marketing mix.

Too many segmentation frameworks. In some cases, the concept of segmentation is so attractive that each department creates its own segmentation scheme. Sales groups use variables that are important to the selling process; marketing communications groups use variables that are important to advertising, public relations and promotion. R&D probably has a product-centric scheme. While each scheme may be useful for its department, multiple segmentation schemes don’t provide the focus and clarity needed to serve the company as a whole. There should be a single master segmentation, and all other schemes must serve it.

The Business Case for Market SegmentationCan you think of a management tool that has the potential to increase revenues, decrease costs and reduce risk all at the same time, even in view of tight budgets? Most management tools force a trade-off between these three variables. For example, a product extension strategy may offer increased revenue, but in the short term, it will increase costs and risk.

The reason market segmentation has the potential to yield positive results in all three dimensions — increase revenue, decrease costs, reduce risk — is that it diminishes the waste and uncertainty that come with trying to pursue too many opportunities at once. All too often, companies try to cast too broad a net, assuming the broader the addressed market, the more potential revenue. Research shows this is not the case — (Click here for additional business benefits of segmentation: Appendix B)

A Strategic Planning Institute study of the profit impact of marketing strategies (PIMS) showed that firms with market shares over 40 percent average a return on investment (ROI) 2.5 times higher than that of firms with market shares under 10 percent, and increasing market share by 10 percent adds a 5 percent increase in ROI. The message: Don’t enter a new market unless you can capture 25 percent to 30 percent market share in a few years. Focus on a few niche segments and become a big fish in those ponds.

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Participate in the DialogClick here if you have questions, comments or suggestions. The author welcomes your participation in this important topic.

● Do your product proposals identify the segments that will provide the most revenue for the new product?

● Does your Strategic Plan identify the growth segments, “exit” segments and their relationship to your competitors?

● Does your R&D prioritize the roadmap by importance to specific segments?

● Is the sales training for your distribution channels centered around specific segments?

● Is your messaging finely targeted to specific segments where your value will be compelling?

Leading the Segmentation Strategy: the Challenge for ExecutivesFour essential ingredients to lead a segmentation strategy effectively:

1. Champion the strategy by continually reinforcing its importance, relevance to your business plans, and expectations that everyone will apply it. The vivid support of an executive is an indispensable ingredient for segmentation to work

2. Make sure the necessary research is completed, and valid. This research is relentless as the need to actualize the information does not go away. Over time, given rigorous research, your model will gain certainty and your decisions will be more defensible.

3. Make decisions that align with the segmentation strategy and your company’s capabilities and resources. This includes requiring that all product proposals demonstrate the fit of the new product to specific segements. Also, Product Marketing Managers should demonstrate that their product roadmaps for growth is based on solid data from the targetted segements. R&D is confident that they are deploying their resources based on the priority set by your segementation strategy

4. Hold each department accountable; you must continually reinforce focusing on targeted segments in planning and operations. Segmentation must be part of the KPI’s of mangers as well as their performance reviews.

If your company has never been through a formal segmentation initiative, a great time to do it would be before your next strategic planning session. The initiative will provide information and focus that will make many of your strategic and resource allocation decisions much easier.

Markets change faster than ever, so if you have segmented your market in the past, it’s probably time to review the criteria for segmenting, update the opportunity analysis and revisit the target-market decisions.

Continue to additional Resources


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Jose Campos Principal Consultant and Founder, RapidinnovationJose and his team of seasoned consultants collaborate with B2B companies around the world on the methods, tools and cultural shifts needed to rapidly and consistently deliver superior value to customers.

He has spent his career working to define and deliver innovative products to market. For 30 years he has passionately focused on developing new methods and approaches to discover and deliver customer value in the tumultuous world of high-tech.

Jose has written several acclaimed books, including Voice of the Customer for Product Development, a methodology for discovering, prioritizing and using customer requirements to create clearly differentiated products faster than the competition, and Risk Management for Product Development, which includes strategies and methods to reduce the impact of uncertainty on your investment. Jose was also co-author of Project Management Toolbox in collaboration with Dr. Dragan Milosevic.

Their focus on high-tech and their technical background allow Jose and his team of seasoned consultants to provide meaningful and practical coaching to technology professionals. They have traveled the world to help R&D and Marketing teams improve their ability to create innovative products customers love.

Contact Jose: [email protected]

Additional Resources

About Rapidinnovation, LLC.A few of the critical questions we have helped answer:

• How can we get closer to our customers in order to create more profitable products?

• What market segments are profitable, not-profitable, growing and where should we invest our R&D and Mar-

keting Dollars?

• How do we grow beyond our core?

• How can we reduce time-to-market and shorten time-to-profit?

• How can we make Agile work for us?

• How do we make our schedules more predictable?We work with our customers by focusing on the high-leverage areas of the company: R&D and Marketing where we collaborate, train, coach and facilitate every aspect of product development, innovation, and profitability. We also work with Senior Staff to develop measurable growth management strategies and then help in the clear execution.

We have been serving the high-technology community around the world for the last 17 years. Our ability to concentrate on technology, B2B companies has given us a unique insight into the dynamics of the fastest-moving markets around. Every one of our Business Consultants is a seasoned veteran of corporate life in high-tech companies. All have engineering degrees with advanced degrees in business plus years of experience helping technology companies achieve their business goals — credentials that are brought to bear to solve our customers’ challenges.

Our list of satisfied customers includes some of the leading global technology companies. Contact us to help you solve the most thorny problems confronting you.

Visit us at: www.rapidinnovation.com


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Areas Where Segmentation Can be AppliedSegmentation can be used in many different ways to ensure profitable growth in a product development organization. Traditionally, market segmentation is viewed as a tool the marketing team uses. This sells short the benefits and applications of segmentation. It has a place in strategic planning — to focus strategies on very clearly defined areas of the marketplace, thus optimizing resources and creating strategic alignment. It can also be used by R&D to obtain and use requirements from very specific customer groups, where value creation will have maximum impact on profitable and fast-growing segments.The following table shows a few of the application areas. The table is not an exhaustive list, but simply a showcase of possible application.

Application Area Description Context

1Strategic planning

Include the segmentation as an integral part of the strategic planning process to influence business decisions

Integral means that it will be a centerpiece of your periodic, strategic planning processes:

1. All strategic initiatives will be evaluated against the segmentation.

1. Strategic decisions will be made with reference to the segmentation.

1. Strategic planning will revolve around the segmentation.

● Enable focus and strategic alignment by providing a clear definition of the targeted customers.

● Optimize resources by avoiding products aimed at segments that do not provide sufficient ROI.

● Provide a clear framework for all strategic planning by defining parameters, targeted metrics and a closed-loop approach to strategic planning.

2Growth management

strategies

Use segmentation to make informed and consistent growth management decisions.

● Identify specific areas of growth by discovering segments that offer opportunities for value creation.

● Use the segmentation to help evaluate and make decisions about merger and acquisition investments to address specific segments.

● Apply the segmentation to identify areas that will not be addressed, or segments you must exit.

● Improve communication and clarity in the executive team by creating a clear framework of reference.

Appendix A RETURN TO ARTICLE

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3Competitiveness Apply the segmentation to develop effective competitive strategies and moves.

● Create defensible market positions by identifying existing areas worth defending and targeting new ones worthy of defense.

● Discover the corporate strategy of your competitors by segment, and be able to predict their next strategic moves by studying their behavior in each segment.

● Prepare market-share comparisons based on specific segments to provide more realistic and actionable information.

4Portfolio management

(Product road maps)

Apply the segmentation to drive the product road map and product development strategies, where all new products are evaluated against the segmentation and specifically the attractiveness of each segment as measured against your business objectives.

Product road maps will be matched against the segmentation by identifying specific segments that will be addressed and those that will not.

● Provide a consistent and customer-centric approach to allocating new-product development investments.

● Create a common language centered around customers and not products.

● Enable clarity in communication among executives, marketing and R&D by having a common point of reference.

● Focus limited resources to value creation in areas that offer the best ROI.

5Distribution management

Focus your distribution strategy on desirable segments while avoiding marginal ones.

Provide better harmony by minimizing channel conflict.

● Use segmentation to direct your sales force to the areas for which the new product is intended; thus, optimizing sales “up time”

● Help your sales team avoid segments where products would be a “force fit” and consequently difficult to sell and consuming to much sales effort.


Appendix A

RETURN TO ARTICLE

Areas Where Segmentation Can be Applied





6Organizational development

Optimize the functional chart by focusing resources on optimal segments.

● Use segmentation to shape the organization and develop personnel for selected roles and responsibilities (engineering, marketing, distribution, etc.)

● Identify and prepare individuals to assume responsibly for specific segments with specific business objectives.


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Three major areas of benefit from SegmentationDimension Factor Comment

1Increase revenue More complete, higher-value products The product and service offerings can be refined to meet the high-priority unmet needs of a defined set of intended customers.Your target segment will immediately identify with the value proposition

More compelling messaging and lead generation

Your marketing programs will resonate with prospects because they will speak directly to their unmet needs and connect with the goals they are striving to achieve — and not a one-size-fits-all message

Stronger competitive position You’ll win more competitive sales because of the higher value you’re providing — while leaving low-return segments to the competition

Higher customer satisfaction Satisfied customers will buy from you again and will mention your company to other prospects due to the higher value proposition you provide

RETURN TO ARTICLE

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Appendix B:




Three major areas of benefit from SegmentationDimension Factor Comment

2Decrease cost Fewer R&D resources required R&D expenditures can be focused on the highest-priority, maximum-value projects for the targeted segments rather than on building a large generic portfolio in hopes that a few products will be big winners. You’ll avoid developing features that customers do not find relevant or valuable.

More focused marketing communication Targeting highly resonant messages to a well-defined group is much more cost effective than broadcasting generic messages far and wide.

More effective sales with shorter sales cycles

With targeted messages, products and programs, sales cycles are shorter. That means more times at bat and more hits in the same amount of time.Your sales training will be more effective due to the clarity of the chosen segments, which will help your sales force prospect more effectively and deliver a more compelling message

3Reduce risk Deeper understanding of intended customer

Learning the latent and incipient needs of targeted groups of customers provides the opportunity to anticipate trends, innovate game-changing products and leapfrog the competition.By limiting your segments to the most promising and growing areas, your Product Managers will be able to focus their efforts to understand requirements

Fewer product failures Product risk is dramatically reduced if you understand the product-market pair thoroughly before development starts rather than creating the next bright, shiny thing and trying to find people who will buy it.

Please see Appendix A for the areas where segmentation can be applied

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Additional ResourcesRapidinnovation has published a series of books on product development. They were written by experienced product

developers for those who must implement critical business processes in product development environments.

The Voice of the Customer for Product Development

Your illustrated guide to obtaining, prioritizing and using customer requirements and creating winning products

Step 2: Organize Your Visits

85 For comments, questions or additional copies please e-mail the authors: [email protected]

CONTINUED

Detailed Process: Discussion Guide

SET THE FOUNDATION

Ensure that the objectives for the customer visits are documented and nal.Circulate the objectives and any other relevant material to the members of your team and any other relevant stakeholder.

1

CALL A BRAINSTORMING MEETING

Decide who needs to attend based on the objectives and each person’s ability to contribute.Schedule the meeting for at least three hours. This may reduce attendance, but quality is more important than quantity.Secure a conference room with ample space.

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HintPRIORITIZE TOPICS FOR THE MEETING

In step #3 (Brainstorm), you are defi ning and prioritizing the topics of conversation. A good way to start the brainstorm is to ask your team members to write down all the questions they wish to ask their customers (use Yellow Sticky Notes).

BRAINSTORM

Use the Af nity Diagram method or any other formal framework for brainstorming.

Brainstorm all possible • topics.Organize the topics or • questions.Consolidate the topics.• Prioritize the topics.•

You should end up with no more than three to ve topics. Prioritize based on importance to the objectives and using a clear criteria for selection.

3

HintGenerally, you will need one hour to

cover three topics, or perhaps fewer. Remember that you need to allow the customer to talk, and this takes time. It is not a survey, it is a conversation where you need to probe and let the customer talk and think.



Types of Customers Subsegment A Subsegment B

Customers you have lost. 1. That is, customers who no longer buy from you for a negative reason.

Customers you never had. 2. That is, customers who ought to have bought from you, but never did.

Customers who have stopped buying from you.3. That is, you have not lost them, but they have not bought from you in some time. Different than Item 1 above.

Future customers.4. That is, customers in new markets, new companies, new applications, etc.

Customers who are buying much less from you.5. Those who, in the last six, 12 or 18 months have shown a drastic reduction in purchases.

Customers who are buying much more from 6. you.

Subsegments A and B are there to provide one additional level of segmentation. For example, you might make A the U.S. and B Europe or you can make A Managers and B Technicians. You need not use both A and B in your sample selection; it’s your choice.

Example: Customer Archetypes T


OUNDATION

Ensure that the objectives for the customer visits are documented and Circulate the objectives and any other relevant material to the members of your team and any other relevant stakeholder.

Understand What Customers Value


RankCustomer Value Driversin Order of Importance Category

Competitor A

Competitor B

No.Rating (1-10)

Score Rating (1-10)

Score

1 29% Ability to address existing and anticipated technical Ben/Tech 8 2.32 10 2.90 You need to

be the BEST in satisfying the most important Customer Value Drivers (CVDs).

2 18% Positive experience with the product. Ben/Emo 9.5 1.71 8 1.44

3 15% Positive experience with the company. Ben/Emo 5 0.75 9.5 1.43

4 12% Ease of operating and maintaining the system Ben/Tech 7 0.84 8.5 1.02

You can be COMPARABLE to competitors in the second tier of CVDs.

5 8% Increased asset utilization. Ben/Eco 8 0.64 4 0.32

6 5% Ease of integration into company processes and Ben/Oper 9.5 0.48 4 0.20

7 5% Cost of ownership (CoO). Cost/Money 8.5 0.43 6 0.30

8 3% Impact on the organization if something goes wrong. Cost/Risk 9 0.27 7 0.21 You can be

INFERIOR in satisfying CVDs that are the least important, provided your performance is still

9 3% Increased revenue/throughput. Ben/Eco 7 0.21 4 0.12

10 2% Purchase price. Cost/Money 6 0.12 4 0.08

All 100% Product Value Index 7.77 8.02

Example: Product Value Index

1 2 3 4

The Product Value Index (PVI) is a numerical expression of value. By quantifying the value that a product represents to a target segment, you can determine how the offering of one company ranks compared to that of another company. The PVI is calculated by first multiplying the Importance percentage (item 2) by the Rating (item 5)—this generates the Score (item 6) for each CVD—and then totalling the Scores to create the PVI (item 7).

5 6

7

T Step 3: Interview Your Customers


INTERVIEWER: How do you feel about this software product?CUSTOMER: It is very dif cult to use.

INTERVIEWER: Tell me more?CUSTOMER: The menu system is not intuitive.

INTERVIEWER: Tell me why it’s not intuitive?CUSTOMER: I get lost all the time.

INTERVIEWER: Why do you think you get lost using the menu?CUSTOMER: Well, there are too many layers and no way to get back.

ROOT MESSAGE: The menu system has too many layers and no way to get back, which makes customers feel that the product is too dif cult to use.

Q1st Why

2nd Why

3rd Why

ANote the root message — i.e., actionable input from the customer.

Example 1: The 5 Why’s

INTERVIEWER: Tell me about your printing needs.CUSTOMER: I want a printer that prints at more than 20 pages per minute, and 30 would be better.

INTERVIEWER: Why is that important to you?CUSTOMER: The one we have now does 10 pages/min and it is too slow.

INTERVIEWER: In what circumstances is it too slow?CUSTOMER: In particular when we have a queue of documents with heavy graphics.

INTERVIEWER: Tell me more.CUSTOMER: We often have to print 60-100 page reports at the last minute before a presentation, and these reports contain lots of graphics. It is not atypical to have 3-5 users printing reports at the same time.

INTERVIEWER: What about documents with text only?CUSTOMER: No problem there. It is only when we have these heavy graphics reports and when 3-5 users are queueing.

Q1st Why

2nd Why

3rd Why

AFrom feature to problem — i.e., don’t stop probing until the customer voices the problem.


4th

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tools fully-illustra

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examples

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The Voice of the Customer for Product Development

This VOC guidebook addresses the pressure to obtain customer requirements rapidly — and shows you how to turn this knowledge into innovative products faster and better than your competitors.

It’s a step-by-step guide to every aspect of obtaining, processing and applying knowledge of your customers — so you can create a steady flow of winning products.

Flexible Project Management for Product Development

Your illustrated guide to making project management work in tumultuous development



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Flexible Project Management for Product Development

Designed for product developers who are tired of traditional project management approaches that don’t account for the real-world intricacies and challenges of product development.

The step-by-step design of this guidebook makes it a valuable reference for you and your development team — for years to come.

Risk Management and FMEAfor Product Development

Your illustrated guide to reducing time-to-market through risk management and FMEA



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Risk Management and FMEA for Product Development

In product development, the imperative to reduce time-to-market is always present — and risks can cause catastrophic delays. What if you could predict and manage risks, so they don’t interfere with your time-to-market goals?

This step-by-step guide addresses every aspect of identifying, prioritizing and mitigating product development risks. It’s written by veteran product developers who understand the pressures of creating innovative products faster than your competitors.

Debriefs and Postmortems for Product Development

Your illustrated guide to improving performance through lessons learned



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Debriefs and Postmortems for Product Development

Debriefs are the most effective way to improve development-team performance — and that translates to shorter time-to-market and more rewarding innovation development.

This step-by-step guide covers every aspect of postmortems, identifying what to do-more-of and what to do-less-of to improve future product-development performance. It’s written by veteran product developers who understand how to obtain the right input from your team, and how to apply it to future projects.

Actionable Metrics for Product Development

Your illustrated guide to developing and using metrics to improve product margins and reduce time-to-market



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Actionable Metrics for Product Development

“What gets measured gets done” says the refrain. This is particularly true in product development due to the many competing priorities, from time-to-market, to gross margin to time-to-profit and many more.

This book will guide you through an assessment of your current metrics and their impact on the bottom line to describing the critical metrics used by product development organizations

For questions and comments: [email protected]

Coming soon


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