Dodo Loves Marketing

In the age of customer scarcity and the Internet, the boldness and ambition of the new market leaders are unprecedented. Like their market presence, their aspirations are larger than life. They stretch their resources to the maximum and set unprecedented goals for businesses still in their infancy. They are determined to rule their markets and have no qualms about making the serious and risky commitments necessary to do so. Such spirit stands in marked contrast to the traditional manager’s tendency to spread risk and exposure, to take small, well-tested steps forward, and to avoid putting all the eggs in one basket.

Not long ago I spoke to the leaders of a company in the cutthroat communications field that, in terms of its competencies and operating model, looked very promising. But one vital element was missing: The leaders‘ aspirations were woefully inadequate for the battles that lay ahead. ..more

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The new market leaders know that the greatest constraint on today’s customers is time—more critical even than money. The broader choices, the constant stream of innovations, and the pace of contemporary life conspire to crowd people’s schedules. Whether you’re in the market for a CD player for home or a new supplier of components for your company, you don’t have time to evaluate every option, consider every shred of information, and explore every contingency—even though it would probably be useful to do so.

Time is a flexible commodity: We willingly spend more of it on some activities than on others. A busy manager for whom every minute counts will happily spend hours on thegolf course, but an easygoing person with time to chat will hang up angrily on a telemarketer who calls at dinnertime. ..more

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Imagine a modern Rip Van Winkle waking up from a twenty-year sleep, He would surely be amazed at how the world has changed: He would be bewildered by new technology, bowled over at the speed and clutter of life in 2001, dazzled by the sheer abundance being thrust at him. The torrent of new products, goods, services, ideas, and innovations vying for his attention would be shocking.

How would he react? I suspect, like people through the ages in suddenly changed circumstances, Rip would reset his bearings from his old perspective before cautiously testing the new water. Like a child who clings to a teddy bear well into adolescence, or a lottery winner who repaints the old house, he would cling to the familiar and be slow to embrace what is new. ..more

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Again, for these customers the amount of time demanded is crucial. They prefer to get the house remodeled all at once, rather than spread the project over several years. Once they take the leap into a new computer system or an e-mail provider, they don’t want to think about upkeep or other hassles. In fact, the less they have to think about their system for any reason, the more content they will be. Constant reminders and offers of new bells and whistles will be resented unless they require little, if any, time and effort, like AOL’s automatic upgrades that simply take over the customer’s PC and feed themselves into the system. Of course, not everyone is averse to change. For example, the customers represented in the top of our change axis are ripe for it. Far from savoring stability, they are motivated by the promise of new possibilities. Their problem is the opposite of preserving the present; they are figuring out ways to tap the future. They want as many options as possible and are more than willing to spend time making them. Not that it takes them very long to decide; on the contrary, their needs are so pressing that it is hard to describe them as patient folk. ..more

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With all the demands on our time, it’s not surprising that for the most part, most of us value our routines and aren’t about to embrace every conceivable new possibility that comes our way.

We’re willing to examine options when we’re excited about a new product or service, or frustrated by what we have. But if we’re enjoying our current condition (or disliking alternatives), we will be in no mood to change, much less spend any time listening to a sales pitch. “Give us more of the same, and don’t bother us with the newfangled stuff,” we say. Like the worker who prefers his familiar job to the uncertainties of promotion, we resist any unfamiliarity. We would rather spend our time preserving and building on what we have than exploring what we could be doing instead. ..more

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