We business folk are in love with the idea of innovation. It's a noun! It's a verb! It's something that only the best companies know how to do! Read the book!
No, I don't believe innovation is unimportant. I do think the word is over-used, and I think people would rather attend expensive seminars in San Francisco to learn about it than actually engage in it. But I think it's important. I also think it is woefully misunderstood. And I think the primary reason for our ongoing misunderstanding is our failure to recognize the importance of relevance.
Simple question. What matters more? Giving your customers something new, exciting, never-seen-before at a great price, or giving them something relevant to their needs? Ideally you don't have to choose between the two, but if you do, you should bet the bank on relevant every time. That's right. Every single time. Because an innovation that is award-winning but irrelevant will never turn a profit. Sure, there have been innovators who developed something entirely irrelevant to one market, and then stumbled into another market that scooped their invention up with glee. But their luck was based on finding someone to whom their product (or service) was ultimately relevant. And yes, there are some customers who will buy something completely irrelevant just for the sake of being the first, or the only, person to acquire it. But there aren't enough of those people around to make essentially irrelevant ideas into commercial success.
This is advice your grandfather could have given you. Yet one only has to do research for three or four minutes to uncover a treasure trove of innovative products that died due to unsatisfactory (or entirely absent) ROIs. Products like Digiscents/iSmell (no kidding – digital smell synthesizers and software applications that transmit scents over the web), Flexplay (self-destructive DVDs?), and Microsoft Bob come to mind.
I'm not suggesting relevance is easy to discern. An important starting point is to listen carefully to what customers have to say, pay attention to how they work, play, and care for their families, or to how and why they are using your and your competitors' products. The next critical step is to listen carefully to your sales, service, customer support people, vendors, and service providers. Surveys, focus groups, and other forms of customer research can be of great benefit. Ideally you are able to develop a strong sense of relevance to your customer because you are your customer. But even with all of those tools at your disposal, it can be difficult to determine relevance. Many people were working in computing in the decades leading up to the 1980s, but only a handful were able to see how incredibly relevant the personal computer would ultimately be.
The failure to innovate with relevance isn't just limited to new products and services. Sometimes perfectly relevant new products and services are doomed by completely irrelevant marketing. You know the kind I mean. Marketing that is superficially sexy, glossy, purports to be edgy, and is resolutely mundane. No amount of information regarding the intended customer's needs, wants, or perspectives influenced the marketing department's creation. Customer awareness was not their concern.
Most of my readers are already familiar with my Great-aunt Carrie. Another of her excellent sayings – which I have thought about on numerous occasions lately – was pretty is as pretty does. As I child I used to say "but what does that mean Aunt Carrie?" The only answer she would ever give me was that I should think about it.
Well, I did think about it then, and I continue to think about it now. I'm inviting you to think about it with me. Innovate? Yes, of course. But don't just make it pretty. Make sure it has manners too.
(c) 2008. Andrea M. Hill
