Transcriber: Aliaksandr Autayeu Reviewer: Tatjana Jevdjic
[The Pulse of Innovation.]
Hello everybody.
Here we are, today, this morning I will unveil to you a small secret
on how to increase
the chances to be consistently successful when innovating in the market.
Wow! It's a nice story.
But before starting, jumping into the subject,
I would like to tell you a small story.
It was 27th of April 2009.
My Indian friend Harry was explaining to me
that life in accordance to Hindi tradition
is split into four phases.
Each phase is lasting 25 years and each phase has a specific goal.
So the first phase of your life you're supposed to learn.
The second phase of your life --
you have to put in practice whatever you learned in the first phase.
Then when you turn 50, starts the third phase of your life
when you have to start transferring to other people, to a younger generation,
whatever your learned, so that they don't commit the same mistakes we did.
If you properly manage the three stages of your life
then someone will take care of you during the fourth stage of your life.
OK, powerful thing, huh?
OK, Harry was not aware that precisely that day I was turning 50.
Wow, probably he was not himself talking, probably someone from beyond talking to me.
So, that event changed my life.
So from that day onwards, first thing I started talking more with my kids.
Second, I start teaching university and master programs.
Third, I try to attend all possible events to spread my small experience
whatever I learn in my life to you,
because I will die and you will survive me much more.
So, that's my message and out of this
you understand why I will talk about customer centric innovation
through the eyes of the experience.
This is what I would like to give to you.
So customer centric innovation. I think it's absolutely self-explaining.
It's a meaning of producing, developing something new, something innovative
for a specific market,
having clearly in mind who the customer is.
This is exactly the point. Who the customer is.
Do we really know who the customer is?
Do we deeply know who the customer is?
Is there any golden rule, is there any fantastic recipe
to know deeply the customer?
Yes, it is.
And this is the secret.
Sorry, it's very simple.
It's live with the customer.
As simple as this. Live with the customer.
Spend a considerable amount of time with them.
I came to know this in 1994
and I would like to share with you now my experience from those days.
I was working for a two-wheeler company and my assignment in that day
was to conceive and design and produce a motorcycle for the Indian market.
Very good.
So I'm an engineer. So I start studying. I start studying macroeconomics,
demographics, the 4Ps and everything.
I become in three months of hard work from the desk,
I become an expert of an Indian motorcycle market. That's it.
And I came to a very good synthesis that, let's say, to be successful,
an Indian motorcycle should be
first of all, able to carry a very heavy payload.
(Laughter)
Motorcycles in India are like minivans in Europe,
the whole family should travel on it.
And second point, motorcycle should be cheap.
OK, well done. Good synthesis.
OK, and then comes the day when I left
and [went] to India to meet the potential manufacturing partner,
to assess the distribution network,
to talk with key suppliers, and I went there.
It was 6 hard working days and finally, Sunday morning comes.
Very good. I was based in Delhi.
So, if you probably know, near Delhi, 150 km from Delhi there was Agra,
and in Agra there is Taj-Mahal.
So I say, "I have to see it."
Very good. No risk, I organize. I'm an engineer, you know.
So I organize, very well.
I rent the car, I hired a local guy,
and I said, "OK, we leave 6:30 in the morning,
so we avoid any traffic and we go to Agra."
Very good.
So we left from Delhi.
Bumpy road, after 40-50 km simply the car broke.
In the middle of rural India, 1994.
It was very rural. Believe me.
So nobody was passing by, no car, no bus, no truck.
Actually, what we found, was a peasant, passing by with two buffalo and a cart, slowly.
So we asked for help and it was tremendously helpful.
Indian people are really...
They are giving all their heart to you if they can.
So actually, they said, "Oh yes, we can help you."
So he gave us a rope, so we open both windows, both front windows,
put the rope inside one window, out of the other,
tie a knot on the front and then let's say at -- buffalo speed --
we came to the next village.
OK, not exactly what I was planning
as a safe trip to Agra,
but let's say, good enough.
So we arrived in the next village
and immediately I asked, "Is there any mechanic over there that we can have our car fixed?"
"Oh yes, sir, yes sir, you're very lucky, there is a mechanic here."
OK, you know, and finally, this is what we saw.
Uh-oh.
So it was not exactly what I was thinking.
So it was a mud floor, some oily and greasy spare parts, and one set of wrenches.
So that's it.
So I said, "Umm.. I don't think we will be ready to go to Agra in the next two hours."
So we say, "Let's find another car."
"Oh yes sir, yes sir, you're very lucky, there is another car in the village."
Very good. So we went there, and checked for another car.
We find a car.
Actually, the car was used as a shelter for animals during the rainy season,
but you know, we are very lucky,
so the rainy season was over, so the car was free there for us.
We clean a little a bit.
We made an agreement with the car owner.
There was just one tough point in the price agreement.
We have to pay for the fuel in advance, because the tank was totally empty,
not a single drop of gas.
So we push the car to the refueling station,
fill the tank, pay for the fuel, and went: gone.
Solution.
I'm an engineer, good planning, so we went over there.
So travel to Agra. We were nearly in Agra when we saw a very nice temple.
So, 10 km from Agra, there is Fatehpur Sikri, this nice place.
So we said, "Why not visit it, we are on the way."
So we just step out of the car, climb a few stairs and whoooom...
The car just ran away.
Wow. I asked my guy, "Sorry, what, what's happening?"
We didn't pay him and he is running away.
And he explained to me that,
"Oh sir, a tank full of fuel is quite an investment here in India."
Wow, very nice.
OK, I make the long story short, really.
So along my trip from Delhi to Agra and back
we change eleven means of transportation. Eleven!
Out of eleven means of transportation seven get broken on the way. Wow.
So, last image from my trip.
It was nearly midnight, I was in the back of a truck on a bumpy road,
entering the suburbs of Delhi, totally exhausted but I was happy, like, ever.
I learned in this one non-working day
more than I learn in the three months of hard working from the desk.
So for me it was really enlightening.
So I discover in this day, that, first, the bike should be reliable, never break.
Second, if the bike breaks, it should be easily serviceable,
so a non-expert mechanic with simple tool [has] to repair it.
Third point, it's essential that the car is fuel efficient,
because a tank full of fuel is an investment.
And all these three things before thinking to high carrying ability and being cheap.
So, for me from that moment onwards, for me live with the customer is very important.
It looks like wasting time, but it is an investment in time,
because living and staying a considerable amount of time
with the customer this is how you really start
understanding their unspoken needs.
This is the key point. Usually the time we spend in market research,
in clinic tests, focus group and these bla-bla things --
it's too short.
They are not able -- They tell you what they want, but they are not able
to tell you why, why they like or dislike the product.
This is the key thing.
So, the real issue is very often, too often,
we receive very good answers to the wrong questions.
So, let's live with the customer for a considerable period of time
and let's allow questions and answers to flow naturally,
so that we really start understanding the essence of the customer.
So that's why for me live with the customer is really the key.
That was my experience.
So, what I'm telling you, now I want to really address you guys.
I want to address you, brilliant students, with fantastic ideas that think...
that are today, now, thinking, or struggling, how to shape the idea into innovation, into reality.
So, don't miss the chance
to stay with the customer and live with the customer.
Develop something, like build a prototype, a minimum viable product, a mockup,
at the very early stage of your development process.
Go, live with the customer, take all the energy and courage,
because you need courage.
Go to the market, live with them, don't wait, don't ask for clappy hands,
don't wait for confirmation of your ideas.
No, wait for criticism, ask for criticism,
because only criticism will make your product stronger.
And your product must be strong
when it hits the market to withstand competition and even win the competition.
If there is anybody here with [their] own small startup,
successful startup, probably, in the domestic market
and want to expand internationally, the world is not very flat.
Cultures are different.
Take the chance of living with your future, with your prospect customers
and understand what their flavor of your product is.
Tune your product to their culture.
In this way your innovative product will be exactly in line with what they need.
For this reason you will have better chances -- to be accepted,
to be successful in the market.
And then last, but not least.
If you are the CEO of a company or if you are the sales and marketing director
and you see your sales declining in these days,
go in the marketplace. Live with the customer.
You will understand why some competitor is eating your market share.
Why some customer is buying someone else's product.
And start from there to innovate your product, understanding what customer really wants.
The idea worth spreading for me today is...
Guys, hatch from your comfortable egg, stand up from your chairs. Now!
Go out of this building, live with the customer.
Check what your idea is, collect criticism, and then correct your idea.
This is the secret to be consistently successful when innovating.
Thank you very much. (Applause)