Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs

Why did the Apple Newton flop and the iPod rock? How did a struggling magician transform himself into a success with a three-word tagline? How did a car rental startup grab an entire market segment that was just sitting there for the big guys to gobble up? Answer: it was all a matter of tuning in.

It stands to reason if an organization wants to develop products and services that resonate with people, the first step is to ask people what they want. Simple as it sounds, authors Stull, Myers, and Scott, each of whom has extensive experience working with large firms and non-profits, observe that many of them simply don't do it. Those that do often lack the right processes to gather and act upon the information they receive. As a result, they roll out products and services that fall absolutely flat, squandering their resources and completely missing golden opportunities.

The authors contend the solution is to tune in. Instead of selecting new product initiatives in ivory tower executive suites and developing them in the lab, get to the grass roots. Talk to actual people, uncover their most urgent needs, and craft solutions. This strikes me as an incredibly sensible approach; perhaps that is why big companies are apt to overlook it.

The book focuses on the why and how of tuning in, with emphasis on the how. The authors lay out a 6-step process for tuning in, very detailed yet written in plain English every reader will understand -

1. Find unresolved problems
2. Understand buyer personas
3. Quantify the impact
4. Create breakthrough experiences
5. Articulate powerful ideas
6. Establish authentic connections

Even though it is simple and straightforward, the tuning in process, like any other, has its share of pitfalls, problems, and subtleties. Here's where the authors' impressive consulting and training experience really distinguishes this book from others I've read on similar topics. These men are able to identify the hazards organizations will encounter in the trenches, and explain - largely through the use of real life case studies and their own war stories - how to handle (and not handle) them.

I like the emphasis on real life stories. They give the whole book the flavor of authenticity books like this need. The procession of examples is what makes tuning in seem implementable, rather than being just another cool-sounding new marketing theory.

Any organizational leader, marketing specialist, or sales executive will profit from, and probably be challenged by, "Tuned In", since tuning in involves jettisoning conventional wisdom (for instance, making new product decisions based strictly on what current customers say), and engaging in new forms of communication such as blogs and social networking communities. Still, this is one of those books you're better off reading sooner rather than later. As more and more companies start tuning in, those that don't are going to start looking worse and worse in the marketplace.

[...]

David Meerman Scott, author of the extremely popular book The New Rules of Marketing and PR, has just released yet another book Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs which describes how business opportunities come about by listening to the spoken/unspoken audience and market needs. This book was written with two of his colleagues over at Pragmatic Marketing, Phil Myers and Craig Stull.

The book reinforces an extremely good rule of thumb for all businesses, and that's listening. But listening takes many forms and your audience won't always talk directly to you by filling out a questionnaire or attending a focus group. You have to dig deeper and "Tuned In" walks you through the process of discovering new opportunities, understanding the persona of the buyer, creating a unique experience and quantifying the ROI to fill the need. The book delivers a series of real world examples to show you how the "Tuned In" theory has been filled in the past.

I finished "Tuned In" a while ago, (David was nice enough to give me an advanced copy. We met for dinner a couple months ago. Check out my video interview with him.) but decided to write about it tonight because of an interesting conversation I had last night with someone pitching me their new business idea.

A really bad business pitch

It's always a bad sign when someone begins pitching their new business idea, proudly announces they've done no research, and then in the same breath says, "I don't know of any other company that's doing what I'm doing."

Ouch. If I was a potential investor I'd show him the door.

As he described the idea, I began to question it and also list more than seven alternatives of what he's trying to do. Some directly competitive and others indirectly competitive.

We were at a party, talking casually, but I was offering up some free industry advice. One of my many hats is as an industry consultant, sometimes for the Gerson Lehrman Group, where I offer consultations for investors and entrepreneurs looking to get into a new market.

He admitted to not having heard of any of the competitors I mentioned. I was really shocked given that they were all major players in the industry he hoped to join. Instead of asking me more about these companies, his competitors, he cut me off further trying to explain his business. I reasserted that there were alternative solutions. He never implored further and I never had the opportunity to explain how his competitors worked.

Usually when I talk to entrepreneurs and investors and I tell them about competing products, they immediately pull out a pen and start writing. This guy didn't. It's like he didn't care to know. I don't know if he even heard what I said. Heck, if I was in this guy's shoes and someone told me about a direct competitor to my business, Spark Media Solutions, I'd write it down, look it up, and call them. You never know, they could become partners. :)

I haven't seen this man's product, and he admittedly was not giving me a full explanation. It's very possible that it could offer something new, unusual, and solve a given need in a unique way. But given the way he was interacting with me, I think it's highly unlikely. The main reason:

He didn't listen.

You learn so much more when you listen to your market.

I was retelling this story last night to Mary Hodder of Dabble hours after the conversation and we agreed there's nothing more depressing than watching an entrepreneur proud of their ignorance of their own market. Here's a warning to any entrepreneur that is pitching their business:

NEVER say you don't have any competition.

There's nothing that sets off my BS detector faster than hearing that. I am not alone. I've discussed this with other journalists and industry analysts and we're sick of smug business people that think they've created something in an alternative space and there's no way they could possibly have competition. I immediately pounce when I hear it. In fact, I will start listing competitors for them to which they concede by saying, "Well, if you put it that way, yes, I guess we have competitors." You mean when I put it the way in which they approach the same audience and deliver exactly the same services you do?

You can be unique, and you should. But unless you're creating time travel you're probably not creating something that's completely new. Listen to your market and create something unique. Read "Tuned In" to learn how to do it.