1. Developing products for unfamiliar markets

Removing fear from the "new-new" quadrant of the Ansoff matrix

How often has your company developed a great new product for an unfamiliar market? If you’re struggling to think of many examples, you’re not alone: Success rates are typically very low. You’re probably familiar with the Ansoff Matrix: While success rates are low when pursuing unfamiliar technologies (right side of matrix), they get much worse for unfamiliar markets (top of matrix).

To position your company for routinely developing blockbuster products, you’ll need to change your thinking. First, stop thinking of unfamiliar markets as “new” markets.

In most cases, your target market isn’t really “new.”  We prefer the term “unfamiliar” market instead of “new” market: Many B2B companies call a market “new” when in fact they mean, “new to us.” This strikes us as supplier-centric—not customer-centric—thinking. The market was there first. It is the supplier that is new.

This is good news because it means you don’t have to live with uncertainty. Customers in these pre-existing markets are very certain about much you need to learn. And these B2B customers—rich in knowledge, interest, objectivity and foresight—can eliminate your uncertainty. In a Discovery interview, “unfamiliar market” contacts can give you every bit as much valuable information as those in markets you’ve supplied for 30 years.

For more on this topic, download our white paper, Innovating in Unfamiliar Markets, and view the Minesweeper Project De-risking video.

In the next 4 articles, we’ll explore…

• Why uncertainty is different than risk
• Locate landmines early and cheaply
• Minesweeper de-risking methodology
• Where Blueprinting fits with Minesweeper de-risking

Keywords: risk, uncertainty, Ansoff matrix, unfamiliar market, new market, new technology, Minesweeper, de-risking, landmine, project