The value ladder

Expanding your offering towards the existing customers is a great way to grow and innovate, as long as you do it systematically. Instead of randomly coming up with new ideas, products, and services, you think the customer wants, start by re-confirming what are their key desired outcomes.

Draw up a ladder, with five to seven rungs. List their key jobs, needs, and outcomes at the top. Then list all your current products and services that help your customers achieve the aforementioned. Now place them on the value ladder. Those more valuable to the customers should go higher up, and those less valuable should go to the bottom. Move them around based on their relative value to each other, always from the customers' perspective.

Once you are done, spend time to reflect on the bigger picture. Look for visual cues, like pathways and gaps on the ladder. These are the best points to begin looking into for new value creation.