What I learned from Steve Jobs: When not to listen to your customers
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) passed away 3 years, 8 months, and 25 days ago and the world lost a great business and technology innovator. There's a lot that Steve taught us about how high tech should be done, but in this post I'll focus on just one thing: Knowing when not to listen to your customers.
The problem with the marketplace is that it can’t tell you if there is demand for a product that doesn’t yet exist. The marketplace responds strongly and decisively to products and services that exist, but it’s the wild west about hypothetical product ideas. Nobody really knows when an idea is a brilliant breakthrough or a total dud and many times it's just too hard for the average person to see the value of something that is truly novel. To quote the late Apple Computer CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs:
A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.
As Henry Ford more eloquently said,
If I’d listened to customers, I’d have given them a faster horse.
When you depend on your customers to tell you what they want or need, then you are, by definition, setting yourself up to be a follower. Customers problems are the start of all good product ideas. Listen to your customers carefully to understand the challenges they face. With product in hand the marketplace is a brilliant (and brutal) evaluator of what you've built. What happens between those two points - the problem and market acceptance, is really up to you. That middle ground is the incubator of great technology. Jobs knew that was a place best reigned by the unbridled freedom of dreams. When to listen to you current and prospective customer? Listen when they tell your their problems, needs, frustrations and hopes. Their problems and hopes will inspire the creation of great innovative products. Products that matter, and create value. Customer originated solutions? Don't let them tell you to build faster horse.
Founder at ValiDeck - Search with Confidence
8 年Interesting piece of information. Some reports say that Apple has always depended on market research before developing products. Other reports say that Apple makes products that are irresistible when shown and people start buying them. The fact of the matter is that market intelligence is very important, both before making a product and after making the product. What matters is the quality of market research - how was it conducted, how truthful it is and was it comprehensive enough to assist in decision making. Wearables, Big Data and Deep Learning are providing the tools and equipment to capture user data. Going forward, companies that leverage these technologies will have lunch and the ones that do not, will become lunch. When Apple unleashed its smartwatch, lots of experts said that the swiss watchmaking industry does not need to worry from the competition of smartwatches. But in less than 2 years, Apple has disrupted the market for watches costing less than €1,370 - https://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d03fd5a6-5d43-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html#axzz41o2xQGra. This type of forecast is possible by listening to consumer expectations and behavior.
Senior Cloud Partner Manager | Empowering MSPs with Natively Integrated Cyber Protection Solutions
9 年Inexpensive and quick prototyping and design thinking comes to mind.
Innovation Evangelist - Japan at TATA Consultancy Services
9 年Insightful Post! Brings out the essence to build "Transformational" products and not "incremental" products, by not being a follower rather a good listener and problem solver.
Staffing Industry Technology Innovator | SVP, Product @ Bullhorn
9 年Great post, Sam. From what I've seen, customer originated solutions often inherently convey the constraints they perceive in their current situations. When engaging with customers regarding a new product, it can help to keep their constraints in mind to help them bridge from their "as-is" to their improved "to-be".
Director of Engineering (Cloud | AI)
9 年well said, "A lot of times, people (customers) don’t know what they want until you show it to them."