Do Customers Know What They Want?

At the core of every successful business is an understanding of what target customers regard as superior value and how to deliver it to them. But how do we determine what customers regard as superior value? Do customers know what they want? Rampant confusion still exists about the value of customer research because there are really two questions that need to be treated separately.

If the question is “Do customers know what the best solution is given their needs?,” then the answer is an emphatic “No!” Generally, customers are no more qualified to generate solution ideas than patients are qualified to come up with their own treatment plans. Fortunately, that’s not the customer’s responsibility. It’s the supplier’s responsibility to determine the best solution for the customer just as it’s the physician’s responsibility to determine the best treatment plan for the patient.

However, if the question is “Do customers know what they want to accomplish, feel, and experience?,” then the answer is an emphatic “Yes!”  Theodore Levitt said that “People don’t want to buy a ¼ inch drill. They want a ¼ hole!” Customer needs are different from the solutions used to address them. People buy products and services to get things done, to have an experience, and feel or be perceived in a certain way – totally separate and distinct from solutions. This insight is revolutionizing how companies execute all value creation activities because, with skillful interviewing and observation, we can identify customers’ unmet needs to guide such things as building competitive advantage, developing new offerings, delivering better customer experiences, crafting messaging and positioning that connects, improving sales effectiveness, etc.

Customers can tell us what they want to accomplish, experience, feel, and how they want to be perceived. These are their needs. When companies uncover this information, their ability to understand and deliver superior value increases dramatically.