Making Room for New Products

My conversations with association leaders these days inevitably turn to the topic of developing new products. Most organizations are looking to increase and/or diversify their revenue streams and creating new offerings is an obvious solution.

My first question is always, “what are you going to stop providing?” No organization has unlimited resources, so unless you’ve got significant unused bandwidth to develop, launch and consistently deliver a new product, this is an opportune time to do some house cleaning.

While these decisions can sometimes be unpopular, some basic market research will help to guide your decisions. Surveying for “importance” on your offerings, as well as “usage” will quickly identify those products or services that no longer hold value or are not being utilized. When you look closer through the lens of cost and revenue contribution the argument may become even clearer. Analysis by segment will help you avoid sunsetting something that is valuable to a small but important target audience.

Not only will the data guide your decisions, but it will also help you build the case for other stakeholders that may need to be convinced. Because we have limited closet space in our home, we have a rule that if we buy a new shirt or pair of shoes, to make room, something has to go into the donation bag. With Fall around the corner, it may be time for your organization to pull the polyester polo before replacing it with that new cashmere sweater.

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