Rinat Keinan, an Israeli senior marketing manager for global leading brands, has put together many years of experience in one strategic guidebook called Pipeline.
Rinat Keinan, an Israeli senior marketing manager for global leading brands, has put together many years of experience in one strategic guidebook called Pipeline.
Her methodology based on more than 30 best practices and new strategic tools used to improve the business results of developing new products. With an 8 action item list Rinat Keinan enables newcomers into the world of entrepreneurship to make better product decisions right from the very beginning.
The Pipeline Guide provides templates for pitch, management meetings, fundraising and more. Rinat’s method can be applied to any product from small startups to global companies and make them a success. It’s not only about how great a product might be, but it’s also about the potential it can reach in terms of sales and return on investment.
8 tips on how to build better businesses with +60% higher level of success!
These tips are for all those business idea generators out there, who have a great talent at identifying new opportunities but who may need some help to figure out which of them can take their business to the highest level of success.
- Expand the business possibilities
The most common difficulty for business success is finding the best feasible opportunity! We make decisions based on our experience and knowledge, and most of the time miss out on bigger opportunities. For example, the founders of a brilliant product idea for indoor air purification were sure that the relevant market context for their planning purposes was just the indoor air purifier market. Accordingly, they spent 3 years developing a business plan in the context of the needs of that air purifier market but completely failed to notice a much larger and currently more relevant new market opportunity for ‘smart home automation’ that was developing.
- Change to ‘demand context’ point of view
The next most common difficulty for business success is finding the best demand opportunity! About 73% of business ideas miss the highest demand opportunity because their decisions are based on current perceptions of existing markets and competition, not on dynamic perceptions based on developing new contexts.
Users can act or react differently within different situational contexts.
For example – mothers. New mothers usually ask recommendations from other mothers regarding ALMOST anything in daily life, BUT in the context of previous child experience, experienced mothers will ALWAYS act according to their own previous experience and no longer reference other mothers’ recommendations. In the context of obtaining new business, experienced mothers represent a range of 8.2%-25% of demand. But new mothers represent a range of 33%-100%!
- Inspire for best business creation
Everything already exists. You just need to know what and where to look for to p[rovide your best inspiration. “If you can dream it, you can do it”! Most businesses are afraid to innovate, re-generate, change because they can’t really imagine what it will look like. One way to bridge the gap is to take inspiration from other contexts. Walt Disney built the Disneyland theme park in the 1950s following inspiration from amusement parks. Today, the number of visitors to Disneyland since it opened is the largest in the world with more than 650 million visitors.
- Develop better business features
20% of your business’s features can provide 80% of your sales!
In 2007 Microsoft decided to launch a premium operating software named Vista, at an investment of $500 million. The public and media had high expectations of this launch, with the forecast that at least 50% of existing Microsoft users would choose to use it within two years. Microsoft was so sure that the new technology would motivate existing and new users to use the software that they simply didn’t think whether it was worth examining all the product features before programming. The launch moment came and there were not many users. In analyzing the software version failure, it was found that there were steps in the software that were too complex to understand – even among Microsoft users.
- Simulate the best business position
“The difference between something good and something great is the attention to details”! Experimenting with simulations enables you to control and assess business details that could have been missed. Simulation enables you also to test comprehensively in a short time without massive financial resources – ensuring the accuracy of the business details according to demand behavior insights! For example, developers prepared a web simulation for a legal gambling application. The big new opportunity for this application was with mediocre gamblers. Mediocre gamblers prefer poker games and slot machines, but the web simulation of the developers used mainly games of roulette and blackjack that matched only the preferences of heavy gamblers. Thanks to the simulations they undertook, the developers were able to quickly correct their mistakes and adjust without expending a lot of unnecessary time and money.
- Validate the business with the right audience
The success of a business depends first on validating with the right audience!
We all know the Harry Potter series, the most successful fiction series of all time. We could have almost missed it. In 1996, 7 children’s literature editors in London received the first chapters of the Harry Potter story and didn’t want to publish it. The difference was that the 8th editor gave his 8-year-old daughter the chapters to read. Because she was the right audience for the product, she saw the potential- for her, it was the most fascinating story she had ever read.
- Build a better business plan
Small dreams – Small achievements. BIG dreams – BIG achievements!
The difference between founders with only small dreams and founders with big dreams is their mindset. We can ask ourselves: “Where can I find the investor who will invest the initial capital needed to take this product one step further”? BUT a successful founder will ask himself: “Where do I find smarter people than me to take this business with me several steps further”? We can think: “I believe this product will be successful” BUT a successful founder will think: “How can this product be part of a whole range of successful products”?
- Influence the business demand
In the case of great marketing, the point is not to see how many customers can get to know the product, but rather how many products can get to know the customers in order to influence them. In 2013 Netflix conducted a survey in 16 countries around the world and discovered that a) 73% of their streaming viewers enjoyed sequential binge viewing and b) most of their streaming viewers didn’t become addicted to the series in the first episode. Netflix accordingly decided to distribute their original series all at once. All the new season’s chapters were available for immediate viewing. By doing that, Netflix influenced the consumption behavior and “helped” the viewers choose them over the alternative media.
About the author
Rinat Keinan has received high achievement awards for business success, in various marketing positions. She is also a speaker at business events and academies, has advised a number of startups and large companies on business and product strategy.
Her PIPELINE methodology, based on more than 30 best practices and new strategic tools, defines new decision-making processes with an 8 action item list that enables new entrepreneurs and product managers to make better product decisions right from the very beginning.
Rinat Keinan has a BA in Human Services from the University of Haifa and an MA in Design Management from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. She lives in Israel.
Read more about: Guide book, Rinat Keinan
