By Doug Stephens
From time to time I speak to retailers who maintain that the best means of staying current on trends and changes in the marketplace is by speaking to their customers. This personal connection, they maintain will keep them in tune with the future. Keep them doing the things they need to do to succeed.
I’m here to formally reject that theory.
Here’s why…
Firstly, your customers only know what they want now, today, at this exact moment in time. They have absolutely no clue what they’ll want two years from now. How could they? They need someone to project that for them – to anticipate it.
Secondly, if your solitary link to the future is today’s customer you are only talking to the people that like what you’re doing. You’re not talking to the people that didn’t like you so much and left . There may be important shifts taking place that are literally driving customers away from your store that you’re completely unaware of.
Thirdly, your customers are not futurists or fortune tellers. They have no interest or expertise in helping you interpret socioeconomic trends or develop your retail strategy. They are just people with needs. Meet those needs today and maybe they’ll come back tomorrow.
Lastly, it means that you’re basing your urgency to innovate solely on the opinions of people who like you exactly the way you are. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t shop you. They don’t want you to change…even if you really should. In fact, it’s quite possible that you’ll lose some of them in the process of making essential business changes.
If your only window to the future is your customer, you’re in trouble. It’s like driving a car by looking in the rear view mirror. Sooner or later you’re going to hit something you didn’t see.
As Henry Ford said “If I’d asked my customer what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”