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>Hi, > >I don’t remember Jay explaining these either. The >short explanation is: We use ads to attract people to >come to our store. These ads ask prospects to come in. >Headlines & graphics advertise the ads & “ask” >prospects to pay attention to the ads. (The longer >explanation is below.) > >Clayton answered your question briefly in “The >Innovator’s Dilemma.” It’s in his analogy of being an >electric vehicle project manager. I don’t remember if >this is in both editions of his book. You can find it >in Chapter 10 of the updated edition or maybe both. > >If you looked for something specific about small >businesses, it may be why you missed it. He wrote >about a big company forming a small division or >separate company to make electric vehicles. > >Now The Longer Explanations > >I’ll try to tie these concepts together in a >meaningful way. > >To add what I’ve learned from other sources, the task >would be to determine which niches might be able to >use the innovation. >Determine if the innovation: >1) Improves how they do things, if they can already do >what they want. >2) Would help them do what they have trouble doing. >3) Would help them do what they think they need/want >to do. >Each of these calls for speculation, so what you find >today could be outdated by the time you’d produce a >solution or find a supplier. When you market your >solution, it may undershoot the need by being a >partial or inconvenient solution. People can use the >solution, but they wish they’d have something better. > >If you anticipate what they’ll need in the future, >based on what they need now & what they say they’ll >need in the future, you may overshoot their need. Then >your solution would have too many features (with >POTENTIAL benefits, but no CURRENT/ACTUAL benefits). >Example: If you need a knife, a Swiss Army Knife would >overshoot your need to cut or carve. The extra >features wouldn’t provide benefits, unless you’d use >them. > >Persuade people to use the products (hopefully to buy >or at least use free samples). Then observe how they >use the product & get their input about improvement, >including which features to eliminate. Extra features >add more expense but no extra benefits for particular >users. (Many those in the Swiss Army get full use & >benefit of each Swiss Army knife feature, but most of >us don’t.) > >I’m taking a chance on this explanation overshooting >your questions & curiosity. 8^) But I want to cover >what may be your next questions or what I think your >next questions should be. I want you to get a full >benefit from the short answers I gave. > >To Take A Stand, You Need A Place To Stand > >I think Archimedes said, give me a lever long enough & >a place to stand & I’ll move the move the Earth. He >may’ve added the need for a fulcrum. > >But what if he didn’t have a long enough lever? Or >what if he had a long enough lever to reach past >Pluto, but no place to stand to get the maximum use >from it? If he had many friends, who each had strong >levers & places to stand (on Mercury, Venus, Mars & >Jupiter), they could move the Earth. If they each put >their levers & fulcrums in advantageous places, they >could exert pressure at the same time & do the work. > >(You may’ve heard of Rube Goldberg. Or you may’ve seen >the Mousetrap game. Putting things together in strange >configurations [somewhat like my explanations {8^{] to >do something relatively simple.) > >This next concept may seem like a Rube Goldberg. In >theory (mine), if you had good levers, but not a >convenient place to stand, you could use a lever to >push another well-placed lever, which would move a >load. > >These are examples of leverage on leverage. Since >these examples are so confusing, they may show why Jay >didn’t explain what he meant. > >Leo Burnett advised, “Plan the sale when you plan the >ad.” “The sale” can be a sales event with discounts. >It can also be the act of selling something. > >Retail displays, sales techniques (what we do & say, >plus how we do & say them), point-of-purchase signs, >ads/commercials, referrals/testimonials/ endorsements >are “levers.” Each should be planned as much as is >practical. (Each of these is also something we should >test by trying variations.) > >What I wrote in another post about blaming versus >accepting responsibility for what you can do applies >here with a small change. To figure how to change a >situation, we need to start somewhere. If we start >with a person having a problem, we still need to >figure how to induce the person to buy a solution from >us. A journey starts with the first step, but it’s >easier to map a route by starting with what we know. >What we know is OUR current situation. > >The mousetrap fallacy doesn’t address this, it states >people will beat a path. If it were true, business >failures would be very rare. This is like thinking, >“If people don’t know I have a better mousetrap, it’s >their tough luck. I won’t tell them. So, it’s their >fault if my business fails.” > >It’s our job to accept responsibility & beat the path. >It’s usually easier starting the path from where we >are, while we look ahead for a destination. > >In general, I recommend finding people who have a >problem before finding or inventing a solution. But it >doesn’t guarantee when we find a solution we’ll have >enough expertise & production capacity to provide what >people need. > >Clayton’s books for innovators focus on disruptive >technologies that were discovered or developed before >a problem to solve was discovered. In effect, it means >disruptive innovators work backwards. This approach >can be used when demand for a product/service is low >or nonexistent, as in mature markets/product >categories or new product/service categories. > >Dennis S. Vogel >thrivingbusiness@email.com >After you build “a better mouse trap,” you’ll still >need effective marketing tools to beat a path to >your door so people will find you. >You can find a lot of what you need here. >http://web1.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/ >http://www.voy.com/31049/

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