So focused on product that you can't hear the customer?

Ultimately, the sustainability of your business relies upon the answer to this question: “What problem does your business solve?” Customers don't buy your product or service - they buy the benefits your product or service provides them. Are you so focused on your product that you can't hear the customer answering that question?

Business owners early in their company's growth process obsess about the products they produce or the services they deliver. It is almost as though their awesome whatever-it-is is the owner's gift to the world. They are passionate about it. They have slept, eaten, and breathed it and worked to refine it. They often have made personal sacrifices in order to produce it. Yet one of the reasons businesses fail to fulfill their potential is because nobody – or not enough people – is buying what the company has to sell. 

Now that your business has grown, you might be more focused on competitive advantage than you are on survival. When you’re refreshing, revitalizing, and trying to stack your business up against your competition the next question should be asked: “Who are my core customers, and what are their needs and wants?” It’s not about your criteria, it’s about the customer’s criteria. You might be terrific at offering X, but if your customers think Q is more important, your greatness at X is no competitive advantage.

Core customers exist in your base right now. They are repeat buyers, they buy at full price, and they love what you offer. They refer others to you. There is something you are doing right now that they really like. Better, if you managed to do even more of whatever that is, you could secure your position with them for the foreseeable future.

The questions that go begging are:

1. How do you know?
2. When is the last time you listened to customers?

If you are not in a routine of reaching out to listen to customers, surveying them, taking a few to lunch, holding focus groups, etc., you don’t really know what they want. You’re in product-centered mode, or self-centered mode where you think you know what the customer wants or should have. That’s risky. There are many cautionary tales about product focus if you are willing to recall them. The iconic example is the best buggy whip manufacturer. In an emerging era of automobiles, the market for even the most exquisite buggy whips tanked. But there are countless other illustrations. Who uses corded wall mounted telephones nowadays? And unless you were attending a 70's themed party, when was the last time you wore a leisure suit?

The voice of the core customer needs to be considered in discussions about quality, about packaging, even new product development. Here are some reasons why:

• If a customer’s quality criteria are not exacting as yours are, your quality measures simply add cost, not value to the customer. 
• If you sell your product only in packs of one dozen pieces, where is a customer going to go if they only need one? 
• What if they want your product in some color other than black? 
• What if today’s invention means they won’t need or want your current product offering tomorrow?

It is not only for your marketing department to determine and then communicate to your market the benefits of your products and services. At the center of your strategy you need to know FROM YOUR CORE CUSTOMERS what problems your products solve, and what customers want from them. Then you can use the information to inform your new product development, your manufacturing process, packaging, delivery – even billing and payment systems.