Are you customer interested or customer-obsessed? Steve Towers recently shared a LinkedIn article with me on the difference. He defines obsession as requiring:
“an unending exploration and understanding of customer needs (even when customers themselves may not be aware of them) and an ability to act on those needs.”
To understand obsession, it’s important to understand how it differs from mere focus. Towers shares an excellent set of comparisons from former Netflix exec Gibson Biddle:
Focus – Understand customer wants and needs
Obsession – Invent and deliver on unanticipated future needs
Focus – Concentrate on customer satisfaction
Obsession – Aspire to long-term customer delight
Focus – Provide better product/service than the competition
Obsession – Pioneer new frontiers, with less competition
Focus – balance customer satisfaction and margin
Obsession – “Double down” on hard to copy delight and higher-margin follows
Obsession is about proactively defying normal. As David Rendall share in the book “Pink Goldfish,” it’s ruthlessly doing MORE of what makes you different and having the courage to do unapologetically LESS of what others considered normal.
Takeaway – Are you merely customer interested or are you customer-obsessed?
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