B2B firms often develop products and services that are ultimately experienced by end users with whom the firm has no contact. It can be challenging to develop market strategy and product innovation to suit these users’ needs while achieving results for the B2B firm’s direct customers. Here are two B2B examples from my firm, Insight to Action, that show the importance of understanding these end users and their experiences.
Innovation Strategy
The ice cream market is facing a bit of a meltdown in recent years, with 22% of 2016 frozen treat consumers buying less. Beth Bloom, Senior Food & Drink Analyst for Mintel, writes about the current US ice cream market: “As volume…
Thinking Through the Role and Value of Multiple Perspectives, from End User to HQ Decision Maker When conducting B2B market research for clients that sell to larger organizations (e.g., those with more than 1000 employees), it’s typically a given that…
Twenty years ago in Utah, the Clark family started selling “Kodiak Cakes Frontier Flapjack and Waffle Mix” to ski town gift shops. While that doesn’t sound particularly disruptive, it signaled the beginning of the wakeup call Kodiak Cakes was about to give…
It has never been easier to be a lifelong learner than it is today. Free, 24/7 access is available to classes on a wide variety of subjects through MOOCs (massive open online classes). For example, for learners who need to brush up…
I recently caught up with Nancy Shea who shared her expertise on “Leading for Innovation” at the Innovation Leaders Forum in Boston on April 3, 2014. Shea brings over fifteen years of transformational leadership experience, including traditional consumer products with…
At Pennovations in Chicago, Bernhard Kappe of Pathfinder Software and the Chicago Lean Startup Circle spoke about the importance of getting customer and market input into the business plan. As you can see, the visual he used to illustrate a plan’s first contact with customers neatly…