One has the impression when observing the proliferation of programs, plans, agencies, events… that have innovation as the nucleus, that it seems that it is unknown that 89% of companies either have none or have less than 5 employees and that 97.6% have an income of less than 2 million euros.
It is very good to try to create an innovative culture and have objectives of being European benchmarks, but being very aware of what the business fabric is, since otherwise the effect achieved is exactly the opposite, which is what is happening.
Today, despite all the efforts being made, the idea of innovation is that it is something of the great company, of those only 1,572 companies (of 3,060,409, which makes them 0 ''). 09%) that have a sales figure that exceeds 50 million euros, which makes it perceived as inaccessible. And, in addition, when presenting it as a condition to remain in the market, it causes such an alarm that it leads to seeing no other way out than that of the trenches. The one to protect oneself to survive and especially if one is entering the change of economic cycle that all the indicators predict it.
Therefore, it is necessary to offer the SME company a path that they see that they can travel comfortably and with enthusiasm. A path that is experienced as a real prospect of improvement, not as an entelechy that poses an added problem. As long as innovation feels like the need for white coat geniuses and high investments it is sure to elude it. This company needs a proposal that it considers affordable to be able to assume it. Ultimately, this company needs help stuck to its day to day.
The one presented by the author is the result of the research that he has been carrying out for the last twelve years and that allows him to affirm, with data in hand, that the SME company can only be innovative if it goes hand in hand with the client, if He is a true companion to that customer's journey. Everything else will be fine as a theoretical approach, but absolutely ineffective in creating the culture of innovation.
Y el ir de la mano del cliente no exige ni doctores, ni masters de última generación y ni salidas significativas de recursos, sino quererlo de verdad. Sólo desde ahí es cuando se descubrirá que se está ante un nuevo concepto de cliente. Un cliente que compra experiencias y no productos o servicios. Un cliente al que ya no le impactan los profesionales con buenos índices intelectuales, altos conocimientos, demostrada experiencia y espléndidas habilidades, sino los que saben ser conectores emocionales. Un cliente que ya no percibe el valor en la excelencia objetiva, sino en el sentimiento de verse arropado por el proveedor. Un cliente que, además, está dispuesto a pagar más por tener a este proveedor.
When the SME becomes aware of this discovery, it is when it assumes that the sale ceases to be the end of the company and loyalty becomes the goal. It is when she understands that she is in the market to make the client feel better, which makes her turn to make it so. Well, it is in this feeling of society that innovation is present. Sometimes it may be radical innovation, coming from R&D, in others incremental, mere modifications made in work practice or by exchanges and combinations of professional experience, but in most cases they will be novel solutions to specific needs, both for SME as customer.
In this innovation, the SME no longer has to be an inventor or a super-expert, but rather an identifier of what must be implemented to have what one wants to have. This innovation, then, is no longer restricted to the development of new technologies, the creation of new products or the emergence of revolutionary ideas. This innovation, in short, is the natural result of two traveling companions.
Now, loyalty is a process, not a technique. It is a process that begins with the acquisition, whose key attribute is the emotional connection, which makes the customer feel attracted to buy in a different way, continues with retention, which can only occur if the customer is emotionally impacted, since only from that impact the perception will exceed expectations, and ends with the "wedding", provided that emotional credibility is a reality, since otherwise confidence will not be given, a sine qua non condition for "yes I want".
When loyalty is understood in this way, it not only makes the SME innovative, but also creates entry barriers that are very difficult to overcome by the competition and costly exit barriers, both from a quantitative and qualitative perspective, for the customer. The conclusion, therefore, is clear: Understanding loyalty is the SME's path to innovation.
