I can't tell you how many times I've been working with clients who are trying to enter new markets by copying products that are already being sold. If you want to be a "me-too" product manager, you can do this. However, if you really understand the way that product development definition should be done and want to be a breakthrough product manager who rules your market, then maybe you should take a lesson from the handgun manufacturer Glock...
A Product Innovation Story
Handguns aren't new. In fact they've been around for a long time. Everyone knows pretty much what they look like, what they do, and who makes them. The market is dominated by such big name firms as Smith & Wesson, Heckler & Koch, Sig Sauer, Beretta, and Steyr. You wouldn't think that that even the best product manager out there would stand a chance of being able to introduce a new product into this crowded market.
Apparently nobody told Gaston Glock this. As described in a new book, Glock: The Rise of America's Gun, Gaston just happened to be in the right place at the right time back in 1980 and overhead two Austrian colonels talking about the Austrian military's need for new pistols. Gaston then did what any good product manager would do, he went and talked with the customer.
The customer in this case was the Austrian defense minister. The minister agreed to allow Gaston to bid on the handgun contract. Gaston then had to come up with a product to sell. He knew nothing about handguns so he went out and bought his competitor's products and proceeded to take them apart in order to learn how to build a better product.
The gun that he ended up creating was nothing like the guns that were currently on the market. The Glock 17 (so called because it was the 17th gun that Gaston made) was made out of industrial plastic which both made it lighter and more resistant to corrosion. The handgun was also built out of several subgroups that made it easy to remove and replace. Gaston won the handgun contract with the Austrian military.
How To Market A Gun In A Crowded Market
As we product managers are all too aware of, just having a better product does not assure your product of success and isn't good enough to put on your product manager resume. If you really want to capture a significant part of your market, then you are going to have to do some serious marketing.
In the case of the Glock guns, it was Karl Walter who took the Glock to the United States. He faced an uphill battle getting this new and fairly ugly looking gun to be a success. At the time, the Smith & Wesson company ruled the market.
Walter did what any good product manager should do, he focused on getting the Glock to be considered by people who were going to be buying a gun. He did this by getting the Glock to be featured in the October 1984 edition of the Soldier of Fortune magazine. He followed this up by getting Glocks used in product placements in both Hollywood films and television shows.
Once the Glock was adopted by the likes of the Secret Service and the FBI the game was over. Glock had won. What Glock had shown is that a carefully managed promotional campaign can help even a new product to enter a market and to capture a significant market share.
What All Of This Means For You
You may not be the product manager for a firearm, but the story of how the Glock handgun was created and what made it successful probably has a story for you. Just because you are trying to enter a crowed, well established market doesn't mean that you have to copy the products that are already being sold there.
Innovation is a word that is tossed around a lot these days, but it holds a special meaning for product managers. If we take the time to focus on what our customers' real needs are before we start to define our product, then we have the real possibility of doing what Glock did and transforming our market. Almost sounds like this is something that you'd find in a product manager job description, doesn't it?
Just because you make a superior product doesn't mean that the world is going to beat a path to your product management door. Instead, you are going to be the person who is responsible for making sure that the word gets out about how wonderful your product is. Follow the example that has been given to us by Glock and your product should have a shot at being successful.
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