By Betsy Burton
Why Listening to Your Current Customer Can Derail Innovation
There are so many companies that talk about “we listen to our customers” and “our customers tell us their needs and wants.”
Clearly listening to your current customers is good for refining and evolving your products and services. It is also important for ensuring customers keep renewing any on-going services.
However, listening too much to your current customers can be problematic when used as a guide for future-state opportunities.
How Much Should You Listen to Your Current Customers?
If you have been reading my blogs, you know I am a big advocate of future-state and outside-in thinking when it comes to strategy and architecture planning. However, it is important that technology and service providers understand that the same lessons are true for product and market growth.
You may also hear similar advice from Geoffrey Moore of “Crossing the Chasm” and Steve Blank of “The Four Steps to the Epiphany.”
I am not suggesting that you should ignore your current customers, but rather understand the perspective and value that your current customers can bring to your product marketing planning, and when they might actually be a hindrance.
Your Current Customers May Ask for Products That Are a Bad Idea
Just because a current customer asks for “product X” does not mean it’s a good idea either from a technological, business, or architectural point of view. Customers may ask you to solve a problem with technology where the problem is actually bad architecture or bad management.
It is critical that providers help customers understand their strategy and the best architecture and approach to solve their strategy rather than potentially perpetuate and capitalize on bad decisions.
Your Current Customers Are Often More Focused on Enhancements Rather Than Innovations
Your current customers are most often focused on enhancements to your current product line to make it work better for their needs. It’s important to listen to these customers so that you can support them better, and even more importantly that they’re going to keep using your services.
However, innovations and future market opportunities do not often come from your current customer base. Product and market innovations come from focusing on potential future customers and how you might support them with innovative new products.
It is critical that marketing and development leaders focus product innovations on future customers, which may also include some of your current customers, but with a future state market perspective.
Your Current Customers May Be Much More Tactically Focused
Many times, your current customers are just focused on solving the problems that are immediately in front of them. They’re not being future state focused. The challenge with listening to your current customers too much is that it can put you in a state of react mode.
In other words, you must make sure that you’re careful that your product development and marketing efforts are not all focused on solving the most current customer demands.
While your sales team can be an invaluable input into your market perspective, it can also be very damaging to pay too much attention to sales, since they may be focused on solving an immediate customer’s needs in order to complete a specific deal, rather than your long-term strategic vision.
New Market Opportunities Are Found with Future Customers and Markets
In most cases new market innovations and opportunities are recognized by finding a market of future customers with a common want or need that is not being met. This is where technology and service providers will find fertile ground for new products and services.
Yes, these innovations and opportunities may also benefit your current customers. But thinking about your future customers first is future-state and outside-in thinking.
Bottom Line
Listen to your customers to help you understand how to make your product better and what problems the majority of them need you to solve. However, be careful about listening to your current customers when it comes to trying to identify new market opportunities and innovations.
Listening too much to your current customers can hurt your business in the long run because it can distract you from growing into new markets and finding new customers. Marketing and development leaders at technology and service providers must find the right balance between listening to current customer requests and future market opportunities.
How Will AI Impact the Workplace?
See VP of Research, Betsy Burton LIVE for “Will AI Take Your Job?” on Wednesday, August 30th!
Will AI Take Your Job?
Does the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) into the workplace mean a job desert or a gold rush? The answer, in my view, is neither of these extremes. But it will absolutely change the workplace landscape and we must work on understanding and planning for these changes.
During this webinar, we will be exploring the potential impact artificial intelligence will have on different jobs and on the workforce, in general. In addition, we will be introducing Aragon Research’s new AI Technology Arc.
- What jobs will be the most impacted by AI technologies?
- How will AI change the workforce?
- What technologies do leaders need to track over the next 3 years?
