It wasn’t until the year 2000 that I began investing in the stock market.

Prior to 2000, my attention was riveted on my business (whatever that business may have been) and nothing else.

Take politics for example. People would ask me, “Are you going to the political fundraiser for so-and-so?” My reply would be, “Who is so-and-so?” If I cared little about the stock market, I cared even less about investing in politicians.

In fact, I was so focused on my business that I didn’t even know who was running for political office.

I have always put all of the pennies earned by my business right back into the business. This is because I control my business. No one has any control over the stock market. To put my money anywhere else would have been foolish.

If I were to prioritize the dollars I put back into my business, they would, and even today – a full decade-plus later – first go to product. Notice I did not say “image,” or “marketing.” No, any additional dollar that I could get my hands on went right back into the company, and once in the company (more often than not) into product.

Just today, I was on a conference call with my sales executive, Andrew Rossi. Andrew frequently asks me to join him on calls to prospective clients and as much as I can, I try to acquiesce.

Today’s call was with a very nice young man who opened the conversation by saying, “Ron, I am so pleased to meet you. I’m a big fan of your show and both I and my boss are big fans of you, personally. I like the way you think and I admire your candor on air.”

I promptly hit the “mute” button (we were on a speaker phone) and said (very quickly) to Andrew, “This looks like your sale to lose.” (Not to put any pressure on the kid.)

At the risk of sounding very immodest, I have heard this phrase many, many times. And it’s not because I have any particular Svengali-like “hold” on my listeners; rather, it’s because we have invested heavily into our product. In the case of a radio station, “product” equals the hosts, plus the music, plus the custom newscasts we run, plus the highest production levels possible.

But you can see how investing in product can come back in spades. Good product will drive sales. Good product will retain customers. And, good product will result in additional revenues.

Your product stands head and shoulders above virtually any other element of your enterprise. After all, product is what people pay you money for. Thus, it must constantly be evaluated and invested in. It must constantly receive the full attention of all departments --- especially executive management.

My good friend, Chris Allison, tells a story that quotes a well-known local executive. Because I’ve not personally heard this individual say this, I won’t name him.

But you would know him.

Chris tells me that this famous and very successful local business owner, and upon getting out of bed each morning, frequently says to himself, “I wonder how I can better differentiate my business today?”

At which point he goes about doing just that.

Products and services, like everything else on this planet, experience entropy. That is, they plain old “wear out.”

And so if you don’t invest in them, the competitive products and services will eventually pass them by. So, and in addition to finding ways to stay a feature or function ahead of competition, it’s also imperative that investments be made in areas related to product as well. These would be things like customer service and product packaging. Even testimonials.

Imagine if Henry Ford had decided that his original Model T was truly the ultimate automobile? How long would there have been a Ford in his future?

In the interest of keeping this column short, let me now give you some ideas about keeping your product fresh --- ideas and techniques that I have used for years and found to be quite effective:

Step One: Conduct Research Among Users

1. First off, you cannot fix or even make better any product or service that you don’t even know to be of sub-standard quality. So, your first step has to be product/customer research.
   
2. This is where surveys, especially surveys conducted face-to-face (as I tell my students, more market research information is garnered via observation than verbally), are so effective.
   
3. You’ll be surprised as to what you learn. Most executive management teams feel as if their products are “perfect.” I’m here to tell you, no product is perfect.
   
4. Never allow the “creator” of your product or service to conduct a survey. I needn’t tell you why. They are just too emotionally wedded to their “offspring.”

Step Two: Research Competition

1. Appoint someone as your “Comp Czar.” This individual’s job is to constantly monitor all competitive offerings, reporting immediately even the most insignificant changes or challenges.
   
2. Don’t overlook competitive advances in such areas as distribution, customer service, and packaging. Too often, companies look only at the physical product itself. But what if your competitor has decided to add a distribution channel that almost immediately vaults his product/service ahead of yours? This happens all too often.
   
3. Next, the Comp Czar should create (for analysis) a list of analogous products and services. Remember, we’re looking to satisfy the base wants and needs of the consumer. For example, airlines are really in the business of moving people from Point A to Point B. From this perspective, an airplane is in many ways competitive with a train. (Especially in crowded megapolises.) Economists refer to fulfilling these wants and needs as the “base utility” of the product or service.
   
4. Next, and this may require some outside help (maybe this is where you get value from your membership in various associations or councils?), you need to look at new and significant technologies with an eye towards integrating those technologies into your product/service. (Imagine if you would have had this discipline in place when the Internet came into being?)
   
5. Finally, it is the job of executive management to have a three-to- five-year product plan in place. This plan does not have to be specific in the far term, but should: a.) dovetail with the company’s overall business plan in terms of where the product should be going, and, b.) include a very specific feature/function release schedule for the next six to eighteen months.

Probably a lot more than you thought it could be, those are but some of the more important action steps companies can take vis-à-vis their products and services.

But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again right now --- every penny you put into your product will come back to you many times over. And there is no other place in your company where you’ll get that kind of return.

Some say that these dollars are better spent in marketing, or for additional sales people, or for distribution. These are all reasonable places to invest. But the payback in these areas is short-term and not very significant. You’ll get far greater payback by following the steps I have outlined here.