HEIP 144 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Switching Barriers

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Course: HEIP 144
• Professor: Jay Smith

Document Summary

Companies can differentiate at every point where it comes in contact with customers. Consumption chain: customer"s experience with a product or service. If companies open creative thinking to consumption chain they can uncover new opportunities. Assemble groups from different areas of the company. Identify steps through which customers pass from becoming aware of product to dispose or not using it. Every product will have a different consumption chain. Makes customers aware of a need that had gone unrecognized in the past. Must make product available when competitors are not. Must offer product in places competitors do not. Must allow consumer to tailor search experience to needs. Encourage people to come to your business through selection process. Selling is not done by the salespeople but by the selection process the cusomers create for themselves. Connect customers directly to the company system. Benefit of differentiaion is that it imposes a switching cost. Expensive to swithc, creating a deterrant to competition.