During a meeting today, we were discussing the different strategies that companies use in working with their sales and marketing teams.  More often than not, companies provide sales staff with a roadmap for selling and a menu of solutions to sell, and then charge the team to go out there and produce.  That got me thinking that there is a new way of selling that is forming.

After training them on thinking outside of the norm and using new tools and techniques to reach customers that previously were hard to reach and hard to communicate with, challenge those sales people to be innovators for the company.  It used to be that people would talk about "solution selling" as a technique to teach sales people to sell solutions that speak to customer issues and customer returns.  But "innovative selling" is different.  The task is to have the sales staff work with customers and potential customers to identify advances in the current products and/or solutions that are being offered, and to come back with information that will lead the company to the next generation offerings. 

The sales staff, when they truly understand the concept, react in an amazing way because they feel, often for the first time, that their mission it to really lead the direction of the company and to chart the course for the future.  But even more important, from this, the innovations and feedback received directly from the prospects or customers provide an amazing set of insight to company leadership and the product teams that will be charged with development. 

As the digital marketplace continues to grow, the connection between customer and product grows closer as the "middleman" continues to disappear.  This level of innovation-based sales will become a driving force for the next generation of business.

What are your thoughts on this?  Agree?  Disagree?  Let's chat about it.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Brooks

The spark for innovation comes in many different ways and in many different delivery mechanisms.  I did a major upgrade to my home automation system last night with the guys over at Audio Video Intelligence and it occurred to me that home automation is the next GPS.  I remember when I first bought my Jeep 7 years ago and had the radio changed.  The sales person told me, "you've got to add GPS/NAV, soon everyone will have it and it will be a must."  I thought they were crazy but being the early adopter that I am I bought it anyways.  Here we are 7 years later and GPS is everywhere and in everything from the iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms, to built into cars from luxury to economy models.  Most people will say, as I once did, "Why do I need home automation?"  It seems like with all innovation, this is the fundamental question. 

At New Marketing Labs, we get that question when we work with companies to implement new media strategies.  "Why do I need that innovation?"  "Why new media versus traditional media?"  I submit that these questions about innovation all share a common thread.  Look at how GPS changed the world using maps.  It is my belief that home automation will change your home life in the same way GPS changed how we get to where we need to go.  New forms of marketing such as social media tools are having the same impact on how we market and communicate with our prospects and customers.  Below I share how I'm using automation to enhance my home life experience as well as provide you with some examples on how this technology can be used.

My home automation system is powered by the Control4 HC-500, which has brought plug and play to home automation.  Part of the magic is that it works with the devices over a wireless network known as ZigBee.  The nice thing about this protocol is that the devices all act as repeaters within the network allowing you to expand the size of the network with virtually no limits, and especially no running wires. 

So how do I use it?  Since I had my first remote controlled dimmer, I knew one day this type of product would be a must.  From any web browser or from the slick iPhone app, I can:

• Place my outdoor lights on a timing sequence.
• Randomize my indoor lights to make it appear that someone is home when I am away.
  
• Adjust or program my thermostats.
• Control my TV's.
• If you travel as much as I do, it's always happens at the worst time.  You are in an important meeting with a client, and your mother-in-law is with your kids and can't put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Now you can play a movie for my kids, change the channel, change the volume and see what they are watching.
• Arm or disarm my alarm system.
• View my IP cameras. 
  
  

The interesting about the upgrade is they have upgraded to the ZigBee Pro standard which allows you to use third party devices in you network.  The third party devices give you incredible flexibility.  Examples are:
 

• Ever have one of your kids wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  You hear that loud smash.
• Now imagine, a small battery operated motion detector under their bed.  If it senses movement from 9 pm to 4 am, it will automatically put the lights on it their room, the hall and the bathroom at 50%.  Then after 5 minutes shut them all off.
  
• Place a water sensor in your basement by your water tank.  If it leaks, you can have the Control4 system send you an SMS text, and call the fire department. 
• Your trip gets extended: Adjust your thermostats to keep the heat down until you get home. 
  
• Create a lighting pattern, so when your family members come home it turns the lights on in the driveway, the garage, the mud room and turns on their favorite music. 
  
  

Innovation seems to creep out of the strangest places.  Then one day everyone is changing the way they work or live and they wonder "where did that come from?" 

Over the next year, I believe we will see a spike in the delivery of what was once third circle technology (that for early adopters only), to the consumer.  A great example is Comcast's Fancast site (client) which has taken the idea SlingBox made popular of watching your TV anywhere, and expanded it to now allow you access to all of your paid content anywhere via a browser.  You don't even need any new hardware! 

Stay tuned. Greater bandwidth, video over the net, automation, and constant connectivity will be big influencers in 2010. 

What innovations are surprising to you and do you think will influence us in 2010?

Often at New Marketing Labs we discuss the concept of innovation and its impact on clients and their businesses.  What is interesting to note is that often people are looking at innovation as fundamental changes to the way things are done.  For instance, the introduction of the internet was innovation. As was the car, the plane, the boat, the telephone, the light bulb, and many other inventions that created change in the way we function as individuals or businesses.  People often look at these types of innovative ideas and think - to be innovative we really need to BREAK THE MOLD and fundamentally change things. 

At New Marketing Labs, we realize that while exciting, the fundamental change ideas that create innovation are few and far between and more fail than succeed over the long term.  In contrast, we look at innovation as an incremental change that may seem small in its implementation but is huge in its impact.

For instance, when we launched our event technologies business many years ago, we decided we needed to be innovative to have an impact and be noticed.  To accomplish this, we decided to turn the computers at our registration desks around and allow people to register themselves.  We called it "Self-Registration" and won huge acclaim and accolades and ultimately a significant amount of business because of this "innovative idea" when in fact it was an amazingly simple one - literally just turning the computer around.

When companies are looking to be innovative, they need to look at their current processes and offerings and determine which incremental adjustments would have the largest impact.  To do this, companies need to look from the outside in, not the inside out.  Often, people are looking at being innovative by trying to figure out "What can we do" or "what can we do different".  Instead, ask yourself these questions:

1. What are our clients / customers looking for us that we are currently not providing?
2. Where are our clients / customers spending the most time that is NOT providing the most value and how can I change it?
3. What 3 things that we are currently clients / customers doing as a part of our offering are the most "frustrating" or "annoying" or "inconvenient" for our customer?
   

Once you see the answers to these questions, you will then see where an incremental innovation will have the most impact and provide the most value.  From there, you have the roadmap and the opportunity will be clear.

Photo by: Clearly Ambiguous