For years companies have talked about creating products and services that address the unique needs of customers in different segments of the market -yet they still struggle today to do just that. Companies realize that traditional segmentation methods are ineffective, but what we have discovered over the past 10 years is far more disturbing- today's segmentation methods drive companies to target phantom segments- groups of customers that do not really exist-causing the failures that companies are trying to avoid. <br />How can this be? For many decades it has been common practice for companies to group their customers into attribute-based categories such as product type and price point, or demographic or firmographic classifications. These classification schemes are imposed on customers from the company's perspective and do not represent groups of customers that have unique under-served outcomes. <br />Most traditional segmentation schemes are invalid because they do not describe segments of opportunity, nor do they contain homogeneous groups of people. Needs-based segmentation, although theoretically more appealing- has also failed to produce the desired results. <br />Our thinking is different. We have devised research methods that discover the market's "natural order of segmentation. These are groups of customers with unique under-served jobs or outcomes- they are literally segments of opportunity. Discovering these segments of opportunity presents a company with new potential sources of innovation and market entry points for disruptive innovation. It also makes it possible to discover opportunities in mature markets, where few opportunities exist in the broad market. These concepts are referenced by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in his recent book, The Innovator's Solution, (Chapter 3) where he explains why our thinking is critical to the successful execution of sustaining and disruptive innovation. <br />What you will learn: <br /><ul><li>Why job and outcome-based segmentation is optimal for innovation.</li> <br /><li>How to identify segments of opportunity.</li> <br /><li>How segments of opportunity can be leveraged by both development and marketing.</li><br /><li>How to decide which segments to target- both as an incumbent and a new market entrant.</li> <br /><li>How the sales team can leverage the discovery of these segments of opportunity.</li><br /><li>How the segmentation scheme should be used in conjunction with other schemes in the firm.</li></ul><br />You will not want to miss this opportunity for a primer on job and outcome-based segmentation from the leaders in the field. These new, patent-pending segmentation methods, adopted by major US corporations such as J&J and Microsoft, are changing way businesses discover opportunities and create breakthrough products and services. <br />All you need to attend is:<br /><ul><li>A 56Kbps Internet connection or better</li><br /><li>Netscape 4.x or Internet Explorer 4.x+ (AOL users: AOL5.0 and above only)</li><br /><li>A separate telephone line for the audio or a sound card and speakers for the Internet phone session. </li><br /><li>The WebEx Event Manager installed before the event at http://amawebcasts.webex.com under "Set Up. NOTE: This plug-in will automatically install unless your browser has high security settings.</li><br /><li>A Windows PC or Apple Mac OS X or higher</li><br />