In this series, Dr. Evans Baiya addresses different corporate excuses and mindsets that hinder our ability to innovate successfully. Don’t assume you always know what your customers need.
Episode Transcript:
How come you are not innovating? You actually have to address corporate innovation excuses and mindsets. Another one is, we already know our customers and what they need. In this case you are saying, “We have already talked to our customers, we know what they need and because we do and we have already worked on it and we have already given them what they need, therefore, we don’t need to innovate—they’re happy.”
The problem with that statement is this: number one, you do not know your customers as much as you think you do. You should always live in the mindset that I do not know my customers the best yet. I still need to continue to know and innovate and work with my customers. Your customers come to you not because they necessarily just like you, they actually come to you because you solve a problem for them. The day you cease solving that problem for them, or your product or service doesn’t work any more, or they find a better deal that is not only transactional but better service in terms of where they are going—let me tell you, unless you conform to their needs, you are here because of your customers. Your mindset here should be, I am continually learning [from] my customers and working to meet and exceed their current and future needs. That should be the mindset all the time.
Learn about other excuses and mindsets that hinder our innovation abilities in this 90 Seconds of Innovation series here or by subscribing on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts so you don’t miss an episode. Tweet your innovation questions to @ebaiya. | Header Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash.
