In this session, we will take a brief look at what crossing the chasm is all about. But before we do that, let's just review and revise some of the concepts we have discussed earlier. We said that high-tech markets, high-tech products and services pose some severe challenges to marketing professionals. Why? Because there are uncertainties and volatilities that the marketers have to deal with. And those uncertainties come from the marketplace, from customers, their needs. They come from technology, and they come from competition. Which could spring out of nowhere. We also said that a high-tech marketing illusion because of these factors to believe that a new product or service can go smoothly from the point of introduction to the point of maturity or growth. In fact, what we said that high-tech enlightenment is all the challenge that's facing every disruptive innovation is how do you bridge the gaps that divide the innovators from the early adopters, from the early majority, from the late majority, from the laggards. Because it's not a continuous progression to growth from introduction to maturity. How do you then actually face this challenge that faces every disruptive innovation, and we label that as high-tech marketing enlightenment. Well, the chasm is part of high-tech marketing enlightenment and technically speaking or countably speaking or literally speaking or if you only want a definition, it's the gap that exists between the early market dominated by a few visionary customers to a mainstream market dominated by a large block of customers who are more pragmatic in their orientation. Now this is very important. The early market is dominated by visionaries, so they are very keen and willing to embrace the new technology. Their propensity to take risk is much higher than the mainstream market, which is dominated by a large block of customers who are more pragmatic, who are not that risk-prone, who probably are risk-averse, and who want more tangible evidence and proof that the technology actually works and will actually help them provide them with meaningful solutions before they embrace that technology. Now where does the chasm sit along that adoption curve? Right between the innovators and the early adopters, which is the visionaries or the early market and the mainstream market, which is comprised of the early majority, the late majority, and the laggards. And that's what crossing the chasm is that how do we then adopt strategy and tactics to cross this chasm, or to go from the early market, the visionaries, to the main stream market. What kinds of adjustments do we have to make in our marketing strategy and in our business thinking. First of all, let's take a very quick overview of the adopter characteristics. The innovators, they pursue new technology products aggressively, they like to do that. The early adopters, they are not technologists, but they find it easy to imagine the benefits and applications of new technologies, so they may be creative people, they may be very imaginative even though they're not technology people. But they don't find it hard to understand as to how those new technologies can benefit them and provide them with meaningful solutions. The early majority are driven by a strong sense of practicality. Show me how the technology works and I'll get excited about it. The late majority, they actually wait til something has become an established standard before they embrace it. And the Laggards, well, they really don't count for much because they may actively shun new technologies and they may be very happy continuing to live with whatever technology they are using and not run out and embrace any new technology that comes their way. So what is the strategy that a company then should adopt to cross the chasm. Well, Jeffrey Moore, in his book, uses a military analogy and he basically advises companies, he says, replicate D-day. Now those of us who are world war two world history students, we know that when the allies invaded Europe they landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-day. They picked a very specific landing point. They concentrated all their force over there, they established a beach head, and then they used that beach head then to progress into Europe. And that's exactly what Jeffrey Moore advises technology companies. He says target a very specific niche market that drives the competitors out of that niche and then use that accomplishment as a base for broader growth. So the strategy is to establish a beachhead in a very specific niche market. How does one do that, what are the tactics that one employs? First of all, one has to be content with being a fish. A big fish. In a small pond. Rather than being a small fish in a big pond. So you must be willing to play in a small pond. The second tactic is, let's focus on providing a whole product, okay? You remember that in the previous session we talked about the levels of the total product. That's the idea over here, that we want to develop a total product and thereby achieve a virtual monopoly. The third tactic is we want to redefine and recreate competition by shifting from product-based to market-based values. What does that mean? That in the early market when we are speaking with visionaries, it's all right to be fascinated by technology because they're fascinated by technology also. But when we cross the chasm, when we are trying to go mainstream and we are talking to the early majority who are more pragmatic in nature, it's better to focus on their needs, on their values than the merits of the technology. And finally, it's very important to remember that our ability to get the product out in as many hands as possible. Distribution and pricing so that we can communicate the best value for money. Those two business functions assume a great deal of importance when a company is trying to cross the chasm. In summary, high-tech companies first need to be aware of the chasm. High-tech marketing illusion assumes that the markets for innovations and new technology, products, and services unfold in a continuous and smooth way. High tech marketing enlightenment is exactly the opposite and it says that selling to the early majority requires a fundamentally different approach and a different focus than selling to early adopters. And focusing on a niche is key in crossing the chasm. Not ambitious, unadulterated, unchecked expansion.
