Find new solutions from other industries.

This is a technique to break the way you see your industry and market. Investigate each one of those 5 steps.

Process:

• Substitute industries. Look at what solutions other industries offer for a specific problem. For example, what solutions does the “paper and pen” industry offer for home accounting.
• Alternative segmentation. Use another segmentation’s characteristics to your own. For example, newspapers can be segmented by format. Apply the sensational tabloid format characteristics to “serious” newspapers.
• Other elements of the buyer-chain. Each role in the chain defines value in its own way. How would your suppliers define value? How would your partners? How would your customers?
• Complementary products and services. How are your products used? Can you provide more of what the customers use when dealing with your product?
• Across time. Identify early-adopter groups as they may be an indication of what is to come. Travel back in time and look for old concepts that can be updated and expressed in a modern way.