Who Stole My Customer?? by Thompson Harvey

Author:Thompson, Harvey [Thompson, Harvey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pearson Education
Published: 2014-12-12T05:00:00+00:00

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9. What They Need: Solutions

Customer wants and needs is a common phrase that is often heard and seldom understood. Most folks don’t know the difference. However, the winners do—and if you want your firm to be a winner, then so must you.

A customer want is something customers expressly state as a desired outcome. A customer need is the underlying value or benefit that drives the wants and provides a powerful lever for loyalty to the firm that understands and fulfills it. For example, athletes often want a cold beverage to quench their thirst. However, their underlying need is that they sweat to maintain a safe temperature and then must rehydrate to replenish lost liquids, vital electrolytes, and carbohydrates. For years, the beverage industry focused solely on the want—a thirst quencher. Then the University of Florida focused on the underlying need, which (not coincidentally) also enabled greater athletic stamina and performance. Based on that needs-based value proposition, an entire industry for sports drinks has since been developed, including the pioneer, Gatorade.

Here’s another example: Businesspeople often want a rental car, but the rental car firm is not actually in the business of fulfilling customer needs for a rental car. Its customers want a rental car, but what they need is to get to and/or from an airport, train station, hotel, business site, home, and so on. So rental car firms are actually in the human logistics (or the “get me there efficiently, effectively, and alive”) business. As such, their competitors are not limited to rental car companies, nor is their optimum value proposition (ideal fulfillment of the needs) limited to providing a rental vehicle. If you ask your customers why they need a given product, touchpoint, or channel, you can then have them envision the ideal means to fulfill that need—and new ways to keep your customers (or steal new ones).

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