Products have a “life cycle” much like humans do. Did you know that?
They go through a sequence of stages from development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline. They face difficulties and issues that have to be strategically dealt with in every stage.
Do companies sit and wonder - why, why is the universe against our products? Why are all other companies targeting us? Why did we even develop and introduce this product?
No, they take it as a part of the process and deal with it. They have to see competition from other companies as a normal thing and figure out how to appease their target audience better than their competitors. Sometimes they have to be a little aggressive in their advertising and promotion so as to differenciate their products from their competitors. I think that’s what we have to do when we acquire skills and knowledge. When we study, when we work hard, when we try to figure it out while others are figuring out for themselves.
Other times they have to know what product is not working out and is unnecessarily increasing costs and reducing profits and they have to withdraw it from the market. I think we have to do that with relationships sometimes. Even though at the beginning the several teams and employees at the companies had big dreams for this product and then conveyed the same to the consumers and made promises, when things didn’t work out even when they tried their best, they had to for their own survival know that discontinuing the product is the best. We may take some time, but I hope we too know when to walk away.
Another important thing that companies need to do for successful product life cycle’s is understanding consumer behaviour and what influences it. There are several factors other than the company’s own product and marketing efforts that influence the consumer behaviour. It’s the consumers’ own personality, life, upbringing, situations, mood and more. So the companies can’t take it personally and beat themselves for not doing the best they could. Because they could do everything right at every stage and offer the most amazing product, but there would still be people who wouldn’t buy it. But that’s okay right, because there would also be those who actually would and some of them would become loyal customers with repeat purchases! And I mean isn’t that so true with society? I can’t have everyone like me but I have some who love me and did you know statistically, having a 5% increase in loyal customers can increase a company’s profits by 25 to 85% !!! And we are humans! Imagine how much value and love and positivity can a few handful people add!
And did you know that retaining a customer is five times easier and more cost-effective than getting a new one?
But I think my biggest take away from learning Product Life Cycle is that ups and downs are inevitable whether you’re a human or a product! But that doesn’t have to suck because we are smart enough to deal with the downs with effective strategies and a little faith. Some stages in the PLC can last for 100s of years. While others may be shorter but each ends, it always does. So, we can hold on because even if it’s been 10 years and we’re still stuck in the suffering of the past, who knows, the joy of finally being in the now is right around the corner. If products can deal with it I’m sure as hell that we can too.