Do not act based on assumptions. Act based on customer data. Too often do we as business owners and entrepreneurs think we know the market. We assume that because something applies to us then it applies to others.
This is a very reckless way of thinking because we may be living in our own bubble - a space that our customers can’t relate to being in. In Design Thinking, we are taught that the first step is to empathize with the customer. This first step focuses on collecting information about the values and pain points that people have and experience in their daily lives.
When we execute the next steps (the definition and ideatoin phases), the focus is to understand the root cause of the customer’s pain points. Business value can be created by producing innovative solutions to address these root causes. The value created is based on what inferences we can make from the complaints and recollections of our customers.
For example, a customer might say that they get backpain. There can be a number of causes of this. Our role as entrepreneurs is to further study the customer in order to determine if it is:
- Fetching too many heavy objects daily at a construction site
- Doing deadlifts at the gym with poor technique
- Muscle imbalances from sitting with poor posture all day
It is only when we understand the real issue plaguing our customers that we can find solutions that actually deliver value:
- An afforable, easy-to-assemble wheelbarrow
- A training course on how to correctly perform a deadlift
- A special clothing item to be worn under the shirt in order to improve posture
It is important to note that we do not always need to take the customer’s advice on what solutions they think might help them. A customer may not always know the best solution, especially if they are not aware of the root cause of their pain point(s).
A customer may ask for better tires when the superior solution would be to simply fix the roads.
Conclusion
Neglecting the customer with regards to what they find to be problematic will come at a high cost to any business. Business owners and entrepreneurs need to focus on the customer first.