What's That? Your Customer Has a Voice?

During a recent discussion, a customer of one of my clients described an episode of the popular television series House in response to a question that I had asked. In that episode, Drs. House and Wilson had made a bet as to which could hide a chicken in the hospital for the longest time without being detected by security.  A young doctor on the staff asked a colleague why each of the two senior department heads had chickens in the hospital. The answer she got was The store only had one pig.

The interviewee connected this story to my question about our client's product development contributions as follows: Every year, your client comes to us with a new release of their product, touting some new features and capabilities. We always ask them Why did you do this?' and get some sort of an answer. Now I realize their answer is the equivalent of They only had one pig.' It is an answer, technically accurate, but doesn't really address what we are asking, namely,What makes you think these changes will be of any value to us?'

The client went on to characterize the most recent several product releases as disconnected from what they really needed. His conclusion was that someone in your client's engineering department thinks these are good ideas, but clearly no one has ever asked the customers their opinion.

While this executive's perspective was troubling, the truth is that it's not uncommon for businesses to invest in innovations that don't match their clients' needs. In fact, several years ago, two colleagues cataloged the most frequent external inputs they received to new product development:

• Last Call Certainty Ideas advanced that react to the most recent customer visit.
• Incrementalism Ideas focused on small-step improvements to the current product.
• Technology Infatuation Ideas surfaced by experts enamored with technology they have seen elsewhere, heard about, or personally developed.
• Copy-Cat Imitation Ideas advanced because a competitor has gone in this direction.
• Brainstorms Ideas advanced as a result of an inspiration.

What is unfortunately missing from this list is the recommendations of customers.

Thinking about your customers not just your direct customer, but customers at every stage of the customer chains in which your firm participates provides input for an approach to innovation and product development that can yield a higher payoff. As one executive quoted earlier went on to say, We know exactly what your client should do in terms of evolving their product. And we'd be excited if they listened and took our advice. All they've ever needed to do was ask. For almost every business, this executive's advice applies. Customers know what innovations would be of value to them, and are almost always willing to share their ideas.

There is a systematic way to think about your customers and elicit ideas that will create value for them and lead to rewards for your firm's shareholders.  In CoDestiny, we outline three ways in which a firm can bring value to its customers helping them to grow volume, helping them to achieve a higher price point, and helping reduce costs and strengthen the bottom line. These three routes to success always work, and they work when it comes to identifying innovations and new product strategies.

As an aside, these three concepts also provide a litmus test for ideas that are surfaced through traditional means such as those that were listed above. If the idea has merit, the sponsor should be able to explain how it will help customers grow volume, reach higher price points, or take costs out of the system.  If they can't make at least one of those connections, it is the right time to bring out the caution flag.  And, in those instances in which the sponsor of an idea can provide a credible explanation as to how the idea will create value along one of these three dimensions, you now have the foundations for a productive discussion with the customers who are thought to be the likely beneficiaries of the idea.  More often than not, discussions with customers that are focused on the reasons why the innovation is believed to create value will yield one of two outcomes.  One possibility is that you will learn that it is wishful thinking, that the customer doesn't buy into the value calculation.  It's rarely wise to just accept that outcome and discard the idea, but it is almost always wise to hear their reasoning and objections.  The second possibility is the more exciting one, when the customer agrees with the potential.  In those instances, there can be incredible value from interactions that result in a customer-written product development plan.  After all, who is better at saying what they will value then your customers?

Listening to customers is, of course, always a challenge, with the potential for distractions and misleading messages. That reality applies to discussions about innovation and product development as well as to the other topics where conversations are important. But it is critical to separate the innovations and product development contributions that genuinely create value for customers (and allow you to capture value for your own shareholders) from those that don't. In truth, customers are often as guilty as your own organization's team in terms of being swayed by interesting technology, competitor offerings, or other such factors.  But when approached correctly, the potential for your customers to contribute high-value insights is great.