With the digital revolution as a main driver of change, customers have become a central market power over the past years. Their new clout forces companies to perform a fundamental rethink. The CFI Method – an approach based on the Job-to-Be-Done Logic – can fuel this transformation by facilitating a new, fresh perspective from the customers’ angle. Transformation Is Driven by Customers There is hardly a company these days that would not claim to follow a customer-focused appr

Line managers tend to be biased by their role and function. Sales thinks in terms of price. Engineers think about technology. Marketing people think about customer segmentation and communication channels. That’s why they ask customers one-sided questions and hear what they like to hear. As a consequence, innovation is misguided, the growth strategy might be flawed. Isn’t it frustrating that this happens despite knowing the customers? Understanding is different. It is digging

To become more customer-centric and innovative, many companies carry out market research or ask their sales force to identify what their customers want. Only to find quite generic insights that are already known. For example, banks find out that “relationship is key”, mobile operators that users want “good network quality” and life insurance companies that clients want “more flexibility”. Not very useful to guide engineers and product developers, we thought. And co-created in

All companies that have been in business for some years say they know the needs of their customers. They mention needs like «quality», «flexibility» or «service» as being the key drivers for purchase and usage. There is only one little problem: Those needs don‘t resonate with customers. That‘s why most products are perceived as equal. And bought on price. Where is the issue? Executives are trained to conceptualize. They think in abstract terms in order to cope with the increa

Dear Customer Insight! I finally want to thank you. We have been knowing each other for more than 35 years. Today, everybody is acquainted with you. If I google you, I get more than 200 billion hits. They say you are essential for good promotion and strong messages. Product innovations that don’t care about you will fail. They even use you to formulate ground-breaking business models and strategies. Everybody seems to know you, but no one actually knows precisely who you are.