The Low-Risk Recipe™: a fresh update on the whole product model to make your product more buyable
Sales not flowing as expected? Prospective customers holding back their decisions? You may have the best product feature by feature but not the lowest-risk offering for your next wave of customers. Let's fix that.
Learn more about the whole product concept and how to apply the Low-Risk Recipe™ to your tech/SaaS business in this video!
The whole product model: making tech more buyable
Often, pioneering new products lose their initial prominence because a new entrant is more successful in product positioning based on a more effective mix of intangibles, even if the second product is not technically superior.
As the technology markets mature following the Technology Adoption Life Cycle, the product adopters' motivation changes, and product intangibles assume more importance than the core product's features and technology.
The whole product concept recognizes this need for intangibles for most potential adopters by adding new dimensions that surrender the core product or technology. These intangible dimensions are the ones that help technology products differentiate beyond the early adopters and win in the mainstream market because they allow the customer to avoid painful disruptions and reduce risks while adopting and making buying decisions about tech products.
These are the foundations of the augmented, total, or whole product model, largely refined since 1983, when Theodore Levitt introduced it.
What innovators and early adopters want
When introducing a new product, innovative technology, the core product features are all that matter to convince innovators and early adopters -- the technology enthusiasts leading the adoption of new high tech products.
The illustration shows the mix of product offering tangibles (core innovation/product) and intangibles (surrounding the core, colored) for the innovators. Notice how both the depth and completeness of intangibles have less weight than the core product in the total product mix.
The bad news is that innovators and early adopters are only 16% of any given market.
A compelling value proposition for the mainstream market is based on low-risk perception
We have spent the last 30 years refining the whole product model to deliver growth for our customers. What we've found is something that has been largely studied and constitutes the essential element of Maslow's Pyramid: the key buying objective for most of your potential buyers, the mainstream, is to feel safe when buying technology-based products.
Have you ever heard decision-makers not buying a tech product because they are afraid of becoming technology orphans or concerned about support, onboarding, or change management? Maybe they buy from the biggest guy in the market because "nobody was ever fired to hiring IBM"? Well, that's what the other 84% of tech buyers need, the pragmatic customers of the mainstream. The early-majority and late-majority, in terms of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle. This sudden change in the expected product, buying objective and needs is what we anticipate with our whole product concept framework: The Low Risk-Recipe™.
The value drivers and expected products dramatically change from early markets to mature or mainstream markets. And most tech products fail to break growth plateaus or reduce sales cycles because the founders, product managers, or chief officers fail to understand the need for safety that their next wave of product adopters have. These new buyers are not any more technology enthusiasts. Thus, most managers neglect to adjust their product offering initiatives and positioning messages in new key selling points based on intangibles rather than focus exclusively on core product features after the product-market fit.
The Low-Risk Recipe™ helps CxO's, product managers, and product marketing managers identify the 12 intangible attributes we've applied successfully as a cornerstone of the Go to Market Strategy for over 200 customers. Apply it to your product management initiatives to reduce risk perception and sustain growth in every stage of your market category.
The 12 elements behind mainstream acceptance & sustainable growth
Increase your product "buy-ability" by offering these 12 critical components
End-User Harmony
Ensure harmony with the end-user and reduce technology adoption frictions with these augmented product attributes.
Compatible and Familiar
Allow users to continue using existing systems, processes, and methods.
Complete Solution with support
Offer a pre-configured solution with an integrated ecosystem if needed, plus comprehensive support.
Trial before commitment
Make it easy for potential users to explore the product/innovation before buying.
Trusted Channels
Use a trusted channel of sales and delivery that is well known and familiar.
Market Category Cooperation
Show your prospective customers credibility and commitment with the market you're in with these augmented product attributes.
Standards and Certifications
Adhere to well-known industry standards that similar vendors work to support... or become the de-facto standard.
Complimentary Products
Ensure complementary products, tools, and services are offered.
Endorsements or Sponsorhips
Recruit recognized organizations to support your product/innovation through sponsorships or endorsements.
IP and Patents
Improve the market category you serve with new tools and technologies.
Safety in Numbers
Build and demonstrate external safeguards for the risk-averse majority with these augmented product attributes.
Universal Support
Prevent users from thinking about the technology orphans risk. Create a completely independent long-term support infrastructure.
Security and Privacy
Prove independent safeguards that ensure both security and privacy.
Community-based Communication
Enable exchange of unbiased information through a user-controlled community.
Visible or Word-Of-Mouth References
Facilitate WOM recommendations from people the user knows and trusts.
The key to completing these elements are partners and strategic alliances.
Download the partner readiness checklist to find out if your business is ready to recruit and onboard partners and allies... or take action to be ready!
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