Create Mechanisms for Intimate Knowledge of Customers

It is crucial that a clear connection be established between the internal developers and the customers. A third party intermediary cannot possibly draw the direct connection between customer needs and wants with the technical possibilities. Although a third party can facilitate the interaction and create venues for interaction to promote the connection between what a customer will pay for and what the organization can produce, they cannot create the match through reports, specifications, and other means.

Some examples of venues to create intimate connection with customers is as follows:

Toyota – When Toyota decided to enter the minivan market, the chief engineer for the product first spent 6 months living with a ‘target customer’ family in California. The chief engineer lived in the home with the family, he went shopping with the family, dropped the kids off to school – got to know the customer intimately through direct involvement.

Harley-Davidson – There are several large motorcycle events annually, such as Sturgis, Daytona Bike Week, and Faaker See where hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiast come together to celebrate. One of the events at these rallies is a ‘ride in’ show where participants bring their motorcycles to be judged for trophies and prizes based on modifications they have made. The judges for these events are Harley-Davidson product development personnel.

Whirlpool – In order to better understand the design implications of their products, Whirlpool created events such as the ride-along program where engineers and product developers ride along with service technicians on customer service visits. The program allows them direct interaction with customers in a direct manner to understand the customer, what the customers like about the products, and the issues with their products.

It is at the intersection of knowing what the customers are willing to pay for and an understanding of what is possible, that product innovation occurs. Likes and dislikes, customer experience, and direct observation of usage are all important for developing quality products customers admire. It is important to create regular venues involving key product developers and decision makers to feed the development stream. There should be a greater inflow of effective ideas for products and projects than the organization intends to develop or needs to deliver the business objectives. Close to the customer entails intimate knowledge of the customers, an idea generation mechanism, and a concept sorting and rationalization process.

 

Questions to Consider:

• How do you connect with customers?

• How are ideas generated?

• How is the product portfolio populated?