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Playing The Game of Innovation to Win

Are You Wondering Why Innovation Isn’t Working for Your Company?

Are you satisfied with your innovation and new product development results?
Or Does it seem like nothing seems to get done on time?
Do you have a great technology but can’t identify a viable market opportunity to commercialize it?

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Introducing New Products Doesn’t Need To Be a Mystery

There are specific skills, methods and practices associated with developing innovative new products that will help any company improve its ability to detect, define, design, and deliver ideas with the best chance of success.


Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun if your new product launches are met with enthusiasm and consumer demand? Sound impossible? It’s not.


Dr. Robert Cooper, a recognized thought leader in new product development, found that just 11% of product development projects fail for technical reasons. He found that there are two main causes of new product failure:

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  • Developing products customers do not want, and

  • Developing “me too” products.

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Three issues prevent companies from achieving new product development success.

Incremental “Me-Too” Products
Many companies struggle to launch breakthrough new products. They barely tread water and are slowly losing customers. 

 

Too Many Opportunities and Not Enough Resources
Sometimes companies have a wealth of ideas but no consistent way to select the best ones for development. Valuable resources are wasted while the truly deserving projects don’t receive the resources they should. 

 

Solutions Looking for a Problems
Ideas need to address problems big enough to be worth solving. That means truly understanding what customers really want. The typical new product development team lacks a repeatable process for understanding this important element. There is no systematic method for translating customer needs into product requirements that accurately reflect the customer’s perspective. 


 

Imagine This Instead

How I developed the OPPEX Playbook

Every product you launched is ideal: the customer’s reaction is overwhelming. The product is so unique that nobody else delivers anything like it. The product's performance and quality are amazing and it is priced aggressively.
 

What If ...
… you had a product development portfolio management system that creates a consistent flow of sensational new products? 


… you could achieve year-over-year growth significantly better than your closest competitor?


… you could consistently transform new technologies into game-changing new products customers enthusiastically embrace?  

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You Need the Innovator’s Game Plan

The Innovator’s Game Plan provides a disciplined framework for leadership and execution. It recognizes that customers don’t necessarily know what they want or need until they experience it. It guides  you through the uncertainty and risk associated with launching bold and innovative new products.

Four Key Elements

  1. Business Strategy and Mission set the direction for where you will compete and how you will win. 
     

  2. The Design Thinker’s Success Triad addresses the core elements necessary for new product success: desirability, feasibility and viability.
     

  3. The Business Model Canvas helps you design a simple, clear visualization to successfully address the elements of Design Thinker’s Success Triad. 
     

  4. The Innovation Time Horizon Map focuses development resources so you can plan and execute your strategy to compete successfully

Why is the Innovator's Game Plan program effective?

Over the years, I have had my share of successes and failures in launching new products. I’ve spent my career discovering, understanding and codifying a body of knowledge to give you a simple, repeatable and predictable innovation process that takes the risk out of discovering and transforming great ideas into successful new products. 


The result provides a systematic approach to discover:

 

  • What important jobs customers need to get done, 

  • How customers define success by expressing their desired outcomes and 

  • What prevents them from experiencing complete satisfaction.


The Innovator’s Game Plan is designed to be applied to real issues and challenges your teams are facing now. You will get results and see wins early and often as you build a robust and systematic innovation execution framework.  

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The Innovator's Playbook

Discovering and Transforming Great Ideas Into Breakthrough New Products

The Innovator’s Playbook provides an innovation framework based on the “jobs-to-be-done” innovation theory pioneered by Clayton Christensen and others. This proven methodology frames innovation opportunities from the customer’s perspective to create products and services that match the needs of the people who use it.

How You Will Benefit

After you complete the Innovator’s Game Plan program…


... you will have a repeatable innovation framework to guide your team in identifying problems worth solving.  


… you will have predictable systems to transform initial concepts into solutions that customers want and value.


… you can expect a steady stream of successful new product introductions while avoiding the frustration and waste of launching product failures.


… your company will enjoy a loyal and growing base of advocates while leaving your competitors scrambling to catch up. 


… you will have a robust new product portfolio management system that will generate consistent topline growth and shareholder value.


… you will have energized and motivated teams who create customer value and make a positive impact.

And That’s Not All 

Your company will evolve into an innovation and design thinking culture. 


Your new product development team will improve its ability to listen, observe and anticipate what the market wants and respond with solutions the market values. 


Project After Action Reviews will become a key tool to identify and fix the most critical barriers to achieving faster product development cycles and customer value.


You will have a set of integrated metrics and dashboards to guide your teams and project leaders. 

The Innovators Game Plan Is a Three Phase Program 

Phase 1: Innovation Growth Engine Diagnostic and Performance Tune-up
The program begins with you and key leaders clearly defining success metrics. We will then lead an honest assessment of your current situation and design a customized Innovator’s Game Plan to move you from where you are today to your desired future state.


Phase 2: Develop Skills and Practices and Deliver Results
We will develop a set of customized practice, skills and tools that your new product development teams must master. Using opportunities identified in Phase 1, your team will be motivated by early wins as you achieve your performance objectives.

 
Phase 3: After Action Review, Reinforcements and Continuous Improvement
In the final stage, we will evaluate the team’s results and identify actions to hone your Innovator’s Game Plan.  

Is the Innovator's Game Plan right for  you?

This program is right for you if…


... you are a leader charged with creating new ventures and product innovations.


… you want to reduce risk in launching products and improve your decision making skills and processes.


... your company has experienced disappointing sales and revenue growth from new product introductions during the past three years. 


… you are suffering from development project overload, nothing gets done on time, and what does get done lacks impact.

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Interested? Learn More

I invite you to contact me for a complimentary one-hour Innovator’s Strategy Session to find out more about the program and determine whether it's right for you.
In that session we’ll explore: 

 

  • What you need to move your business forward. 

  • What you’ve learned from past innovation efforts. 

  • The challenges you and your new product development team face. 

  • What kind of results you’d like to see.

 

Whatever the outcome, you’ll leave the conversation clear about the issues you’re facing and excited about what’s possible.

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I look forward to our conversation.

 

With best wishes,

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Kevin B. McGourty
President and CEO
iNPD Center, Inc.
Certified New Product Development Professional (NPDP)

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