Marketing

If you want to be the best in the world, don’t start by trying to create the best product or service. Start by figuring out how people want to feel.

Does a customer buy a flat-screen TV because he wants to own an electronic device? Or rather because he wants to sit on his couch and consume entertainment? Is the mission of a trip to the grocery store the acquisition of items for the pantry? Or might the underlying mission be a hot meal for the family?

Exactly how many customers are there? Do they all share the same pain points? How enthusiastic are they? How much are they spending? Are they repeating? How often? Why? Are they telling their friends? What are their biggest complaints? Why have some customers left? Can we fix the problems?

To avoid defining the job to narrowly, work directly with customers to understand not why they bought your product, but how your product fits into what they are trying to accomplish. Ask, “Why are you using that product, what job are you ultimately trying to get done”.

Understanding the customer’s problem wasn’t enough—to really understand how they perceived our strengths and weaknesses, we needed to understand the alternatives to which they compared us. Customers always group solutions in categories, but talking to them about problems doesn’t necessarily reveal those categories.

The more the organization understands its customers’ needs, wants, behaviors, and attitudes—that is, much more than their raw demographics—the better it can serve those needs.