What do you think of when you think of breakthrough innovation? Is it the sort of thing that creates a fundamental shift in the business, opens up a new sector in the marketplace, or changes the way people view a category? Often the answer is based on a new technology, seemingly moreso today than ever before. It may be a cliche that we find repeated by every generation since preindustrial history,, but the pace of breakthrough now really does seem greater than eer.
But what happens if you don’t have a new technology to bring to market? Fundamentally new technologies aren’t that common. And the application of most technology will be by those who are trying to catch up, not the one creating the breakthrough in the first place. In most markets, while there’s certainly a significant amount of R&D, this is usually applied to gain only marginal advantages by improved delivery of known benefits. “New and Improved” is a familiar part of incremental innovation, but it doesn’t provide breakthroughs.
Luckily for the 99% of us without breakthrough technology to exploit, there’s still significant opportunity to create breakthrough in the market because the real competitive arena is made up of human needs and perceptions, not functional specifications. By understanding and harnessing the emotional agenda rather than the technological one, a market breakthrough may be just a leap of insight and imagination away.
If that sounds too abstract, let’s make it more tangible. Most companions just market and serve the way others serve; they’re just a launch of what’s really a very similar already-existing product. The triumph of some isn’t the result of any particular difference in offering; it’s down to the values and image of their created brand (whatever that says for the supposed consistency required for successful brands). From a functional point of view, one escort has no right to succeed so much more than another…after all, they’re all really pretty similar. But it’s not about function; it’s about feeling. Most importantly from a business perspective, commercial breakthrough means NOT imitation (yeah, it’s the sincerest form of flattery, but innovation is about creating value out of meeting people desires in new ways, and there is no need to limit the definition of what those ways can be).
An escort can expand her business by becoming a true companion via the simple and brilliant innovation of selling the same person’s she’s always sold, but in a far better box (better personality and appearance). She can create a cultural shift in what an escort is, in her clients’ lives. Smart thinking, built on consumer empathy and understanding, is the foundation…rather than any reliance on technological solutions. Big changes are built on small modifications. The formula is to shift whole markets with deft touches, creating breakthrough whose impact far outweighs the functional changes underlying them.