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Cambridge Product Management Network

How to gain market insight

Ian Lunn

Thanks to our sponsors

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Ian Lunn – Product Focus

Co-founded Product Focus 6 years ago

Europe’s leading product management & product marketing training business with a focus on Telecoms, IT and software

Over 20 years product management and marketing experience in Telecoms, IT and software

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Why are market insights important?

What are my competitors offering?

How big is the market opportunity?

What do customers really think of my product?

How much will my customers pay?

Are there new opportunities from technology

developments?

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Brainstorm…

Where do you get your insights at the moment?

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Gathering information – listening posts

Based on original research by Bob Martin at ifrconsulting

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Other sources of info

Job interviews Social networking Investors Annual reports Product blogs Industry Forums Regulatory Bodies Industry standards Colleagues who have come from customers/competitors

Data mining Website analytics Win/loss analysis (don’t expect

sales to do this for you!) Reverse Engineering Mystery shopping Patents

remember …

facts trump opinion and ….

avoid HIPPOs

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Innovation Games

Using games to uncover requirements with customers

For example Prune the product tree – ask customers to build a tree with post-its to

group the new features they want

Product Box – ask customers to imagine they are selling your

product at a tradeshow and design the box for the product they want

to buy – then sell it to the group

Challenges – getting hold of customers to participate

Luke Hohmann Dave Gray

Sunni Brown

James Macanufo

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The analyst racket

Unbiased?

A necessary evil?

Conflicts of interest?

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Product Management Journals

Articles from back issues online at www.productfocus.com

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Survey

Full survey available at www.productfocus.com

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Product Management Training

Product Management and Product Marketing for

Telecoms, IT and Software

Our 3-day course gives a thorough grounding in all

aspects of the roles – the course we wish we’d been on

20 years ago when we started out in product

management!

Public courses run in Covent Garden, London - every

couple of months

Private courses on-site and tailored as required