Learning Lessons – Sell More Products by Tailoring Them to Sports Enthusiasts
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 cyclists 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 cyclist 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 “Pickup Truck Having Cargo Bed with Side Mounted Bicycle Rack.” The application describes the invention as:
An apparatus for supporting a bicycle having wheels and a frame relative to a cargo bed of a pickup truck having a tailgate, spaced sidewalls and a front wall. The apparatus comprises a carrier adapted for receiving and supporting the bicycle frame and a guide for mounting to the sidewall for guiding movement of the carrier in the travel direction. The guide may comprise parallel rails for slidably engaging a connector of the carrier. The carrier may be adapted for moving, such as by pivoting, between a stowed position aligned with the travel direction and an extended position transverse to the travel direction.
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 (as described in the proposed claim above)? Not a chance, but you just never know, and I suspect they will end up receiving a patent, just one 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 competition 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 tailgate to appeal to contractors.
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 Cycle Invention Lawyer
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PPS – I was surprised to see that there aren’t a ton of bike racks for truck beds, but this rack looks pretty slick.
