Everyone knows a bit of the customer

A manufacturer is planning a new product. In the alignment meeting, sales says: Our customers mainly want a better price. Service says: Our customers are annoyed by the effort after the purchase. Product management has a market study that is three years old.

Everyone is right, each for their own slice. Dealers and partners know the people who compare offers and make the choice. Sales talks to the buyers. Service talks to the people who use the product every day.

When perspectives conflict, gut feeling ultimately decides. Most of the knowledge is already in-house. It has simply never been brought together.

A navigation system only calculates a route once it knows where you are. The same applies to decisions about customers.

This does not require a major study. What dealers, partners, sales, and service know about customers is brought together, condensed, and prepared so that every department can work with it: What are customers trying to achieve? Where do they decide? Where do they get stuck?

It may turn out that the people who make the selection compare offers. Purchasing looks at the price. Users look at the effort in daily use. All of them have a say, and the new product can take all of them into account.

This shared view gives everyone the same starting point. From then on, sales, service, and product management are talking about the same customer.