Innovative Strategies: Leverage Potential Change

Posted on November 15, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Exploit Market Changes

Industries and markets are constantly changing for many reasons, including technology, a new business model, or a pandemic.

When this occurs, companies have two choices: adapt to current changes or, longer-term, be disrupted.

But, if you pay attention to these changes, you can develop innovative strategies for revenue growth and exploit these market changes.

That is what we are going to talk about in this blog, how companies react to these changes, how you can adapt your strategy to these changes

to gain product value, revenues, and even a long-term monopoly in your market.

Companies that do not adapt generally resort to inertia or entropy.

What is inertia?

Inertia is the unwillingness of the affected company to adapt.

Not adapting could be caused by routines (the way we have always done things) or an unwillingness to change strategies because it will hurt current profit streams.

They assume that these current profit streams will continue.

However, this also opens up opportunities for others. For example, Netflix replaced Blockbuster. Walmart replaced K-Mart.

What is entropy?

Inertia generally leads to entropy. Entropy is not keeping your product line up to date and, therefore, losing clients, sales, and market share.

The primary reason entropy becomes the problem is that the company becomes less focused on its products,

often reduces prices and generally becomes less responsive to its customers. You might agree with Elon Musk, “I think you should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.

Again, entropy opens opportunities for competitors to innovative strategies for revenue growth. Product-market fit is not a permanent status.

For example, the Encyclopedia Britannica was replaced by Wikipedia. Photographic film was replaced by digital cameras.

Innovative Strategies: Examples of Potential Opportunities

Your strategic opportunity is to pay attention to these changes and be willing to innovate your products or services and experiment.

In that case, you can leverage your current strategy.

You can capitalize on these changes with new concepts, ideas, products, or services that should generate new revenues and profits for years to come.

A few examples of potential innovative strategies for revenue growth in market changes are happening today.

Innovative strategies for potential changes in auto Insurance

Every car insurance company says -one way or another- you only pay for what you need.

And there are companies with apps comparing prices. How long can profitability last?

I also realize that much of their money is made on premiums and reinvesting premiums into other interest-paying assets.

But what happens when interest rates change, and the spread collapses?

What happens when car buyers switch from buying cars to subscribing to vehicles?

This concept is just getting started, but the idea is increasing globally.

Just pay a monthly fee and drive off the lot. You have a three-year subscription and can change car models every 12 months.

You subscribe at the dealership, and your monthly subscription includes insurance (they want to protect their asset.)

This concept is new, and I assume changes will be made along the way.

Other opportunities include electric cars, charging stations, gasoline prices, parts costs, and many more.

Is there an opportunity for an innovative strategy for growth, or are insurance companies the next Blockbuster video rental company?

How could you take advantage of these opportunities if you are in this industry?

Innovative strategies for opportunities in the phone market

One telephone service company sells its service for $75 per month,

and another sells the same service with the same coverage for $25 per month.

Are costs plummeting, or are more and more competitors entering the market?

Or are the phone companies still making money on phone sales?

But we see ads claiming you can save about 50 percent on some phones.

Are these companies simply discounting to get updates or new customers

— or calling it the marketing cost of acquiring a new customer who will eventually be profitable over the long term.

Plus, what technological advancements are going to happen? Will SMS messages all become MMS multimedia messages?

Will there be anyone left on laptops? What will happen with 5 G?

How will this evolving industry affect your market, product, or service? And how quickly?

Innovative strategies for opportunities in the real estate market.

Real estate companies continue to reduce their commissions and have gone from 6% commission down to about half that amount.

Companies and agents use marketing companies to get listings and independent agents to sell homes.

This new sales model has dramatically reduced costs.

There have also been new sales models like “ibuyers,” who buy a home in cash with no fees,

spend a few dollars updating the home, and resell the house for a profit. Can this last with higher interest rates and slowing house prices?

Also, many real estate companies own title companies because that is another way to “cross-sell” and increase their sales and profits.

But what if title companies begin using blockchain technology to make title registration faster, easier, and safer –maybe reducing title insurance?

Or what if the real estate agent took the average discount the buyer wanted and gave the buyer a portion of that discount as a “bonus” at closing for buying the house?

That money would be much more valuable to the buyer than the small amount that would reduce the monthly payment.

Considering all the variables that go into the real estate market, how will this market change in the next 3-5 years?

How will the real estate companies deal with all the brick-and-mortar offices across the country?

More changes and opportunities to come

Those few common examples are only the beginning of the changes we will see in the coming years.

For example, what will RoKo streaming television do to cable companies?

Or is Artificial Intelligence taking over more and more tasks?

Or are 3D printers building homes in a couple of days?

The list could be extensive, but you get the idea: everyone is or will be affected by continuous changes in our world.

One way you can deal with these changes is to monitor the changes knowing that some companies

will adapt quickly while others will respond with inertia and/or entropy.

Those companies are easier to identify and give you time

to create and modify your strategy to be the value leader in your industry and market

-and maybe own the monopoly position in a new market niche.

Conclusion

Gain Strategic Leverage From Market Changes

-Market fit continues to evolve and change with the economy and the customer’s needs and wants.

Therefore, stay alert and be ready to take advantage

of the many new opportunities to modify your strategy as required.

Who can argue with Elon Musk’s perception of the future?

He says, “you have to get into a new market several years ahead of the apparent trend to be a player in that market.”

Cheers,

Jim Zitek

PS. If you would like to learn more about business growth strategies,

check out this blog post: Why your business growth story is your story

PPS If you want to get the right information at the right time, check out our website,

How To Define And Solve The “Real” Problem

Posted on November 4, 2021July 26, 2024 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Define and solve the real problem

We’ve all been there—several people discussing the problem that needs to be solved to meet the goal. But the challenge is that different people have different definitions of the “real” problem. This short blog post, taken from Michael MIchalko’s book, Thinkertoys, will help you end that uncertainty. It will help you identify and prioritize problems and convert them into specific challenges using creative thinking. I have condensed this to keep it as short as possible for this blog post.

Start by making a list of the problems that need to be solved. Following are a few examples. How can I increase revenues by 20% this year? How can I cut costs and increase production? How can we better differentiate our product from our competitors? How can we improve the role of the service department?

Just the act of writing your challenges down may result in some immediate ideas.

Carefully craft your challenge statement.

The more time you devote to perfecting the wording of your challenge, the closer you will be to a solution. When you have a problem, write a challenge statement out, study it for a while, then leave it, change it, stretch and squeeze it, and restate it. Questions help you look at a challenge from different perspectives. Following is the blueprint for executing this statement challenge.

Blueprint

Broaden your view.

Write your statement as a definitive question, beginning with “In what ways might I (statement)…?”
Vary the wording of your challenge by substituting different synonyms for keywords to broaden your perspective of the problem (e.g., increase to multiply to enlarge)

Then, squeeze your view down to a very narrow, specific perspective.

Divide your challenge into subproblems
Solve the subproblems
Then, Keep asking how else? And why else?

Again, positively phrase these problems and as a question: “In what ways might I…?” This form helps keep you from concluding what the problem is too quickly. You want many different perceptions of the situation to see other possibilities.

Stretching the challenge

To keep your mind open to all possibilities, stretch your challenge by asking “why?“ several times. Also, asking why will help you identify your general objective and challenge your assumptions. This process will also help you redefine and reshape your challenges.

For example, suppose your challenge is “in what ways might I sell more computers?“

Why do you want to sell more computers? Because we need more funds to pay bills.
Why do you want to increase revenues? Because costs are growing.
Why do you want to sell more computers? Because sales are beginning to slow down.
Why do you want to sell more computers? To make investments in new products.
Why do you want to increase your sales volume? To take advantage of discounts.

Expanding your challenge gives you a broader concept of the challenge so that you can view many more approaches.

Squeeze the challenge

When you have a broad idea of what you are trying to find, narrow the objective from the general to the specific by squeezing it. This process makes your challenge easier to solve. To squeeze a challenge, you want to discover its strengths, weaknesses, and boundaries. To do that, ask who, what, where, when, why, and how.

Who might have unique strengths and resources or access to helpful information
What helps identify all the things, objects, and items involved in the situation, the requirements, difficulties, rewards, and advantages and disadvantages of formulating a resolution.
Where considers the place. Locations or focal points of the problem.
When probes schedules, dates, and timeliness of the situation.
Why helps you reach an understanding of your primary objective.
How helps you recognize how the situation developed, actions that may have been tempted or now occurring, and steps that one could take.

You’re going to do that for the larger problem and the subproblem.

Conclusion

Going through this exercise will enable you to see all of the things you need to do to solve the real problem. Now, you can prioritize them and accomplish them one by one until you can reach your goal. You may also have to redo your analysis as you go because things will change.

PS. If you want to get the right information at the right time, go to our website, sign up for the ClickVisorTM program, and learn about innovative strategies for continued revenue growth.

How To Define And Solve The “Real” Problem

Posted on November 4, 2021July 26, 2024 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Start with a list of problems.

Just the act of writing your challenges down may result in some immediate ideas.

Carefully craft your challenge statement.

The more time you devote to perfecting the wording of your challenge, the closer you will be to a solution. So the next time you have a problem, write a challenge statement out, study it for a while, then leave it, change it, stretch and squeeze it, and restate it. Questions help you look at a challenge from different perspectives. Following is the blueprint for executing this statement challenge.

Blueprint

Broaden your view.

1. Write your statement as a definitive question, beginning with “In what ways might I (statement)…?”

2. Vary the wording of your challenge by substituting different synonyms for keywords

to broaden your perspective of the problem (e.g., increase to multiply to enlarge)

Then, squeeze your view down to a very narrow, specific perspective.

1. Divide your challenge into sub-problems

2. Solve the sub-problems

3. Then, Keep asking how else? And why else?

Again, positively phrase these problems and as a question: “In what ways might I…?”

This form helps keep you from concluding what the problem is too quickly.

You want many different perceptions of the situation to see other possibilities.

Stretch the challenge

For example, suppose your challenge is “in what ways might I sell more computers?“

1. Why do you want to sell more computers? Because we need more funds to pay bills.

2. Why do you want to increase revenues? Because costs are growing.

3. Why do you want to sell more computers? Because sales are beginning to slow down.

4. Why do you want to sell more computers? To make investments in new products.

5. Why do you want to increase your sales volume? To take advantage of discounts.

Expanding your challenge gives you a broader concept of the challenge so that you can view many more approaches.

Squeeze the challenge

Once you have a broad idea of what you are trying to find, narrow the objective from the general to the specific by squeezing it. This process makes your challenge easier to solve. To squeeze a challenge, you want to discover its strengths, weaknesses, and boundaries. To do that, ask who, what, where, when, why, and how.

1. Who might have unique strengths and resources or access to helpful information

2. What helps identify all the things, objects, and items involved in the situation,

the requirements, difficulties, rewards, and advantages and

disadvantages of formulating a resolution?

3. Where considers the place? Locations or focal points of the problem.

4. When probes schedules, dates, and timeliness of the situation.

5. Why helps you reach an understanding of your primary objective?

6. How helps you recognize how the situation developed, actions that may

have been tempted or now occurring, and steps that one could take?

You’re going to do that for the larger problem and the sub-problem.

Conclusion

Going through this exercise will enable you to see all of the things you need to do to solve the problem.

Now, you can prioritize them and accomplish them one by one until you can reach your goal.

You may also have to redo your analysis as you go because things will change.

Try to go through this discovery process. The first time makes you think. But you will be surprised at the results you get.

Table of Contents: Marketing Straregy

Posted on November 3, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

This Post is the table of contents for the Revenues module. Please review the articles you want to look at and click on the article. It will take you to that article. You can then click back to this page and select another article you want to read or re-read, You also have the option to simply read all of the articles as they were posted on this module.

If you have questions, you can email us from the contact page and post your questions there. Also, if you have a suggestion for an article you or others would like information about, email us, and we will look into it. You can email us at https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com/contact-us.

Marketing Strategy

Marketing Mastery: Unveiling the Strategy Behind Success

Why Is Marketing Strategy Important?

Why Marketing Strategies Are So Important

Your Value Proposition Is The Key To Revenue and Profit Generation.

Why Customer Lifetime Value Is So Critically Important

Follow Up, Then Follow Up Again

Work Your Customer List First

Reverse The Customer’s Risk And Increase Sales

Website

How To Turn Your Website Into A Selling Machine

Outbound Marketing

Outbound Marketing – Its Importance and Benefits

How To Use Your Website to Build An Enormous eMail List

Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing – Its Importance and Benefits

Using LinkedIn, Inbound And Outbound Marketing Program

Messaging

Positioning Is The Battle For Your Mind

Positioning: A Competitive Breakthrough

What Does Customer-Centered Mean?

How Empathy Improves Marketing Results

How to find your perfect market niche

Differentiation Is The Key To Profits

SEO

What you need to know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Are Search Engines Missing Your Website?

Whiteboards

In Our Video World, Whiteboard Animation Is Growing Rapidly

Why Create A Whiteboard Animated Video

Elements of A Whiteboard Animated Video

Direct Mail

Important Ways To Improve Your Direct Mail Marketing[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Contents: Strategy

Posted on November 3, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

START HERE> This Post is the table of contents for the Strategy module. Please review the articles you want to look at and click on the article. It will take you to that article. You can then click back to this page and select another article you want to read or re-read; you also have the option to simply read all of the articles as they were posted on this module.

If you have questions, you can email us from the contact page. Also, if you have a suggestion for an article you or others would like information about, email us and we will look into it. You can email us at https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com/contact-us.

Pre Strategy

The Critical First Step Toward New Product Success

Part Two: How To Get Product Validation And Commitment

Start With Why

Competitive Market Strategy

What Is A Strategy?

How Innovative Strategies Drive Sales

Why Both Research and Diagnosis are Invaluable Tools in Your Strategy Toolkit

Getting To An Agreed Definition Of The Problem

The Foundation Of A Strategy Is The Kernel

General Policy and Cohort Action

Why Your Strategy’s General Policy Is Critical