Customers don’t always know what they want until they can get it.
That place in the market is White Space.
A business that can find the White Space has the ultimate competitive advantage.
For some CEOs, this is their ‘superpower’.
Steve Jobs is an obvious example – he found the White Space over and over again, launching one successful product after another … that no one said they wanted!
Lee Iacocca, the straight-talking CEO who pulled Chrysler out of impending bankruptcy in the 1980s, found the White Space with one successful car launching after another … that no one said they wanted!
At one point Iacocca had a ‘hunch’ that there was a White Space for a new convertible automobile – even though a new convertible hadn’t been launched in the US market for 5 years by any manufacturer because consumer research had concluded that there was no demand.
Iacocca asked his head of engineering how long it would take to make a convertible for him to test.
They told him it would take 3 years.
He told them that was too long – he wanted one that afternoon – so he instructed his engineers to pull a car off the production line and cut the top off.
He took the topless car out on the road and public reaction told him that the consumer research was wrong.
So, he went into production and launched yet another winner.
Hey, I just had a thought …
Maybe you don’t need a ‘superpower’ …
Maybe all you need is to take those ‘hunches’ you have about White Space, smash out a ‘same day’ prototype, show it to customers and let them decide if they want it or not.
