1. GRP Advisors, LLC
Creating revenue with market solutions…
February 2007
“Ready – Fire – Aim”
Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Yet hundreds of companies use this
very strategy to develop their new product offerings. What are
the end results of this strategy?
- Missed forecasted top line sales or gross margin
- Late and over budget projects
- Plain, “me too” products
With the wealth of new product development process information
available to companies and practitioners it never ceases to amaze me
how frequently new products fail and more incredibly how
companies are surprised when the new product they “throw over the
wall” into the market doesn’t meet sales expectations.
Every year companies waste millions of dollars marketing,
advertising and branding products that fail to connect emotionally or
even logically with their customers.
In each issue of this newsletter I will focus on common product
development and marketing pitfalls, explain how to identify the
problem and provide tangible insight that will improve bottom line
profitability.
Product Development Pitfalls
Often products fail to deliver targeted sales, profit and ROI because they are not focused on
meeting specific needs of a specific customer segment (i.e. all customers are not created equally).
Instead, the product line becomes a range of line extensions based on different theme variations:
bigger, smaller, more expensive, less expensive or different feature content.
Consumer electronics companies are notorious for this type of strategy. This shotgun approach
becomes a very costly method to develop product with excessive tooling and development costs.
Historically this strategy results in unit sales and ROI’s that vary widely from the best to the worst
sellers.
We all don’t drive variations of the same car, we drive cars that meet our specific logical and
emotional needs – people just starting off in life or retired may be very frugal and drive economy
cars, ranchers and farmers have long valued the multifaceted benefits of pickup truck, families
gravitate toward mini vans and others may choose a performance sports car not for practical
reasons but emotional ones.
Take portable GPS systems for example; my local retailer has at least nine different models from
different manufacturers on display. As a consumer I couldn’t tell them apart, other than physical
size, screen size and price they all appeared identical. I guess the manufacturers all think there is

2. only one type of customer. Can you imagine how different they would be if they had targeted
different customers instead? What features would you want if you were a traveling sales person
working out of your car…imagine a GPS that seamlessly connected with an ACT database,
became a PDA for tracking your calendar, provided account notes storage, automatically
calculated driving routes by account name, use the address book to dial cell phone. Or if you were
a young mom that just moved into a new town – a nearest button to find the Dr, Hospital, cleaners,
grocery, bank…for that matter a nearest button would be a great asset if you were on a road trip.
Each of these factors and their relative importance lead to dramatically different product decisions.
The moment a company modifies its new product approach from “ready, fire, aim” to “target,
study, implement” you begin down the path toward improved sales and profitability. Clearly
defining your target customers, understanding their problems and purchase motivations before
developing your next product will lead to improved margins and return on investment.
Remember two things, successful products are SOLUTIONS to customer problems, needs or
issues they may not even realize they have. Second, customers are the ultimate judge of product
success and failure and the verdict they deliver is based on SALES.
Does your company need assistance with defining customer segments or new product needs? Are
you looking for a team of professionals that understands the emotional attributes that drive
purchase decisions? Call or email George Pariza for more information.
About GRP Advisors, LLC
GRP Advisors, LLC specializes in helping companies improve the bottom line by
- defining, designing, and delivering successful new products
- developing innovative strategic plans
- crafting and implementing differentiated brand identities
George Pariza the principal at GRP Advisors, LLC is a degreed engineer with 5 patents,
has delivered 100’s of new products, and crafted numerous new brand images over his 20+
year’s experience turning around underperforming brands, product lines and launching
new ones for brands like:
Contact Information
Email: GPariza@aol.com
Cell: 630-309-5646