Do you remember the movie What Women Want? After Mel Gibson slipped and cracked his head it led him to be able to hear the inner thoughts of women. It gave him some additional power but how he took that to his advantage well that’s the story.
So what does a Customer want? It could be expressed as the Value that they are purchasing or expecting. But how do you define that value? It is really not all that difficult of a process. What is important to them can normally be addressed in finding the CTQ’s of a particular product(service)/Market (Market being the important part). I encourage reading Dominating Markets with Value for further insights into Customer Value.
If you saw the movie or watched the trailer above you will find in the movie that having the knowledge is a very powerful tool. However, what you do with it is even more important. If you have the proper CTQ’s of your Market (Customers and Prospects) it really starts making business so much easier. It prioritizes not only sales and marketing but the rest of your business structure. Just pick something that you feel is the most important CTQ to your market place and subordinate all decisions to it. I know that is is an over simplification but why not, it is pretend. Is it on time delivery? If it is, how would have it affected the decisions that you made today? The interesting thing about CTQ’s is that if you understand them as an organization it effects every single person within the organization.
I like to apply understanding what a Customer wants (CTQ’s) to the process of Continuous Improvement. Divorcing the CTQ’s from the market place hinders most improvements. If your improvement initiatives are not addressing the CTQ’s you will see little improvement in market share or even more disheartening a customers willingness to pay full price.
So what does a Customer want? A Customer wants your organization to be constantly improving on the CTQ’s of the product(service)/Market you offer. Anything less than that, you will not have to worry about because soon they will not be a customer.
Related Book on the Subject: Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes
