Most organizations would consider their product or service to be customer-focused. But what does that really mean?
And how do you know if the offering that you’ve had for a while is still aligned with what the market needs?
There are several approaches used by organizations to align their offering to make it more customer-centric:
Some organizations believe in the power of their vision to create a great product or service and they double down on that concept. They spend all their time and resources selling and delivering what they believe is the right offering to the market.
Some organizations talk to their customers, grantees, donors to learn what they want from their organization and then build a roadmap for an offering that addresses those needs. Their product is customer-responsive yet adheres to their overarching organizational philosophy.
Still other organizations bend over backwards to accommodate every customer need and pain point and align their offering with that data. They bob and weave and react to feedback, operating under the theory that doing what the customer wants is always right.
This quarter, From the Desk of Your CAO will share several examples of our work with clients as they tried to figure out how to strike the right customer-focused balance in their offering mix – STARTING NOW with the first article in the series, Ever had one of those “Oh, rats!” product alignment moments?
My hope is that you might recognize your own organization in these stories and reach out to Your Chief Action Officer to have a discussion to help you assess, understand and act to align your offering with your customers to build a strong, sustainable organization.
