Why "insight" is not enough: the game-changing power of Customer Outsight

What is Customer Outsight?

I wrote an article recently about a new concept I’m developing called Customer Outsight?.? Now, I’d like to get more specific on the methodology and share a new infographic that describes the steps of this innovative process.

First, a quick overview for those who missed the first article.? What is Customer Outsight?? Too many companies believe they successfully hear the “voice of the customer,” but what they’re doing is looking harder at customers from their own perspective – like using a spyglass to zero in and ask customers the questions they want to know in order to make their own companies more successful. That’s insight. What companies need to do is turn the spyglass around, hand it over to customers and let them use it – and say what they see from their point of view. This change in perspective can be transformative because our own organizations shouldn’t come first. We’re in business to help our customers succeed and if we do it well, then we’ll succeed, too. We should benefit from adding value, with our own profit as the result, not the objective. Customer Outsight? is about a mindset shift to servant marketing, which when adopted, vastly improves products, services and relationships, helping make the world a better place.

In my article, I called the quest for Customer Outsight a “hero’s journey” and challenged readers to become true “Outsighters” by embarking on this mindset shift together.? So, what’s next?? How do we start this journey?

Introducing The Customer Outsight Compass

Sticking with the spyglass theme, imagine you’re on an ocean voyage and not sure where to go.? What if you had a compass that helped you navigate and showed you the direction to head and also mapped out the sequential steps of a process to follow?? Sounds helpful, right?

The Customer Outsight Compass captures 4 stages of the process and 3 steps within each stage.? Each stage starts with the letter “F” to make it easy to remember.? The 4 Fs are Fix, Focus, Find and Fuel.? 4 verbs.? 4 Stages to your customers’ business transformation and, as a result, your own.?

• FIX your sights on a specific area of exploration.
• FOCUS your team in order to learn
• FIND the unique direction that resonates
• FUEL your path to a successful future

If you’re still picturing that spyglass, maybe you’re pointing to a place on the horizon (FIX), then making that object in the distance clearer (FOCUS), heading in that direction to learn more about what you see (FIND), and then using your discovery as energy to propel you forward (FUEL).? Fix, Focus, Find, Fuel.? In that order.

Over the coming months I’ll cover each of the 4 Fs in depth, explaining 3 main steps or elements within each one.? In all, there will be 12 Outsight Principles, each vital to making Customer Outsight work.? All are important to your Hero’s Journey, vital to navigating the challenges and reaching your destination.? Here is a quick summary of those 12 principles:

FIX

• Establish an OBJECTIVE for each voyage of discovery you make (your true north)
• Set a TARGET customer or group of customers you intend to collaborate with
• Organize the logistics of each MEETING to improve the probability of success

FOCUS

• Commit to your INTENTION to serve the customer and their needs
• Place your full ATTENTION on the customer’s perspective (hand over that spyglass)
• Ask open-ended QUESTIONS that uncover the customer’s priorities, not ours

FIND

• Develop STORIES buried within customer needs
• o?? PATTERNS emerge within the stories that show simplicity within complexity
• Discover what we call GEMSTONES that, when applied, drive business transformation

FUEL

• Use what you’ve discovered to power new MARKETING approaches (content, sales)
• Create SOLUTIONS that address customer needs (products, services, experiences)
• Drive TRANSFORMATION in your customers’ and your own business

And here is the Customer Outsight Compass:

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As a visual way to remember and provide a guidepost for each section, we created the Customer Outsight Compass.? The compass has 4 quadrants representing each of the 4 F’s.? Within each quadrant are 3 important steps to be followed.? To attain Customer Outsight, the person or company following the process (that will be you, an Outsighter) will need to follow the overall process clockwise and follow the steps in order.? The elements are additive and dependent upon each of the previous steps.

Reasons for Conducting VOC

There are many possible reasons to conduct voice-of-customer (VOC) research and seek Customer Outsight.? Here are some very common objectives for VOC:

• Value Proposition Refresh:? compare how we talk about ourselves with how customers describe us, why they buy and what they cherish about us.
• Customer Segmentation:? creatively cluster customers so we can understand, from their perspective, the jobs they’re trying to do (applications), their unique goals and specific pain points.
• New Market Exploration:? understand interest levels for your product, service and brand within a segment of the market your company hasn’t typically targeted.
• New Product Exploration: determine interest levels for new (or enhanced) products or services based on customers’ desired outcomes, not our predeveloped ideas or technologies
• Customer Experience:? understand customer touchpoints, transform your brand promise and learn to curate experiences that can’t be matched by any competitor
• Competitor Analysis:? in combination with secondary research (such as website comparisons or secret shopping), learn how customers really regard key players in the marketplace, their positioning, pricing, products and promotions
• Media Research:? in conjunction with persona development, understand where buyers and decision makers in certain segments get their information, where and by whom they’re influenced and how best to reach them with targeted content.
• Distribution Channel Development:? connect with channel players to understand their role in the sales process, how they are best incentivized and how best to utilize them to get our products and services in front of their customers, who are often buyers further down the value chain.
• Buyer Persona Development:? better define the types of customers you sell to by creating profiles of who they might be as people - from their education, title, interests and more – in order to more effectively serve them and sell to them.
• Buyer Journey Mapping:? first understanding the potential Trigger Factors that would stimulate consideration of switching or purchasing, then chart out the steps and contact points (by persona or segment) in the buying process to better understand how we can help at key points.

This is just a starter list.? The most important part of beginning is to articulate your true north: to FIX your objective for your VOC.? And, depending on that Objective, who you Target and how you set up the Meeting will follow. ??More on that in future articles.

For now, please think about the Customer Outsight Compass , the 4 F’s, and the 12 Steps. What questions do you have about the infographic?? Is it helpful?? What might you change or add to help voyagers setting out on this hero’s journey?? One of the benefits of sharing this concept is continuing to learn and improve my own thinking.? So, ignore the headwinds.? Grab your bullhorn, climb the mast and shout a few comments if you like!? Are we headed in the right direction?

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