Our first PM event introduced the subject of product management and we explored how this was applicable to both an international manufacturer of laser (Coherent) and a start-up medical devices company (PWB health). In the second event we looked at the whole process from the experience of a high volume semiconductor plant and a low volume defence company, again the process of Product Management was shown to be crucial in determining good business decisions.

This event was organised to focus on the first stage of the process of product management. This critical step seems obvious and straightforward, however experience shows that this is where the most expensive errors are made. The first stage is “What do customers want”!

We opened the event with two short presentations (attached).

John Scott of Scottish Enterprise (ex ITI Scotland) introduced the theory of analysing customer needs as a “JOB” and not a “SOLUTION”. As Theodore Levitt explained "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!“ 

This view of the world challenges you to be “solution agnostic” when determining what customers need. This can be challenging in B2B sales where often the customer has made an assumption as to what solution they need. So you may need to challenge the customer. (The 5 whys as we will see later). To challenge the customer needs a good relationship and takes time.

The outcome of this approach is a detailed job map of what the customer needs which then becomes a powerful tool. Allowing you to position your product better in the market, get the right message across regarding product value and therefore aid the selling process.

In short find out what the customer core needs are, do not sell a solution.

Gary Colquhoun, the CEO of Fibre Photonics, a growing specialist photonics SME followed up with an insight to this challenge of determining customer need. Gary introduced his company and explained that he passionately believes that Product Management is a critical skill for SME’s. True they cannot burden themselves with the huge formal system that a large company can afford, but critically the process remains the same.

Gary explained the situation he found when he was in charge of an infra-red gas sensor system used in mushroom farming to optimise growing conditions. Despite a growing market in both product types and volumes they found there sales falling. They were losing market share to the competitors. Gary’s reaction was to put on the wellies and get involved at ground level. He got permission to shadow the workers on the mushroom farm and discuss in detail the work they do and the problems they have. In addition to one technical improvement in gas flow two rather simple facts arose. One – there was no simple way to attach the probe to the wall and two – It was too sensitive! By adding a chain and dumbing down the sensor the product was now much more fit for purpose. In the next quarter they exceeded the full year t/o by some margin. The key was understanding customer need.

Gary has now taken this experience forward and discovered that often the core technical IP which enables them to design their products is often incidental to the strengths that win them business. It may be supply flexibility, or service level or partnering with other expert companies. In other words he builds his product offering around the customer needs and not his technical solution.

Now that we were in the right frame of mind to discuss in detail this challenge of “How do you identify true customer needs” we ran a workshop to enable networking and learning between the delegates. It was arranged that each of the three syndicates had a broad mix of companies to ensure that each group had the broadest input.

A presentation is attached which includes the output from this workshop.