03:04 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Can oil prices drive Innovation?

Sorry all re the delay in activity, been away.  Back to regular blogging directly. Here's a  starter.

In a recent conversation with a close colleague, Craig Briggs, who is located in Asia, the idea of oil pricing driving innovation came up and sparked a vigorous debate.

Here are Craig's thoughts on the matter; 

Will $120 Oil Drive Design Innovation? In the West, design is playing a vital role in the creation of eco-friendly and sustainable products. Motivated by corporate responsibility and ‘inconvenient truths’, these product designs have advanced rapidly beyond recyclable, recycled and/or biodegradable designs that sacrificed aesthetics for the cause. Now product designs are balancing function and form – products are being designed beautifully and responsibly. There is a market for it – consumers in most developed countries may make their purchase decision based on a brand’s environmental character and philosophy. In many cases, they may even pay a premium for it. It’s shared business- and consumer-led movement. But, in Asia this is not the case. Not yet. With the notable exception of Japan, Asia at large is too busy developing to pay much attention to eco-friendly and sustainable design. China opens a new power plant every 9 days. Business is becoming hyper-competitive and aesthetics overrule “friendly”. Consumers are just not interested. They are not basing their purchase preference on such design, and they are a long way off from paying a premium for such well-designed products. But $100 oil may change everything in Asia. Oil is the universal, driving energy and material source for every fast-moving good, and its rising costs are putting pressure on Asian marketers who are at the same time pressured to innovate and grow. Asia can no longer rely on cheap labor costs (by the way, labor costs are sky-rocketing in China, too) to buffer the increasing costs of materials. Marketers can’t pass along these costs in full to value-conscious Asian consumers, so they now are pressured to cut other costs – distribution, promotion, staff, and, production costs. That’s where the oil comes in. The first move marketers will take with production is to try to remove the volume of materials from the product. Take a PET bottle, for example. A 500ml PET bottle may have 25 grams of plastic in it. How do you take out 20% of the weight, and thus 20% of the costs? It’s not easy. Take 20% of the plastic out of your favorite mineral water bottle and you may feel like you are holding an intravenous drip bag. Removing costs can mean removing functionality and aesthetics. And this is where design can again play a vital role – designing for savings and innovation. For Asian marketers willing to invest in this kind of innovation there is competitive advantage and savings in the long term. Design can be sustainable, functional, save costs, AND be aesthetically pleasing. Companies and designers that combine imagination with functionality and that have the technical expertise in materials and structure are poised to lead products and brands toward this winning combination. Good, Fast, Cheap and Green (Pick Any 3) “Good, Fast and Cheap. Pick any two.” This was the adage my first boss used to give to clients to demonstrate the innovation tradeoff - that innovation required a considered investment in time and money to reach fruition. But over the last 20 years, competitive demands dove-tailed with production efficiencies and created “good, fast and cheap – pick all three” as the standard – the cost of entry for marketers to compete and win. Now, a fourth variable is being added to the list of three – “friendly”. The new adage: “Good, fast, cheap and friendly – pick 3”. But we marketers are greedy, so we’ll soon want all 4. How will we get it? But the sky-rocketing cost of oil, now reaching triple digits, is presenting a renewed challenge to this scenario. Let’s face it, oil is the universal, driving energy and material source for every fast-moving good, and with pressure to grow markets and market shares, “cheap” may be falling back out of the equation. Or is it.. How do you innovate and remove costs out at the same time? The answer is design – designing for innovation and savings. How do you design functionally superior products that are aesthetically pleasing, while simultaneously reducing the cost of production? This is a dilemma facing marketers today, those challenged to compete as the cost of oil ascends toward triple digits. Addicted to Oil and Innovation As marketers, we’re addicted to oil. Oil is the universal, driving energy and material source for every fast-moving good, and growing markets and market shares, we’re consuming more to make more. At the same time, we marketers are addicted to innovation. Innovation is how companies, products and brands are going to survive and grow in today’s ever-changing, competitive marketplace. But oil and innovation are in conflict. Innovation … The Rising Cost of Innovation All marketers are challenged to innovate in order to succeed in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world. This priority to innovate, particularly with fast-moving goods, is made all the more challenging with the cost of oil reaching triple digits. Oil here being the universal, driving energy and material source for most every fast-moving good on our planet. How do you design a product that is functionally relevant, aesthetically pleasing and that uses less material? It’s not impossible, but certainly isn't going to be easy…

11:28 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Design and Innovation: What's the Problem?

Innovation requires an environment that is open to new ideas. That's all well and good, but innovation is more than blue sky. In order to encourage new and novel solutions, you have to ask the right questions.

Many brainstorming sessions are centered around questions that boil down to “What should we do in response to our competitor’s product or service?” Now the reason you are having the meeting in the first place may be because your competitor has just taken a big chunk of your market share, so that seems like a legitimate question.

The problem is that you are in danger of limiting the discussion with the question itself. Even new ideas in response to this question are limited by point by point comparison to your competitor.

If you find yourself using a spec sheet of common features as your roadmap for developing your next product, it should be easy to imagine that your competitor is doing the same in a parallel brainstorming session. I've been in a few of these meetings, and believe me they are more sunshower than storm.

Whatever your goals with respect to your competition, the product or service as an object and the problem or opportunity it addresses don’t care. This is why, despite the advantages of established players, there is always room for an insurgent with a new approach, a new set of core competencies and the wherewithal to make them real. This is the nature of innovation.

Take a step back and ask what seems like an obvious question: “What is the problem?” Seems simple enough, but framing the problem is your most difficult task.

If your solution, challenges the way your audience thinks about a problem and wins them over you have created a problem for your competitor that is more profound than the loss of a few points of marketshare; you are controlling the agenda as opposed to making an isolated point in an ongoing tit for tat with them. Now they must change the way they think about the problem or challenge the agenda that you set. If they are inclined to respond by pinning your spec sheet on the wall, then they are now following you and limiting themselves.

For an example of this dynamic at work, you need not look beyond the perhaps overused example of Apple’s iPods. There has been a lot of talk about the demand Apple has created with their interface, the aesthetics of the products, the small size, iTunes, their branding. All of these are contributing factors, but the real reason for the success of the iPod is that they reframed the problem, executed a plan that was not in anyone else’s playbook and surprised the market with a new set of possibilities.

To date, their competitors have not managed to present a compelling enough case for the existence of their new products. They simply add features and follow the media player world view that Apple established.

Apple's competitors can’t do anything about Apple’s propensity to push the envelope. What they can do is push the envelope a bit themselves. Their own envelope, not Apple’s.

I'm sure the guys responsible for mp3 product development for Creative, the Zune, Samsung and the rest are sick of pronouncements that make their task sound easy. The truth is that Apple is a formidable and agressive adversary that managed to get everyone involved in development, branding, etc. on the same page.

Most industries do not have a dominant player with such a grip on the product development agenda. Usually the advantage is much more fragile. The opportunities to create standout products, compelling stories and take control of the market abound. The payoffs as demonstrated by Apple should be motivation enough to shake things up.

Thanks to the Matter/Anti-Matter blog for pointing me to a related essay. "The Long Wow" by Adaptive Path's Brandon Schauer is definitely worth a read.

11:22 am | 1 recommendation | 1 comment

Are You a Consultant or a Vendor?

Put another way, do you give your clients what they ask for, or, do you offer your best judgment even when it’s not what they want to hear?

Now before you dismiss this as a question meant for someone else, let me say this: No number of design awards, glowing articles, or Fortune 100 clients grants you exemption from this question.

Design consultancies lead a precarious life. They rely on the good graces of their clients. Of course, a big part of doing business is nurturing relationships, but just because you have a relationship with a client doesn’t mean it’s a healthy one. An upset middle managers at one Client Company or another can ruin a quarter for a design firm - big or small.

When people ask questions, they often have an idea of what they want to hear in response. The desired answer is telegraphed along with the question - the business equivalent of fishing for a compliment.

It’s a whole lot easier to acquiesce than to go out on a limb. But remember, you told that client that you could do great things for their products, brand and bottom line. You said, "Sign here and 'Poof' you get a whole team, a whole studio full of change agents. What a bargain!"

The problem is that good ideas, even great ones, are not always welcome. They are inconvenient. They may step on toes. They may require new methods in manufacturing, marketing, or sales. They may force changes in a business model that you already know works. They may do none of the above, but demand that things taken for granted be reconsidered.

It may be better to hold your tongue, put your judgment (about the project anyway) on hold and give them what they asked for. Who would blame you?

12:49 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

The stuff of innovation: The Carver

I have been wanting to post about The Carver for a while because it’s such a nice example of innovation. Too often there is a tendency to talk about innovation in terms of things that are a little different than the norm. The guys who developed the carver have merged concepts of motorcycle and automobile and solved some tricky engineering problems to make their creation real.

I won’t belabor the point, but take a look at this video and keep these questions in mind:

• Are you pushing the envelope far enough in your brainstorming sessions?
• Does engineering have the potential to elicit the sorts of emotional responses that we generally associate with design aesthetics?

The Carver concept has been licensed by Venture Vehicles in California and they may be on the way to introducing electric and plugin hybrid versions in the U.S. I wonder if it helps if I say publicly: I want one.

David Oliver | cusp | http://www.cuspdevelopment.com/

12:16 am | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Yada, Yada, Let's Yada!

Let’s Yada! (a division of WinPlus) is looking to make Bluetooth affordable and easy for everyone.  I had a chance to try two of their new units and speak with their CEO Dan Sheehan.

The concept behind Yada is to make devices easy to use and affordable. There devices are specificly geared towards in car use. Their thought is that not everyone is looking for a Bluetooth fashion statement. I have to admit, I love my Jawbone headset but I do not wear it around my head all day long. It’s generally in my pocket more than on my ear. I choose not to be one of the many people I see each day at my Starbucks in the am having conversations with themselves it seems.

The driving force behind their products is the fact that with more than 38 states that have recently passed laws governing cell phone use in vehicles and others with legislation pending or under consideration, hands-free devices are increasingly important for consumers’ safety and convenience.

The first product I demoed was the YD-V1 + phone holder + car charger.  

The YD-V1 is a all-in-one Bluetooth 2.0 headset, phone stand, and car charger.

The Plus Column: 

• I love the fact there this is stand, headset chargers all in one. 
• Each time I entered the vehicle, the set paired with the headset every time.
• Hang-up feature. There is a place to pick up the headset and start your call and hang up to end the call on the stand.
• A vent based clip system so I can easily move the whole system from car to car
• Headset sound quality was good (about an 8 of 10) 
• The headset turns off when the handset is not being charged and when a Bluetooth connection has not been established for more than an hour.
• Price point of around $50.00

 The Minus Column

• The headset would not always stay firmly in my ear if I moved my head back and forth often. 
• It took awhile to find the proper angle for the stand (more than once I took a left turn and the stand went flying right till I found the optimal placement in my car)
• The blue active light is very bright and somewhat distracting when mounted while driving at night.
• No home charger. This is an extra cost.

Overall, the YD-V1 is a excellent value and great for those people who just want a good quality headset, stand and charger combo for their car for a very reasonable price.

The second product I demoed was the YD-V8 speakerphone + car charger

The YD-V8 is a Bluetooth speakerphone.

The Plus Column:

• Excellent sound quality with the windows rolled up
• Ability to play music from my Blackjack II through the speakerphone with better than average sound.
• It is small and barely noticeable on my visor
• It is a stereo not mono speakerphone
• Easy to use start/stop call button
• Very portable due to size. I use it in rental cars when I travel. The total size is comparable to an iPod Nano.
• Great option for those who do not like a ear based headset.

The Minus Column: 

• When plugged in to charge, I have a long and somewhat distracting cable running from my cigarette lighter to my visor as there is no other way to mount the speakerphone.
• Did not always synch every time I entered the car. I had to hit the call button to manually re-pair when I entered the car.
• The button to move the call off the speaker and back to the car is hard to hit while driving.

Overall, the YD-V8 is a good value for those looking for an easy to use and portable speakerphone with a Bluetooth music speaker as a nice extra.

Thanks again to Dan Sheehan, Yada’s CEO for allowing me to try out his products.  Visit Yada at www.letsyada.com  

Stephen is a Microsoft MVP and Sr. Partner with the Odyssey Consulting Group

10:56 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Farewell to Polaroid instant film

Polaroid instant film went the way of the drive-in movie theater and the typewriter earlier this month when they announced they will close factories in Massachusetts, the Netherlands, and Mexico that make instant film. As part of a broader overall strategy to diversify their product offerings so they can remain competitive in the world of digital imaging, they plan on completely phasing out that part of the business sometime next year. So that means there’s still time to stock up for all you nostalgic instant film buffs out there.  

I’m sad to see you go. But luckily I’ll always have old photos like the one of me with the Pillsbury Doughboy to remember you by. 

Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (www.courtingyourcareer.com).

02:44 pm | 2 recommendations | 3 comments

Is the Opportunity Real?

We’ve all been in that sales situation where you think you have it wrapped up and at the last minute it stalls. They stop returning your calls and emails, all correspondences are very short and to the point, the RFP is hanging out there, it seems like your prospect has simply fallen off the face of the earth.

So what happened? Were they not an ideal client or part of your target audience? Was there secretly a competitor with an inside track or existing relationship (hint: there usually is, but that’s a different ezine topic)? Were they simply shopping to see what’s available in the marketplace?

It could’ve been any of those, and more, so today I want to introduce a framework to help you evaluate each opportunity - before you commit to chasing it. I can’t claim this model as my own, though I’ve adopted it in my daily client interactions.

When I got serious about understanding consultative sales, multiple colleagues recommended I pick up Mahan Khalsa’s book, “Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play.” And I recommend you read it as well. The short version of the story is that Mahan is responsible for sales performance at FranklinCovey, the Seven Habits folks, and this book shed more light on how modern sales work than anything I’ve read. When I read a recent ezine from Mahan, I knew I needed to share some of his wisdom with a little bit of “Nick Rice practicality” thrown in for good measure.

When you are presented with an opportunity for a new project or new business, you need to uncover as much as possible to gauge how successful you will be with this project. If you try to fix every problem that presents itself, you will never be seen as a specialist, and as such, you will never command high fees. Generalists stay busy with small projects, but when the client wakes up and decides to fix the big problem, who are they going to call?

So, how do you uncover such details? At a high level, you have to ensure that three things are present before you can properly evaluate an opportunity. Here is the Opportunity Framework:

Opportunity Framework

First off, you have to know that there truly is a problem to solve or a result to achieve. You cannot help someone that doesn’t admit or realize that something needs to change. It doesn’t matter if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s an issue; if you cannot get your prospect to see it and admit it, you’re wasting your time. On the flip side of this, it has to be a problem worth fixing or a result worth achieving. Organizations live in a constant state of brokenness - and that’s okay as long as they are still profitably functional. Some problems are worth fixing, some are not. Realize that as soon as possible and move on.

The second item to uncover is the prospect’s ability to make and act upon a decision. There’s nothing worse than someone who cannot make a decision and move on it. If you’re running into this, chances are you’re not talking to the real decision maker or you’re not helping them paint a picture of what life could be like after fixing the situation. If you work with large organizations, know that junior level managers and staff love to keep consultants and sales people busy. They like the power trip. And it makes them look productive to their bosses. You need assurance that the person you’re working with can say yes to your proposed solution before you invest a lot of time and energy.

The third leg of this stool is ensuring that appropriate resources are available to address the issue. Resources can take the shape of budget dollars, staff availability, executive oversight, equipment - anything required to make the solution a reality. If there’s not enough budget or internal staff resources, the project will never get off the ground. If you cannot get commitment from a certain executive for support, you’re on thin ice. How can you be successful without appropriate resources?

If any one of these three items is left unknown, you put the project and your success at risk. Chances are you’re going to waste a lot of time when this initiative stalls at some point in the future.

We’ve all seen good opportunities with no budget. We’ve all seen executives than cannot make a decision. We’ve all walked into a client’s office and almost tripped over the problems in the organization. If you are someone that wants to be recognized as an expert in their field; someone that wants to truly provide the best solution to the client’s problem; you owe it to yourself to slow down enough to uncover all three parts of an opportunity. And don’t be afraid to walk away if the opportunity isn’t ideal. You should only work in an environment where you are set up to succeed. If the project isn’t right, it isn’t right and now it’s time to move on.

You cannot expect the client to simply lay all of this out on the table for you. You have to dig. You have to ask the right questions to bring these issues to the forefront - and in doing so you will separate yourself from 98% of the other sales people out there. Too many people simply jump at what’s presented in an RFP or what’s said a meetings as gospel without digging any deeper. Clients want and expect you to ask tough questions. They want to know that you fully understand their issue inside and out before presenting a solution.

When you approach each opportunity as a chance to find the perfect solution for your client - whether it involves you or not - you’re doing the right thing. And Carma has a way of rewarding those that do the right thing. In order to understand the problem and propose the perfect solution, you need to know all three parts of an opportunity.

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Nick Rice

I work with successful professional service firms that struggle to attract new clients and want to take their business to the next level. Download my free report, "7 Principles of Attracting More Clients" at http://www.nick-rice.com

10:26 am | 0 recommendations | 5 comments

Design Brainstorming: Creativity as Killer App

One way creativity can apply to every situation faced is to make a protocol of running a problem through a filter of crashing disparate influences. If everytime we are faced with a problem and two or three answers appear, there is great value in smashing those seemingly obvious first choices into other non intuative, even non sensical, options. Brainstorming can help here.

One method (or killer Brainstorm app) is to collect a group of problem solvers and start by brainstorming a list of 3 categories, let's say user, like product and like function. Next pick randomly from the lists, combining the three into an answer. Making the list is fun and thought starting. Combining the three, provides structure within the brainstorm ( I know, sounds counter intuitive, but it works) although the ideas may not be immediately applied, they almost always lead to unexpected answers and new directions.

Although a brainstorm like this is a small step and usually safe to do. The point is to provide a method that allows the embrace of ambiguity and encourages going someplace different. This kind of thing in the long run, helps encourage an organization to look for other ways to integrate creative thinking.

Mark

Mark Dziersk FIDSA.
VP Indusrial Design - laga/one80
mdziersk@laga.com

03:02 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Excellence versus Perfection

Michael J. Fox once said, "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business." Those words rang true as soon as I read them.

Early in my career I was a graphic designer for a local university. I was responsible for creating text books and classroom materials for the International College of Dentistry - super exciting work by the way :). Like any job I had deadlines to meet with the editors, publishers, printers, etc... One day I caught myself going back to tweak the layout for a certain book. That particular book was printed six months earlier and currently in use in Dental Schools throughout the Middle East. But here I was futzing with margins, font spacing and the like.

Something made me stop and think about what I was doing. Why in the world was I messing with a text book that would never be reprinted? I had other things to work on, but internally I was going nuts because I knew I could do a better job than I had originally. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with the final published book. It was great. Everyone signed off on my designs and loved it. Not to mention that it was a critical component of actually training and producing dentists. It was working.

And in that moment I realized that I was a "tweaker". My edits had nothing to do with my audience. They were strictly for my own benefit and justification. I wanted better margins simply because it was the right thing to do in my mind. Tweaking was a constant thread in my professional life for years. And to this day I still fight the urge to pull up a logo I designed nine months ago, or a strategic plan that I helped write with a client and make a few tweaks. It's just a part of who I am.

But a few years ago I realized that tweaking was just for me - not my clients - most of the time they never saw my tweaks anyway. When I did bring my revised files to a client, they would look at me like I just handed them a moon rock. You could see it in their eyes, "What is this? Why are you bringing this to me now?"

After more than a few of those interactions, I decided that perfectionism doesn't work for me. In fact, it was actually hurting my client relationships. They had moved on. I was obsessing. I was the crazy consultant or designer that couldn't let go. So today, I actively strive for excellence.

Excellence is something completely different than perfection. And it took me a long time to fully understand how powerful and good simply being excellent was. For me, perfection was the top. It was it. Anything else seemed like failure. I look back now and realize how silly I was to think that being excellent meant failure.

And here's the funny thing that all perfectionists know - perfection isn't possible. If it isn't possible, why keep killing ourselves to reach it? If it isn't possible, why even think and act like it is? Why assume that nothing else will suffice? Why do we set ourselves up for a letdown?

Being excellent is attainable. It's not always easy, but it is doable. Excellence doesn't mean that you're sacrificing your soul. It doesn't mean anything other than excellent. And how can that be a bad thing?

When you strive for perfection, you shoot yourself in the foot right from the start. You've given yourself a goal that's unreachable. You will never be satisfied with the end result and that creates a type of myopia. You cannot see past perfection. Perfection holds you back from reaching your true potential. It's a constrictive way of being. Perfection costs you more than you realize.

And here's the kicker - no one expects you to be perfect. People expect you to strive for excellence. Excellence is what people pay for. It's what people really want from you.

Being recognized as excellent in your field is the key to success. So I encourage all of you perfectionist out there to take a few minutes and look at how your never-ending quest for perfection affects your life and relationships. Is it helping or hurting you? Are you getting what you want?

If you're open to looking at it from another angle, ask yourself these two questions:

1. If it were impossible to be perfect who would I prefer to be?
2. If I could be the new way, what would things be like? What would happen?

If you're like me, you'll find that the new way of being is much better than the current constrictive way. Once you come to that realization, life and work take on a whole new meaning.

Like I said, I still fight the urge to tweak, but recognizing how it affects me and actively striving for excellence has allowed me to be more productive, more effective and happier. And that's something that most New Year's resolutions can't beat.

BTW, There are probably spelling and/or grammar mistakes in this blog post. And that's okay. I've spell checked it and I've re-read it and now I'm sending it. I want it to be right, but I also know that I can spend hours obsessing over every detail and it won't go out until tomorrow or the next day. Hopefully a few grammatical errors (if you catch them) won't keep you from thinking about what I've said. So here goes...

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Nick Rice

I work with successful professional service firms that struggle to attract new clients and want to take their business to the next level.

http://www.nick-rice.com