Stay Close To Thy Customer

Updated Friday, January 01, 2010

Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s as we know it today, worked 30 years in restaurant supply sales before making his big move. He knew what worked with customers, and was known to give his clients such advice. Such valuable insights he gained from knowing his costumers over so many years. Along came an opportunity to make a restaurant his way, and out comes McDonald’s.

Charles Merrill had a bottom up philosophy, responding to the public’s lack of education about stock ownership, gave them free education through his advertising. Listening to his customers more deeply than anyone else in his market guided the sale of his service.

Cyrus McCormick, inventor of reaper, would tweak, change, and overhaul his product based on product exhibitions and feedback. 70% of America’s workforce was in farming before the reaper.

Maintaining a tight feedback loop allows the product to meet those needs which you can easily miss.

Notice the commandment doesn’t read “Your customer knows best”. They don’t always. Your customer knows best their problems. It’s your job to translate their problems into your product. If folks new what they wanted, they would be buying Ruben Studdard’s music by now. America voted, right? See this commandment for a fuller explanation on this issue.

Too many times do we see business of high status distance themselves from their customer. Consider this: You have a killer idea for your LG phone. An idea that probably hasn’t been thought of, that would add value and simplicity. How many people would it have to go through before it ever reached the product manager’s desk, and in what condition?

Update : Closely related to this article is the entry on VOC
Also, Cheers to Ohmar Amad of Commapping.com. He stay’s tight to his customer base, and that’s rare.

About the author. I'm Adam Temple. After a degree in religion I ended up in the business world and just love it. Sermonspice.com was my first big splash as it's now a multi-million dollar company (which I love saying!). Bixly.com is the next notable effort. Expert programming seriously low prices. It came about as a last ditch effort to avoid working security detail. Bixly reminds me of adolescence: thriving with health and potential, but still learning.