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It's always hard to be wrong and lose . But it's even harder to be right and lose out anyway.

A few decades ago, I was consulting in technology market assessment in Silicon Valley.  I had a succession of startup clients in voice processing using newly developed technologies in voice recognition, voice synthesis, and so on. The firms were headed by engineers determined to sell their products to the military, auto manufacturers, and even consumers.

They had been appalled by the poor quality of Texas Instrument's speak N' Spell, an inexpensive toy that had sold in great numbers to consumers as educational toys.  Surely their superior products would be equally or more successful, wouldn't they?  Well, no.

What these entrepreneurs had failed to realize was that having a great product didn't, in itself, guarantee much of anything. I explained patiently, time after time, that what was needed was established distribution or the ability to seamlessly integrate into existing product lines.  In most cases, my clients' products were indeed quantatively superior to existing products.  However, they weren't breathtakingly, awesomely superior.  And their existing competition, while not superior, much less breathtakingly or awesomely so, was entrenched and was good enough.  And that, sad to relate, was also good enough to end the story.

Ever since, whenever I've evaluated new products and services for marketability, I've become more and more conscious of how high the bar has become for one product to replace another.  Being better is assumed.  But it's insufficient.  Offering greater value, lasting longer, greater ROI... it's all good.  But it's not enough.  At least not for long. 

Here's the difficulty. The future value of just being better is discounted in the valid belief that the initial premium will not persist. And since the better product is destined to become a future commodity, it faces price pressures from the outset.  My clients in such situations have always told me, "But my product is better!" 

And all I could ever do was nod sagely and respond, "You're right.  But so what?" 

The real product development solution is to create a qualitatively superior product that is neither functionally nor price comparable with existing entries. Such products have unique stature and command their own price levels. And even when that is eroded over time, it will retain superior profitability because of its higher starting point. Being right doesn't do it. Nor does being better.  Being awesomely better helps.  But being different and awesomely better goes a lot further.

This is the role of Teleconvergence's Full Cycle Business Development, to create differentiation through unique business and value propositions that drive new revenue streams.