Five simple questions will help you do it
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When a market reaches saturation, the offers of different market players tend to become alike. We live in a world where various banks, telecommunication service providers, hotels, air companies, and newspapers resemble each other like twins.
We may take it for granted. But then a newcomer appears who changes the game.
Uber, AirBnB, and Netflix were such game-changers.
Their founders didn’t invent any new technology. They used existing technologies to offer their customers a new experience.
Accidentally or intentionally, they reframed the problems the customers had and wanted to solve. And this is the skill that may be learned.
The goods appear in the stock by themselves
My client was the CEO of a wholesale company, let’s call it XYZ, that sold consumables to manufacturing businesses. He faced a strategic challenge — all his competitors offered similar goods and services to the customers.
The quality of goods available in the market was identical.All the businesses proposed fast delivery services and flexible order management systems (OMS) to the customers.
XYZ was one of the many. And, since the CEO was ambitious, he wanted to change it.
He and his team spent weeks talking to customers. They tried to find their needs or requirements that other market players didn’t fully satisfy.
They offered the clients even faster delivery service and more sophisticated OMS than the competition. Unfortunately, clients didn’t fall in love with the idea, but XYZ’s profits declined — these initiatives were quite expensive.
It looked like they ran out of ideas.
During one of the strategic workshops, I suggested we dive deeper. The team had been trying to do the same that others did but do it better. What if we looked at customer needs from a different perspective?
Meet Bob. Bob works as a purchasing manager for one of XYZ’s clients. His job is to monitor the inventory levels, place orders with suppliers on time…