Learning Lessons – Sell More Products by Tailoring Them to Customer Conveniences (Tailgate Edition)
Despite the problems that Ford has had over the past decade, no one can dispute that they know how to sell trucks. I have no need for a truck and hardly watch any TV, but I tell you what, Ford truck commercials make me want a truck, after all – you can’t possibly be a man without a truck! A key aspect of selling any product is knowing your customers inside out, figuring out what they value, and identifying opportunities to offer innovations to specific customer groups to sell more of your primary products.
Ford recently had a patent application publish that reinforces this segmented customer innovation approach, and should make every business owner ask themselves “how can I apply this concept to my product line and become the preferred product line of a valuable customer segment, and hopefully keep my competitors away (via patents) so that I own the customer segment.”
So what has Ford done? They identified carpenters as a valuable customer segment that they want to own. How? They are trying to build loyalty with this customer segment by offering something they value as a real convenience, and protect that “something” so their competition is at a disadvantage with this customer segment. I suspect this idea of targeting niche enthusiast customer segments was the result of a strategic mastermind meeting, not a lucky accident. After all, these are some pretty smart people.
What’s the carpenter specific innovation? Well, it may be a stretch to call it an innovation, but it is a pretty cool feature that is worth trying to protect to keep the competition at bay, and is found in a patent application titled “Tailgate Assembly.” The application describes the invention as:
A tailgate assembly of a vehicle includes a tailgate, a left workpiece holder, and a right workpiece holder. The tailgate is elongated along an axis from a vehicle-left end to a vehicle-right end. The tailgate includes a left pocket at the vehicle-left end and a right pocket at the vehicle-right end. The left workpiece holder has an L shape and is configured to slidably engage the left pocket along the axis, and the right workpiece holder has an L shape and is configured to slidably engage the right pocket along the axis.
The drawings nicely illustrate everything you need to know.
Pretty smart! Ultimately do I think Ford is going to receive a broad patent on this? Not a chance, but you just never know, and I suspect they will end up receiving a patent, just a patent containing claims much narrower than what they have proposed. However, competitors won’t know for a few years and the patent application may be enough to stall the competitors long enough to build Ford loyalty within this niche customer segment.
Interested in similar examples directed to other niche customer groups? If so, check out this post on how Ford has applied the same principles and tailored a truck bed bike mounting assembly.
So ask yourself how you can apply this approach to your business? Contact me if you need help and want one-on-one strategic market segment innovation guidance, training, brainstorming facilitation, and/or patent prosecution assistance. It can be a major investment, but is one that has the potential for enormous returns; as recognized by Ford!
If you are interested IP strategy then you should read this book!
Dave Dawsey – The Truck Accessory Invention Attorney
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