Archive for Value Stream
A Look at Innovation from a Different Angle
Posted by: | CommentsThis is one of the few books that I not only listened to it, but afterwards purchased the hard copy.Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others
The author of Borrowing Brilliance, David Kord Murray, has an impressive résumé. Not only is he a rocket scientist who worked on numerous projects for NASA and the Pentagon but he’s also a successful entrepreneur, having sold Taxnet, a company he co-founded that specializes in e-filing software, to H&R Block (HRB) in 2005. And in between those items on his CV is a strong hint that he practices what he preaches. When Murray was head of innovation at Intuit (INTU)—the creator of TurboTax, which allows users to e-file—he saw a brilliant idea, borrowed a chunk of it, and made a killing. His book encourages everyone to give it a try. After all, he argues, it worked for Johannes Gutenberg, George Lucas, and the Google guys.
The Good: Practical and simple advice on how to come up with new products and services by cherry-picking, then combining, others’ ideas.
The Bad: Author Murray often repeats his main points—even some of his anecdotes
The Bottom Line: An entertaining, easy-to-read romp through the history of innovation, from Gutenberg to the Google guys, plus a method that appears to actually work.
Related Posts:
Can Voice of Customer deliver?
Businesses that Die, Die of confusion
Define your Business by Value Stream not Product
Unclear Customer Value equals Failure
Posted by: | CommentsAll of us know we must distinguish ourselves in the marketplace to be successful. However, do we go to the marketplace to find that unique dimension of matched value is? In fact, there’s been study after study showing that we don’t even get out of our own organization with an understanding of our own unique value proposition.
When organizations were dominated by one single individual your value proposition was very clear. Different views and questions were discouraged. Now in the age of collaboration, it is becoming more and more difficult to arrive at a clear understanding of the value that you provide your customer. 
One of the classic marketing books, The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market
- What are the dimensions of value that customers care about?
- For each dimension of value, what proportion of customers focus on it as their primary or dominate decision criterion?
- Which competitors provide the best value in each of these value dimensions?
- How do we measure up against her competition on each dimension that I?
- Why do we fall short of the value leaders in each dimension of value?
The authors go on to say; Value stems from the product – from unique features that deliver superior results – and from the kinds of service benefits provided . They are measured against customers expectations, so products and services really offer benefits only if they substantially exceed competitors offerings. Competitive parity, after all, creates a base level for customer expectations.”
These 5 questions are just a starting point. Your value proposition must continue to increase at a more rapid rate that your competitors. However, you cannot sustain your customer value proposition without being part of your customers business. Everyone in your company must walk in the shoes of your customer. Experience what they experience. If you do that, your head might just rise above the clouds that your organization has been in and start living the value experience. Remember, Customer Value is the best leading indicator of Future Market share!
Related Program: 5Cs of Driving Market Share
Related Posts:
Linking the 4Ps to Lean Marketing
Best in Market eBook
Value Stream Marketing and the Indirect Marketing Concept
Marketing Kanban: Marketing Kanban
Value Stream Mapping
Lean Six Sigma:
Internal Marketing Constraint is Important
Posted by: | CommentsFinding your internal marketing constraint is still important. Most people consider that their constraint in marketing is the number of prospects and in today’s economy it is very true. I believe that places an even great emphasis on managing your Work in Process or prospects. It does little good to increase prospects if you are not effectively handling them internally. Think about, if you are doing a poor job of following up, do you need to do a poor job of following up with more prospects. In fact, it will just get worse and your conversion factors may decrease from 10% to 5%. What would that mean? It would mean doubling your prospects would only maintain the same revenue. I could also argue that it may even do worse than that because expenses and discounts may increase.
As a result, why start with increasing prospects? This short video is an overview on how to use a Marketing Kanban to find your internal marketing constraint.
Getting a handle on your FLOW is important.
Related Posts:
Updated the Lean Marketing House
Don’t Market Without Your Kanban
Value Stream Marketing – Reduce your Work in Process
Good Marketing should minimize your Pipeline
The Guiding Principles of Value Stream Marketing
