Customer-Centric Product Definition: The Key to Great
Product Development (AMACOM 2002) introduces a product definition strategy
that places customer need at the top of the list of product development
criteria. According to author Sheila Mello, managing partner of Product
Development Consulting, Inc., a product is only as valuable as the purchasing
market proves it to be. Her book is designed to help new-product professionals:
- Avoid the up-front errors that can sideline product
development initiatives
- Reduce time to market by up to 40%
- Dramatically improve top- and bottom-line performance
- Develop products that will both please customers
and command premium prices
According to Mello, “The key to success is paradoxically
simple: Delight the customer by creating a product that fills a specific
need in the marketplace better than competing solutions.” However,
she warns that although the idea may be simple, its execution is anything
but. Mello advocates the use of Market-Driven Product Definition (MDPD)
to address the customer’s requirements in a systematic, analytical, and
repeatable way to generate a product definition that will lead to innovative
product solutions and measurable results for companies.
The implementation of MDPD will help answer the following
tricky product development questions:
- What are the meaningful customer/market requirements
for a new or enhanced product?
- Which customer-value-based requirements should the
product development effort target in order to create competitive differentiation
in the market?
- What trade-offs can be made in the product development
process, and how will these affect the product?
- What product features represent value for customers
and which will exceed customer expectations, resulting in delighted
customers?
- How should a company invest its resources in developing
particular product features to satisfy customer-value-based needs?
- Exactly what product features or attributes should
the solution set include?
- Which customer requirements need only be equivalent
to competitive offerings in the market to avoid adversely affecting
projected market capture?
|
