Product development
Somewhere in excess of 90% of new products developed are ultimately unsuccessful and often the development of a new product is expensive relative to other activities in the firm. Consequently there is a great deal of wastage in the development of new products. So you want to give yourself the best chance of success and not spending time and resources on products that will ultimately fail. Having a set out and rigorous (but not complex!) development process can help. Broadly the stages in a process could be:
- Ideas generation
- Ideas screening
- concept development and testing
- Marketing strategy development
- Business analysis
- Actual building of the product
- Test marketing
- Launch
But it’s not all about the process, there are other factors that will influence the success (or otherwise) of a product. For example:
- It the new product unique on the market or at least superior to others available?
- How is it differentiated from your competitors?
- Do senior management believe in it and are they backing it?
- Do you know who is going to buy it?
- Do you have the resources in place to sell it effectively?
If you need some help putting a simple product development process in place, get in touch. I can deliver a simple process that suits your business, train up your staff quickly, and help you gain competitive advantage.
