Economic Downturn Opens The Best Opportunities to Innovate

Whether you are between employments or fearful that you may be retrenched in the near future you may want to consider the opportunities before you.

Despite the economic downturn companies are always looking for new opportunities and ways to increase product/service offerings as well as customer satisfaction. This is an ideal time to start thinking beyond the traditional boundaries for innovative solutions as consumers are looking more than ever for new and cost effective products. The imperative to change has come. Over the next few years only companies that build resilient products will be able to overcome a decrease in demand.

As an employee or a leader there are many ways that you can affect change in your company and in your team. This year companies will be looking for employees and leaders that can generate innovative solutions with very limited resources. These are some tips you can follow to innovate in your company:

1) Learn to Identify Opportunities.

You can train yourself to find new business opportunities you in adjacent markets, new markets, as well as your current market. These opportunities will come up as you train your employees to look at the value that customers (and potential customers) obtain or could obtain from your products and services. For instance, if you produce drilling machines you may want to answer the question: who may use my drilling machine? And, what for? You will find that there may be many more markets open for you. You can stretch it, for instance to include property agents. And then ask yourself who may I convince property agents to use drilling machines? In this case, they could be final users to display posters or renovate simple items in houses, or retail channels to final users: as many expatriates as come from abroad and do not bring drilling machines with them.

2) Innovate with the customer crucial needs in mind.

Disruptive innovation often comes with a substantial increase in value and a corresponding decrease in price. In order to do this you need to identify what are the most pressing issues your target market faces and refine or combine your technology in order to outperform the normal market standard at a lower rate. In the case of the drill you may want to offer alternative technologies: suction products that can be fixed to the walls/ceilings and a wire system to display paintings, super glue, or interior design advice (interior design guide) that will delight the customer as he can enjoy a much better layout of fixtures at home at a lower rate, or a drilling rental service as after all most people do not use the drilling machine often.

3) Design an innovative space.

Whether your company is innovative or not there is always room for improvement. The design of a space, allocated time and procedural initiatives that spur and reward innovation suggestions can enhance overnight the value that your company delivers. Employees can contribute not only in ideas regarding new product development but also about all the stages of the business process. From design to customer service employees can provide different views that will help have a holistic understanding of markets and customer segments including business opportunities and product improvement initiatives. This innovative space must be facilitated by a leader that can engage and motivate the team to produce innovative output. A variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise always helps in the innovative process as quite often it is the intersection of disciplines that will open innovative opportunities. Companies have been able to creative this variety of feedback in innovation by engaging suppliers, customers and partners in their innovation process.

4) Brand your customer experience.

By looking step by step into the customer experience you can design and provide such a high level customer service that become part of your brand. On the one hand you can make the customer experience memorable. On of the ways is by engaging the client and helping solve problems. For instance, recently at a handphone service station the front line (information counter) was able to solve a pressing SMS problem saving me 45 minute waiting time. On the other hand the customer service can continually find out opportunities for innovation from the customer perspective. This is one of the untapped data sources that companies can use for effective product transformation. As a result your company will come across as really appreciating the client. This is, in turn, not only a powerful marketing strategy but also an opportunity to strategically innovate in different areas of your business.

By empowering your employees and leaders to think innovation your company will be able to leverage on the many opportunities that are opening to you at this present time.

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