Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play

Why It Works

Regardless of what you tell them, customers want to believe that the product or service that they're buying is going to solve their problems. Not just the problems that you told them they have during the sales process, but the real problems that are driving their purchase. In some cases, these may match. In others, customers, even during the sale, may not be able to fully understand, much less articulate, the problems that are driving their behavior. Product Box gives customers a way to tap into these deep needs and express them when they are selling their product back to you.

Although your customers are trying to sell you, they will also be selling to the other customers in the room. Watching the interaction among customers is often where you can identify the most important and useful information. Who nods in agreement? Who shakes their head? When? Who asks questions? About what? What messages resonate with other customers?

The reactions of other customers in the room help overcome one of the more common challenges faced by product teams: focusing on benefits instead of features. The advantage of selling the box is that, even if your customers have written a feature on their box, chances are good that they will sell it by promoting the benefits.

Open-Ended Exploration

Time Frame of Action

Scalability

Customer Preparation

Market Preparation

Physical Preparation