Page 141 - Free the Idea Monkey

What is an insight? An insight is a penetrating consumer
(customer) truth that helps you build your business. Penetrating
in that it is true for a large group of people; the problem to solve
is so big that the large group of people will flock to your product
or service once you solve it.

Finding that insight isn’t easy—but it is vital. Let me give you
another example that proves getting the insight right is fundamental
to innovation success and how, sometimes, a single insight can drive
your business for decades.

About ten years ago, Doug Harrison, founder of the Scooter Store
agreed to speak to a small group of my entrepreneurial friends in
Florida. The Scooter Store sells power chairs — some indeed, look
like scooters, others are motorized wheelchairs — to elderly and dis-
abled people, and Doug had managed to create a meteoric rise in rev-
enue since he founded the company in 1991.

As a marketer who was very aware of the
fact that Baby Boomers are well on their way
to becoming a huge senior citizen cohort, I
was keen to understand what he knew about
aging boomers.

Just before attending Doug’s speech, I did some research on
boomers. I speculated that there were a number of insight nuggets
that could be behind Doug’s success. Below are a few of my guesses.

A. Boomers felt underserved and Doug had created an empathetic culture and
story that made them feel comfortable and understood.

B. The Scooters were a better technology. Maybe they were hipper. Maybe
they were faster. Maybe they were easier to use.

C. The process for buying a scooter was complicated and scary, and Doug had
found a way to simplify it, perhaps by limiting the models available or having
an extremely well-trained sales staff.

D. Wheelchairs meant old. Perhaps changing the language to scooters made
people feel younger.

E. The Scooters were priced correctly.

126 I G N O R A N C E I S B L I S S . I T I S A L S O E X P E N S I V E .