Market views yesterday
scintillated my knowledge about the customers. Maybe I had known key facts about
customers earlier on. Wait a minute! It was so glaring that I could not miss
it. The best place to gather intelligence about a company’s products is the
market where it’s being sold. Ok, I read your thoughts. It went through your
mind that a new product may not be existent in the market and thus
manufacturers of such products should wait to get their products to the market.
ABSOLUTE NO! Every organization must first sit down to calculate, something
also known as plan for a new product. This can only be achieved by first
visiting a prospective market where the product is expected to be required.
There is no need for
organizations to produce new items for the market that will not be accepted.
This would mean a total waste of resources and management’s time. The traders
in the market may not be able to coherently put down what they have seen. It is
the job of the qualified professional to harness their experiences and make
them more vivid for the use of management. This functionality and significance
of Nigerian markets has however not been fully maximised. Professionals spend
more time in the office analysing their own information acquired by
sophisticated technological innovation without considering the qualitative
thoughts and real life behaviour of market participants.
There is no gainsaying that
current software monitoring customer requirements are good investments. They
however do not justify the total neglect of the market intelligence gotten
directly from the people that face real issues. In the market, the behaviours
of both the sellers and buyers can elucidate salient key points to move the
profits upward.
Thus my advice today for Customer
Service Professionals, Marketing Professionals and everyone that participates
in the recording of customer requirements to significantly consider the grassroots
markets where iterative activities becomes a compendium of marketing
information for organizational excellence.
