Voice of the Customer Guidebook Offers Roadmap for High-Tech Companies to Differentiate B2B Products

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--José Campos, founder of RapidInnovation, and expert in the field of Voice of the Customer, shares 30 years of hands-on experience in his latest book “Voice of the Customer in Product Development — 4^th Edition.” [ISBN 155489087X]

“Voice of the Customer in Product Development”

The Voice of the Customer guidebook is designed for engineers, R&D managers, chief marketing officers (CMO), VPs of marketing, and product managers who are responsible for bringing complex products to market. It is a handy manual for capturing and using prioritized customer requirements. The process leads to development of differentiated products with the right gross margin.

Written by product development veterans José Campos and Jean-Claude Balland, this guidebook includes a vast collection of process maps, tools, and interactive templates with examples and how-to instructions.

“Anyone who has worked in a high-tech company knows about product failures. They are quite common but never discussed. We want to help companies define better products, achieve better product margins, and create higher levels of customer satisfaction,” said Jose Campos, founder, RapidInnovation.

Four steps to better high-tech product definition

Campos and co-author Jean-Claude Balland provide readers with a time-tested, four-step process to follow. “Voice of the Customer in Product Development” lays out a unique approach. It leads cross-functional development teams through a logical process to determine what the customer truly values beyond the “banner specs.” The VOC information is then applied to the Market Requirements Document (MRD) used by every high-tech development team as their guide for designing a new product. Utilizing VOC methodology ensures a high level of confidence that the MRD is clear and prioritized. The resulting product will deliver superior value to the customer.

RapidInnovation’s Voice of the Customer model, developed during decades of working with technology companies around the world, is a unique four-step framework: Investigate, Interpret, Innovate, and Incorporate.

The search for value

Jack Welch, former CEO of IBM, once famously said that companies only have two sources of competitive advantage—the ability to learn more about customers faster than the competition, and the ability to turn that learning into action faster than the competition. The question remains, how does a technical product development team gather accurate requirements that will lead to this kind of market advantage?

The authors’ goal in writing the book is to provide a framework for identifying opportunities that create customer value. While the term “value” is widely used, only a few product development teams can articulate “value.” Typically, managers can’t describe how their products create value. The ambition of the book is to equip product development teams with the skills to plan and execute a requirements-gathering campaign. Once completed, the team will be able to define products that can deliver superior value as defined by their customers.

Outcome-based workshops bring real results

José Campos is a founder and principal of RapidInnovation LLC, a management consulting firm. He is one of the few people in the United States who is both an author and hands-on practitioner of Voice of the Customer for technology companies. His unique approach focuses on outcome-based workshops for B2B technology companies. Designed for individual development teams—based on their real product development cycle—the workshops focus on bringing products to market using success metrics.

About the author

Campos has more than 30 years of experience in new product definition and development. He has defined many major high-technology products, plus numerous derivative products and product enhancements. His experience includes market identification, definition, and rollout of new high technology products in the United States, Asia, and Europe.

How to Purchase

“Voice of the Customer for Product Development” is available for an introductory offer price of $49.95 in print—with an interactive electronic version of the book included with purchase—$10.00 off the list price.

The electronic version is available for $19.95 from the publisher at www.MMpubs.com/VOC, Amazon.com, and other outlets. VOC outcome-based workshops are designed for each company individually. Please inquire about a free guest lecture.

Note to Editors

Review copies and interviews are available. Please contact Jose Campos at [phone] or [e-mail].