Experts needed

     Marketers can no longer solely rely on their previous methods to understand customer needs. For example, focus groups will give us an idea of customer direction or a general understanding of behaviors, but we may not really understand what each customer segment needs without asking them. Why is this customer purchasing a printer? Have they ever purchased one before? What would they say they need from a printer? Better yet, what would they say they need to do with their computer? How much of that would be facilitated by the printer? Digging deeper into customer needs and behaviors is a new, yet critical marketing function that not many marketers are performing.

     Marketing teams are becoming customer needs experts as part of their role in the new customer-centric business world. It is imperative that companies work across the organization to put into place a repeatable system for collecting customer information, create a method for sharing that information throughout the organization, and finally, act on the information. Learning from our customers, then doing something with what we learn, is a solid way to create a barrier to exit for our customers. When we learn about our customer, then use that learning to do something different for that customer, we have created a unique value proposition for them that our competitors can’t match. This is because we now have customer insight that they don’t have. When we continue to learn from each interaction, and then change our behaviors to benefit our customer, we build a relationship with them, and ultimately, we build loyalty.

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book