Put Yourself in Your Customers’ Shoes

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If your company is looking to innovate, don’t waste time analyzing market research reports and delving into customer data. What customers say they will do is not necessarily what they end up doing. Instead, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Observe them using products and watch for frustrations they may not even notice. Don’t delegate these explorations to the market research consultants. Do it yourself. Make sure senior people in your organization — those who have the strategic understanding to recognize opportunity and the authority to act on it — get out and observe customers too.

Adapted from “How to Get Past Your Customers’ Lies” by Alessandro Di Fiore.

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