Marketing

understanding of how your customers feel, and why, offers you a major opportunity to find clues about changing priorities and future profit growth opportunities. Many organizations, blinded by their traditional way of doing business, fail to stay on top of their customers’ key priorities.

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?

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”.

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?