'No Goaty Smell!' The importance of knowing your customers' needs

I thought that was, without a doubt, one of the worst advertising slogans I have ever had the misfortune to see, on a street in Singapore or anywhere else.

Why would anyone care about “goaty smell” in their milk?

Why would anyone want to advertise “goaty smell”?

If you were advertising a car, would you say: “Our car doesn’t crash!”

Or if you were advertising a shampoo, would you write: “Your hair won’t fall out!”

Ridiculous.

I took a picture of it, now that I carry at all times in my pocket a device with more computing power than a five-year-old PC, takes better pictures than my three-year-old point-and-shoot, stores all my personal information, has business cards and a calendar, functions as an alarm clock, and oh, by the way, is also a phone.

Then, having nothing else to do, riding down the street in Singapore, I began to think – always a dangerous thing to do in my case.

As I began to think, I also got a little bit closer to the bus, and saw that the product being advertised was, in fact, goat’s milk.

Ah, I thought, that is a horse of a different colour (or should that be a goat of a different colour?)

Does goat’s milk smell? I would suppose it does. Does it have a “goaty smell?” Sure. Do people like the goaty smell? I would think they do not. Then, advertising that goat’s milk does not have a goaty smell might be a good thing?

Yes.

Aha. Here is a company that knows its customer quite well. They realise that some people, for medical reasons, cannot drink cow’s milk but must drink goat’s milk. The milk smells bad and people are turned off. But if you could make a goat’s milk that doesn’t smell like goat’s milk, then people would buy it over your competitor’s, and perhaps consume more.

So maybe the ad is quite good. Brilliant, one could even say, in that it identifies and solves a key consumer need, in that particular category. 

The most important factor in creating any successful business is to identify and solve a customer need. This is where many, if not most, unsuccessful companies go wrong. They start with a product or service, and then try to figure out how to sell it. Companies often come to me and say, “Eric, here is my product, help me sell it.”

This is wrong. Companies need to start with the customer. What are his or her wants? What does she need? What problems does he have? How can the company make her life easier? His life better? Her day go more smoothly? His business function more efficiently?

Once the customer need has been identified, then the successful company needs to create a product or service to satisfy that need.

Southwest Airlines single-handedly created the budget airline phenomena. They did not create a successful company by saying, “We are going to launch a cheap airline with no meals, no pillows, no movies and no pre-assigned seating.” They started by studying the market and learned that many people need to fly from one small city in America to another, and that air service was not available. These people had to take the bus or rent a car, both of which were very inconvenient. Southwest Airlines said, “Suppose we create an airline that would compete, not with other airlines, but with buses and rental cars. We would solve the consumer problem of how to cheaply and quickly get from point A to point B.” Then they created their product to fit the needs of the customer who, flying for short distances, did not mind not having a meal.

In fact, one could take virtually every successful product, from Google to the iPod to Pampers diapers, and trace its success back to the simple fact that it was solving a problem, real or imagined, that existed in the consumer’s mind. And one could do the same with unsuccessful products, and learn that most likely they failed because they were not solving a need.

So ask yourself today, whether you are launching a new product or trying to fix or grow an existing one, does my product solve a problem? What is the problem it solves? Does it solve it better/faster/cheaper/more effectively than the competition?

If you can answer the question, then you are on the way to success.

If you cannot, then contact me. I’ll be the guy sitting in the corner, drinking the milk with no goaty smell!

 

Eric Rosenkranz (www.ethree-asia.com) runs a strategic advisory assisting both existing companies as well as start-ups to develop their long-term strategy and achieve success in their business.

 

Follow his “Creating Success” series in this HI! Managers column every fourth Friday of the month.