Customer Insight Conduits

2. Customer Insight Conduits"

The fastest way to overcome the problems described above and gain real insight into what customers need and want is by establishing Customer Insight Conduits"These Conduits help bridge the gap between company capabilities and market or customer needs.

Customer Insight Conduits" are defined as channels through which information passes primarily from customers and the marketplace to a function within the company that is able to make data actionable and drive customer-valued change throughout the organization. These conduits provide an early-warning system for problems. As problems are recognized, the Conduits serve as a diagnostic tool to help fully understand issues and determine the efficacy of solutions. In addition, the Conduits are a measurement vehicle to assess overall customer value and other metrics.

Customer Insight Conduits are an early-warning system, diagnostic tool, and a measurement vehicle.

2.1 Examples

* Customer advisory boards Ensure that these are composed of economic buyers of your products/services from an appropriate sampling of the customer base. Some companies rotate the membership every 1-2 years to ensure fresh insight

* Technical advisory boards These should be comprised of the "use buyers", or those who are actually going to be using your products or taking advantage of your services. From these, you obtain valuable, on-the-street insight helpful to develop/refine products.