How to Determine What Your Customer Really Needs

I have a passion for great products that make a difference in people’s lives. I look up to great entrepreneurs like Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk — innovators who saw an industry in need of change, challenged the status quo and created great products that completely disrupted it.

But how did they do it? How do you create a great product that will make a difference in people’s lives? I have been challenging the status quo for as long as I can remember. I admit that my high school teachers didn’t appreciate it very much, and it got me in trouble from time to time.

But at the same time, challenging the status quo taught me to think outside the box, be creative, come up with innovative solutions, design products and eventually become an entrepreneur. Over the past 18 years, I have been creating products and solutions for innovative startups and multi-billion dollar corporations. I was fortunate enough to work across several industries like security, financial technology, digital media, television, advertising and payments.

Some products were successful, some less so. But each and every one of them was a great learning experience. Here’s what I’ve learned is most important in this journey:

Listen to Your Customer

Over the years, I found that listening to “the voice of the customer” is a practical method to creating products that drive results. First and foremost, it is a market research methodology that helps marketers and product managers produce a detailed set of customer wants and needs.

It also helps with building relationships, anticipating customer needs, responding to demands, and of course – seeing success. However, in many cases this process can unintentionally uncover misleading needs.

Henry Ford allegedly said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” While we can’t be certain that Ford actually said this or not, the meaning behind it makes sense: How can people want something they have never seen before?

Your customers have needs. Whether they are aware of them and know how to express them is up to us, the innovators. It’s our responsibility to think differently and help disrupt the status quo. We need to enable our customers to be heard, and at the same time, listen to the intention behind their words and gather detailed insights to really understand the problem they have — not necessarily the one they think they have.

“A faster horse” is not a need, but a faster horse does serve a purpose. As a visionary innovator, Henry Ford didn’t look for a faster horse, but rather for something faster than what was available at the time to get people from point A to point B.

Don’t Take a Gamble

Many entrepreneurs like to quote Steve Jobs by saying people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. Does this mean that you should skip research, focus groups and interviews to see what customers want before you invest in building a product? You can, but I wouldn’t recommend it. This is a very expensive “trial and error” gamble.

For every Apple product out there, there are thousands of companies and products that we’ve never heard of because they failed. Not that failing is bad; I believe that those who don’t fail never tried. An “if you build it, they will come” approach is not conducive to the budget of a typical startup entrepreneur.

The Truth Is Out There

When building a great product, getting customer feedback is the first step in the right direction — that is, if you execute it correctly. And remember — it’s a conversation with no right or wrong answers. It’s a journey to find the real need or problem your product or service can solve — and drive results for your customers in the process.

Originally published on Inc.com

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