Tuned In: Uncover the extraordinary opportunities that lead to business breakthroughs.

Why should we get tuned in? We're the experts!

Of all the causes of tuned out behavior, the most common we've observed is the logical (but incorrect) assumption that, because you're an expert in a market or industry, you therefore know more than your buyers about how your product can solve their problems. It's natural, for instance, for twenty-year auto industry veterans to assume they know more than 100 mothers about how to drive preschool-age children around town each day. Too often, these Detroit product development experts just design the radio (or keyless entry system, or cupholder layout) that they themselves would want to buy.

When was the last time you bought your company’s product?

Executives, product development people, and marketers all want to believe that they've got all the answers. The entrepreneur wants to go with her gut. The product manager wants to re-create a past success. The marketer wants to rely on expensive advertising to buy market share, or to gamble on a huge Wall Street Journal, Today Show, or Time Magazine media hit.

But these seat-of-your-pants approaches involve much more risk.

Going on intuition, buying your way in with expensive advertising, or begging your way in with the media coverage simply does not work as often or as well as being tuned in.

Google Maps and the San Diego Fires

We believe strongly that the concept of Tuning In isn't something you do once or take a year to plan. It's something you focus in on everyday. The process makes you agile, receptive to new dynamics in the marketplace and produces resonators that your market really appreciates. 

It's hard to talk about resonators for very long without getting to the subject of Google. Many folks we've talked to outside the company want to point to luck as the main source of power for this juggernaut. We're convinced it goes deeper and that their success like those of so many others that we've studied is due to being tuned in.

Take how Google responded to the outbreak of fires in San Diego that stranded an estimated 1 million people. Imagine the pain of those forced to flee their homes on a moments notice. And that of friends and family in other parts of the United States suddenly connected to an event personally. The worse parts we heard were not just the gravity of the situation itself but the lack of information about how the fires were progressing and what to do in the interim. News services helped but only partially. With that as a backdrop, check-out the value that Google offered at http://maps.google.com

Maps of the progress and location of each fire along with evacuation centers, road closings, community service volunteer locations and medical support. Today, they are adding areas where its safe to return. Wow!

This is taking the essence of being tuned in to an everyday application of providing value to your market. We don't know what went on inside Google but we can see from the result that they were highly tuned in. The understood and unresolved problem when they saw it and the impact it had on their users. They applied the power of their visualization breakthrough to provide a meaningfull and authentic connection for people when they needed it most. Kudo's to everyone involved in this. I've heard from countless friends who have sons and daughters at San Diego schools and those with family in the area that literally lived on this page over the past couple of days. It provided them with a critical link to information that was truly time-sensitive to them. They won't soon forget this. 

Would you have the ability to respond on a moments notice to an opportunity like this?

One of the interesting things we found in our research is that Tuned In businesses and Tuned In leaders are always ready. For a fundamental reason. They view their role as a mission to serve with a purpose to provide value to groups of people they feel they know personally. Examples like what Google did here are impressive to us both in the result and the process they used to generate it.

Tuning In is not an event, it's a process with everyday impacts. Tell us more about some of your experiences.   

How Stardoll became bigger than Barbie on the Web in just three short years

Barbie, the bestselling fashion doll in the world, was launched in 1959. Mattel, the doll's maker, says that a billion Barbies have been sold and three new Barbies are sold every single second. Barbie has always kept up with the times, her outfits, hobbies, and professions reflecting the society that she lives in and the interests of the elementary and middle school girls who play with her. In recent years, Barbie has even gone digital with a site "to engage, enchant, and empower girls. We inspire girls to be creative and explore their individual interests through a variety of exciting activities, from online art to interactive games." As of October 2007, the Barbie Web site is ranked as number 1,100 in the world based on traffic.

So how is it that Stardoll, a Web-based version of dress-up dolls launched only three years earlier, could have 6 million unique visitors per month and be ranked as the number 386 in the world based on traffic and have more than double the daily pageviews of Barbie.com? How could Stardoll become so much more popular than Barbie on the Web?

Simple, Stardoll is tuned in to "tweens" (girls from 8 to 12 years old). Stardoll members access the site in their choice of 16 languages (including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese), set up a profile to house their virtual doll and clothing collection and become online friends with others. The people behind the scenes at Stardoll understand their market and the breakthrough experience they created resonates with girls all over the world. Girls love that they can dress up virtual stars such as Ashley Tisdale, Stacy Ferguson, Hilary Duff, the Olsen twins, Rihanna, and Hayden Panettiere. Girls eagerly participate in live chat with idols like Avril Lavigne. And members maintain their very own blogs and photo galleries so they can share with their friends.

Editorial note: Dressing up the celebrity dolls is weirdly addictive. I dare you to try dressing Ashley Olsen.

Stardoll is tuned in mishmash of what girls love, particularly fashion. Every celebrity doll has a wardrobe full of unique clothes and outfits and new ones are released each week. The fashion industry has taken note, with Donna Karan's DKNY label and Sephora, both owned by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, offering virtual clothing and makeup to Stardoll members in specially designated online stores that are part of the Stardoll site. Stardoll originally started out as the hobby of the Scandinavian-born "Liisa"and is now backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures.

In Search of Resonators

A good bit of Tuned In is centered around the concepts of finding, creating and launching what we call resonators. We define resonators as the perect solution to your problem. They are the kinds of products, services and ideas you just have to have. The iPod. Starbucks. FedEx. Things that you can quickly identify as unique and valuable.

Our book will include a plethora of stories of resonators that we've found. Some you will have heard of. Many will be new to you. What's interesting to us is that as we interview leaders for the book, their stories almost always start with the fact that they didn't set out to be innovative, breakthrough or customer-driven. They just developed an expertise and passion in an area and were trying to solve problems they found. 

Our friend, Shaun Dakin started the Citizins for Civil discourse after a successful stint as a product manager at the Motley Fool. He identified a pretty simple problem that has now caught the attention of local and national media. Turns out that your 'do not call' block doesn't apply to politicians. Shaun has created a service that gives voters the flexibility to block or provide scheduling windows for these calls. Best of all, its funded by the politicians who need to pay to register. Shaun's blog has all the details http://blog.StopPoliticalCalls.org/

Mary Cole, VP of Marketing at Hill Computer Carts has studied the impact that the introduction of Electronic Medical Records has had on the doctor/patient visit. She's personally interviewed 60 of them. She heard the frustrations of patients annoyed with doctors sitting down and turning their backs to type in an update. She's also listened to doctors tell her how they've resorted to hiring an assistant to trail them into visits and take notes while they administer care. She and her company are creating a solution to this problem, a cart designed to allow mobile health care professionals to stay face-to-face with their patients while they update records. 

We've heard similar stories from businesses in all types of industries, from health care services to technology to retail to the music industry and beyond. We're fascinated when we find a solution that resonates in its market and we're finding some very common characteristics in how they were created ... listening, market sensing, creative problem solving and ability to build authentic connections with their buyers.

We'd welcome the opportunity to explore some of yours. Do you have any you'd like to share?   

Why are three of you writing this book?

Had a nice opportunity to connect with Linda VandeVrede www.vandevredepr.com this weekend about the progress on our book. You can catch up with the interview at http://www.valleyprblog.com/?p=557. She asked me an interesting question ... how did you, Craig and David get together on this and why does it take three of you to write a book? 

OK. You can add your own punch line here. I was tempted too. 

We had to admit that while it was obvious to us, it's a legitimate question. The really interesting part of studying this whole tuned in process has for us been seeing how much convergence is required between business strategy, product management and marketing communications. We've come to believe (and observe in the successes and failures we've seen) that it requires all three legs of the stool to truly tune in. Two out of three won't cut it. We see great strategies and leaders fall flat all the time from poor execution. The reverse is true as well.

So the direct answer is that our work is connected and dependant on each other. There are no great products unless you want to buy. There are no great strategies unless you produce a product or service that resonates. Tuning in means developing real and deep connections to what your market values most. And that requires that all three need to be connected.

Impact versus value

Let’s be realistic. Not all potential product ideas are going to come from the outside. As much as we want to be Tuned In, there are times when an idea comes from our founder, the CEO, product development, a customer, or even a competitor. We feel an insurmountable pressure (or mandate) to proceed with the idea against all common sense telling us otherwise.

The Tuned In solution to this is called an acid test. When we are being pressured to build a product from the inside-out, we should first put the idea to a market test and let the market decide. Acid testing doesn’t take long and need not be expensive.

First you need a prototype that you can show. It doesn’t need to be a complete product or service. You could simply prepare a presentation, much like a salesperson would give, and show what you plan to offer. Call the prospective user and ask for 30 minutes and stick to your schedule. If you can’t define your product and solicit input in 30 minutes, you aren’t ready to test it. Reassure your contact that you are not selling anything because you haven't even started to build this product.

When you present the product or service, stick to the facts. Don’t tell them the benefits, just show them what it does and ask them what problems does it solve and what impact would it have on them, their family, or their company.

I like to use the term “impact to the customer” instead of the word “value". Value is one of those terms that means different things to different people, much like “quality” or “marketing.” Asking for the impact clearly asks “How is life going to get better for you by owning or using this product?”

There are lots of things that I own that have “value”, but there is a distinct subset of those items that truly had a positive impact on me, my job, my company or my relationships. Those are the tuned in products that resonate for me. Those are the ones that I would pay dearly to acquire, and yet, some of them were free of charge. It is indicative of marketing people who don’t understand the “impact to me, their customer.”

Tuned In: Grateful Dead bootleg recording

Unlike virtually all bands of the era, the Grateful Dead, a popular jam band that toured for thirty years starting in the 1960s, allowed concertgoers to record their live shows. The band even sold "taper section" tickets for where the acoustics were best.

Instead of cracking down like most bands, tapers at Dead shows were free to make copies of the live recordings to give away and swap with others (but were not allowed to sell their tapes).

As a result, the music of the Grateful Dead was shared far and wide, leading to more and more fans who wanted to see the live shows, creating one of the most profitable touring acts in rock history.

Why is getting tuned in so important?

We've studied the introduction of thousands of products—well-known offerings from large companies like Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, and GE; breakout bestsellers from Apple, Red Bull, and Google; and niche offerings from players you may never have heard of, including National Community Church, GoPro Camera, and AccuMap. Drawing on our research, interviews with dozens of CEOs, and discussions with insiders at thousands of companies, we analyzed and identified the repeatable processes that make successful organizations successful.

Our research validated anecdotal evidence that tuned in companies are 31% more profitable, twice as fast to bring products to market, twice as likely to lead, and enjoy 20% higher customer satisfaction rates. We also found that there is a much more fundamental reason for product failure than features and price (the two most commonly cited reasons that salespeople give for losing a sale).

By pulling this information together into our Tuned In Process and our upcoming book, we'll show you how to dramatically increase the likelihood of your own success. And while it is possible to be successful by following a path different from what we outline here, the risks of these alternatives are much greater.

This is not about business-school theories like innovation or first-mover advantage or the value of being customer-centric. Instead, in Tuned In we show you proven ways to replicate the process that the executives, marketers, and product developers at successful companies have used. We’ll teach you how to develop a resonator.

There's good service and then there's I don't care

Sometimes I just have to shake my head at the things I see. I'm noticing more and more tuned out behaviors everyday.

It was another beautiful day here in in Scottsdale. A nice warm 85 degrees but pretty pleasant for us desert dwellers. So my wife and I took my daughter out for a little family lunch at a new restaurant in town. Kind of a marketplace atmosphere where you pick from multiple options and then find an open seat.

The food was great but the place was packed so we had to look for a table outside. The only ones open were out in the sun which wasn't bad for the first five minutes. After that it was hot though. And what really got me hot was seeing two of the restaurants employees sitting down at the only shaded table. What were thinking?

I'm starting to see these kinds of things all the time. Employees of shops at the mall taking all the prime parking spots. Shops that refuse returns. Getting put on hold for 30 minutes when I'm trying to buy medical supplies and then being told I have to make two more calls to my physician and my insurance company before I can get my order refilled. Having to provide my account information and profile each time I call one of the vendors where I'm supposed to be a preferred customer.

Is it just me or is everyone putting up big neon light signs saying 'Please go away'? To me it really does sound like 'we do not want your business so we're going to make this as difficult and annoying for you as we possibly can so that you won't come back'. Well, they're getting their wish because I'm getting pretty religious about putting tuned out businesses on my never coming back list.

We've come up with a simple definition for behaviors that are tuned out. When you do something that is easier for you (the company) than your customer, you're tuned out. Like the restaurant we visited today.

Do you have any tuned out stories you'd like to share? We'd love to hear them.

Top two reasons why new products and services fail

Why do most new products fail?

1. Organizations base new products on what their current customers request rather than an understanding of the unresolved problems that people will pay money to solve.

2. Organizations try to create a need in the market through expensive advertising or relying on an army of salespeople instead of building products that the market wants to buy. 

The most successful organizations tune in to their markets.

In this blog and in our upcoming book, we’ll introduce you to dozens of tuned in organizations that develop products and services that resonate with buyers and help them to achieve success.

People who run tuned in companies largely ignore the competition. Instead they focus their energies on the problems that buyers are willing to spend money to solve. By first understanding market problems, then building the products people want to buy, and communicating to buyers that we solve their problems, everything else falls into place.

Sounds easy.

Actually, it is...

…if you’re tuned in.