Understanding your customers and providing them with ongoing attention is the backbone of operational excellence. Yet customers themselves are embedded into an environment in flux. That is why it is paramount to take a step back and seek to adopt a broader perspective, spanning the entire global market value chain. Only this holistic view enables […]
To become a leader, analyse the market’s value chain Read Post »
As the founder of a Deeptech start-up, or the head of a technological innovation project, at a family gathering or a cocktail party, you sometimes tell about your professional activity. Haven’t you noticed the variety of reactions: curiosity, enthusiasm, admiration, or incomprehension, disinterest, scepticism. You will face likewise a diversity of attitudes when you launch
Deeptech: Will your scientific & technical selling points be enough to succeed? Read Post »
Your company is setting out to conquer a new B2B market with an innovative offering. Your strategy should be to acquire a significant position as soon as possible in a selected use case, a carefully defined “vertical” that may be geographically extended. It’s like cutting a slice of cheese with a knife: the sharper the
To conquer a new market, prefer the knife to the fork! Read Post »
Marketing managers describe their target market using persona profiles. A persona is a fictional typical customer whose background, values, habits and attitudes towards the product are outlined. Market segmentation classifies buyers or users into groups of individuals with similar characteristics. It enables the development of a marketing strategy tailored to each group. Market segmentation and
Persona: The trap of fake marketing Read Post »
Well-established industrial companies that manufacture and sell under their own brand can tap into a source of profitability right at their feet: streamlining their product catalogue. But not all of them do so. What is holding them back? It is not simply about tackling industrial complexity using an Excel spreadsheet and a boilerplate method regurgitated
Trim your product catalogue and boost your competitiveness! Read Post »
The driving role of emotions in B2B marketing is a fact established by research and experts. In a context where Marketing and Sales automation powered by digitalisation and AI agents is set to play a growing role in B2B markets, what if you chose to make emotion a lever for business performance? To convince you,
BtoB Marketing: Arouse great emotions in your customers! Read Post »
Trucks, wind turbines, production machinery, boilers, software… these types of equipment require significant maintenance throughout their lifetime. For a company that designs and manufactures them, new equipment and maintenance activities are intertwined. But day-to-day operations are so different that they need to be managed separately.This can lead to lose sight of the strategic link between
Under the wake of geopolitical tensions, the globalisation of trade seems to be giving way to the fragmentation of markets and value chains. Calls for boycotts, increased customs duties, economic sovereignty, manufacturing reshoring and protective regulations are on the rise… and the political sphere is putting national preference on its agenda. Some manufacturers are mulling
Economic patriotism: Is it a good selling point? Read Post »
The cash shortage triggers a string of steps: factoring, delayed payment of suppliers, reduction of expenses, hiring freeze, additional approval level for expense requests, etc. Yet the crisis may linger or resurface. So, another round of financial belt-tightening? In the long run, the issue becomes a mental burden driving to a compulsive attention to certain
Cash-strapped? What about asking Sales & Marketing for a fix? Read Post »
To innovative and ambitious teams, the quest for competitiveness paves the way for success. Really? The quest starts at the very beginning, when the first business plan is drawn up, by making sure that price assumptions are based on robust research. Setting the target selling price is an even trickier stage, as the project team
Innovators: Set as soon as possible your target selling price ! Read Post »
Who hasn’t heard sales colleagues boasting of having taken advantage of their customer’s poor organisation or limited skills? You’ve laughed heartily, and you may also have congratulated the sales person for their cunning move. And then, on reflection, a feeling of unease sets in: how does the customer feel about it? This situation actually takes
Making money off my customer’s weaknesses: rewarding, profitable,but not sustainable! Read Post »
The strategic plan describes the company’s ambitions over a period of 3 years or more, and allocates resources to the projects that will make the greatest contribution to achieving them. It is a dense, difficult and tedious exercise. In view of the rapid changes taking place in the company’s environment, we may well wonder whether
Is it still worth making a strategic plan? Read Post »
Your company has just completed the development of a promising technological innovation: manufacturing process, high performance material, algorithm, sensor, energy production or storage device, etc. This building block has many potential uses across a broad span of activities. Congratulations! The hiccup is that your resources are limited. How do you pick the best use case?
Technological innovation: How to pick the best use case? Read Post »
Intangible assets account for 48% of the value of listed European companies. They include three key elements: Intellectual property, the company’s reputation, and its trademarks. All are long-term assets: a brand or reputation is built up over many years. A patent can be exploited for twenty years. Are they managed in a coordinated way? Generally
Your brand equity is a key card to innovate! Read Post »
Innovation competitions and calls for innovation projects have proliferated since the beginning of the 21st century. They allow the most innovative proposals to be selected and funded within a limited timeframe. While they offer significant efficiency benefits to the organisers, they are often disconnected from the heart of the company operations and from the real-life
Launch your own Customer Problem Beauty Contest! Read Post »
One of the editors of this article recently decided to change the blade on a gardening tool rather than replace the whole thing. The manufacturer offers a life warranty, and the spare part is available in the catalogue… perfect! Yet it turned out that after two months, a visit by car to a shop, a
Leaders, get to grips with industrial design and rise above your competitors! Read Post »
You are regularly requested to briefly present your company, for instance at a first meeting with a potential customer or partner, or at the start of a speech at a conference. As you speak, what you can read in the eyes and faces of our audience says a lot about the strength and relevance of
Company positioning statement:How to make a splash? Read Post »
I sometimes hear company leaders doubt whether their teams have a good understanding of customer expectations. Surprisingly, despite the ease with which data can be collected, processed, and disseminated today, the quality of information on customer expectations remains a source of concern. This article lists the various factors that can lead to this situation. It
The quality of information on customer expectations drives business performance Read Post »
With the acceleration of measures to decarbonise industry and strengthen the resilience of value chains in the face of supply, geopolitical and health shocks, buyer demand is increasingly focused on the way in which a product is manufactured. Compliance with product specifications and price are no longer enough: the origin and quality of components, manufacturing
Is the promotion of the process more important than the promotion of the product? Read Post »
In companies that invest in innovation, the asymmetry of knowledge between R&D and marketing teams is striking: On the one hand, R&D teams are made up of experts who have often been in their positions for many years, who have accumulated decades of knowledge and experience in specific fields, and established long-term collaborative relationships with
Three rules for a winning relationship between R&D and marketing Read Post »
A marketing career in industry has given me many opportunities to deep-dive into the customer experience. And I have also been lucky to team up with systems engineering practitioners. I have discovered the decisive competitive advantage a company can gain from bringing together user experience and systems engineering practitioners, especially for innovative design. In this
How to make system engineers and customer experience experts work together? Read Post »
Having spent most of my career in marketing, I never miss an opportunity to champion the added value of this function, and the importance of acquiring solid training and experience before taking on responsibilities. It is therefore with perplexity that I sometimes discover the gap between the advertised function and the actual skills of the
Industry: What to do with the usurpers of the marketing title? Read Post »
A McKinsey paper estimates that companies that focus on satisfying their existing customers grow twice as fast as others. And yet, who among those of you who works in an industrial company has not heard the sales forces lamenting: “we are a product-oriented company anyway”, or harsher: “the engineers have here all the power”? To
Can a product-centric company become customer-centric? Read Post »
Communication is an integral part of the innovation process. Those of us who have worked with both R&D and communication teams may be surprised by this assertion. The profile of communication teams is obviously different from that of R&D teams. Communication teams are usually involved well after the development and testing phases of R&D. A
No Innovation without Communication! Read Post »
Your company designs and markets technical products and solutions to companies around the world. You publish your product offering online, perhaps even a complete catalogue. Hundreds, thousands of potential professional buyers consult it before asking for a quote or an appointment. More than just a basic brick and mortar, the product brochure is one of
The product brochure chore: what is the right recipe to use? Read Post »