As marketers, we work hard to understand our customers, their motivations, and why they do what they do. We pay for detailed studies, and buy purchasing information. But is this adequate to really understand the users of our products?
Let me recommend an interview with Dev Patnaik, a business strategist who recently published a new book “Wired for Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy.”
It focuses on the need for organizations to step outside their insular activities, and gain a larger sense of what the outside world thinks and feels in order to manage more effectively.
“We are training a whole generation of assistant marketing managers that if they have five good bullet points on a PowerPoint, they understand their business. They don’t realize that their business is out in the world…out where their customers live their lives.”
“…They try to get customers to identify with their product rather than getting their own employees to identify with their customers.”
“If you have no firsthand, real-world experience with your own products or people who use your products, it is very hard to make good decisions about what people want to buy.”
To illustrate, he contrasts two industries: GM vs. Harley-Davidson. GM executives are provided company autos from their fleet every few months, and never have to take it to a dealer for repairs, or even have it washed. They are insulated from the “real world” of owning one of their automobiles. HD employees, on the other hand, are all “riders,” they live the lifestyle and experiences that their buyers live, and are part of the lifestyle they promote. “The boundary between inside the company and outside the company is permeable.”
For many of you reading this, such a concept is no surprise. You have naturally tried to create a connection with your customers’ business, looking at your products in use, and interacting with operators to understand how to improve your products. For example, over the past 18 years, I have maintained a minority interest in several restaurants, giving me first hand experience in the issues facing my customers, as well as insight into the patron motivations. In addition, my interest in cooking in general moved me to attended several chef-related training courses, providing first hand knowledge of the “back of the house” and its challenges…and how my company's products did --- or did not --- address those challenges.
So don’t just study your customers, become empathetic to their needs by stepping into their shoes as best you can. It will make a difference.
"Only a motorcycle rider understands why a dog hangs his head out the window"
--- anonymous motorcyclist