The Marketing Journal
  • About
  • Interviews
  • Articles
  • Videos
  • Book Reviews
  • Views
  • Subscribe
“How to Find Growth Opportunities in Times of Crisis” – Anthony Ulwick

“How to Find Growth Opportunities in Times of Crisis” – Anthony Ulwick

January 22, 2021

Innovating during COVID-19 is all about customer needs discovery

Companies naturally react to crises by preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. But while preparing for the worst is prudent, hoping for the best is not an effective strategy. Hope won’t lead to the discovery of new market opportunities, new product and service offerings, or the chance to secure a market leadership position.

Throughout history, the companies that excel during times of crisis are those that effectively act, and today’s situation is no exception. What companies need—now, more than ever—is to invest in new products and services that address the customer’s evolving needs. This also means they must invest in an approach to innovation that ensures their success.

In this article I explain why now is the time to act on your innovation initiatives and what steps to take today to secure your company’s future.

What new innovation challenges does the COVID-19 crisis impose?

A recent McKinsey executive survey reveals the following important facts:

  • 90% of executives believe that the COVID-19 crisis will fundamentally change the way they do business over the next 5 years
  • 85% are concerned that the COVID-19 crisis will have a lasting impact on their customers’ needs over the next 5 years
  • Only 21% believe they have the expertise, resources, and commitment to pursue new growth successfully
  • 67% believe that this will be the most challenging moment in their executive career

Dozens of executive interviews we’ve recently conducted at Strategyn provide additional insights into these concerns. We learned, for example, that executives are pushing their product teams to be the first to effectively address the changes in customer needs..

Consequently, companies are being pressured to get quick answers to the questions like:

  • What new customer needs have emerged as a result of the crisis?
  • What current needs have taken on elevated importance?
  • What new opportunities exist?
  • Are the changes in customer needs permanent?
  • Should we invest now or wait until the picture becomes more clear?

Because they must act quickly, companies are also concerned that their current innovation practices will fail them. With innovation success rates typically below 20%, executives recognize that it’s also a top priority to take the guesswork out of innovation.

As one executive responsible for growth in the fintech industry explained:

“We are in a situation where we have to know how the crisis is impacting all our customers’ needs. This means we have to quickly look at the entire system, from product acquisition to product performance to product support, and learn where to make the right investments. With no room for error, we cannot rely on traditional innovation practices.”

Your opportunity lies in addressing customers’ changing needs.

Market landscapes have shifted, new opportunities have emerged, and the race is on to address those opportunities with new solutions. This is a rare opportunity for a market leader to further secure its position or for a new market entrant to leapfrog traditional competitors.

The crisis has accelerated digital transformation, AI, ML, and other technology programs in many firms, and those who know where to invest will outpace those that do not.

So, what is the best way for executives to navigate the innovation landscape? The answer will surprise you.

It’s not about generating and testing more ideas.

Nor is it about failing faster.

The companies who win in a time of crisis are those who are first to effectively understand and address their customer’s changing needs.

The goal of senior leaders is therefore to rally the organization around a shared understanding of those needs and the new opportunities for revenue growth. With a deep and accurate understanding of the opportunities, companies will hit the right targets with the right solutions.

On the other hand, a failure to obtain a deep and accurate understanding of the opportunities will lead to failure. Without the necessary insights, opinion will override facts. Intuition will win over data. And innovation will continue to be a random process.

Where do you begin? With a new innovation process.

The place to start is with an innovation process that provides the insights businesses need to understand how their customer needs have changed.

There are 3 steps to success:

  1. Adopt an outcome-driven mindset when it comes to understanding customer needs. Define needs as the metrics customers use to measure success when getting their “job” done. Knowing how customers measure success will help to reveal where they are struggling to get the job done—and where to focus to create customer value.
  2. Apply this mindset to your markets of interest. Businesses can obtain deep customer insights in days through virtual customer interviews. This allows them to prioritize outcome statements in weeks, quickly revealing where customers are underserved—and by how much. Learn more about the Outcome-Driven Innovation process here.
  3. Act on the insights. With a deep understanding of the customer’s unmet needs, you will be in a position to act on those insights—to conceptualize and test new, innovative solutions that are certain to address the growth opportunities the business has discovered.

To be great at innovation, a company must employ a great innovation process—one that is proven to take the guesswork out of innovation. Such a process exists. Using the Outcome-Driven Innovation process, your company has the opportunity to look at its markets through a new lens and be the first to discover and address the emerging opportunities for growth.

With the right focus and an innovation process pointing you in the right direction, your company’s future will be bright.

Previously published on Strategyn.com. Used with permission.

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 1.49.32 PMTony Ulwick is the pioneer of jobs-to-be-done theory, the inventor of the Outcome-Driven Innovation® (ODI) process, and the founder of the strategy and innovation consulting firm Strategyn. Philip Kotler calls Tony “the Deming of innovation” and Clayton Christensen credits him with “bringing predictability to innovation.” He is the author of Jobs to be Done: Theory to Practice (IDEA BITE PRESS) and “What Customers Want” (McGraw-Hill) and numerous articles in Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review.

 

Related Posts

“Technology and the Common Good” – Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler

B2B Marketing /

“Technology and the Common Good” – Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler

“Wicked Problems” – An Interview with Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar

B2C Marketing /

“Wicked Problems” – An Interview with Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar

“Cultural Presence: The Social Function of Milan Design Week” – Barbara Dal Corso

Customer Engagement /

“Cultural Presence: The Social Function of Milan Design Week” – Barbara Dal Corso

‹ “From corona anxiety towards a new Enlightenment – Why a return to normal is not a meaningful option” – Guido Palazzo › “Emotion as the Foundation of Strategy” – John Hagel
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Recent Posts

  • “Technology and the Common Good” – Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler
  • “Cultural Presence: The Social Function of Milan Design Week” – Barbara Dal Corso
  • “Wicked Problems” – An Interview with Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar
  • “Dragon proofing your legacy brand” – Grant McCracken
  • OP-ED: “Autopsy Of a Brand: Tesla” – George Tsakraklides
  • “The 5th P is Purpose” – Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler
  • “The CEO-as-Brand Era: How Leadership Ego is Fueling Tesla’s Meltdown” – Ilenia Vidili
  • “The Future of Marketing is the Quest for Good” – Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler
  • “Questions for the New Year” – John Hagel
  • “Enlightened Management – An Interview with Gabriele Carboni”
  • “If you’re not thinking segments, you’re not thinking” – Anthony Ulwick
  • “Does Marketing Need Curtailment for the Sake of Sustainability?” – Philip Kotler
  • ‘Social profit orientation’ can help companies and nonprofits alike do more good in the world by Leonard L. Berry, Lerzan Aksoy, and Tracey Danaher
  • “Understanding Hallyu: The Impact of Korean Pop Culture” by Sanya Anand and David Seyheon Baek
  • “Go-to-Market (GTM): A New Definition” – Karthi Ratnam
  • “Jobs-to-be-Done for Government” – Anthony Ulwick
  • “The Power of Superconsumers” – Christopher Lochhead, Eddie Yoon, & Katrina Kirsch
  • “Zoom Out/Zoom In – Making It Personal” – John Hagel
  • “Regeneration or Extinction?” – a discussion with Philip Kotler, Christian Sarkar, and Enrico Foglia
  • “Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap” – James Dyke, Robert Watson, and Wolfgang Knorr
  • “The allure of the ad-lib: New research identifies why people prefer spontaneity in entertainment” – Jacqueline Rifkin and Katherine Du
  • “What is ‘ethical AI’ and how can companies achieve it?” by Dennis Hirsch and Piers Norris Turner
  • “How the US military used magazines to target ‘vulnerable’ groups with recruiting ads” – Jeremiah Favara
  • “Ethics and AI: Policies for Governance and Regulation” – Aryssa Yoon, Christian Sarkar, and Philip Kotler
  • “Product Feature Prioritization —How to Align on the Right List” – Bob Pennisi
  • “The Community Value Pyramid” – Christian Sarkar, Philip Kotler, Enrico Foglia
  • “Next Practices in Museum Experience Design” – Barbara Dal Corso
  • “What does ESG mean?” – Luciana Echazú and Diego C. Nocetti
  • “ChatGPT could be a game-changer for marketers, but it won’t replace humans any time soon” – Omar H. Fares
  • “If Your Brand Comes Before Your Category, You’re Doing It Wrong” – Eddie Yoon, Nicolas Cole, Christopher Lochhead

Categories

  • Advertising
  • AI
  • Analytics
  • B2B Marketing
  • B2C Marketing
  • Big Data
  • Book Reviews
  • Brand Activism
  • Branding
  • Category Design
  • Community
  • Content Marketing
  • COVID-19
  • Creativity
  • Customer Culture
  • Customer Engagement
  • Customer Experience
  • Dark Marketing
  • Decision Making
  • Design
  • Digital Marketing
  • Ecosystems & Platforms
  • Ethics
  • Go to Market
  • Innovation
  • Internet of Things
  • Jobs-to-be-Done
  • Leadership
  • Manipulation
  • Marketing Technology
  • Markets & Segmentation
  • Meaning
  • Metrics & Outcomes
  • Millennials
  • Mobile Marketing
  • Non Profit Marketing
  • Organizational Alignment
  • Peace Marketing
  • Privacy
  • Product Marketing
  • Regeneration
  • Regenerative Marketing
  • Research
  • Retail
  • Risk & Reputation
  • Sales
  • Services Marketing
  • Social Media
  • Strategy & Business Models
  • Sustainability
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • September 2024
  • March 2024
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • May 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016

Back to Top

© 2016-19 The Marketing Journal and the individual author(s). All Rights Reserved
Produced by: Double Loop Marketing LLC
By using this site, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to the use of cookies, our privacy policy, and our terms of use.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy