If you have a great idea for a product or new process for your business it is really just a wish without a major commitment of time and energy and resources to bring it to reality.  The biggest part of any innovative idea is the activities and the craft that come after the idea to make it a usable reality.  Great ideas are not enough, they are a vital part but really only a fraction of the equation that is required to truly be an innovator.  For great ideas to gain traction and have a chance at becoming a reality there must be a major commitment from the team that shares the vision of the end result.  It is like a marriage commitment rather than a date.  Marriage is pretty strong proof of commitment to another person, in fact there is no greater proof of commitment.  But the marriage alone is not proof that the desired outcome of the relationship will happen, it is the actual commitment of time and energy and care and listening and willingness to change and learn and grow that ensures the desired outcome.  So, where is the proof that you and your team members are committed to the desired outcome?  In order for a truly great idea to become a reality there must be that kind of marriage to the outcome, coupled with the actual commitment of time and energy and care and listening and willingness to change and learn and grow that ensures the desired outcome.  Now there is no actual marriage in the business world to prove commitment to an idea or a strategy.  So how do you determine proof of commitment?  In business there are different levels of commitment and it is not always apparent what level of commitment a person or a corporation has to a particular strategy.  However, proof can be found in the resources that are actually dedicated to the required activities to make the dream a reality. 

On a corporate and personal level anything less than a specific allocation of:

·         Time (Googles 20% of each week for each employee)  Not just asking employees to work more for free

·         Energy and excitement (Intuit has people choose the projects they are excited to work on)

·         Investment money (Duh, no investment no return, low investment, low return)

·         Creation of goals and management objectives to ensure progress and track learning   

Is not a commitment to making a dream a reality but a wish.

Product innovation through price will have a profound impact on your market position.  Price position is often determined by making a choice between just two strategies.  According to former Proctor and Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley in his book “Playing to Win” those two choices are cost or differentiation of your product.   The problem with being the low cost leader is that there is only one that can hold that position, while on the other hand a product differentiation strategy has more room to play and access to a more diverse customer base.  Being the low cost leader comes from an intense focus on internal systems that can reduce costs and increase efficiencies during the production of your specific product.  However, there is a risk of losing touch with your customer because your primary focus is on driving down costs.  If you are trying to serve a diverse customer base with your very specific low cost product it is very hard to meet all of their different needs.  However, if you have a very broad and stable customer base it might be to your advantage to focus on cost reduction rather than offer additional features (McDonald’s hamburgers certainly started that way).  After all, if your customer is just looking for the lowest cost it is usually easy to find and that is an advantage.  Like I mentioned before it is sometimes difficult to determine whether a higher cost product truly offers better performance.  Another down side of lowest price is that it comes with the baggage of “cheap” and “you get what you pay for,” so some buyers will steer clear of the lowest price in hopes that they are getting a little higher quality with the higher price.  But, if you choose to price your product higher so that you can differentiate, there are usually numerous ways to do this that are not being duplicated by others.  Product innovators that charge higher prices because they differentiate their products have the distinct advantage when it comes to customer loyalty because they strive to continuously improve and customize their products to satisfy their customers.  Whereas, low prices limit customization.

The dilemma for buyers still is knowing whether the higher priced product is really higher value for their needs, or if it is perceived higher value but not real value because of the advertising and branding work the company does.  Regardless of the conundrum that the buyer may be in when shopping for a specific product with numerous options in pricing and product features it is hopefully becoming clearer that product pricing for a business is an enormous opportunity for innovation and should be carefully considered as a key part of your overall strategy.

Feelings are facts and perception is everything when it comes to many things.  But nowhere is this concept more intriguing than when trying to differentiate your product in the market place.  You can have a great product but the public perception is that it is not and that makes job number one to fix the perception rather than the product.  Too often we look at our tangible product and we try to innovate with new features and better performance as the only way to satisfy the needs of the user.  This is great when you can truly do it, but sometimes the issue of price and the perception of value is really the best opportunity to innovate.  Your customer doesn’t always need more performance they just need help choosing which product or brand to buy and want to have reassurance that they got great value afterword.   Every buying experience is at least in part an emotional and psychological journey and that part of the product needs to be understood in order to truly be a product innovator.  When a company like Apple has such great brand recognition in the market place it solves the problem of reassurance of value after the purchase because there is so much social approval.  Sometimes, the average user is not able to truly discern the performance differences between brands, but an easy value measurement is price.  (I am not technically savvy enough to even need half the features my computer can provide.)  Some people are wanting reassurance that they got a great deal and want the product price to be low, in order to prove it to themselves and to be able to brag about it to others.  That is one way to differentiate.  But another buyer might want reassurance that they got the best value possible by buying the highest price, which must mean high value to them.  These customers will use the higher price of your product to reassure themselves about the value and to brag about it to others.  We all know that the reason to own a Ferrari in most places is not necessarily so you can get somewhere faster because many speed limits prohibit that, but it is bragging rights, image and the fact that you have access to that performance.  It is visual proof to others but also to themselves that they are successful.  Is a Sub Zero refrigerator able to refrigerate food 3 to 4 times better than a GE or Kitchen aid?  Or is the price more of a product feature than the product itself? 

Make no mistake, price is a very, very important part of your product.  There have been numerous experiments about the affect our expectations have on real outcomes and it is very applicable here.  What is the expectation for value your price is setting?  If I attend a free class on marketing my expectation for results is not as high as it would be if I spent $2000 dollars and there is no loss to me if I don’t put it to work.  On the other hand if I do spend the $2000 dollars for that same class I am more likely to make sure there are results that come from it so that I don’t waste my investment.  It is a good exercise to ask yourself if the price expectation of your product is reaching the customer you want to serve?  Remember, the higher up the value chain you go the more creative you can become with actual product features because you hopefully have the added profits to work with.  People do expect more and pay more for brand name products than for generic brand products even when some of the generic products are manufactured by big brand manufacturers.  Getting higher prices for my services will actually affect my quality because it enables me to spend the time to be more attentive to the customers’ needs and pay attention to details. (Operative word being pay because attention does have a cost.)  So, price can actually influence quality from the production side as well.  

Next time you want to create new innovative value in your product spend some time discovering how pricing can become a product feature rather than a necessary evil.

Having the right tools for the job can make the job go so much smoother and faster.  That certainly applies to the arduous job of change.  But what are the tools needed for smoother and faster change?  Most people have more than one tool in their toolbox but there is usually a favorite that gets used the most and hopefully, with the task of creating meaningful change, that tool is not a hammer!  Unfortunately, when we have pressing deadlines and too much on our plate to even think, we tend to use our favorite which is our default tool. 

If we are the boss we tend to use our position of “the Boss” as our default tool and just bark a few orders like we are in the military and expect compliance.  That tool is called “position power” and it is not very effective on its own.  Even in the military it is usually coupled with other tools in order to make it effective.  “Position power” is only a good tool if you have a long history of credibility and trust and even then it is only enough to get attention and a start, the rest of the work of how to change and why to change has to come from other tools.

Another common default tool is threats of punishment, this tool is called “coercion power.”  “If you don’t do this I’ll cut your pay or fire you or, or,” and sometimes this tool is enough to get some initial attention and compliance but again it doesn’t do much to help people know how to change and the why to change is pretty weak and will get weaker over time.  Now days it can backfire because a disgruntled worker can look for ways to sabotage the change effort and create dissention behind the scene.  At most this tool will only engage the body and bring compliance, it will never engage the spirit or recruit believers that will help improve the change effort.

The best tools for change engage the mind and the spirit and involve emotion.  All change must start in the mind, you must see it mentally before you can build it physically.   So, it is not just information (which is powerful in itself) but it is information that is packaged in a way that creates a vision that can be shared.  A vision that remains in one mind or is unable to be communicated is weak or even useless.  The power of a vision comes when it can be shared without confusion, a vision so clear that it cannot be misinterpreted.  The more the vision can be seen and felt (as in excites the emotion) the more it will be shared with others and ignite the energy and action needed for lasting change.

In our current “Information Age” we are inundated with information.  There has never been a time in history where information was so available or accessible but giving access to information or providing information is not enough to inspire change.  Whatever the information is that we are providing it is competing with all the other readily available information out there, so to win the battle for people’s attention it must engage more than just the mind and be packaged in a way that includes emotion and the soul.  If your shared vision can appeal to a sense that the change will contribute to the greater good as well as to personal good, it will be even more powerful and compelling.  Creating a compelling vision for change is like creating a magnet that attracts and pulls people in rather than pushing your agenda out with command and control!  There is so much less energy and cost needed to be a magnet that attracts the energy and creativity of others than to be the one power source that provides all the energy and creativity needed for truly meaningful change!  

Information is by far the most powerful and effective tool for change if it is packaged correctly and the good news is that the power is renewable unlike the other tools that loose power the more they are used.  However, the information tool is the most difficult tool to master and requires the most upfront work but the results will eclipse the results of any other tool!