Building an effective sales capability

Building an effective sales capability is central to successfully taking your innovation to market. It is so much more than hiring the right people for your sales team – even though this is frequently a key ingredient. An organization needs to develop a professional, systematic set of processes followed by the right training / coaching and the right metrics and rewards. Keep in mind that every part of your plan needs to be within the right context of your company’s other strategies and capabilities. Read the full article

Defining your target market

The goal of market definition is to understand in more depth the nature of demand and competition in your target market. Market definition is achieved through understanding the overall structure and potential of your target market, your customer’s urgent needs, and your competition. Read the full article

Organizing for innovation

Established corporations introducing new products, technologies or lines of business need to think carefully about how best to organize to succeed. Extensive practical experience as well as a rapidly growing body of research indicates that the established organization is ill-equipped to support the successful development and launch of new products and businesses.   Read the full article

Innovation strategy development process

Developing a sound strategy is the critical foundation for gaining market traction. The key is to be both complete and efficient.  While most ventures pay lip service to the importance of a good strategy, strategy development is often not well understood or practiced. Too many ventures develop strategy on the fly, or allow the thoughts of the founder or largest investor to dominate.   Read the full article

The challenges of taking innovation to market

Why do new ventures find it so difficult to win customers? If your product is so good, how come customers don’t “beat a path” to your door? This article summarizes four key challenges ventures face when taking new product or service innovations to market. Recognizing, and thinking through, these market challenges is the first critical step on the path to addressing them effectively.   
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