In our industry, the ability to innovate and evolve is paramount to future success. However, I continue to see companies that are focusing on delivering the next bleeding-edge solution while truly failing to address real market needs or even provide a tangible benefit to their customers.
Companies are exhausting their internal and external resources in an effort to outdo each other. And during that time, they are inadvertently overlooking opportunities that would directly address industry challenges and customer concerns.
As the perceived pressure to deliver more “bells and whistles” intensifies, we think that success will ultimately come to those who resist the hype and instead focus on developing and delivering meaningful tools that address actual customer pain points.
We have found that some of our most successful innovations were born directly out of insights gained through conversations between our business development team and our customers.
As simple as it sounds, I believe that aggregating first-hand knowledge of these pain points can be your company’s greatest asset. Working together with your customers provides invaluable insight into their day-to-day operations and serves as the catalyst that drives innovation – innovation that is not only modern, but also relevant. Offerings born organically from customer feedback reduce the risk involved with new launches and also position a company as a trusted advisor and a resource for the future.
Unfortunately, organizations are often structured in a way that can lead to communication barriers between the three core departments that are involved in the launch of new product and features: sales, product development and marketing.
In an environment when these three groups are disconnected, opportunities could be missed or internal cost could be applied toward technological endeavors that don’t have an audience. Conversely, true product-launch success can be easily achieved when these three departments work as one cohesive team.
Each specialized unit can, in fact, leverage its unique knowledge to reinforce the others and create a stronger, more unified company in the process. For instance, the product team can assist the sales team by providing accurate timelines and foreseeable obstacles. The sales team can then connect product analysts to the correct subject-matter experts within the clients’ organizations to ensure that what is built specifically addresses the pain points that led to the customer agreement in the first place.
Product and sales teams should also be communicating with the marketing team to ensure that they know the ins and outs of each tool and how it will benefit the customer to promote industry adoption of a new tech solution.
By aligning these three specific departments and encouraging as much communication between them as possible, you will be able to have greater success and eventually establish your brand as a resource to your customers and the industry at large.
Rob Pajon is senior vice president, marketing and product, with US Real Estate Services (USRES), a company focused on REO disposition and valuation technologies – in particular, its proprietary software platform, RES.NET.