The upside is really appealing. Think increased market share, improved financial results, or enhanced customer satisfaction/loyalty. Additional potential benefits include reduced cycle time and saving money on development costs.

A common strategy involves working with lead users (your customers most open to new products or conversely those with pressing business problems). Also, working with customers on a personal level at their place of business seems to work better than weekend retreats or other off site meetings.

In fairness, executing this strategy can be a challenge. Research literature suggests that there are differences between consumer markets (business to consumer) and commercial ones (business to business). Also, there may be limitations resulting from reduced customer participation due to the perceived or actual workload increase put on your client's staff. What's more, there are difficult choices to make;for example,how much and what type of customer collaboration do you seek? How your customer is fairly rewarded? Finally, customers tend to think about their immediate needs, quicker faster better. In many cases their ideas are incremental in nature delivering a small increase in value. Big changes often come from those who are not thinking just about tomorrow but the future.

Many online resources are available and two follow. One is Involving Customers in New Service Development, edited by Peter Magnusson, which focuses on service businesses. Two, the journal Creativity and Innovation Management featured "Minimizing Market Risk Learning from Bad Practice" in its December 2005 issue in an article by Ellen Enkel, Javier Perez Freije, and Oliver Gassman.

While the approach is logical, it requires a keen understanding of your goals; awareness of your customer's product and financial expected payoffs; and an ability to make it mutually rewarding. Plan wisely and make smart choices. If you get off track, NP Learning can help you.