In his book, The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation, Robertson describes a highly useful concept of innovation which can be used at many companies.
Innovate around your main product
Robertson begins with a story about him wondering why a contractor who he hired to paint his house proposed using paint that was twice as expensive as the paint from another company. Both paints were equally good according to a popular consumer ratings magazine. So he proposed using the cheaper paint. The answer was that it would raise the overall price of the work, since paint is only about 15% of the total cost.
What Robertson didn’t know was that the supplier who sold the paint that was twice as expensive provided many additional services to painters. The company color consultant helped choose the kind of paint and the color. It would take back extra primer if it hadn't been used and provided more supplies if the painter ran out of something.
This paint supplier realized very well who their customers are. They're small business owners – the painting contractors. It’s not so much about the product itself, it's about the innovations around the core product. In the end, it makes the core product much more valuable.
Book
Robertson, David: The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation, Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, May 2017, 256 p.
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