You have to train yourself to see
the world through their eyes. Here's how.
The number one worry we hear from
our clients today is this: “I need to understand my customer better, but it's
getting harder, not easier.” Why is that true for so many entrepreneurs? Let us
count the ways:
· Customers are less loyal and far less trusting than they
used to be. This is especially true in industries whose reputations suffered
during the financial crisis—including banking, pharmaceuticals, energy,
airlines and media. But even if you're in an unrelated industry, you’re likely
to feel some of the same effect.
· Consumers have more power than ever before, thanks to social
media, easy on-line comparison-shopping, and a proliferation of choices.
· Customer diversity continues to increase, putting a premium
on micro-segmentation and deep customer insight.
· By increasing the noise-to-data ratio, the data deluge
occasioned by the Internet can actually make it harder to understand your
customers.
· Economic uncertainty and data overload confuse customers as
well, making them less interested in products than in flexible, adaptive
solutions.
To get close to this more demanding
client, you really need to get inside his or her head. Here are five ways to do
that:
· Stand in your customer’s shoes. Look beyond your core business and understand your
customer’s full range of choices, as well as his or her ecosystem of suppliers,
partners etc.--of which you may be part. This exercise will also deepen your
understanding of competitors and help you better anticipate their moves.
· Staple yourself to a customer’s order. Track key customers’ experiences as they traverse your
company’s pathways and note where the experience breaks down. Some hospitals
ask interns to experience the check-in process as fake patients. One client
asked managers to listen in on its call center. If you can’t exactly put
yourself through a customer experience, try role-playing exercises at all
points of the customer’s experience with your company.
· Field diverse customer teams. One bank added members of the back-office support group to
its customer team, supplementing the usual customer-facing roles. IBM sends
senior teams from different disciplines into the field to meet customers and
develop a deep understanding of how to serve them better.
· Learn together with customers. GE invited its top customers in China, along with local
executives and account managers, to a seminar on leadership and innovation.
Doing so not only helped GE executives better understand the mindset of Chinese
counterparts; it also helped them to influence that mindset.
· Lean forward and anticipate. Focus on what customers will want tomorrow, as Steve Jobs
and Richard Branson did so exquisitely. Try to envision different futures
through tools like scenario planning and then explore how
underlying market shifts may affect your customers.
Remember that sometimes you need to
get out of your own way to really understand your customers. Psychologists
know, for example, that you’re likely to listen for problems that fit your own
offerings, and to discount others. That can cause you to miss important
opportunities, or to get blindsided later.
So, try to listen with a third ear,
as an anthropologist would, to what your customers are saying to you. If you
can truly hear them, they’ll tell you all you need to know.
Co-authored with Steve Krupp, CEO of
Decision
Strategies International, with helpful advice from Wharton Professor
George S. Day who just published a related book called Innovation Prowess. Click here to test your customer centricity.
