I’ve recently returned from a wonderful week’s skiing in La Rosiere, France, with my wife and three children. The service from our tour operators, Ski Esprit, was very good, but one element of the service model outshone all the others.

The biggest headache for parents is getting the kids fitted for boots and skis for the week and then getting them going in the morning. Ski Esprit overcame the first problem by ensuring we visited the ski rental store when it was quiet (we were the only customers) and the second by keeping and managing the children’s skis, putting them away every evening and then redistributing them each morning.

A successful focus for innovation is to concentrate your creativity on overcoming your target customers’ biggest frustration with your product/service, or the services/products offered by your competitors.

What are your customers’ biggest headaches and frustrations, and what new growth opportunities could you create if you were able to remove them?

© Stuart Cross 2012. All rights reserved.