Change is essential for any large corporation if it is to adapt to the evolving world and capitalise on the commercial opportunities and challenges that present themselves. Yet managing this change, understanding new markets, deciding which commercial opportunities to back and how, reducing commercial risk, and helping the whole organisation understand the nature of the market opportunities is essential.
The “Lean” approach to addressing these challenges is gaining deserved attention for both small and large companies. By iteratively building products or services to meet the needs of early customers, companies can shorten their new product development (NPD) cycles, enter markets faster, and reduce project funding. This focus on customer needs is at the heart of Qi3’s work for its clients. We have a range of methodologies that fit closely with the “Lean” philosophy, and are focused on putting the customer at the centre of market strategy, new product development, new market entry, and core business growth. Yet many large companies have well-structured marketing and product development processes which can’t easily adopt the “Lean” approach. Qi3 has extensive experience of bridging this gap, bringing a customer focus, agile thinking and proven methodologies to solve individual client challenges. These include:
Understanding, Evaluating & Testing New Markets
When evaluating new markets, understanding clearly their needs, drivers and what customers want to buy is a fundamental prerequisite to commercial success. Qi3 has developed its Technology Market Evaluation (TME) methodology to address these very questions (LINK). In-depth market research, discussions with Key Opinion Leaders, and identification of early sales prospects are combined with Qi3’s knowledge bank and extensive commercial experience to give clear answers and market insights. From these, we develop proposals on key strategies for commercial success.
Accelerating Commercial Success for New Product Developments
Different corporations have different new product development (NPD) processes, and it is essential that market inputs are provided in a way that the NPD processes can use effectively. To address this requirement, Qi3 has developed two different methodologies for providing market input that will accelerate NPD success. For companies using ‘lean’ development processes, Qi3 developed “Rapid Market Prototyping”, an iterative process that enables market strategies, product development programmes, ‘go-to-market’ plans, and sales growth strategies to be developed, tested, and implemented with real potential customers in very short timescales. This revolutionary lean business methodology puts the customer at the heart of these processes, transforming their effectiveness. When companies are using ‘structured’ development processes, Qi3’s Structured Business Development™ methodology provides a rigorous approach to developing sound foundations for business performance. Our building blocks include strategy, several layers of market research, go-to-market delivery and sales.
Market Modelling and Sizing
Many companies have real problems in sizing core and new markets. Technology based markets are often niche, relatively small and not covered by published market reports or government statistics. Qi3 has developed a robust methodology of market segmentation and sizing to address this issue which has passed the scrutiny of many due diligence exercises.
Rebooting Stalled or Anaemic Sales Growth
Launching new products or entering new markets always has an element of risk, no matter how good the preparation. When a sales campaign stalls, it is essential to get underneath the skin of the issue and find out the root cause. Qi3’s TME methodology has been successfully deployed many times to give the clarity of market understanding that has reshaped sales strategies and rebooted stalled or anaemic sales growth.
Driving Towards Rapid Growth – An Interim, Part-time Marketing & Sales Service
Sometimes, companies need a short injection of new ideas and commercial expertise to put them on a successful new track. We work closely with many of our clients as their interim, part-time Marketing & Sales Director or Manager when they need additional support. We drive the commercial elements of the business strategy, product development, and product launch, and restructure sales activities. We measure our success by how quickly our clients can replace us. Examples of our work can be found in our case studies.
Case Studies
“We engaged Qi3 to fill a gap in our Product Management coverage on a multi-faceted and highly technical project. On researching their previous work, we became confident that their experience in other fields would map well to the task at hand. We were pleasantly surprised at how quickly they grasped our issues and helped us to map a course forward that could be handed over to an in-house Product Manager with ease. Robin Higgons and Mark Littlewood exhibited stellar professionalism and drove the project hard, even when we were unable to focus on it. They always had Elekta’s objectives in mind and delivered on every one of their commitments. I would be pleased to recommend Qi3 to you.