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The customer is (and should be) the center of your universe. Every decision you make, every dollar you spend should somehow be tied to them. It’s said all the time that the customer is always right. You don’t question their preferences. If they like something, you produce more of it. If they hate something, you get rid of it. It’s so simple. Right?
Wrong! What if the customer is always right except when they don’t know they’re wrong. Wait. Huh? What if a customer says they don’t want something because they don’t know they want it yet? Do you think that people 20 years ago knew they wanted a device that played movies on discs (much less play movies on a portable device). Did any customer know they wanted to play a guitar on a video game system 8 years ago? If you’d showed them something way back then with DVD technology or Guitar Hero, they probably would have said “I don’t want or need that.”
When you think about it, innovators and marketers have an extremely difficult task. We have to think of products that customers want and need, before they even know they want or need it. It doesn’t stop here either. Once you find it, you have to hold onto it until the customer knows they want it. The time has to be right. Example A: Satellite Radio. A lot of customers out there still don’t know they want or need it. Some have discovered it, but it’s yet to really take off. The secret is to help the customers discover why they want it.
It’s risky. Sometimes you’re going to get it wrong and customers aren’t going to give a flying fudge bar about your “cutting edge invention” (HD radio, anyone?). Sometimes you may jump the gun and put a product out there before customers are ready. But every now and then, you’ll nail it. You’ll be the first to think of that next innovation. You’ll make it to where the customers are dying for it and you give it to them right when they’re ready for it.
Nobody hits a hole in one every time, but that doesn’t stop people from trying.
This post was inspired by the first chapter of the book I’m currently reading “Chasing Cool.”
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Comments
08.11.09
This is why it's important for businesses to have a healthy mix of business-minded people and community-minded people.
While it's a community person's job to relay what the Community loves/hates/wants/needs, a business person will ask: "Is this going to make money?"
A good team has checks and balances. Sometimes the customer isn't right and you need to do what's best for the business.
08.11.09
I think it's also about what you want to get. For example, digital readers had been around but never really went mainstream. Then Amazon's Kindle came on the scene and opened the market. While the Kindle might not be the best version of the reader, Amazon sure brings a lot of credibility to the device. If Amazon does it (especially with the Oprah touch), something must be there. And now we know there's a lot of competing devices available and in the works. A decision to create something is now changing an industry, not just increasing sales for Amazon.
Thanks Jackie!
12.14.10
Thank you for taking the time to talk about this, I feel fervently about it and I enjoy learning about this topic. Please, as you gain data, please add to this blog with more information. I have found it extremely useful.
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