In the Four Steps to the Epiphany – Successful Strategies for Products that Win book by Steve Blank, he talks a lot about the customers. I fact, he probably writes the word customer more than the word product. He knows that without finding and marketing to appropriate customer groups, even the best products are destined to fail. Blank walks through several aspects of engaging customers to include:
- The customer discovery model
- Discovery
- Validation
- And Creation
- Additionally, he includes a comprehensive customer development checklist
This book is a great reference and guide for any entrepreneur who is trying to launch a business or product. Companies are doomed to fail without finding their tribe of devoted customers. And once you have those customers, it’s important not to let the brand voice dominate the voice of your best brand advocates: your customers. To drive home this point, I recommend checking out Jason Maynard’s article for Entrepreneur Magazine called, When Your Customers Are Talking, Quiet Your Brand Voice and Listen.
Blue Ridge Mtn Mama 
Hi Nancy,
I like your statement: And once you have those customers, it’s important not to let the brand voice dominate the voice of your best brand advocates: your customers. As far as the article you recommend, just the title brings to mind my time as a crisis hotline volunteer. We went through a rigorous program on active listening. I didn’t last as a crisis hotline coach (One evening on the phone with the “Backyard Bikini sexual offender” left me speechless), but I still use my active listening skills to this day. Some journey are simply meant to add a tool to the toolbox, I guess.
JOY
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Knowing your customers and listening to them is so very important in the growth of a business. I have really learn a lot from this in my own experience. I think it is important to not only listen but be open to adapt the changes required to be better and more appealing to your customer base.
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