Listening Wrong is as Bad as Not Listening

Here comes some of the art. I think this is at the heart of making marketing more meaningful--not just meeting expectations, but blowing them out of the water. I love that there is so much focus on listening to customers. But I wish there was as much attention among marketers on how to do it. In other words, how to interpret and then act on it. I have simplified this to three basic scenarios for customer listening based on what a marketer is trying to do.

Serving Customer Needs
What do customers like about a product? What isn't working? What features are they asking for? What are they complaining about? Even the mere act of creating a place for customers to express their opinions is important to respecting them. People who generously give of their own time to let you know insights about your product as they use it deserve to be heard. Part of building a relationship with them is hearing their feedback, acting on it and making sure they know it.

Leading Product Innovation
"It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them", a quote from Steve Jobs. Customers will not literally tell us what to do when it comes to new product development. This fact can be so hard to accept if you are really listening and respecting customers. As Henry Ford said, "If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."