I recently read both Crossing the Chasm and Big Bang Disruption, which are two books covering a similar topic: how do you position and sell innovative products in fast pace market?

“Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey A. Moore was first published in 1991 and talks about how to bridge the “chasms” which can occur in the traditional “Technology Adoption Lifecycle” (see Fig. 1 below). This traditional model depicts the transition from a market solely for “innovators” and “early adopters” to reaching a mainstream audience.

In his book Geoffrey A. Moore, describes two cracks in this traditional bell curve. Firstly, a chasm between “early adopters” and the “early majority”. An approach to market that works for early adopters might not work for more mainstream users of the product, or vice versa. Secondly, Moore talks about a chasm between the early and the late majority, pointing out that each market has its own dynamics.

Moore’s advice with respect to crossing these chasms sounds fairly straightforward: “make a total commitment to the niche, and then do your best to meet everyone else’s needs with whatever resources you have left over”. I like how Moore then goes on to break down customer segments into related target-customer characterisations and scenarios (see Fig. 2 below).

Once you’ve established the specific market niche that you want to target, you can then start creating a strategy for developing this market. Moore provides a very helpful market development strategy checklist (see Fig. 3 below).

The other key thing which I picked up from Crossing the Chasm is the “Whole Product Concept”, which idea was first described in The Marketing Imagination by the late Theodore Levitt. This concept is quite straightforward: There is a gap between the marketing promise made to the customer – the compelling value proposition – and the ability of the shipped product to fulfil that promise. The Whole Product Concept identifies four different perceptions of product (see also Fig. 4 below):

1. Generic product – This is what’s shipped in the box and what’s covered by the purchasing contract between the seller and the buyer.
2. Expected product – This is the product that the consumer thought she was buying when she bought the generic product. It’s the minimum configuration of products and services necessary to have any chance of achieving the buying objective of the consumer.
3. Augmented product – This is the product fleshed out to provide the maximum chance of achieving the buying objective.
4. Potential product – This represents the product’s room for growth as more and more ancillary products come on the market and as customer-specific enhancements to the system are made.

Main learning point: Things have changed quite significantly since Geoffrey A. Moore first wrote “Crossing the Chasm”. The pace of new technology introductions has probably increased tenfold since the first publication of the book, with businesses concentrating hard on making technology products as accessible and mainstream as quickly as possible. “Crossing the Chasm” nevertheless contains a number of points which I believe are almost timeless: thinking about target users and their scenarios, and the concept of a minimum product configuration that fulfils customer needs.

Fig. 1 – The Technology Adoption Lifecycle by Joe M. Bohlen, George M. Beal and Everett M. Rogers – Taken from: http://blog.ftfnews.com/2012/11/01/transforming-uncertainty-into-opportunity/

Fig. 2 – Geoffrey A. Moore’s template for creating a target user characterisation and scenarios – Taken from: http://torgronsund.com/2011/11/29/7-proven-templates-for-creating-value-propositions-that-work/

Template

For  ____________ (target customer)

who ____________  (statement of the need or opportunity)

our (product/service name) is  ____________  (product category)

that (statement of benefit) ____________ .

Sample(s)

For non-technical marketers

who struggle to find return on investment in social media

our product is a web-based analytics software that translates engagement metrics into actionable revenue metrics.

Scenario / A day in the life (before)

• Scene or situation – Focus on the moment of frustration. What’s going on? What’s the user about to attempt and why?
• Desired outcome – What’s the user trying to accomplish and why is this important?
• Attempted approach – Without the new product, how does the user go about the task?
• Interfering factors – What goes wrong? How and why does it go wrong?
• Economic consequences – So what? What’s the impact of the user failing to accomplish the task productively?

Fig. 3 – “The Market Development Strategy Checklist” – Taken from: Geoffrey A. Moore – Crossing the Chasm, p. 99

• Target customer
• Compelling reason to buy
• Whole product
• Partners and allies
• Distribution
• Pricing
• Competition
• Positioning
• Next target customer

Fig. 4 – “The Whole Product Concept” by Theodore Levitt – Taken from: http://technotrax.tumblr.com/post/93541189402/classifying-market-problems  

Related links for further learning:

1. http://blog.ftfnews.com/2012/11/01/transforming-uncertainty-into-opportunity/
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-bussgang/scaling-the-chasm_b_6478622.html
3. http://torgronsund.com/2011/11/29/7-proven-templates-for-creating-value-propositions-that-work/