The Whole Product Revisited
In a previous post we discussed the 'Whole Product', a term made famous in Geoffery Moore's book, "Crossing The Chasm". This is a very important concept in sellig hi-tech products. In the following post we will look at it again with some new examples.
If you are the only person in the world with a FAX machine, it's of no use to you. Once
enough people have FAX machines and access to a telephone line, then the utility
of the FAX becomes evident.
The whole product is the FAX machine plus the telephone system.
A Whole Product has easy-to-use characteristics, easily available technical support and tutorials, and is stable with few bugs. There are lots of reference customers around, and several of the Pragmatist's direct competitors have already implemented the technology, so the Pragmatist knows the technology will work for its industry. In short, the Pragmatist organization is the home of the "It's safe because lots of other companies use it!" type of thinking.
There are many road blocks on the way to selling new high technology products. First some people tinker in a garage and come up with a product idea which they show off at their local club. If the idea seems good they get some financing and actually create a product.
The Innovators are eager to get their hands on these new gadgets but often they don't have the money to buy them so the company "seeds" them with beta product.
As soon as the Early Adopters hear about the new gadget they try to figure out if it will give their companies a lead and often they will buy the product and they are willing to put up with the extra hardship that new, untested, products bring with them.
So far so good.
The next big hurdle is to convince the Early Majority to buy the product. Here the problem is Catch 22.
The Early Majority likes to buy products that other members of the Early Majority have already bought.
The Crossing the Chasm that More refers to is the jump that needs to be made between Early Adopters and the first lot of Early Majority. He recommends the Bowling Alley approach to marketing in the hope that this will unleash a Tornado.
When that happens, the company has to change its marketing strategy once more to fit it to the current circumstances.
If you are the only person in the world with a FAX machine, it's of no use to you. Once
enough people have FAX machines and access to a telephone line, then the utility
of the FAX becomes evident.
The whole product is the FAX machine plus the telephone system.
A Whole Product has easy-to-use characteristics, easily available technical support and tutorials, and is stable with few bugs. There are lots of reference customers around, and several of the Pragmatist's direct competitors have already implemented the technology, so the Pragmatist knows the technology will work for its industry. In short, the Pragmatist organization is the home of the "It's safe because lots of other companies use it!" type of thinking.
There are many road blocks on the way to selling new high technology products. First some people tinker in a garage and come up with a product idea which they show off at their local club. If the idea seems good they get some financing and actually create a product.
The Innovators are eager to get their hands on these new gadgets but often they don't have the money to buy them so the company "seeds" them with beta product.
As soon as the Early Adopters hear about the new gadget they try to figure out if it will give their companies a lead and often they will buy the product and they are willing to put up with the extra hardship that new, untested, products bring with them.
So far so good.
The next big hurdle is to convince the Early Majority to buy the product. Here the problem is Catch 22.
The Early Majority likes to buy products that other members of the Early Majority have already bought.
The Crossing the Chasm that More refers to is the jump that needs to be made between Early Adopters and the first lot of Early Majority. He recommends the Bowling Alley approach to marketing in the hope that this will unleash a Tornado.
When that happens, the company has to change its marketing strategy once more to fit it to the current circumstances.
posted by the author at 6:32 AM
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