Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones

BY LACK OF INNOVATION

Closely following on the heels of market research as a means to close the loop—that is, supplying valuable information to the insights side of the business—is the idea that these nuggets are not just how we can incrementally tweak the model to make things better, but how we can exponentially improve or make things significantly better. Build a better mousetrap, so to speak. Put differently, how can we change the game by incorporating these insights into the very R&D process or engine that powers our company? Without the ability to greatly improve the work product, the best-case scenario is stagnation, and the worst is extinction.

It’s naive—and almost negligent—to assume your competitors are sitting around, waiting for something to happen or for you to make the first move. Innovation is a high-stakes game, and more often than not, there is only one winner. Will it be you?

Innovation is inarguably the lifeblood for any company. Without it, there is the risk of becoming old news, boring, predictable, a me-too, and the list goes on. And with any one of these factors or a combination of them in play, the risk of defection increases, and the vicious circle of churn continues.

Grandfather of business management Peter Drucker once said that “the business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.” I’d respectfully add a third to this mix: customer experience. ...