Evolve or Disrupt - choose wisely

There is a term used by entrepreneurs, investors and analysts to describe almost any new technology product that enters the market – disruptive. Sounds all exciting and cool to a lot of folk and maybe it is right for some products and ideas, but with a marketing and commercialization hat on describing something as disruptive when it really isn’t has a lot of risk associated with it.

By definition disruptive products completely change the way a market does something. As a result they have a tendency to appeal to early adopters, which for truly disruptive products is great because it gets your sales started. There is however a downside and it is really simply that the early adopter segment accounts for less than 5% of virtually all marketa, which kind of limits the speed at which you can grow your sales.

The vast majority of every market is, as we all know uncomfortable with change, preferring to wait for everyone else to jump first – just try selling anything new to a legal or accountancy firm in the UK and you’ll see what we mean.

On the other hand evolution is a much less scary concept. We all do that and we all like to think we evolve and change with the times so that we keep mostly up to date. Evolution is a mass market concept, it’s not frightening, in fact it feels good, because it means we aren’t having to throw the baby out with the bath water and learn something again from scratch.

There are lots of other dimensions to this, but to keep this nice and light for a Friday afternoon we thought it would be better just to float the idea with you.

So here’s a little question for you. Which feels better, owning a really cool disruptive product that appeals to less than 5 percent of the market, or owning an evolutionary product that appeals to a much larger segment of the market?

By Tim Sandford

Good news - more rules

One of the single biggest things many new businesses and entrepreneurs find very challenging is the way their target markets behave. Even with our knowledge and experience, there are moments when it looks like everyone in a market has given their brains the day off.

However there is good news, there are rules and all markets follow them. This makes it much easier for you to understand why your target markets are not doing what you expect them to. We call them the Market Rules and if you have read through the website, you already know rule number one. If not you can always read about it here - http://bit.ly/YmuuIr 

Here is another one for you consideration – Its not your product customers buy, it’s the outcome the product delivers they buy.

This rule is like rule one, in that it is unbreakable and if you think about it pretty obvious. The reason I want to mention it on this blog is to discuss new or disruptive products and how to use this rule to your advantage.

If you are selling a known product in a known category like a watch for example, you don’t have to describe what the product does – unless your target market is an as yet undiscovered tribe of Amazonian natives who might not know what a watch is. Why, because we all know what watches do, its just a question of positioning it in the market to attract your target market.

On the other hand if you are selling something completely new that no one has ever seen or used before then how would they know what the outcomes are?

Those situations are where going through a proper commercialization process is vital if you want to get the market and enjoy the volume of sales you are aiming for.

Think of it this way, a long, long time ago when someone invented the wheel how did they get the message out there that wheels were the best product for people wanting to move large or heavy objects any distance? The inventor would have had to explain what the product does and the outcome it delivers - faster movement with fewer people required for example.

Without that what would people think – “ooh that’s a big plate,” or “wow that would make a great coffee table when they invent coffee.” 

I am being frivolous, but I also hope the point is coming across for an entirely new product, you have to find a way to get the message across about all of it, but most importantly you have to be able to demonstrate to your target customer that your product outcomes will benefit them.

By Tim Sandford