Don’t fear failure…..

jigsawWe are conditioned to fear failure. We must succeed at all costs. Throughout our schooling we are expected to pass our exams with flying colours and to fail is to be labelled as useless.

This fear of failure is stifling and killing our ability to innovate. Thankfully many individuals overcome this conditioning and realize that failure paves the road to success. The secret is to NEVER GIVE UP. To fail is perfectly natural and through failure we improve and succeed.

Any product innovation will fail many times but with an attitude of continuous improvement you will eventually succeed with a product which exceeds all expectations.

For inspiration about new product development success and persistence in the face of failure read the inspiring story of Charles Goodyear the pioneering inventor of vulcanized rubber.

Don’t fear failure – Strive for success.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter

New Product Development….

productLifecycleis vital to maintain a companies revenue growth. All products have a similar lifecycle which ends with declining revenue although the timescale between introduction and extinction may be anywhere between a few weeks to decades.

Unless New Product Development brings a steady stream of products to market the companies revenue will gradually decline.

Of course it is vital that the products being developed have a clearly defined market otherwise the costs of development will outweigh any increase in revenue.

Being in touch with the customers needs is the only way to increase the rate of success.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter

Why time to market is critical…

Are your products taking to long to develop and adversely affecting your revenue stream ? Time to Market  is absolutely critical in determining product revenue and payback. With product lifecycles becoming ever shorter as new, better, faster models are introduced the development timescale is critical to success. Every day lost in development is a day lost in sales. This is because the overall lifecycle of the product is reduced the longer the development takes.

This may, at first, seem counterintuitive as the product is deemed to have, say, a 12 month sales life following release to the market but this takes no account of the competition which may already have a better model in development. Consequently each day of lost sales is gone forever and never recovered.

If you want to stay ahead of the competition and maximize payback for your developments you need to minimize product development timescales.

No one should pretend that this is easy. There is a fine balance to be struck between developing a quality product which meets the customers requirements as well as any in-house and external Quality approvals. The product development process needs to be robust and well defined.

Your in-house development process will probably be similar to the typical ISO9001 process below.

ISO9001designprocess

Sometimes the only way to generate time to market reduction is to have a look at the process with a fresh “set of eyes”

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk


Follow projectsguru on Twitter

No feedback is negative…

customer feedbackI was recently asked “how do you deal with negative customer feedback ?”

If you are interested in your customers (as every business should be) no feedback should be considered ‘negative’ and all feedback welcomed.

Customer feedback is an excellent source of improvement and should be welcomed at every stage of the product development process.

Samples should be supplied to the customer as early as possible and any feedback should be used to fine tune product development.

Get close to your customers and welcome their feedback, no one will appreciate this more than the customer themselves.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter

Great idea…but why won’t it sell ?

stupidinventionThis is one of the most common questions in the world of New Product Development and is often asked after the developer has spent thousands of dollars in development costs.

Here are some possible answers:-

1) Who says your product is “great” ?  many  companies develop new products because they think it’s a great idea – unfortunately no one else does. It may seem obvious but New Products have to meet a market demand in order to sell. Just because your design engineer thinks its a great idea doesn’t mean anyone else does.

2) Does anyone know about your great new product ?  What is your Marketing and Advertising strategy. Unless your Innovation is publicised how will anybody find out about it ?

3) Is your product overpriced ?  What is the nearest competitor selling at ?

4)  Is it priced too low and perceived as cheap ? Ask yourself this question – When you buy a car do you buy the cheapest model available ?

5) What level of service and support do you offer with your product ? – Is the competition offering a better warranty or service.

All common sense but sense aint that common.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter

The Innovation game…

innovationInnovation is the name of the game; especially in the competitive world of consumer electronics. The only way to remain competitive is to continue to produce new, relevant products which the customer wants.

Apple is a terrific example, before the release of the ipod Apple was a company on decline; despite the fact that it had the worlds best desk top computers for graphic design and desk top publishing they were too expensive for the home computer market which was cornered by IBM clones.

Then along came the ipod, the revolutionary pocket music player which was cool, trendy, affordable and  desirable.

The rest is history and Apple also leads the field in Smartphones with their iconic iphone. Recently they have released their latest product, the touchscreen notebook – the ipad.

These are terrific examples of product Innovation in the highly competitive field of consumer electronics which show that a company which continues to innovate will continue to thrive.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter