It seems that you and your team have developed a great plan for profitably growing the business. In the first quarter, both sales and profits were ahead of plan. You remember leaving the quarterly update meeting feeling pretty good about yourself.

But now, as your company is approaching midyear, the business has turned a bit. Year-to-date sales and profits are off, and so are third quarter projections.

You begin to wonder if your original projections were a bit too optimistic.

Whether you realize it or not, your customers are looking for signaling cues. The cues I’m speaking about are service and product cues that customers are looking for during purchase and use. Failure to understand and deliver these cues places your product or service at risk of success.

Years ago as the Product Manager for Char-Broil gas grills I use to sit in the patio chairs at Home Depot and watch people shop and buy grills. (The chairs were located directly across from the grills. I found the porch swings to be the most comfortable.) They (consumers) would grasp the handle and raise and lower the top casting. Then they would most often lift the cooking grates. This happened almost without exception.

Often when asked to describe the company’s Intellectual Property, one lists the patents that have been granted or applied for along with the competitive advantage and protection they will provide – which certainly is an important component. However, Intellectual Property encompasses more.

A business regardless of its stage of development needs an IP strategy – how IP is protected in various areas.