room44 innovates

Unsure about how to plan to succeed in the 2020-2030 decade? Checkout our 10, 20-30 programme here.

10, 20-30 is a framework for delivering a future-proofed mindset to your team, business and lifecycle.

Why?

Every day, there’s a new disruptive business story, a new tech start-up raising millions to change something, someday.

On the flip side, and at the same time, there is regular reporting of start-ups and established firms going under. Uber loses a founder, WeWork takes a tumble and other unicorns report a year of negative returns and lose their shine. Sometimes, some things are too good to be true.

The reasons for missed ROI targets and, even closures, are many and various and all start with an assumption: you’re alright, because somebody will always need your paper, water, chocolate, steel work, cosmetics, legal services, financial advice, cars, office space…or will they?

But…

With a properly critical look at your future, at your consumer behaviours and your market, it’s possible to see what’s coming down the line to compete with you. And there will be something on your horizon that will cause some of your older revenue streams to dry up.

There it is. An uncomfortable truth maybe but one to watch none-the-less. With insight comes the opportunity to future-proof yourself.

So what?

Working with teams to create roadmaps to a profitable future, we can find that everything looks different.

You will define what your business is going to be. You’ll plot your path of baby steps so everyone knows what they must do from the minute they hear the plan.

We always make it clear that the output we create together isn’t a plan for someday: the output we generate by working with you is a plan you can use now.

Forecasts are guesses

As a process, ours is an easy one to understand. Pick a point in the future, use radical insight to inform what’s needed for that strategic end point to be viable and plot the product developments that will get you there. As far as ROI is concerned, you’ll have a general impression of size and shape.

However strong your forecasting function is, and we’ll probably disagree on that, they are guessing just as much as you are. Of course they have models and spreadsheets to justify their view of the world, but you have one thing they don’t – and that’s insight driven intuition.

This is the magic sauce that could bring your CSuite to the party.

Maybe you’ve heard of the ‘fuzzy front end’ or ‘future forecasting’. What they point to is a future sales figure that amounts to the same thing really: guesswork.

Intuition

Your senior management has been around long enough to get into the CSuite. They’ve worked through cycles of business to achieve the sort of insight that can only come with time served and they know, more often than not, what good looks like.

So, if you can’t get them involved in the actual process of innovation, it’s worth bouncing the odd ball down the board table to see where their interest lies, what sparks their excitement, and where their intuition makes them look.

Awareness vs trust

In the digital marketing rule book, we are told there are three phases to online marketing: awareness, trust and conversion. It’s the same across your business structure and vertically from bottom to top.

Being noticed isn’t the same as being trusted, but getting an innovation concept through the stage gates means tapping into what becomes a reason to believe.

This may sound a bit too much like pragmatism to be true innovation, but innovation ultimately is a matter of commercial survival.

Today, you need a plan. If you don’t know where to start, or how to sell it in to your CSuite, get in touch. We do.

In the meantime, you can download our free guide to ‘Selling innovation into your own company’ here and get detail of our 10, 20-30 programme here.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

Every day, there’s a new disruptive business story, a new tech start-up raising millions to change something, someday.

On the flip side, and at the same time, there is regular reporting of start-ups and established firms going under. Uber loses a founder, WeWork takes a tumble and other unicorns report a year of negative returns and lose their shine. Sometimes, some things are too good to be true.

The reasons for missed ROI targets and, even closures, are many and various and all start with an assumption: you’re alright, because somebody will always need your paper, water, chocolate, steel work, cosmetics, legal services, financial advice, cars, office space…or will they?

But…

With a properly critical look at your future, at your consumer behaviours and your market, it’s possible to see what’s coming down the line to compete with you. And there will be something on your horizon that will cause some of your older revenue streams to dry up.

There it is. An uncomfortable truth maybe but one to watch none-the-less. With insight comes the opportunity to future-proof yourself.

So what?

Working with teams to create roadmaps to a profitable future, we can find that everything looks different.

You will define what your business is going to be. You’ll plot your path of baby steps so everyone knows what they must do from the minute they hear the plan.

We always make it clear that the output we create together isn’t a plan for someday: the output we generate by working with you is a plan you can use now.

Forecasts are guesses

As a process, ours is an easy one to understand. Pick a point in the future, use radical insight to inform what’s needed for that strategic end point to be viable and plot the product developments that will get you there. As far as ROI is concerned, you’ll have a general impression of size and shape.

However strong your forecasting function is, and we’ll probably disagree on that, they are guessing just as much as you are. Of course they have models and spreadsheets to justify their view of the world, but you have one thing they don’t – and that’s insight driven intuition.

This is the magic sauce that could bring your CSuite to the party.

Maybe you’ve heard of the ‘fuzzy front end’ or ‘future forecasting’. What they point to is a future sales figure that amounts to the same thing really: guesswork.

Intuition

Your senior management has been around long enough to get into the CSuite. They’ve worked through cycles of business to achieve the sort of insight that can only come with time served and they know, more often than not, what good looks like.

So, if you can’t get them involved in the actual process of innovation, it’s worth bouncing the odd ball down the board table to see where their interest lies, what sparks their excitement, and where their intuition makes them look.

Awareness vs trust

In the digital marketing rule book, we are told there are three phases to online marketing: awareness, trust and conversion. It’s the same across your business structure and vertically from bottom to top.

Being noticed isn’t the same as being trusted, but getting an innovation concept through the stage gates means tapping into what becomes a reason to believe.

This may sound a bit too much like pragmatism to be true innovation, but innovation ultimately is a matter of commercial survival.

Today, you need a plan. If you don’t know where to start, or how to sell it in to your CSuite, get in touch. We do.

In the meantime, you can download our free guide to ‘Selling innovation into your own company’ here and checkout our 10, 20-30 programme here.

10, 20-30 is a framework for delivering a future-proofed mindset to your team, business and lifecycle.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

Every day, there’s a new disruptive banking story, a new tech start-up raising millions to change something, someday and the just as regular reporting of start-ups and established firms going under.

On the flip side, and at the same time, Uber loses a founder, WeWork takes a tumble and other unicorns report a year of negative returns and lose their shine. Sometimes, some things are too good to be true.

But you’re alright, because everybody will always need your paper, drugs, water, chocolate, steel work, cosmetics, legal services, financial advice…or will they?

But…

With a properly critical look at your future, at your consumer behaviours and your market, it’s possible to see what’s coming down the line to compete with you. And there will be something on your horizon that will cause some of your older revenue streams to dry up.

Working with teams to create roadmaps to a profitable future, we can find that everything looks great until it’s met with a little less than enthusiasm by the CSuite.

We always make it clear that the output we create together isn’t a plan for someday: the output we generate by working with you is a plan you can use now.

You will define what your business is going to be. You’ll plot your path of baby steps so everyone knows what they must do from the minute they hear the plan.

Forecasts are guesses

As a process, this is an easy one to understand. Pick a point in the future, use radical insight to inform what’s needed for that strategic end point to be viable and plot the product developments that will get you there. As far as ROI is concerned, you’ll have a general impression of size and shape.

However strong your forecasting function is, and we’ll probably disagree on that, they are guessing just as much as you are. Of course they have models and spreadsheets to justify their view of the world, but you have one thing they don’t – and that’s intuition.

This is the magic sauce that could bring your CSuite to the party.

Maybe you’ve heard of the ‘fuzzy front end’ or ‘future forecasting’. What they point to is a future sales figure that amounts to the same thing really: guesswork.

Intuition

Your senior management has been around long enough to get into the CSuite. They’ve worked through cycles of business to achieve the sort of insight that can only come with time served and they know, more often than not, what good looks like.

So, if you can’t get them involved in the actual process of innovation, it’s worth bouncing the odd ball down the board table to see where their interest lies, what sparks their excitement, and where their intuition makes them look.

Awareness vs trust

In the digital marketing rule book, we are told there are three phases to online marketing: awareness, trust and conversion. It’s the same across your business structure and vertically from bottom to top.

Being noticed isn’t the same as being trusted, but getting an innovation concept through the stage gates means tapping into what becomes a reason to believe.

This may sound a bit too much like pragmatism to be true innovation, but innovation ultimately is a matter of commercial survival.

Today, you need a plan. If you don’t know where to start, or how to sell it in to your CSuite, get in touch. We do.

In the meantime, you can download our free guide to ‘Selling innovation into your own company’ here.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

Brand value

Car sales guys are pretty good at customer service. In my experience, service desks aren’t always. Problem: the last impression your customer has of your brand is the thing they take to market when they buy again.

Where have you come across this kind of customer service?

Social lens

Brands today clamour to be in the spotlight of social media and pay billions for click-throughs. But, as consumers become more attuned to issues they want to act on, brand behaviour will come under scrutiny. It’s no good telling the world what your brand plans to do about its environmental impact while consumers are kicking your plastic bottle/crisp packet/detergent tub/fertiliser sack/bread bag along the beach. They can see what your attitude has been so far.

Social media and connectivity have been the preserve of brands to exploit, but we are at a point in brand market evolution where this power is pivoting and is the lens through which emotional quotient (EQ) will be measured.

Calculable doesn’t always mean measurable

EQ is a hard metric to get right, but acknowledgement of it as a monitor of consumer sentiment is filtering through to market segments – some more than others. High end clothing? Yes, in some places. Plastic packaging? Not obviously. Not yet.

Of course, environmental considerations, as they relate to buying decisions, represent a decision for the privileged. There are many places where it’s simply not possible for people to be as ‘green’ as they want to be. Budget, choice, even basic availability of products isn’t guaranteed in large parts of the world. So, how consumers behave, where their choice is available, makes that behaviour even more powerful.

Design Thinking

Understanding how consumer EQ needs to be considered by brands is unlikely to  feature in your sales team’s remit, or your marketing team’s plan.

If you don’t know how EQ and Design Thinking are related, it’s time to talk. Personal purchases and the ways that consumers respond to brands are going to be more and more critically measured.

CSuite responsibility

This is a matter for CSuite. If your CSuite isn’t actively and urgently discussing these complex issues, get in touch. We can help.

Let’s talk. Click here to choose a time to suit you.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

The last impression your customer has of your brand is the thing they take to market when they buy again.

Brand value

Car sales guys are pretty good at customer service. In my experience, service desks aren’t. Problem: the last impression your customer has of your brand is the thing they take to market when they buy again.

Kevin Keegan was a great footballer but is often remembered for a passionate rant as manager of Newcastle United, twenty years ago. His career in management never really recovered.

Gerald Ratner once headed the best-known and most successful jewellery retail chain in the UK. It was cheap and cheerful at a time of recession. Then he called his products “total crap.” The Ratners brand died instantly.

It’s possible that Philip Green did some good things at some point in his career. Does anyone remember? This week the ‘Rich List’ applies some pressure to his personal status and claims his Arcadia Group to be “worthless”. He may have kept his knighthood – so far…

Social lens

Brands today clamour to be in the spotlight of social media and pay millions for click-throughs. But, as consumers become more attuned to issues they want to act on, brand behaviour will come under scrutiny. It’s no good telling the world what your brand plans to do about its environmental impact while consumers are kicking your plastic bottle/crisp packet/detergent tub/fertiliser sack/bread bag along the beach. They can see what your attitude has been so far.

Social media and connectivity have been the preserve of brands to exploit, but we are at a point in brand market evolution where this power is pivoting and is the lens through which emotional quotient (EQ) will be measured.

EQ

EQ is a hard metric to get right, but acknowledgement of it as a monitor of consumer sentiment is beginning to filter through to market segments – some more than others. High end clothing? Yes, in some places. Plastic packaging? Not obviously.

Of course, environmental considerations, as they relate to buying decisions, represent a decision for the privileged. There are many places where it’s simply not possible for people to be as ‘green’ minded as they wish. Budget, choice, even basic availability of products isn’t guaranteed in large parts of the world. So, how consumers behave where the choice is available makes that behaviour even more powerful.

Design Thinking

If you think EQ and Design Thinking aren’t related, think again. Personal purchases and the ways that consumers respond to brands are going to be more and more critically measured.

CSuite responsibility

Understanding how consumer EQ needs to be considered by brands is unlikely to  feature in your sales team’s remit, or your marketing team’s plan. This is a matter for CSuite. If your CSuite isn’t actively and urgently discussing these complex issues, get in touch. We can help.

Let’s talk. Click here to choose a time to suit you.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

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