Innovators must deeply experience the world of their customers
Customer centricity is the dominant component of business success. The ability to engage with customers as people is of utter importance to innovators. Consumers or customers constitute the market and guarantee any business its success. Innovators need to relate fully with their customers so as to identify and implement their needs, tastes and preferences (Mohan et al, 54).
Failure to experience the customers’ world ultimately leads to the failure of a business. An innovator who does not experience their customers’ world is considered to be objectifying them. This infers that they enthusiastically or unenthusiastically treat them as a means to an end (Christopher & André, 05). Treating a customer without any deep, instinctive understanding of their preferences, feelings and lives, ultimately leads to innovations that are not applauded by the market. In such scenarios, the innovators fail terribly, and their activities become a costly project rather than a profitable venture. Since no innovator desires losses, they must gain insight into the world of the consumers before undertaking any venture. Additionally, this will help them develop a high innovation quotient.
Currently, the business world is rapidly changing. Innovators must strive to keep pace with the changing world. They must learn the knowledge and skills that are required for any employee to thrive in the highly competitive market (Samit, 105). Additionally, there is the need to adjust their training according to the markets' needs. Failure to this, their products will be of no economic benefit and their costs of production will go unmet.
The elixir of success lies in meeting customer expectations as well as taking their concerns into account (Christopher & André, 08). This helps them make deliver the right features, improve their effectiveness and efficiency, make better strategy decisions and uncover breakthrough opportunities. Hence, innovators must experience their customers’ world since it determines their success or failure in the business arena.
Works Cited
Christopher Meyer and André Schwager. Understanding Customer Experience. Harvard Business Review Article Reprint No. R0702G. Zurich. 2010. Print. http://zurichhpdelivered.com/internet/zna/SiteCollectionDocuments/en/media/FINAL%20HBR%20Understanding%20Customer%20Experience.pdf
Mohan Venkatachalam, Shivaram Rajgopal, Suresh Kotha. Does the Quality of Online Customer Experience Create a Sustainable Competitive Advantage for E-Commerce Firms? Journal: SSRN Electronic Journal 2000. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.242774
Samit Chakravorti. Managing organizational culture change and knowledge to enhance customer experiences: analysis and framework Journal: Journal of Strategic Marketing 2011. DOI: 10.1080/0965254X.2010.529160.
