Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes

I have to say that it’s interesting when journalists already have a predisposition and mold your wording to whatever they have in mind. And the same has happened to myself on numerous occasions where the article said nothing of what I spoke of because they took bits and pieces out of context.

One of the biggest points that I’m misconstrued on is the fact that as a Chief Strategy Officer, I pride myself in “not knowing” accounting. While further from the truth since I’ve painstakingly learned the ins-and-outs, there is truth in how I don’t “want to know”. And there are people out there thinking… your flagship product is web accounting software, so why wouldn’t you…

But here’s the key factor that most journalists miss. It’s not that I don’t want to know. It’s the fact that many of our customer’s do not know. Think about it from this perspective. If you’re an individual that is starting your own business, would you understand accounting? I would venture the possibility that you do not know but the basics of accounting. In fact, most of your small businesses are thrust into the world of small business accounting and the basics of accounting comes from their personal finances.

In determining strategy here, my job is to figure out where these users are coming from and where they are going and how to mold the product into something that they (the customers) can use while holding to accounting standards and regulations. Thus, instead of shoving our customers into a place in the business accounting spectrum, I’m letting them choose their own comfort level. And that requires you to sit outside of the accounting realm.

Interestingly enough, most vendor type businesses are always trying to figure out the brand-new thing instead of innovating on a solid foundation. This type of “shooting in the dark” stratagem does indeed work but it’s much easier to understand how a customer feels at current about something than predicting what they would want. In the world of small business accounting, the business doesn’t necessarily want to know how accounting works, but wants a better method in assisting in running their business. Coming from an engineering world, I can tell you that most engineering consultants probably do not understand bookkeeping from the get-go. And that’s where you have to be as a vendor.

Just remember. Place yourself in your customer’s shoes. What do they need? That’s what you’re building. If you can’t fulfill that particular question within the constraints of their abilities, then you’re already setting your business up fulfill requirements that might not be what your customer can use. And the last thing an entrepreneur would want to do is mold the target market into a non-fit. Unless you have millions to throw away in marketing to try and convince your market why they need the tool. And if you do have coffers like that, let me know where I can sign up for it too.