At the expansion stage, companies are often full of rightful excitement as they continue to grow and build momentum. But that growth often comes with a few bumps that companies need to address to maintain their skyward trajectory. One of the biggest issues that I’ve noticed is some companies’ inability to adjust product strategy adroitly as market conditions change. Typically, as an expansion stage business grows outside of the limited market it served as a startup, it can be difficult to continue growing  in the more mature, crowded markets it needs to target, or to figure out new market niches…

RIM’s BlackBerry line was once the be-all end-all for smartphones. Now, more and more, it’s becoming an industry joke. There’s a lot to be learned from RIM’s mistakes, especially when it comes to your company’s product aspirations and strategy. Michael Mace has written an extensive and well-researched blog over at Mobile Opportunity about the downfall of BlackBerry—both perceived and otherwise. Here’s a quick overview of lessons learned from squished berries: RIM is Failing to Innovate Mace differentiates between early adopters (who make up most of Apple’s success with the iPhone) and those…

In the car dealership world, salespeople attempt to make sell the car as an entity to a buyer.

They don’t sell features. They want you to get into the car and fall in love. Why? Because rationality is less important when you’re in love; when something doesn’t make sense, you can overlook it. If you’re dealing with raw data, there’s no connection. There’s no emotion. And as part of any sales process, the paramount duty of the sales methodology is to build a connection to the product. The fatal flaw of many…

The New Year brings an opportunity to start anew, with a proverbial clean slate.

For businesses, this is a unique opportunity to abandon procedures that weren’t working or living up to their potential. It’s a chance to break out of slumps and get out of the red. And all it takes is the restart of a 365-day cycle. If you’re looking into making some impactful changes in 2011, you’re not alone. Here are some potential business growth strategies for your company: Try something you’ve never done before. This sort of inventive thinking…

Using your customers to create content, product innovations and make other general contributions to your business is a pipedream for most businesses.

Is this true in your company? Those that have been able to install a strategy that accomplishes these goals, however, have been immensely rewarded. A customer’s positive words can easily become a lead generation system. Through a form of influence marketing, these vouching claims will validate your business and your offerings. By seeking out and engaging your customers in the social media realm, you’re automatically proving many positive things about…

Consumer product strategists are usually tasked with executing on a number of product strategies.

To accomplish this, they have a diverse range of duties that they must perform on a day-to-day basis. These duties aren’t universal from one product strategist to the next. Different companies have different expectations and needs for their employees. As far as the particular skills that typify a competent product strategist, these are relatively easy to quantify. Here are some examples: Product strategists must drive innovation while implementing the company strategy throughout the product management process. Product…

In some market segments, a software company’s biggest competition isn’t a particular company or product at all, it’s a concept. Open source or “free” software can make competitive positioning difficult for companies that charge for their product, but it’s not impossible to do. Consumers often use free software because it’s free, not because they loved the functionalities of the product and recognize value in it. I worked with one of our portfolio companies recently to research a particular segment the company wanted to target. We found that the company’s software did a better job at meeting the users’ specific needs…

There’s a sore spot at many companies.

And it’s painfully evident in some of these businesses. What is this problem? Many companies can’t accurately articulate the differences between a product strategy and a business strategy. Sadly, being able to do so is vital to them. Many – maybe even most – companies confuse the two. In other cases, they just combine the two until you can’t discern either. And what is the result of this misunderstanding? Poorly understood strategies. For another way to look at it, consider business strategies as metrics-focused. They’re…