Hi, my friend-

How do you grow as a business leader? Where do you generate your insight – have you plucked ideas from the sky or listened to colleagues sitting around a meeting table? Yes, these ideas can be valid, but are they intuitions truly coming from a customer-centric perspective?

In short – are you listening to what your customers are telling you? A shift from brand-centric to customer-centric innovation can help you provide products and services that create value for your customers and keep your brand relevant.

Plenty of examples of new tech have completely revolutionized and challenged traditional institutions. In some cases, technology has replaced products that have become obsolete, as customers favor ease of use and modernity over services or products that are outdated.
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But this didn’t have to happen, and the trajectory wasn’t written in the stars for some brands. Here are a few examples of brands that failed to listen to customers:

• Amazon didn’t kill the retail industry. It was self-inflicted because of bad customer service.
• Netflix didn’t kill Blockbuster. They did it to themselves with over-inflated late fees and outdated products.
• Uber didn’t kill the taxi service. They did it to themselves by limiting the number of taxis with fare control.
• Apple didn’t kill the music industry. They did it to themselves by only allowing people to buy full-length albums.
• Air BnB didn’t kill the hotel industry. They did it to themselves with limited availability and pricing options.

Technology, by itself, couldn’t affect these industries; it was the fact that businesses using new technology decided to use it in a customer-centric way. Failing to listen to your customers is the biggest threat to any business.

Recognize
​Innovation isn’t just for digital whizz-kids and cool new start-ups – every business needs to be innovating and putting the processes and frameworks in place to do this. The first step towards strong customer-centric innovation is to recognize the need for it in your company.

Smaller start-ups might have more flexibility or the ability to easily pivot, but you can use the tools and experience at your disposal to make a change.

Organize​
You must make time and space for your employees to innovate. This might be setting aside time in their schedules to brainstorm ideas and work on new strategies or encouraging them to speak to customers and clients and find out what they’re thinking.

Input
​Consumers aren’t just comparing your customer service with competitors in your industry; it’s with any other business they interact with. So, no matter the area of expertise, deliver the best customer service, regardless of whether others in your industry are doing it.

This is the same in innovation – even if things don’t rapidly change in your industry, they are in other areas. Customers see innovation in other areas and expect it from your business too.

Listen
​On a basic human level, we like to feel listened to – whether in a conversation with friends or in our place of work. Customers want this feeling, too – acting on customer feedback and providing tangible change can enhance brand loyalty and create more value for your customers.

Don’t get left behind by failing to notice trends and patterns in customer expectations. Innovate in a customer-centric way, and you’ll be moving in a direction that meets customers in the middle instead of watching from the sidelines.

With gratitude-
Bryan

P.S. As always, tap the reply button and tell me in one sentence or brief statement how this email landed for you?

Bryan Kramer is the author of Human-to-Human and Shareology -> books​

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