25
PRO INSTALLER MAY 2014
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
Why innovation
trumps invention
Martin Dickie, Business Unit Director, Door-Stop examines what innovation really means.
A lot of what passes
for innovation is a new
product or ‘improvement’ that doesn’t
actually solve any real
problems for the customer or end-user, but
the inventor thinks is
marvellous.
They’re inventions in
search of a problem. That’s
why most inventions never
make it to market; they just
don’t excite or interest users.
Once the ‘shock of the new’
has passed, if it isn’t useful it
soon gets forgotten.
Some of my favourites are
the inflatable dartboard, the
pedal-powered wheelchair
and the helicopter ejection
seat. (It doesn’t take too
much imagination to realise
why none of these ever took
off.)
But then stranger things
have happened. Some of
the world’s greatest inventions came about entirely by
accident. Teflon, Superglue,
Post-it notes and Play-doh to
name just a few But most
of the best inventions or
innovations are the result of
diligent research and knowing your market inside out.
Real innovation like this
is about looking for something – big or small, technical or commercial – that
benefits the customer even
if they don’t know it yet.
It responds to the pull of
consumer/user need. True
innovators have to have
vision and belief in their
Martin Dickie, Business
Unit Director, Door-Stop,
outside the Notts HQ
product, as well as a strategy
to make it happen. For example, when the idea for the
personal computer first came
out, it was dismissed as a
pointless invention, but that
didn’t stop its rise to world
domination. In 2008 almost
all composite doors were
made for social housing
with 6-8 week lead times:
when Door-Stop started-up,
its unique 3 day delivery
service was not only a pipe
dream for rival manufacturers, it was dismissed as
a gimmick! But it’s one of
the major innovations that
helped the company get
to No.1 in retail composite
doors.
Masonite is known worldwide for its innovation. Its
founder William H. Mason
changed the building materials industry forever by
inventing a way to convert
wood chips into an economical and effective building material, high-density
fibreboard. The company
now has one of the world’s
largest private research &
development facilities in
the industry. Door-Stop’s
business model works very
well with this focus. From a
standing start six years ago
we harnessed commercial,
technical and product innovation (eg our patented and
unique reglazable cassette,
designed to be replaced
without damaging the door
or cassette) to grow quickly
and sustainably. Perhaps
more importantly for the
trade, Door-Stop has helped
its customers compete,
winning more business and
growing themselves. Many
long-standing customers
such as Your Next Door
have come to specialise in
composite doors – unheard
of just a few years ago! With
Masonite behind us we can
only build on that success.
I’ve been involved with
Door-Stop from the very
beginning, working in Sales
for the first three years, and
then as a consultant advising
on various projects. What
Door-Stop does so well that,
in my experience, many
companies don’t, is spot
the gaps in the market that
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really matter, where it can
deliver exceptionally. DoorStop doesn’t sit back and
wait for inspiration to strike;
we’re constantly looking for
ways to make buying, fitting
and selling our doors easier.
It’s this close focus on the
customer that makes the
difference.
Door-Stop aims to introduces a new service update
or addition to its product
range at least every couple
of months, and this schedule
continues. In the past few
weeks we’ve added a new
door design, a 3D adjustable
butt hinge to our range and
made it possible for customers to save as many credit
card details as they like on
our secure online server, for
even quicker ordering.
We’ve got some very
exciting initiatives coming
up to be launched at the
FIT show in June. A product
which solves the problem
of conflicting standards, a
unique sales aid that will
help installers sell the way
they want to, and further additions to our range are just
some of the things visitors
can expect. We’ll preview
some of these on Twitter @
doorstopdoors and LinkedIn at our new page www.
linkedin.com/companies/
door-stop-international. Follow us and take a look!
To find out more in the
meantime, visit
www.door-stop.co.uk