University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Tuned In
Book

Tuned In

Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs

Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott
Wiley, 2008
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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

The iPod has been a monster hit since the day Apple introduced it to the marketplace in 2001. By 2004, the iPod owned 70% of the market for digital music players. Previous personal music players were difficult to program and use. Apple CEO Steve Jobs and his development team identified that problem, and they set out to solve it by using careful research and focusing on buyers’ wants and needs. Now Apple rules the market. How can your firm emulate Apple’s example? Marketing professionals Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott detail the process market leaders use to establish breakthrough products. Although much of the advice is common knowledge, if not common sense, the book’s eclectic mix of corporate case studies, such as stories from Apple and TheaterChurch.com, make this guide an entertaining read. getAbstract recommends this manual to industrial designers, marketing professionals and other innovators.

Summary

Sleep for Slumbering Commuters

Are you well-versed in your clients’ needs and desires? Do you think you know what potential buyers want, maybe more than they do themselves? If so, when did you last speak to your customers? What did you learn about their unsolved problems? Probably not much or you would already be taking steps to fix them. When you revel in your own product knowledge and expertise, you essentially ignore the marketplace. This is the worst form of insular, “tuned out” thinking, yet it is quite common at many companies. Instead, try to “tune in” to your customers’ needs. Go to the source. Find out what their problems are. Then, solve them.

Consider Japan’s beleaguered corporate employees, known as “salarymen.” Knocking off work at 5 p.m. is out of the question. These stressed-out individuals work until 10 p.m. After such long days, many workers go to karaoke bars, have a couple of beers and unwind. Finally, around midnight, they are ready to travel home. But, exhausted after a long day in the rat race, many fall asleep on their trains, often failing to wake up at their individual stops. When their trains finally arrive at their terminal points, the conductors...

About the Authors

Craig Stull is the founder and CEO of a technology product management and marketing firm. Phil Myers is the firm’s president. Author and lecturer David Meerman Scott conducts seminars for the firm.

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